Merry Christmas to All!!!

It is Christmas here in my little neck of the woods. And Winter has descended with a vengeance! Here's a little screenshot of the weather network's forecast for Christmas Day:

Check out the little type under the big temperature numbers. Where is says "Feels Like"...

-40!!!!!

That is the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit!!!

Needless to say, I will be going out in that weather, because Christmas! And family! And turkey dinner!! Being a prairie dwelling Canadian, this kind of weather will not stop me. It only stops me if it is blizzarding out. And a few flurries is not a blizzard. So out I will go! With presents and tarts.

Yes... tarts! We do a potluck type of dinner whenever there is a family gathering. This year, I am doing dessert. So I made tarts. I made mincemeat (at first I typed 'micemeat' but that's the cats' treats) tarts, and also butter tarts. I don't know if butter tarts are a just Canadian thing, but here we sure do love them!

 Mincemeat tart

Butter tart

Frosti went back to the humane society a week and a half ago, after being on the surrender list for almost 3 months. I am sad that it had to be this way but he was such a bully with the girls, I had no choice. I miss him but it is very evident that they do not. And because he is no longer in the house, I put up the Christmas tree a few days ago. I didn't do it any earlier because I figured he would be dragging it all over the house! Pips and Lila each checked it out, and then have left it alone.

 It's 2.5 ft tall

 *bat bat bat*

"what's this thing?"

I worked seven (yes, you read that correctly) shifts this week. It was self inflicted so not a problem. I did a couple of shift trades for other people, and then picked up a shift today as we were going to be short staffed. I have Christmas Day off, and then work six in a row. Again, self inflicted. I know, I know... I must be nuts! But my bank account will love me! I just put new tires on my SUV, so I will be needed the extra bucks.

While at work today, the sun came out for a while and I noticed frost on one of the windows. So here is a pretty picture for your enjoyment.

Merry Christmas!

Mooch

It is a bit wintery here in Central Canada, with snow all over the place and chilly temperatures. It's not horrible, mind you. The daytime highs have been in the minus single digits (Celius, of course). But it gets blustery around here and that means it is time for soup.

Winter is soup weather, right? So I made some today, under the watchful gaze of Frosti. Actually frantic might better describe it. He likes to perch on top of the fridge when I cook and keep a close eye on things. And sometimes I offer him little tidbits of whatever I am making.

And usually he eats whatever I offer him. But not today!!

Sound ON!!

He's healing

Frosti's toes are healing well. Having scorched feet really didn't slow him down much at all. Once in a while, he would sit down and hold this one up. All four of those little pads were burned. I am sure it hurt, but animals are so stoic, because showing weakness usually means death in the wild. 

Despite my house NOT being the Wild, cats usually deal with a lot more pain than we ever know. Same goes for dogs, and probably all animals. We humans are pretty wimpy when it comes to dealing with aches and pains, aren't we?

So, as you can see, his little beans are peeling but they will soon be back to their pre-Incident condition. He has been running around, playing and chasing the girls as per usual. He has not jumped on the top of the back door yet. Nor on the stove. I made myself an omelet this morning, and because I did not want to sit in the kitchen to eat and supervise the hot element as it cooled, I did this:

It worked. He didn't (and hasn't yet) jumped on the stove since The Incident. Hopefully, he never does again!!

Hot Paws

Frosti is a little maniac. A cute, often cuddly, rambunctious maniac. And he often goes where he shouldn't.

Which is exactly what he did on Sunday. I made myself a grilled ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Frosti is very food obsessed, much like a lot of dogs. So after I had removed my sandwich from the pan, and moved said pan off the hot element so the butter would not burn, I turned my back on the stove.

And Frosti jumped up on it, avoiding the hot pan.

Landing on the hot element!!!

He leaped off the stove with lightning reflexes and ran downstairs. Those reflexes were not quite fast enough to spare his toes a scorching, however. 

He ran back upstairs, and sat down, holding his right front foot up. I could see a shred of skin hanging, so I picked him up and took a look.

Sure enough, he had blistered all four small pads on his right foot and two of the small pads on his left. I made the call to the vet and took him in. He spent the night and I picked him up after work on Monday.

Because his burns are 1st degree and were dry by Monday, his paws were not bandaged. I don't think he would have tolerated that anyway and more than likely would have tried to chew any bandages off. He is on pain meds and antibiotics now a few days and I have been feeding him treats before and after his medications. That makes it much easier to stuff a pill down his throat!! Like I said, he is food obsessed.

So, you would think this would slow him down, having sore tootsies, right? Noooo. After I brought him home, as it was supper time, I got the wet cat food out of the fridge and started dishing it up. And Frosti jumped up on the counter beside me. *sigh* He runs around and plays, but does spend a bit more time lounging around. He sometimes sits, and will hold his right paw off the floor for a minute. But he hasn't stopped chasing the other cats around (much to their dismay), or jumping up on things (although he hasn't been on the top of the back door yet).

His goofy self is still very much intact, as is evidenced by the photos I took of him in his carrier after picking him up from the vet's. He sat there, like that... what a clown! (No, he is not spaced out from the drugs.)

You should have seen Lila when we came home. Both girls met us at the door, but when I put the carrier down and let Frosti out, Lila took off down the basement, where she stayed for about 3 hours. She wouldn't even come upstairs for food!!! I am completely certain she is totally pissed off that the little bastard came back!!! 😜