StrangeRanger

EARTHQUAKE!

Yep.  2020 continues to mess with us.

We just had that most rare of occurrences in the american southeast... an earthquake.  A 5.1.  No!  Really!  Here's proof!

It happened a bit after 8:00 this morning.  I had just fed Daisy in the Mewlag and was checking out the forecast and the news on the computer when things started shaking.  At first, I thought it was a large truck going by on the highway by our house, but the quake was....different.  It lasted for about 8-10 seconds.  It was unexpected.  Daisy was...disconcerted.....

WTH is going on?

Honestly, it seemed like it lasted for longer than it really did.  I don't think I had figured out what to do before it was over.

You're just going to leave me in here, aren't you?

Daisy took it well, overall.

GET ME OUTTA HERE, WARDEN!!!

Things got back to normal pretty quick, though.  No damage to report from ChezRanger.  I've not seen any reports of damage in the immediate area.  We only experienced minor shaking.  The epicenter was a ways away and I don't know how things are there, though, but I certainly hope that a 5.1 won't cause too much damage and that no one was hurt.

Now, to be honest, these pics were not taken during the great shake of '20.  First, it was over long before I could have gotten my mind ordered enough to photo-document the local feline reaction.  Second, I don't like to take pics of my cat in distress of any sort.  These are really pics of Daisy trying to break out of jail wanting to have a play. 

Damn straight. Now open this door.

We've let her outside for exercise time in the yard, as we call it.  We usually give her about 10-15 minutes of time to walk around the room, stretch, play with what interests her and then it's back into the cage.  Sometimes she gets too rambunctious and starts jumping at things she shouldn't, like the tops of doors (which is what started this whole mess, dumb-ass!!) and we have to put her back in early.  She does not like that at all.

She does seem to be a wee bit more cautious than usual, so we hope that takes.

We have given her some energetic play time.  We call it rehab or physical therapy to convince ourselves we're doing something positive and not just giving into the whims of our cat.

This is her current favorite toy.

This toy ain't shakin' itself, ya'know!

She gets her physical therapy on this <ahem> piece of equipment....

NO CAGE CAN HOLD ME!!

We usually try to keep her a bit lower to the ground than is her wont.  She still likes to play at ground level, too.  Thank goodness.

enh.... down low is cool, too, I suppose.  As long as I get to PLAY!

We're hoping this next week is the last week for the Mewlag. Daisy hasn't limped in a couple of weeks now, so we're hoping the healing is proceeding appropriately.

We hope that you all have a very safe, earthquake, falling tree, tornado, hurricane, plague or other disaster free week ahead!

Not Much New, Today

Things proceed apace here at ChezRanger.  We did have some excitement that I failed to write about last weekend.  There was a lightning strike right outside our house!  We all jumped.  I think Daisy jumped so high she dinged her head on the top of the mewlag! 

Well, it was scary!

We lost power for a moment or tow, but the big news is that it fried our alarm system panel!  I mean melted stuff inside!  The panel is in our basement, too.  We went downstairs and could smell that burning rubber smell.  There was no smoke and no visible flame, though.

Here's the embarrassing part.... we called the Fire Dept NON-emergency number to ask if we should get one of their inspectors over to give us an assessment, or if we should get an electrician.  They sent THREE TRUCKS.  Lights, sirens and dudes in 50 pounds of gear.  It was embarrassing.  And not by half.  

The only other issue resulting from the strike was the loss of our internet.  Our giant corporate internet monster sent sent a guy down, but only after calling us and telling us that their computer said our modem was fine.  Their guy came down, replaced 30 yards of cable outside in the hot sun, ran tests and looked puzzled when none of it worked.  Then he drove back to the office, picked up a new modem, came back and installed it.  Bingo!  We have internet.  Daisy is much relieved.  We let her watch Animal Planet as much as she wants right now.....

