Bogieblog

Pictures week of 10/06/2024

The Burgandy Belle maple was showy this week

Rainey being silly. She had been in my lap while reading. I use the pillow for back support so it was nice and warm.

Meanwhile, Spot was in a "cave" in the cat tree

 

Cozied Up

I had a few things to button up before winter gets going, and I accomplished everything I need to at this time

The snowblower was taken out of the shed, filled with gas (new gas I had just gotten that day), started, and run for a couple of minutes before placing in the garage.

I dug the the snow shovels out of the shed, chased the spider off of one of them, then siliconed them as well as parts of the snow blower

Got the P43 all ready to run - and have been running it at night while using the mini split during the day. Spot approves

Since the "sideways error" has not resolved itself (I was hoping it was just a temporary thing), I jumped thru a bunch of hoops to report the issue. On the bright side, not a single picture refused to load the first time (which issues has been going on for a seriously long time). Guess you all will just have to turn you monitors :)

And, while typing that last sentence, my keyboard batteries died - so I had to replace them so it didn't end at "have to". Jeeze, the things I go thru for ya'll.

First Tornado of the Year

Yesterday evening I was in the tornado warning area. Rotation was indicated on radar and then it was confirmed visually (short video). No, it wasn't much by Tornado Alley standards, but still exciting since we don't get that type of activity here very often. The rotation did stay for quite some time, starting in Swanzey, going over 2 towns that abut mine and thru Manchester.

Had the kitties in the cat pen for about an hour in case I needed to wheel them into the hallway (a much safer place than the basement since I don't have a containment system for them down there.

The lower cell is the one that produced rotation. The upper cell went thru my town but wasn't bad.

Friend of mine in New Boston was in her basement with her dog as that system went right over them. She and her horses are fine.

And interestingly, my FB memories yesterday popped up that in 2015, on June 23, my area was under a tornado warning - so apparently that is a bad weather date :)

RIP Birdie

I have had Birdie for about 21 years and a friend of mine had him for several years before that. In the last week, he has been falling off his perch on a regular basis so I was sure he wouldn't be around much longer. Yesterday morning he was fine, but at the afternoon feeding I found him lying on the bottom of his cage.

He wasn't a bird that was interactive - he did not want to be out of his cage, and really, people were only good for food and water. But, he has been a constant in my life for a long time so will be missed.

I buried him underneath a bush on the north side of the property.

Update on Big Boy (Bill) at Home

Yesterday I texted Bill's mom and asked for an update on how he was adjusting to being back home. It is obvious that things are going swimmingly. Quote from his Mom, "He's settled back great!! Been so good to have him back, an back to his mushy self!! "

The picture that, for me, nails that he has truly gone to his rightful home

The Destructo Duo are also much relieved. They are much more relaxed and there is no tension or drama.

Although I miss him at times, I am also very happy for him and his family.

When I had reported him by email as a found cat to the "local" SPCA, they responded with this,

Thank you for contacting us regarding the cat you found.

We take Lost/Found reports daily which we keep on file. I just checked our lost reports and didn't see a match for the cat you found.

Good luck finding this cat's family. If you want to bring this stray cat to us, please call us first to let us know. We can take the cat in and will check for a microchip and post a photo to our Lost/Found Facebook page. If no owner comes forward within 7 days the cat gets ready for our adoption process. Or if you want to keep the cat we recommend you hold for 7 days and if no owner comes forward he's yours. :)

If I had chosen to take him to the SPCA, his family most likely never would have found him as he would have been adopted out to who knows where (they are 30 miles from me to begin with). Additionally, the only reason his family knew to contact me was a person they knew, who happens to live on the street behind me, mentioned that I had gotten an orange cat (when he started going out a couple of weeks ago).

Kismet was a big player in this family's happy reunion story.

Big Boy Goes Home

Friday night, as I was going to bed, my front doorbell rang. This is unusual because, I don't have random visitors (and I always know when they are coming because they are either working on something for me or picking up stuff I'm getting rid of), and it was so late (for me - seriously, it was probably before 8pm).

I opened the door and there was a couple standing there. They lady started asking if I had an orange cat and holding up her phone with a picture. After asking when their cat disappeared, and finding it was in the time frame, I let them in the house to see Big Boy.

