Cats and pansies.

Annie after a good dinner.

Her post-op check-up went well today although she will be wearing her scuba suit for a few more days to keep her from licking her incision. Her stitches were removed and all in all, the surgeon was happy with her healing.
She has another appt. next week and then hopefully she can shed the get-up. 
She's been a real trooper. Better than her mama...being me. :) I just keep thinking that no cat should have to go through so much.
I just want her back to her old self.



                   pansies lift your spirits 
It's been warm enough to decorate with flowers today, the hardy type.
Even the old out-house got a couple of pots. 
They just say 'Spring' to me. And make you smile.
The petunias stay in the greenhouse at night for now but the pansies can take the cooler evenings.

 

 

Thank you for all the 'Annie prayers'.

We have been feeling the love from all of you.

hugs, Deb

Occupied.

Waiting on the sun.

                                        the audacious one

The flower nurseries are open now and it's hard to not drop in...so I do.
The funny little green-house is filling up fast. 

 

 

 It's time to put up more shelves.

There's lots more seedlings to bring out.

*Bird news*

Our blue-bird house is now 'Occupied.'

It stands only a few yards from the greenhouse.

 

 You may have noticed those are not blue-birds.
A lovely Tree Swallow pair have moved in. :)
 Here's what they look like.

Aren't they gorgeous.
We are thrilled (to say the least) to have them take over the blue-bird house. They absolutely sparkle in the sun-shine and swoop around the property while hunting for insects.
The retired guy put out a second house in case we still have an interested blue-bird.
We are feeling rather lucky. :) 

Annie has her post-op appt. tomorrow. Stitches will be removed.
Please keep those good thought and prayers coming.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

hugs, Deb 

Time well spent

 

Time spent in the funny little green-house.
So far, I planted my herbs in pots and my seedlings were transferred to peat pots. Now they need lots and lots of sun.
The rain barrel was filled so that when the sun hits it the warm water will keep the green-house warmer at night. And I have water close by for the flowers.
I always hang a feeder close by so I can be visited by the ever-so-charming chickadees while I play. I love their company.

And I love Gwynn's company even more. She came out for two sleepovers this week. Most of her time was spent helping me in the greenhouse, fixing stuff with Gramps, chatting it up with our neighbour cat, David and luring Simon out of his den with peanuts.The only time it seemed necessary to go inside was for a drink and a cookie.

 

Two days of sun and now summer temperatures are on the way. No complaints here.

Someone else has been making the best of sun-puddles around here.

All the soft beds around the mouse-house and she picks a wooden step. Gotta love her.

hugs, Deb

Waiting on the sun.

Here's a beautiful cat blog to visit ...

http://www.traveling-cats.com/

Rain, rain and more rain. It's times like this that high rubber boots are a fashion statement around the property. 

There are pops of new life everywhere as I walk around. 

"Good Morning, Simon."

I have planted my veggie seeds and herbs and they now reside in the funny little greenhouse.
It's amazing that, while cool outside, the inside will be like a sauna by afternoon. It just takes a bit of sun to warm it up.

I'm not venturing too far from home these last few days. You're right...I am watching over Annie. She is feeling better each day and it's getting harder to keep her quiet. Like this morning; leave the apt. for a minute and come back to find her up on the armoire. 

She climbed the cat tree and leaped to the top. Naughty patient.
Now, because of her shenanigans,  I have to keep the bedroom door closed. Her world is shrinking by the day. But it won't be long before she can once again run the stairs and visit the garage and her beloved pellet stove. I'l be happy when the bandage does not need changing. She is a good patient when it comes to medication but that part ticks her off.

I baked just to hover over her. I needed something to compliment a comforting and hot cup of tea.

Just in case you don't have this...
My favorite Blueberry Muffins made with farm fresh eggs.

 Best Blueberry mini Cakes
1/2 c butter melted and cooled slightly
2 c flour
1 1/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c fresh blueberries
Set oven to 350 degrees
sift flour,sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl
In a small bowl, whisk butter, milk, eggs and vanilla.
Stir wet ingredients into dry just until mixed.
Fold in berries.
Either scrape the batter into prepared pan or into muffin cups.
I then sprinkle a bit of brown sugar on top.
Bake 55 min. for cake
or 28 min. for mini cakes in muffin tins.

These mini cakes are a bit denser than muffins and oh, so delish.

We just discovered over the last few nights that a little brown bunny comes to our side feeder every night like clockwork around ten. I've started leaving some rabbit food and a carrot at the base of the pole for it. Maybe we'll end up with a resident rabbit. :) 

"Oh, brother."

hugs, Deb

This and that.

The morning started with quick thinking to save a squirrel. 
David, King of the Wild Frontier, or otherwise known as the neighbour's cat, had one of my red squirrels fearing for it's life as it clung to the feeder outside the garage window. There was only one way down, being the pole, and David sat at the bottom with his mouth open. The retired-guy went out the side door coming up behind David and got his attention off the squirrel. I then opened the window and that sent the squirrel sliding down the pole and running for it's life to the lilac bush. I'm pretty sure I saw it wave to me as it ran by. "Sorry David."

