StrangeRanger

The Senior Cat

We took Maddie in for her second senior-kitty check-up last thursday.  Dr G says that she looks great.  She's lost a bit of weight since her last visit, but is still 15 lbs.   Nice and svelte for a Maine Coon.  Things were going swimmingly (albeit grumpily) until it was time for the vet to draw blood.

Egads. 

Maddie was not cooperative. 

 
Damn Straight. 

Not even an extra assistant who was built like an NFL running back and a towel over her head could keep Maddie steady enough.  They ended up taking her into the back and calling in another pair of hands before they could wrassle the blood out of her.  As it was, the vet said that if Maddie had put forth just "This much <finger and thumb held not very far apart at all> more effort" they couldn't have gotten the sample.

The result?  Almost everything looks okay.  There is more calcium than normal in her blood though.  This could be a sign of something dire or simply the result of the struggle they had to go through to get the cat-juice in the first place.  The next step?  We do it again.

 
Think so, do you?  We'll find out if I have "this much" more effort in me.  You do remember that the vet once said I have unusually long and sharp claws, don't you?

Fortunately, we'll have valium on our side next time.  We take her in on a fast, get an accurate read on her calcium levels and see what happens from there. 

Wonder what she'll be like on valium...

 
Who knows?  Maybe she'll just relax and enjoy staring out her window.  Like she does without valium.  We'll keep you posted.

 

The Garden in June

It's been a fairly nice June here in the American southeast.  Hot, but hey, it's supposed to be.  It's really humid, too, but hey...ditto.  The plants in the garden seem to like it though.

 
Here we've got the day-lillies.

 
The herb garden.

 
The front garden.  Usually we put the plants in the ground, but we're going with a container garden this year 'cause we want the soil to regain some of it's mojo.  As you can tell, there's a lot of basil.  We do love pesto! 

Here are some close-ups of the flowering plants.

 
Our Rose of Sharon out front by the container-garden.

 
The 'Ed Muray' day lilly.

 
The petunias and nasturtiums in the herb garden.

 
 
And our candy lillies.  Small, lovely, vibrant flowers.

We also have a few denizens of the garden:

 
A bee of some sort on our bolting cilantro plant.

 
And a Carolina Wren.  It's hard to see the distinctive white stripe over the eye, but it's there.  We see these birds in pairs mostly.  The male builds several nests at the start of mating season.  The female picks the one she likes best, and that's where the eggs are hatched.  We've had them raise families all around the house.  Nests in the bend of a drain-pipe, the window sill, the rose bush, an open bag of mulch on the porch (that was a bad choice.  the bag was on the deck of the porch, and the stray cats often patrol the porch on their way by)(nature, red in tooth and claw, as it were).  Anyways, these are about the most common birds around here.  We do have jays and mockers as well.  And always one catbird in the neighborhood, too.

Hope you've enjoyed the tour!

 

Vacation Begins

Well, school's out.  I've the summer at home with LadyRanger and Maddie.  Time to recharge the batteries and get ready for next year.  What shall I do all summer?  Have a few home chores to do, like painting the porch, but I might build in some fun time.  Well, knowing me, I'll probably have fun and build in some chore time....but it'll all get done.

Maddie has some suggestions for me.  Maybe I'll play bubbles!

 
Bubbles, huh?  Well, hello, my old nemesis!

 
<swat!>

 
She Swats!  SHE SCORES!!!!  Hoo-ah!

(note:  special guest appearance by LadyRanger's foot!)

Of course, not every summer day can be spent in riotous physical activity.  Perhaps I'll spend some days relaxing in the sun.

 
Probably more my speed.  But I'll let you know.

Inside-Out

Don't know what did it.  Don't know if it was a particularly vigorous face-wash, a twisty-cat head down roll whilst napping or an attack by a flock of mutant ninja-gnomes, but Maddie walked into the kitchen the other day with one ear inside-out.

 
Maybe she was just trying a new look.  Maybe she's actually getting in touch with some American Curl ancestry.  The answers to these questions are locked inside the feline mind, which is most likely the best place for them.  Mine is not to reason why...

 
No.  <sigh>  Yours is, apparently, to hover around me with that flashy thingie and coo and make cute comments and assorted silly noises to get me to look up.  Which isn't going to happen.   Just flip my ear back and leave me in peace.  You're acting like a fool.

I am a fool.  A fool for my cat.

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Worked in the vegetable garden yesterday.  Not growing anything this summer.  Just weeding and plowing in all sorts of organic material.  We're going to let the north 40 <snicker> stay fallow this summer in hopes of having more productive dirt next summer.  LadyRanger has a massive garden in pots, though.  Planning masses of pesto in the freezer by the end of september.

Anyways, after all that work yesterday (and I'm saying that like I was busting sod out on the prairie with nothing but a hatchet and a hat and an ornery mule) I'm a mite pooped, so you're only getting a cat pic instead of my usual scintillating prose.  Enjoy this lovely study in black and white.  I've always liked this picture for some reason.  If you like it, attribute it to the model and not the photographer.

 
Have a lovely week!