Mischief Monday - Bed Hog

It was really hot on the weekend, with a high humidex that had it feeling like 40C/ 104F. The way our house was built, it doesn't get that hot if we do the right things, which is good because as I have mentioned, we live a/c free.

Saturday night, we were out late as we had gone to the drive-in. Phod was particularly cuddly when we came home. I had the fan on beside the bed. I woke up in the night to discover, he had pushed me to the middle of the bed and was laying butt up by my pillow, belly up, in front of the fan. He slept like that for a long time. He kept kicking me with his back paw. He clearly was enjoying the fan.

I of course couldn't find a picture of him like that, so here is just another picture of my bed hog.

Lady's Birthday Adventure - Part 4

Today we bring you, "On the Road"

In 1974, route 1, aka the Ring Road was created. This road goes around the island. Before that, parts of the island were very remote. If you look at the map, many parts still are remote. The roads that go through the centre are F roads, meaning only 4x4 can drive on it.

Map borrowed from the internet to show the ring road. 

For our trip, we were more or less on the Ring Road. It is really all our little Ford Fiesta (the cheapest car we could find) could handle.

Our little car

For the most part, the Ring Road (and the roads in the towns/cities) are great. They can be curvy, but are paved, well marked and beautiful. In many places, even on the main highway, bridges were only one lane, so we had to watch out for that. However, we often drove miles without seeing another car or only seeing a few, so that wasn't a big problem. 

Here are some examples of the road (not in order from our trip as Blogger is not letting me put them in the way I want lol):

This was one of my favourites in the East

This was the only day we got soaked early in our trip in the south where it rains more

Look closely you can see the road curving through the valley

We drove through 2 tunnels. This was a short one, but the other was 6 km long

The adventures of the roads occurred whenever you went off the Ring Road, or occasionally when the GPS had an idea for a short cut. Here are some examples of that:

A road we decided not to drive down to see the cliffs

This wasn't even the worst poor visibility. Driving to see seals in the East near Hofn

The following is my favourite road story. On my birthday we decided to take a bit of a short cut from point a to point b. The map and GPS both seemed to indicate this was ok. What we didn't know is that this was a gravel road up a step mountain and there would be 0 visibility in places. It was scary at the time. We played the game 'first one to see a car calls it out'  because as the driver the Man had a lot to watch out for (like not driving off the road). Locals who know the road aren't slowed down by the limited visibility.

This shot shows how narrow the road could be and how close to the mountain we were (yes that is snow) 

The moral of the story from this day is, just because it looks like a road on the map, doesn't mean it is a good one!  Be prepared!

Besides navigating the roads, one had to watch for wildlife. We were fortunate that because traffic is so light, you can usually stop safety for these things. Here are some of the things we had to stop for:

Sheep, this happened a lot. They are totally free range because they don't have predators. If you hit a sheep, you are responsible for paying for it. 

The Icelandic Horse

In several spots there were bird warnings. This was one. Look closely, those are Arctic Terns mating. We waited until they were finished to move on. 

Some sort of baby birds

What we what we would tell people wanting to drive the road:

-Overall, the Ring Road, it is beautiful and easy 

-Fill up when you can and always have car snacks. It can be miles before a gas station and food supply in the east and parts of the north in particular

-Have a map and a GPS (several times GPS tried to get us to go off road when it clearly wasn't a road or to drive F roads)

-Watch out for wildlife

-The landscape can change quickly

-There are lots of safe places (clearly marked) to pull over and look at the landscape. Wait for those! (It was very annoying to see people stopped dangerously to get a picture when there was a safe spot nearby).

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Next week we will talk about fire!

Feline Friday - Nin is home

I have been waiting for Nin's return to thank you all for your kind words and love since Nin died. It somehow didn't feel right to thank everyone until he was home. Maybe because this is when his journey really ends. 

We received the call last Thursday that his remains had been returned to our vet clinic. As the clinic is an hour away and neither of us happened to be going to the city we left him there until Monday.

On Monday morning, on my way to work I picked him up. It felt weird all day Monday to know my cat's ashes were sitting on the passenger seat in the car.  It felt weird to be driving with Nin's ashes in the car. He hated the car and would sing the entire ride. It was strange to have any part of him in the car and it be so quiet. I found myself periodically meowing during the drive home.

Nin's remains in a box, on the passenger seat of the car, beside my lunch

When I walked through the door at the end of the day, Hailey who is always excited to see me, went crazy over the box. Perhaps just because it smelt like the vet clinic or perhaps because she understood. Then Man says he heard Nin as I walked in the door. I hear him a lot and I think I see a cat out of the corner of my eye often. I have since Bagheera died almost a year ago. I think some of that is the 20 years and 11 days we spent as cat owners (a little more than half my life!).

When Baggy died, I had ordered an urn that would fit the two of them. They were truly best friends and I wanted them to be together. I have now placed (felt more like jammed) Nin in with Baggy. They are together again.

The urn is currently in a glass cupboard in the kitchen until we figure out where we want to keep it

This week we received the following letter from the Ontario Veterinarian College Pet Trust in Guelph Ontario. In memory of our dear Cinder, our clinic, Ottawa Veterinarian Hospital,  made a donation to this trust. The money is used for research that hopefully will allow better care for our pets.

