Cat in the Ball Pit

I've been mired in computer issues.  Not what I wanted.  But this is fun.

Back yard in winter

Our teeny tiny backyard gets rather grim in the winter after we have a frost that takes down most of the foliage.  This year I got two new things to make it look better.  A spinner and a red gazing ball.  It really does help to have something to take your eye.

This is our spinner but not our photo...

Pippin looking out the back door.  You can see the spinner and the red ball.

Handsome Harpo

Harpo has become more of a lap boy.  He likes to sit on my feet like this.  I like it, too.

Cold and sunny out

It's very cold outside but it's warm and cozy here.

Why it's difficult to fold the laundry

Pippin likes warm laundry

Harpo being a lap cat

Harpo is becoming quite an amazing lap cat.

Feeling bad for the living things outside

Our teeny tiny back yard is supporting a varied and thriving bird community as well as some squirrels.  We have Oregon juncos and chickadees, at least one blue jay, a crow, a family of house finches and a few others I can't name.  We give them water, black oil sun flower seeds and handfuls of walnuts.

The bird baths have been frozen every morning so I've had to add some water each day.  The hummingbirds lost their pineapple sage in the cold snap.  One hollered at us the whole time we were cutting down the sodden mess.  We are keeping the hummingbird feeders well stocked.  I think the next three nights may be cold enough to freeze them so I'll have to change the feeders as soon as it is light tomorrow.

It's sunny today, but cold (no cloud blanket to keep us warm at night).  The wind has died down so we did the stair master today.

I didn't venture out much for the past two days.  I have been mostly hanging out here,  spending my time hand quilting.  This is the view from my comfy spot on the couch.

That dark fabric over the radiator is Pippin's tent.  We call the radiator his iron maiden and he spends a lot of time next to her in his tent.  He gets so hot that I worry about him but he likes it.  He must be part lizard or something.

John and Pippin

Lolling around at our house

 Can you see Pippin peeking out?

Ozymandias, King of Kings

We lost our beloved Ozy today.

Day Trip to the Lewis River

We haven't been able to camp or hike much since Ozy was diagnosed with diabetes.   We miss both activities and we are trying to find a solution.  We tried taking him with us for a day trip to a favorite spot in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  I wouldn't call it a successful outing.  Even though Ozy was a trooper, pretty much all I got to to do was sit in the back seat with Ozy.

He was very good in the car but not that comfortable in his cat carrier.  I sat beside him in the back seat with the other half folded down.  We were both too cramped to enjoy the ride much.  And it was hard to deal with food and the litter box in the confines of the back seat.

His blood glucose went too low for comfort.  We had medium carb food which we give him to bring up his blood glucose.  If he goes really low, we use maple syrup but I forgot the maple syrup and feeding syringe.  It was stressful to be unprepared for a bad low.  Luckily that didn't happen since we were more than an hour away from the nearest town.  The medium carb was enough to bring him up.  We stopped at the first supermarket on the way home where I tested him again in case we needed to buy some sort of sugar syrup for treating his low blood sugar.  He was fine so we drove on home.

We went to the Lower Falls of the Lewis River, one of our favorite places to camp and hike.  The river is gorgeous and you can hike along it from the campground.   I have some previous posts about Lower Falls and I have more photos of other trips on Flickr.

John went for a short hike (his reward for being the driver).  These are the only pictures I got to take.

 Mount St Helens from McClellan viewpoint.

The water was really high at the falls.

My camera

John's camera

Here are some of John's photos from his hike down river.

Harpo would love this.

Thanks to Nancy for this one. We have a cat who is a treat-aholic. He yowls at us and digs at my head, jumps on my back. Whatever it takes.

 This looks more civilized...


Harpo on my back while I am testing Ozy's blood glucose.

Happy Anniversary Ozy

April 15th marks the anniversary of Ozy's fifth year with us.   Here he is enjoying an encounter with "Wooly Bully".

Napping

A few days ago I found John and all the cats napping together.  You can't see Pippin because he is under the quilt.

Stress eating

Ozy is our diabetic cat and dealing with his health is a real challenge; I've written a little about it before.  It's not the DOING of the care.  It's the roller coaster of ups and downs of his uncontrolled blood glucose, the decisions about his insulin dose, his pain level, when to get help.

This is what I crave when the roller coaster stress and sleep deprivation become too much.  I know they aren't "good for me" but maybe they are better for me than the stress and sleep deprivation.

Ozy time

I've written a little before about Ozy and his diabetes.  I use Ozy time to track his 12 hour insulin cycles.   This little clock is set to Ozy time.  Right now Ozy time is is two hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.

He gets an insulin injection when the clock says 12.  The time after that tells how long it has been since his last injection (for tracking glucose tests, meds, feedings and such).  We had the same schedule for quite a while and I didn't use the clock that much.  But sometimes we have to change the schedule and then the clock really helps.  Like now.  We just changed the schedule and I am using the clock all the time.

Now how cute is this

Pippin loves to be warm...

Pippin enjoying the garden

Cats like a little variety in their lives.  Sometimes I just move something and see what happens.  I moved the scratching post to the back door.  Pippin loves his new view!  He is the only one who actually gets on top of it.

Ozy update

Our cat Ozy was diagnosed with diabetes in early July.  I posted a little about it here. We are still struggling to get his blood glucose under control.  The diabetes has caused neuropathy, which means nerve damage and his legs are pretty unsteady these days.  He walks a few steps and then needs to rest.

We used to struggle to keep him off the counters and now he can't jump on them.  I prefer the struggle.

Cats and the door to summer

The cats spend a lot of time looking out the screen doors, especially at the back yard.  They watch the birds and squirrels who hang around the bird feeder and the bird bath/fountain.  I originally started feeding the birds for the entertainment of the cats and it has worked really well.  They are indoor cats and I wanted them to have some entertainment.  The back yard is our bird sanctuary and is fenced but not cat proof.  Occasionally we have to drive a neighborhood cat out.  Just yesterday John squirted Wallace with water to make him leave.

Harpo and the door to summer

Ozy watching a squirrel

Pippin watches the birds, too.  He especially likes the hummingbirds and climbs all the way up the screen to the feeder level.  Doesn't he have a pretty belly?

Cats in three sizes.  Ozy is about three times the size of Pippin, who, fully grown,  is a tiny thing at just 5 lb 6 oz.