Musings on a Small Life

  I bought this catnip mat for the boys yesterday, while making a stop at the vet clinic. (The new mat is on top, an old one is on the bottom). It was meant for them both, but Nicki has claimed it and has been very reluctant to relinquish it. BTW, I've stopped feeding a couple of brands of chicken to the boys and things were better Friday/Saturday. We'll see how things go this week. I've discovered they both like Instinct salmon and Merrick salmon patés (grain-free)...enough to eat them once, anyway. We'll see if they eat them again! (Nicki already likes Instinct lamb and rabbit, even their chicken, and they both already will eat Merrick beef. I'm looking for options for Derry in particular, since he's fussier about canned.) Also, I'm sending my thoughts and prayers to the "mom" over at Mickey's Musings . I've followed them for a long time and they have had several cats pass; now their most senior kitty, JJ, has joined them....

We don't have real sunshine today, so the sunflowers will have to do. The pics were snapped while I was away. There was a sunflower field in Trenton, in between the Walmart and a gas station, right at the road's edge. Strange spot for a field of flowers. They must have been a second planting, because other sunflowers are long dead now. The land behind the field is being cleared for yet another new, ugly housing development, and I would guess that soon the sunflower field will be nothing but a memory. It was a pretty stop, though. As for things here, the boys' output issues continue. I'm speculating that in Derry's case it might be something "off" in a batch of canned food. I checked the tins last night and I have three different batches of a particular brand of chicken. Hard to say. He's never had diarrhea in his life, until now. As for Nicki, well, my guess is that he has IBD. I got a new pre/probiotic for them in the mail yesterday, ...

And I still have 2 more hours left in my work day! Oh, and now 45 and a half working days...plus two hours...till our Christmas break. Not that I counted last night. Anyway. How about snapshots of some of the four-leggeds and feathered critters R and I saw and/or met on our travels? Young swan. There must have been at least two dozen swans out on the water, where we stopped.  Pretty cat in a house window, in Warkworth .  Another Warkworth cat. Miss Kitty, the stray that R &C have "adopted." She had been in to eat and to get cuddles, wanted out, then wanted back in (typical cat).  A very happy dog at Wicklow Beach. This horse and the ponies live on a property across from the beach. We've stopped to see them before, they're quite friendly. The ponies aren't nippy, which is surprising, as so many can be. Louie, the mascot of the Northumberland & District Humane Society thrift store. He was happily making bisc...

I had a lovely visit with friends R & C in Brighton; a huge thank you to them both, R in particular. (L, if you read this, yes, I did tell her hello from you!) We had a great time, driving all over the area, and taking in the fall colours. (Click to enlarge for best viewing.) We stopped a lot, though many of my snapshots were taken from the car window as we were driving by. I'm in the middle of culling and editing the almost-700 snapshots I took! Here are a few as teasers. I can't remember the last time I've seen such glorious autumn colours. Certainly in our city and immediate area there's nothing like this. Northumberland County is putting on an amazing display this year! I came back to two cats with diarrhea, though both had been fine when I left. I have no idea what happened; stress? I'm working on getting them back to normal, will see how things go. They've been okay through today (Sunday), but I'm not expecting things...

First, happy Thanksgiving my fellow Canadians! I hope you're having a lovely long weekend. On Sunday I bought the cat condo I wanted for the boys, and managed to get it home from the pet supply store in a taxi-van. I found the same one on Wayfair, would have gone that route if I wasn't able to arrange to get the in-store one home. However, I'm glad to have been able to give my money to a local store. As for the new cat stand itself, it seems to be acceptable. The boys were all over it, three rounds of playing yesterday. They exhausted themselves after the initial excitement, slept for a while (last photo), then went at it again, two more times in the afternoon. That pleased me no end! I just got it in the door and Nicki was all over it. It was a hit! Of course the novelty will wear off in short order, but I'm still glad they're enjoying it for the moment. Peace.

This is a bit late in the day, but I wanted to share it. Derry was snuggled up a couple of evenings ago, after work. What a cutie. (Ignore the not-cute bare feet. LOL.) Comments are off. Peace.

Found via a Google search: I suspect many of us who work Monday to Friday feel this way!  :-D There's not a lot to catch up on. I hear the wild turkey (seen in my last post) is still hanging out in the same neighbourhood. We're almost at Thankgiving, I suggest he move on and out of sight until after the holiday! 🦃 Nicki is almost finished his two-week course of antibiotics, for the high levels of intestinal bacterial that probably have been contributing to his diarrhea all spring, summer and September. He's been good in that department for two weeks or so now, but whether that's the added psyllium fibre (Metamucil) or the antibiotics, I can't say. Maybe both. I'm off on vacation next week, will be away for part of it visiting friends. The pet sitter, who has gone back to school, still is able to come in before and after classes, so the boys will be taken care of. I certainly wouldn't be able to go away otherwise. My leaky roof i...