Musings on a Small Life

I need a bit of levity after this week. Apologies if I've posted any of these before; I'm too tired and/or lazy to go back and check. After this week, I wish! Alas, no wine for me.

Today I'm very thankful that Derry ate a bit more late yesterday evening and overnight, and also this morning. He wouldn't touch his Hills z/d (wet or dry), though he ate the hydrolyzed protein dry that Royal Canin makes. (I've got their urinary hydrolyzed protein on order from the online vet store.) We're both thankful he did not have to return to the vet clinic! However, I popped out to the vet clinic a short time ago to pick up a dozen small cans of a different food, in case of future need, and also for more eye meds to have on hand...just in case. Then I swung by PetValu for some "gravy" type foods to keep on hand, again, in case of emergency. I also picked up various food toppers, including some beef liver, to entice Derry to eat his Hills z/d canned again. I'm thankful that worked! He just ate a decent amount of his prescription canned, and is comfortably ensconced in the back space with his lawn chair, freshly cleaned litter box (yes, I put one out...

Poor little mite. (Pic from last week.)     I took Derry to the vet yesterday for a full work-up because he's been throwing up fairly regularly since the latter part of February, usually at night and usually just clear liquid. I was concerned it was his pancreas, kidneys, thyroid, or liver. They sent off a full blood panel and the urine sample and we came home. Well, I don't know why I forgot how sick he gets after the vet visits, being so stressed and traumatized. That's how he ended up at ER the second time last summer. Duh, Kim. He ate a little bit late yesterday afternoon, but nothing since, not even water that I could see. By early this morning he was drooling with nausea. I gave him some Cerenia, as I have several tablets on hand from the fall, unopened of course. That was at 5 AM. Then, around 6:30 AM I gave him some Mirataz (appetite stimulant), assuming the Cerenia would have kicked in and settled his stomach. Wrong. The drooling continued all day (it's about 4...

Derry had quite a lot to say while out in the garden this afternoon, and I knew the reason must be one of the neighbourhood cats. Many have homes and wander freely, but this poor fellow looks homeless and battle-scarred:     I had zoomed in with my little point and shoot from my vantage point by the front of my garage, and even from that distance I could see his wonky ear. I couldn't see the scars on his face and body, though, until I downloaded the snapshot to edit it.   He certainly breaks my heart. He looks quite chunky in the pic, so I hope that someone is feeding him, or perhaps even has taken him in. There are three townhouse complexes in the area, including mine, so he could have come up from either of the two below ours. I hope he'll be okay. ♥ As for Derry, he's currently fast asleep inside, so here's a pic from last week, in his new lawn chair. Peace.

I happened to spy this gorgeous cat (those eyes!) last week on a lunch time walk, when it was sunny and warm, not cold and snowy! (We had wet snow most of the day yesterday, the 19th. Bleh.) Happy mid-week!

A very happy Easter, happy Passover, happy Spring, happy whatever! We hope you have a lovely, peace-full long weekend. May the Easter Bunny bring lots of treats! 🐰🐣 Comments are off.

Beautiful to me, at any rate. ♥ Take care, all.

  I'll second this one, below, though so far the "post" part actually is worse for me in terms of hot flashes and night sweats. LOL. Take care, all.

Derry loves his brushing sessions, which usually are three to four times a day. I used to Furminate him regularly, but now his body is too bony in certain spots for it and it's uncomfortable. So I found this undercoat brush at Pet Valu and he definitely approves! Comments are off.

Yesterday my boss asked me to schedule a 1-hour Teams meeting with six "top" people in various departments. It's been a long time since I've had to do this, thank goodness, and it was a struggle to find a time to meet with all the their admin staff...just so we all can find a time for the actual meeting. (Nine days. Nine days to find a time to meet with all the admins.) 🙄  This is what work has come to! Anyway, if I haven't been around to your blog to leave a comment lately, I'm not ignoring you, I'm mired in work, thanks to a massive process failure on the part of another department. I'm grateful for my sweet Derry-Bear; I'm not sure I'd stay sane (haha, no comments on that !) without him! ♥

Better late in the day than never.  :-) I'm old enough to remember wall phones with party lines. Those things had LONG cords!  :-) Take care, stay well.

Thanks to all for the input on washers, it's much appreciated. At some point sooner than later I'm going to have to stop fence-sitting and just make a decision, good or bad.  Anyway, for wordless Wednesday, here's Stewie, one of the store cats at our west end Pet Valu location. He's a cutie, very food motivated.  :-D Take care, everyone. Comments are off, as it's "wordless" for you today.  :-)

Does anyone have terrific experience with a particular brand of washer? If so, is it a front or top-loader, and if top, does it have an agitator or an impeller? One of the models I'm considering, with either an impeller or agitator: My old washer still functions, but the normal wash cycle no longer works properly and the repair fellow who came early in the winter couldn't figure out why. Actually, it behaved just fine for him...but not for me. LOL. I've been washing on another setting for months. Then last week the auto-temperature control seemed to go; I was getting straight hot or straight cold, not a mix. I switched to the manual setting and it's working at the moment. The machine is the last of the Sears Kenmore (i.e. Whirlpool) mechanical top-loaders, is now 22 years old. I hate to give it up because it's been a terrific "work horse" of a machine, but I don't want to keep paying for repairs, either. (I've already had half a dozen repair visits...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today promises to be plus double digits Celsius, a true sign of Spring at long last! I'm thankful I'm working from home, because our university is well known across the country for its St. Paddy's Day (and other) unsanctioned student parties, and after two years of COVID, I think it will be epic, and not in a good way. Derry and I are happy to be home and to be safe from it all! We wish you all a happy Spring day! Comments are off today .

We woke up to this today, another late-season snowfall. (Click to enlarge the pics for best viewing.) I made my way on foot to the grocery store, with lots of stops and detours along the way to snap pics with the phone. It was breath-takingly beautiful, but all the same I hope most of it will be gone by this time next week with the forecast warmer temps. I'm so ready for Spring! As for Derry, here's how he's managing the endless winter.  :-) Take care and keep well.

I'm a bit late with my post today because I was at work (!) collaborating with my boss and another co-worker all morning. It was SO nice to do that, first time in two years! There's just no comparison between in-person and virtual collaboration. Anyway, I hope I haven't posted these previously, but if I have, I hope I'll be forgiven. :-D

Pics from early morning on March 2nd. It was lovely, actually, but a lot of snow for March for our area. We've had rain since, which has washed away a lot of the former white stuff (now grey and dirty), but we're bracing for up to 25 cm starting late Friday and falling into Saturday. ::Sigh:: On the plus side, it won't last too long, and I've seen (and heard) lots of robins and cardinals, even saw my first red wing blackbird yesterday. Finally, my thoughts and prayers to so many right now, both in the cat-blogging world and globally. It's been an awful start to March around the CB, with so many unexpected losses and challenges. Peace and Blessings to All. (Comments are off; it's "wordless" for you.) http://stillnessatcherith.blogspot.com/ https://brianshomeblog.com/