Plans are being made for our gardens this summer. The supply of seeds being endless.
Now we need some warmer nights and I'll be filling up the funny little greenhouse. I look forward to having another small space to play. Today it is too cool to play out there but tomorrow sounds promising.
                                                     I wish I could nap like Audrey

I took a walk around the property this morning and all the spring flowers are popping out of the ground. I planted lots of daffodils; some at the front and some around Kane's grave-site. They should look beautiful soon along with the dog-wood bushes. Pops of yellow everywhere.

Annie had her drains taken out. It was a quick and easy procedure, she didn't even flinch, and now I am sure she feels much more comfortable. 

One more appt. next week and that's it. She will have three more days of medi-cam and two weeks of antibiotics. Because of the antibiotics I have put her on fortiflora, a probiotic supplement. 
Continued prayers for a complete recovery would be greatly appreciated.

                                              Cutest little box of blackberries


hugs, Deb

Camping out

I had my first camp-out last night; in the middle of the mouse-house living room. Annie and I slept in sleeping bags together on the floor; tons of pillows and her body tucked up beside me. I needed to have her close. 

I expect we'll camp out again tonight. 'No jumping' meant no sleeping on the bed for her so this worked best. Not for my back, mind you, but she will stay on the floor with me where she is safest.  

Waiting on the drugs

Nurse Audrey to the rescue.

(Actually she's just in the way but she means well. She is worried about her mama)

After breakfast she received a good dose of wonder drugs to hopefully keep her pain-free for the day. And now I hear her snoring. Tomorrow she heads back to the clinic to have her drains removed. :(  After that the healing begins and my prayers continue for a complete recovery.)

Thinking back...I opened the steel cage door and held her little peach paw in my hand as her three babes lay quietly beside her. Her eyes were dead; her fur smelled musty. The card on the door said her name was Millie; the name given to her by the shelter staff. She had arrived the day before from a hoarding situation with twenty-six others.

"Millie, I will take care of you now. You and your babies are safe and you will only know love and comfort from this day forward. I promise to never let you down, little one."

And she, too, has given us only love and comfort ever since.

This day will consist of bed-side nurse, administering drugs and I think I will start my herbs in the peat pots just to add some joy.

 I have the funny little green-house up and waiting for the plants to arrive. I really enjoyed starting our veggies and herbs in the little green-house last year and they grew like mad in there. It became my little oasis. So, I expect to have a good crop for the garden again this year. We will prepare the seeds in the mouse-house and bring them out once the weather stays above freezing at night.

So much spring to look forward to.

hugs, Deb

Annie

Thank you all for your heart-felt good wishes and prayers for our Annie.

Linda MacKean sent me an email tonight and I replied with the following...

I have her home with two drains and numerous stitches and some very good drugs. She did well today and we will have the drains removed on Thursday. They had to take an inflamed lymph node along with the tumor. We will let the incision heal and pray it does not come back. The vet suggests that we wait to see if it does and then have the tumor tested for cancer.

My job for three days is to keep her from jumping. Yikes! 

As zonked as she is she still ate her dinner. That's our Annie.

I couldn't call it a night without letting you know how she did. Thanks again for your love.

The retired-guy is sleeping off the shock of the bill. ;-)

hugs, Deb

Good thoughts and prayers, please.

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter.
Our weather has been dark and damp since our family egg-hunt. We certainly picked the right day for it. Easter dinner was the usual; glazed ham with pineapple (I had meatless sausage with pineapple. Who knew that would be so good together), scalloped potatoes, veggies & lovely bread. Apple pie for dessert. And tea, always tea.

So it was a lovely weekend but my mind has been elsewhere.

My dear little Annie has been struggling with her health lately. Last year I found a lump on her chest (above the skin) and took her immediately to Dr. Ann.  She was not too concerned at that time as it didn't seem to be growing and wasn't causing any pain. It looked like a small cyst so we decided to just keep an eye on it.

Nothing changed until recently and now this small growth has become larger and needs to be removed.

Dr. Ann says it is most-likely a benign tumour because it has remained in one spot and not spread. And it is growing away from the skin.  Although Annie has never showed any change in personality, eating habits or litter-box habits, I feel that it is now bothering her (itchy) and I need to find out what we are dealing with. So Annie has been booked for surgery tomorrow and I feel the need to ask for your good thoughts and prayers for my dear, sweet girl.

Annie means the world to me, and when I look into her eyes I am pretty sure the feeling is mutual. So, as you can guess, I am a bit of a wreck over this surgery just as anyone who loves their cat would be.

Perhaps you can include me in your good thoughts and prayers, too. 

Thank you so much, dear readers. I'll be back soon.
hugs, Deb

Easter week

                   The week in photos.
Audrey waiting for company.

Spring weather, time with friends and the first egg-hunt at the mouse-house. The weather could not have been more perfect. Such a fun lead-up to Easter.

My lovely friend, Susan.

I call her Martha because she is a fabulous cook.

We started the week with her delicious brunch.

First Annual Egg-hunt at the mouse-house

There were certainly signs that the bunny was by.

All the grandittles heading in to the woodlot

That busy Peter Rabbit left one hundred eggs for the kiddos.

Great start to the Easter weekend.

So fun.

And 

I have some news on our little blue-bird house.

(stay tuned)

We wish you all a very "Happy Easter."

hugs, Deb