Anyways, all here at ChezRanger are safe and well.  Outside of those inconveniences, there was no damage to our home.  We fared better than one of our neighbors up the street, though.  the front of their house was removed by a large tree falling during what must have been a microburst.  Sheered the front of the house right off.  No one was hurt, thank goodness.  The tree guys who came in say the tree probably weighed around 38,000 pounds.  Seeing that made me realize that getting salty about a lack of internet was just stupid.

On the Daisy front, she continues to take things easy in the Mewlag.  As far as we can tell, she continues to heal.  We have not seen a limp, or any hitch in her little gray stride.  We let her our ot he cage for supervised walks around the sitting room, same as we did for Maddie after her knee surgery.  Daisy has no hesitation about jumping onto the desks or leaping and clawing her way up the back of the desk chair.  We try to keep her calm and on level ground during these excursions, but you know cats....

We hope that Daisy's confinement only lasts two more weeks (which would bring the total to 4 weeks), although Dr G said it could be four to six.  If it's six, Daisy is going to come out on the last day with a teardrop tattoo..... poor girl is fed up already.

We hope you have a safe and healthy week ahead, all!  

 

Life in Stir

I think prison life is getting the best of our little gray cat.

<sigh>  they say I'm in the short time club, too.  This will never end!  Woe is me!

Daisy does seem to be doing some better as the week has gone on.  We did have to take her off of one of her pain meds 'cause it was causing her to vomit up undigested food.  Which was a)gross and b)indicative of the med causing problems.  Daisy recovered from that in short order, thank goodness.

We took her off of her other pain med a day or two after, as well.  Daisy seems to be healing up and is dealing, all appearances to the contrary, with her incarceration with surprising resignation.  

We let her out for exercise time in the prison yard a few times a day when we clean her cafeteria table and change her bedding.  She walks around the (closed) sitting room making sure everything smells right.  She has jumped up on the desk several times, the seat of the desk chair a couple, and once up to the top of the back of the desk chair.  I'd say her knee is on the mend.

Several times per day she sets up a loud meowing, begging to be let free.  As long as we stand firm, she eventually subsides and settles down for yet another nap. 

She does love her constitutionals, though.  Most times, I have to pick her up and put her back in the cell, which she does not like at all.  She has learned that there are places she can get to in the room where I can not get to her.  She like to go there and hang out, all the while eyeing me defiantly.  Example:

GET LOST, SCREW!  I'ma stay under here where you can't get me!  Yep.  I'ma stay here, in this low, confined, uncomfortable space instead of letting you put me back in that spacious kennel that is supplied with food and a comfy fleece blankie!  Do you know why I'm staying in this even more confined spot?!?  BECAUSE IT'S MY CHOICE, THAT'S WHY!  You, you.....primate! so dumb you probably can't understand half the words I use...  probably never understand that a cat needs to have SELF-DETERMINATION!!!

I usually lure her back out with treats.

Oh, yeah, Daisy's knee is up to crouching and slinking, which is how she gets under the couch.  I do think she is on the mend.  Hoo-ray for the healing magic of cats!

Things here are odd, but headed, we hope, in the desired direction.  I hope the same can be said for all of you.  Be safe, and have a great week ahead, all!

Daisy, Daisy, oh dear......

For the second time in our cat-owning lives, we have a large kennel in our sitting room, with one occupant.

This is about the parmesan, isn't it?

Yes, ladies and gents, the mewlag (rhymes with Gulag) has made a return to ChezRanger.  

'cause, ya see...I can EXPLAIN THAT!  It was NADINE, from next door!  SHE ate the parmesan cheese!  She's a black cat, like a doggone ninja!  No wonder you didn't see her!!  She was HIDING in the SHADOWS!!  I was only on the table with my nose in the bowl 'cause I was checking out what she'd done!  I was going to WARN YOU!  ANY good cat would do that for their humans!  I couldn't subject you to neighbor-cat drool!  Any good cat would have done the same....  Anyways.... to be honest......

....this is stupid and you're stupid.

Well, as you can guess, this is not about the parmesan (and no, it wasn't Nadine.  nice try though).