Turns out they moved in a couple blocks away last year shortly befor I started seeing Big Boy sporadically. We don't know what happened that he chose my house as a safe place late December and early January. Nor do we know why he did not find his way home when I started letting him out in the last couple of weeks, but the rest is history. But, they did give me enough details on his quirks (him climbing chainlink fences, acting like a dog with some of his actions etc) that I was comfortable he was their lost cat.

So, Big Boy (whose original name is Bill), went home with them. They will be keeping him in for a couple of weeks. They lived on a farm previously so he was used to being outside most of the time, so that should be interesting for them with the nicer weather.

So, Bill is now back with the family he has been part of for 10 years.

Picture Dump for April 2024

Sunrise from 4/14/24 (before the storm)

Forsythia starting to bloom 4/19/24

Daffodil from 4/21/24

Spot enjoying some rare sunshine

Rainey enjoying sunshine - doesn't look comfy to me

Big Boy behind me on office chair while I was working. I later stood up and the second picture shows how much of the chair I get (he had turned around from the first picture. He also did move that front paw a bit when I moved). Good thing the chair is oversized, LOL

 

Big Boy Out on the Prowl

Since bringing Big Boy inside in January, he has evinced no interest in going outside. If he was looking out the back door and I approached, he would promptly get up and move to the other side of the kitchen.

Until earlier last week that is. He went outside Monday or Tuesday for a little while. Then again yesterday.

He doesn't go far, mainly within the fenced in area. However, I did find he will seem to panic and frantically climb the chain link fence if both gates are closed (I watched him on the first day). So when he is out, I open one of the gates and he is more inclined to stay on or under the porch. I am unsure of why he panics as he never had an issue with being gated in the bedroom. But it could be something to do with him being injured by sort of animal just before I was able to bring him in (I did not report on that, but I had to take him to the vet for the facial injury). Perhaps he got trapped in an area when he was injured and he has flashbacks so needs to get someplace there are avenues of escape.

I am happy to let him out if he wants, or he can be an indoor cat only - totally his choice since he is street/outdoor savvy.

Out of Quarantine

UPDATE 2/27/2024; Corrected the 2nd picture of Big Boy (middle of post). It was showing the same as the 1st pic - now it shows him under the coffee table.

I have failed to update on Big Boy once he got out of quarantine. He was allowed full access to the house a couple of days after his first round of shots, blood tests and confirmation that his roundworms were eradicated. So, on 2/6/24 the door to the gate was left open. A couple of days later he found the living room bay window is much like his previously favorite perch, the bedroom bay window.

Integration hasn't been all sunshine and roses. There have been tiffs here and there, and Rainey is the one who is the most resistant to the integration. There is no actual fighting, just hissing and growling which seems to confuse Big Boy and he normally either just lays down or tries to walk away. Spot normally gets on okay with Big Boy by leaving him alone for the most part. I'm sure at some point, even if they don't become best friends, they will at least ignore each other.

On 2/18/24, I finally got rid of all my old magazines that were underneath either end of the coffee table. I placed a pet mat on one side, and a box with a small pet blanket on the other side. Shortly thereafter, Spot had claimed one and Big Boy the other.

 

And Rainey was on the big cat tree looking like the wrong movement could be interesting, and she looks grumpy about being disturbed - LOL

Quarantine

Big Boy has to stay in quarantine for a while longer. He has been taking it well.

At first the youngsters (hmm, can I call them that any longer?), pretty much ignored him. Spot still does for the most part, but Rainey is somewhat reactive with borderline aggression. Rainey will walk up to within a couple feet of the gate and sit and hiss if Big Boy is close to the gate.

This is strange since Spot tends to be the alpha and most outgoing/curious of the two, while at the same time being pretty accepting of situations and not holding any grudges. Rainey is reserved and gives way to Spot, and holds a grudge when something happens she doesn't like (like getting flea collars or spot-on type treatments). Perhaps the borderline aggression is insecurity. Or perhaps Spot has assigned Rainey to security duty - LOL.

Spot will occasionally walk by and look, but I haven't caught her hissing.

And of course, if there is going to be a picture of Big Boy, then the other two get their pictures also

Rainey on the top and Spot the next level down.