Sunny Sunday

It has been a beautiful sunny and warm weekend here in Central Canadia. Today it is Mother's Day here but as no one's mother (no, I am not my cats' mum!), I only offer my celebratory salutations to those I know who have children.

As is her wont in warm sunny weather, Pips demanded I take her outside. She would prefer I just open the door and let her out to wander and do whatever cats do, but I really have no desire to scrape her carcass off the pavement, or pay large vets bills for injuries, or have her just disappear for ever. So she is supervised, much to her chagrin.

We both lounged around the yard for a while, she rolling in the dirt and me lounging in a chair listen to a podcast (and sipping a tropical cider, a local brew of pineapple, cherry and pear juices). As she kept eyeing a tree to scale (from whence she could jump the fence and escape into the neighbour's yard), I got her harness and leash and we went for a walk outside the yard.

She doesn't always walk down the sidewalk (in fact, she often just sits in one spot), but when she does, she walks down the sidewalk like a boss. And afterwards, because it is a pretty warm day (and we aren't used to the heat yet as it has been pretty cool so far this spring) and she is mostly black, she had to lie down in the shady dusty lane for a bit to cool off.

Wishing everyone a quiet and peaceful week ahead.

Thirsty Bird

Walking back from the grocery store, I stopped to watch this crow drink from a tiny puddle. It was 30C at the time and the sun was hot. We have had a very dry spring this year and I am sure the birds drink from any source they can find. I was only about 10' away from the bird while it was drinking. My presence did nothing to deter this thirsty bird.

Rummaging about

Spring has seen a mass influx of common grackles to these parts. They eat a lot of insects and anywhere there is leaf litter (like my front yard... I haven't raked that up yet), the birds can be found scratching through the leaves looking for bugs.

Pips and I watched this guy out the front screen door. I got a few still shots, and shortly after I started filming, he very rudely walked off the stage.

I mean, really... how rude!

Change

So those 'dusty' lungs I was complaining about the other day have turned into gunky lungs. Yesterday, I sneezed so many times, and so hard, my sinuses were hurting. I am not coughing often, but when I do, I try to hack up pieces of my lungs. And when I laugh, I sound like a 4 pack a day smoker. *bleurgh*

I now have drugs. Just from the drugstore, because this now seems to be a virus (as in: phlegm is clear to light yellow), and antibiotics do nothing against viruses. I need to haul out the sinus rinsing gadget to see if I can get some of the bugs out of my nose. Still not feeling horrible despite all this. No fever, no aches or pains (other than the usual), no feeling run over by a truck. I am doing laundry and some housework, when I take breaks from sitting in the recliner with the laptop in my face.

Hope you are all having a good day!

It's a.... Chicken?

I had Pips out in the yard the other day, as it was a lovely warm sunny day. She did her usual roll around in the dirt and then was sitting by the juniper when a large grey squirrel came strolling along the power lines.

It did not do the usually chirp and chatter at the cat (and probably me also) but instead stopped and watched quietly for a while. Then it started doing a credible chicken impression. (Have the sound turned up and everything else off... It was quite a ways off and there is background noise, including the occasional meow from Pips.) You be the judge.

A Tad Breezy

Last Sunday, I had to finish off the yard work I had started a couple of days before. I have this big old Chinese elm tree in the back yard and it spits leaves and twigs well after the snow falls so every spring I have a mess to clean up. A mess of leaves stuck to the ground and twigs flung everywhere in the yard. I hate that tree but who has a spare $2K to get it cut down? Most certainly not me!

I had already raked up four large bags of the debris and really wanted to get it finished, but it was such a windy day! Here, see for yourself:

It was beautifully warm and got up to 24C so I couldn't complain about that. But I sure did about that wind! Pips, however, just doesn't care about the wind as it ruffles through her fur. She was out with me for part of the day.

She loves to be outside. I think I need to build a catio that can be dismantled (for winter storage) so I can put her outside without the fear of her escaping the yard, and also making it unnecessary for me to supervise the whole time. She has been known to scale one of the trees, get on the shed's roof and hop the fence into the neighbour's yard. Nope! Not going to a roaming kitty, Pips! And perhaps if I had a shelter in the catio, I could convince Lila that being outside isn't such a horrifying experience. (She runs away as soon as you open a door to the big unknown! Such a chicken.)

And because I did get a total of 7 bags of debris out of the yard, and because of the 75 kph winds on that day, I inhaled a bunch of it and now have a cough. And a bit of yellowish gunk. But overall, I actually don't feel bad. So I really don't think this is a cold at all, just a case of dusty lungs.

But not this kind of dusty lungs:

Dusty Lungs

However, if the coughing gets worse, or sticks around much longer, I will seek medical attention. Have no fear.

Edit: I just watched the videos after publishing this post and because I downsized the files to not be too large, it looks like there's sparkles everywhere! Hahaha! Note to self: don't go so small in the future.