It Never Rains But It Pours

I mean that in the literal sense. Not as a euphemism for cat rescue or anything else.

[Boring video of 5:45PM deluge follows; the enormous clap of thunder seems to have been drowned out by the sound of pounding rain. I was standing on my doorstep, pointing the camera across the little street.]



Today's post actually is a hodge podge. First weather, then some rambling.

It was a long week. Really long. Maybe because it's been so hot and sticky. Too hot and sticky to do anything like household chores. Such as vacuuming. Which I normally do every other day but didn't do all week. Ugh. I lost count of all the times I had to empty the canister (bagless) this afternoon, as it was so filled with cat hair.

Today I briefly debated going out to the conservation area, but went back to bed instead. Up at 3:15AM, back to bed at 5:45AM, up again at 7:45AM and out to run errands (just cat food and groceries) on the 8:45AM bus. Home at 11:30AM, house work for a couple of hours, and then....huh. Beats me. I didn't nap. Didn't imbibe anything. I did read for a bit, take pics of the cats, check blogs...the usual.

Oh! This morning I bit the bullet and gave the cats a second round of Advantage (for fleas). I dosed them at the end of May--actually, the vet tech did Annie and Nicki, when I had them both in. Nicki is...difficult. Last year I got him only once because he totally freaked out on me. I had him in a spare room, with the door closed of course, and no where to hide, and he was literally up the walls, in a panic. I've been putting this off again, not wanting to take him to the vet clinic just for that (read $$ cab fare, especially now that Ontario has the HST--harmonized sales tax--13% on just about everything), but not wanting to go through that again. Instead, I put him in one of my top-loading carriers (those top-loading ones truly are a godsend...goddess-send, purchased last fall), opened the top a bit and got the liquid on the back of his neck without problem. Left him in the carrier, howling at the top of his lungs, while I did the other two, who were much easier to manage. When I let Nicki out, he raced for the basement (the carriers are upstairs in a spare room) like he'd been tortured in the most gruesome way possible. What a wimp. He seemed to have forgotten all about it by the time I got home, though, which was nice. Last year it took him two or three days before he'd come around me again. Did I say wimp? Yep, big time.

Anyway, I do have a handful or so of pics from a lunch time walk on Thursday. In the sweltering heat. Foolish thing to do, as I felt a bit ill for the rest of the afternoon, even though I was out for only an hour.

The old courthouse, Frontenac County Courthouse. As far as I know, all court proceedings take place downtown, at the "new" one. I think this old building houses only administrative offices, but don't quote me on that.

In a little park that has a lovely fountain--I'd have taken pics of the fountain, except two little girls were playing in it and I didn't want their mom to think I was some sort of depraved person, snapping pics of her girls.

 Down by the Murney Tower Museum, along a waterfront park.

 The Gaskin Lion recently has been restored.

 I have a pic of my dad sitting on this lion, before its restoration, when he was here last fall.

 Down along the water. There were surprisingly few sailboats out.

 There were lots of geese, though!

 Off they all head, into the cooling water. You couldn't pay me to swim in Lake Ontario, with the pollution.

This young man and little girl actually are my neighbours--they live in the townhouse with the white car in the video above. He must have been off for the day; he had come down by bicycle, which was great. Hot day for it, though.

So really, nothing exciting. Oh, I did notice that my credit card was charged $20 by the Humane Society, so the ginger cat's humans went and got him after I talked with the girl. That's good! And yes, I've avoided that street all week. LOL.

I will leave you with one cat photo, though, one of Derry snapped this afternoon. I'm including it as part of July 26th's Mancat Monday post, but he's just so sweet and so adorable and so smoochy that I wanted to post it here too, in advance. Every moment I have with him is a blessing, as I'm keenly aware of the brevity of all life...especially the life of a fur companion. This was the last pic I took in a series in which he had spied a dragon-fly like insect, caught it and ate it, then went back to the hosta, hoping for more.  :-)

I realize I wasn't following the "rule of thirds" here, but no matter. This is one photo I'll be enlarging and printing out for framing.

Have a terrific Sunday, everyone!