As an active young cat, Daisy quite often gets serious cases of the zoomies.  Daisy also, as we've documented before, likes altitude.  She was in the dining room with us one afternoon, being very zoom-tastic.  she decided to take off from the sideboard in an attempt to make it to the top of the dining room/kitchen door.  I don't know if it was just too much of a jump or if her feet slipped on take-off a bit.  She din't make her goal, but hung on for a second or two by her front paws.  She popped off and hit the doorknob on the way down.

I don't know if the impact caused damage, or if it threw her landing off, but she was limping pretty heavily on her right rear leg as she walked away.

Cue a quick trip to the emergency vet.  They couldn't find any breaks, which is good, and figured there was a soft tissue injury.  We got some pain meds for Daisy and all came home.  I could write another whole post about liquid meds and Daisy's combat-level drooling, but I think you'd rather not have your stomach turned.....

Daisy seemed to be improving, but got her foot caught in the sheet as I was making the bed Saturday morning.  She immediately began limping again and even growling.  She could not put weight on her previously injured leg.  

Cue a trip to our regular vet.  Daisy got in to see Dr G.  The diagnosis?  Daisy has probably torn her Medial Collateral Ligament.  Yes, it is one of those important knee parts.  Dr G thinks that if we keep Daisy relatively quiet and immobile in the mewlag for a month, the leg should simply heal.  If there is no improvement, there would have to be some surgery.  We're hoping to avoid that so we're trusting in pain meds (that have a mild sedative effect) and the awesome powers of cat healing.  If you'd like, send a bit of good karma Daisy's way.  Poor girl can use all the good wishes she can get.

She seems to be adapting well enough to the mewlag.  Not happy at being restricted, but I understand that.  A quarantine in the middle of a quarantine must be a colossal pain in the furry gray patoot.  We try to keep her spirits up.  One of us is almost always in here with her.  She gets picked up for snuggles quite a bit.  We feel lucky that we haven't had to make changes to her diet or anything, and she's getting her usual, preferred, food.

Well, at least prison chow isn't as bad as I'd heard......

We hope that you all have a safe and happy week ahead.  Stay healthy and stay out of prison!
 

An Existential Moment

Daisy always seems to be a well adjusted, mentally healthy cat.  She isn't high-strung like Maddie was.  She takes the loud noises that attend upon living hard by a a freeway pretty much in stride.  Motorcycle crews and truck-farts, wrecks and horns, fireworks from the nearby ball-field, all seem to be just part of her daily milieu.  Thunderstorms?  Ivy used to be terribly nervous about those.  Daisy's unease seems to be soothed by walking through whatever room we're in and checking to see if we're okay.

I think that if anything makes Daisy less than totally easy with the world, it's the calm and quiet moments.  Those moments where she's not active, and in the moment both mentally and physically (like the all the times she's biting and clawing at my legs....).  I think I caught her having one of those existential moments whilst atop the china cabinet the other day.

What does it really mean to have other cats living next door?  Are they the same as me?  Do they really still exist when they go in that house or do I only think that they exist?  Is my bowl half full or half empty?  Are there herds of wild kibble?  

Daisy seems to come out of her reveries pretty quick though.

Speaking of kibble, I could really use a sna....WHOA!!  THE WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN!!

Oh!  Whew....  got it now.......

What?

Daisy doesn't often venture into the realms of the philosopher.  At least that we can tell.  Venturing into the realm of a nice open window on a warm, breezy day seems to keep her happy and in good spirits.

I think, therefore I enjoy the good smells that come in through our window!

And thus, the daily philosophy is brought to a successful close.

As a side note, as I may have mentioned before, we have a long cat.  

We hope you are all well!

Have a safe and healthy great week ahead!

Happy 4th of July, all!