Yesterday we received a letter from the Ottawa Humane Society saying our vet clinic had made a donation to them in Nin's honour. We would like to thank the amazing folks at Ottawa Veterinary Hospital for their generosity in Nin's memory. (There is a reason we drive an hour to the vet). 

Thank you all again for sharing this less than fun part of our journey with us. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Our kitty angels, Bagheera (left) and Nin

Another Horrible Night

The wind struck again Tuesday night. Hailey was a mess. Nothing we could do seemed to help comfort her. We tried her in the room, in the bed, in the closet, doors opened, windows closed, doors closed, thunder shirt on etc. etc. I even took her outside (she did have to poop around 2 am because she had been so scared earlier she wouldn't go).

I did finally find a solution. After our trip out, I went to the games room. This is the room near her basement cave (aka the bathroom and laundry room). I "slept" in the recliner for about 3 hours. She didn't bark or pace during that time.

At about 5:30, I really needed to go back to our bed as my back was sore. She started the barking and pacing until the Man got up around 6:30. Then she was better.

I have Wednesdays off (I am working compressed hours which means it is harder to visit you all on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, but I get 3 days off a week), so I was trying to get some of the sleep I lost. As soon as the Man left, the panic started again.

It seemed that today, she could only be calmer if one of us was up with her. As I write this Wednesday morning to prepare for tomorrow, she is asleep in the chair beside me. Phod is off sleeping too because she kept him up.

I don't know what we are going to do with her. We need to be able to have the windows open in the summer. Phod goes to the vet in a  few weeks for his check up. I will speak to our vet about it then.

This video was taken Wednesday morning. She is fairly calm in it, but you can see she is demanding comfort, that clearly doesn't help.

I can't wish the wind to stop because if it does  we will boil in our a/c free place.

Wordless Wednesday - Dig, Dig, Dig

My trauma

I had an animal trauma. This happened the night before Cinder died but I haven't been ready to share it until now. 

I was driving home from work. It is a 60 km/37 mile drive as we live in the middle of no where. We live in the hills off a road that is curvy and hilly. The speed limit on a lot of it is 90 km/ 55 miles. After driving this road for the past few years, I know all the hills and curves.

The night in question, I was driving behind someone who was making me crazy with the going fast and then slow. There aren't a lot of good places to pass so I was practicing patience (something I need a lot of help with). There were at least 2 cars behind me, not tailgating but following close enough that I had actually thought I hope I don't have to slam on the breaks.

Suddenly, out of no where, a cat came darting onto the road. It happened so fast I had about one second to decide if I try and swerve to avoid it, slam on my breaks, or hope and pray.

What to do in this kind of event has been on my mind lately for 2 reasons. One - we have a lot of wildlife in the area and I am a planner. Two - in a recent case in our province  a woman was found guilty of manslaughter for stopping her car for baby ducks on the road. A motorcycle came around the corner, couldn't stop, hit her car and the passenger died. Mainly because of this story, the Man and I talked about, if it is small, you can't risk your life of the lives of others in cars behind you. If it is big (like a deer let's say), you actually have a choice to make. I do feel horrible putting myself ahead of animals in this way, but I think knowing I killed a human would be much, much harder emotionally (not to mention I would be fine with never going to jail and that a criminal record may take my livelihood away).

So I picked hope and pray. Unfortunately the cat didn't turn away and I hit it. I can say the cat died quickly and will spare you all the horrible details. I cried and wanted to throw up, but know I did what I had to do in that situation. I know if in the exact situation again, I would have to make the same terrible choice. I do feel terrible and take responsibility for my actions, but I also feel angry at the owner for having an outdoor cat and putting me in the situation where I had to decide which lives to risk. I am working on letting this anger go because judging others is not productive.

Almost exactly 12 hours later, we said goodbye to Cinder. I can tell you, the cat accident was harder for me. Also, even though I tend to have atheists tendencies, I felt like maybe this was the universe evening out.

2 hours after Nin died, I was reminded of the circle of life and the irony of life. A co-worker sent an email saying she had rescued a mother cat and 3 kittens and was looking for homes for them. We declined to take one, the reasons why to be explored in another post. But for a second I laughed. I didn't laugh because 2 cats had dies, no I laughed because for some weird reason in a 14 hour period the universe surrounded me with cats. What are the odds?!?!?!?!

RIP unknown cat. Please know I grieved your death like you were my own.

Angel Bagheera because I needed a reminder of a peaceful cat and the joy of cats

Mischief Monday - The Mouse Is Winning

Back a few months ago, I may have mentioned we figured out there was a mouse in our house. He had eaten a hose from the dishwasher and caused havoc! The Man and I can live without a lot of things, but   the lack of a dishwasher is stress increaser.  We both HATE dishes.

To eliminate the mouse, the Man had bought some traditional traps. Smart mouse was able to get the food off it without setting them off.

Time passed and the signs of the mouse disappeared so we stopped trying. Then Saturday morning we spied mouse poop on the counter. We figure he is upstairs since we removed his downstairs food source (Nin's food).  Time for round 2.

Man bought an expensive humane trap and set it. Saturday night, it was clear the mouse had visited, but he didn't set it off. Last night, well the Man can't tell if the mouse was there or not.

We will try this humane trap for a few more nights, but may have to consider a glue trap.

Let's hope we win this battle soon!

PS We haven't seen Mischief Mickey around for several weeks. We have seen Mrs. Fox and our neighbour says she has 2 babies, so it is possible Mickey has become part of the circle of life.