StrangeRanger

Sprung!

Daisy has finally reached the end of her 6 week confinement and has been sprung from the joint!

Now, this is the life!

She has been wandering around the house, making sure that everything is where she left it.  She has been exploring all her old haunts.  And yes, that includes the tops of doors.  We'd hoped that she'd learned the error of her ways,but it seems not.  This cat is gonna do what she wants to do when she wants to do it.  I suppose we're going to have to accept that as part of her undeniable charm.

I am quite charming, aren't I?

I apologize for the lack of new pics, but I've not tended to the battery on the ol' Nikon... I'll try to have some new pics of the gray kitty for you next week.

Have a safe and happy week ahead, all!

A Maddie Pic

I am tired and uninspired today.  Have a vintage Maddie pic.

In the news today, Daisy is starting the last week (barring catastrophe) of her internment in the Mewlag.  We've been letting her out for longer, supervised, periods of exercise and wanderings.  She seems to be doing well.  We hope she manages to keep herself out of trouble in the future!

We hope you have a safe and wonderful week ahead!

The Warden said "No"

It's been a month that Daisy has been confined because she damaged her knee whilst going for the top of the dining room door. We had a conference with Dr G, our wonderful vet.  She said that Daisy should continue to be confined for the remainder of her original 6 week sentence.  We want to make sure that Daisy's MCL is fully recovered before we let her loose to tear it up again.  Daisy, it need not be said, did not take the news well...

Lemme at her!!!  I'll merdalize her!!!  I'll catslap her so hard HER CHILDREN will feel it!!! LET ME OUT, WARDEN!!!!!

I keep telling daisy that I am just a  humble turnkey and am not responsible.  I also mention that LadyRanger and I are the ones who let her out for exercise time in the yard (sitting room).  There has been no soothing her.  We have, recently, let her have unsupervised free time in the sitting room.  Only a couple of minutes, but she appreciates it.  She actually used some of her alone time to vent her frustration at the extended sentence.

Yeah, I know.... it needed killin'...

You have no proofs!  'sides, I'm too cute to have done something that violent!

Yeah.  Right.

Yes.  Right!

I think that all of us are ready for the next two weeks to go by.  We'd like to have our cat back in all her accustomed spots.  I know Daisy is ready to be set free.

Nertz.  They've got the roof covered.  I'm going to have to tunnel.......

We'll keep you posted.  If there's a break-out, watch the national media.  I'm sure it'll make the news......

We have one more brief item.  Our neighbor-cat Puddin' came by for a visit.  She stopped by and enjoyed the cool of our back porch the other day.

Turns out the ol' girl has had the Lion Trim!  She had some pretty massive mats on her haunches.  Her human, Ed, also thought she'd be happier in our southeastern heat if she had a bit less insulation.  She seemed a bit happier.  Nadine continues to grow and be a long and slinky cat.  I will, someday, get a decent pic of her, too.

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

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!