It was a particularly quiet year this year.  No great surprise, I know.  We usually go to see a citizenship ceremony in our local historic district.  It is always moving.  We discovered a few years ago that we have a large and boisterous Malaysian contingent in town!  They cheered for everyone in the ceremony but really went to town when one of their own stepped up.  After a stroll around the area, we'd usually go out and get some fancy ice cream at a fancy ice-cream spot that we only hit on the 4th.  Heavy sugar time! 

In the evening, we usually walk down the street to watch fireworks from the local stadium, but they were shut down, too.  It was a quiet sort of 4th.

We did manage ice cream, though it was store-bought.  We dressed it up, though, and enjoyed it.

We watched "Hamilton"!   I was passingly familiar with the music, and of course familiar with the phenomenon.  Watching it though, was wonderful!  It is one brilliant piece of work!

One tradition kept on, though.  The street fireworks were even more plentiful this year.  Pops, bangs and various ka-booms continued late into the night.  Even though she does not mind the usual ballpark fireworks on a typical Friday eve in normal times, Daisy seemed a bit unsettled by it all.

I'mo just sit here in the corner until this whole thing blows over.

Then there'd be another BANG!

hmmmm.... Maybe under the chair and behind the pictures would be a more workable alternative.......

Daisy did better that other cats of our acquaintance, though.  Maddie HATED fireworks.  HATED.

CHARLIE'S COMIN' THRU THE TUNNELS!!  TAKE OFF AND NUKE IT FROM ORBIT!!!

The poor dear had a rough baseball season.....  Don't worry, we kept her safe and happy the rest of the year...

We hope you're safe and happy yourself!  We hope the past week treated you well and that you have a great week ahead!

Just a few new random shots

I have been remiss in taking pictures of our resident beauty.  Or, see from Daisy's point of view, I have been remiss in hounding her with the camera.  I've managed to sneak a quick phone pic in recently though.  I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I did taking it.  This is what happens when I sit at the dining table too long.  She takes my shoes away.  

Whew!  Now I know why you call them dogs!  Man, your feet are smelly.  

Even though she is less than diplomatic, the tummy exposure soothes my hurt feelings!

 

I hope that all are safe and well!  Have a great week ahead!

I don't know what to post today.

Really.  Not a clue.  I've been slack and not taken any new pics of Daisy for a while.  The school year ended on something of a whimper, given that I haven't seen my kids in 3 months.  Guess I'll fall back on my old stand-by; the vintage picture.

Here's Maddie, chilling on the blanket stack back when it was a blanket or two lower.  She'd absolutely hate that Daisy naps on it now.  Maddie did not like to share with other cats.

The humans, of course, are thrilled to have Daisy nap there.  

This does not suck.

Of course, we know who took the most pleasure out of a nap on the blanket stack, don't we?

No one ever enjoyed a nap on the blanket stack in a sunpuddle like little Ivy.  No. One. Ever.

I'm sure that Maddie will forgive us all our blanket-trespasses, though.  

Have a great week ahead, and stay safe, all!

As I get older and tired-er...

...my posts get shorter and shorter.  

Here's a pic of Daisy, relaxed on the blanket stack.  Now that we're actually getting season temperatures, it may not be as nice 'cause we don't open the widow as much.  She does seem to find it a nap-worthy place though, which makes us happy.

When I get home from where ever I go (which isn't much of anywhere nowadays) she follows me into the bedroom, jumps on the blanket stack as I empty my pockets on the armoir, and does kneady-paws on the blankets.  I give her a few pats and then she jumps down to lead me into the kitchen for the traditional "back home treats".   It's shocking how I indulge her, or how she indulges me.  I'm not sure which is the case.....

Have a great week ahead, all!  Stay safe!

In these unhappy times.....

....we need a reminder that there is some love and beauty out there.  Here's Daisy, assuring you that you are a wonderful and lovely human being who deserves good things.

Feed me.  Oh, and that other stuff, too.

Not quite how I thought she'd approach it, but hey, the message came across eventually. 

I think we'll get through all awful.  I'm hoping for brighter days ahead.  Stay safe, everyone!