A Grad, lots of walking and a cat ...

Well I have had a crazy last 3 days. Well crazy for me because I normally keep my life slow paced and dull.

Wednesday was M's grad from SK - she starts grade 1 this fall. K's grade 8 grad is next week - she starts high school in the fall. I keep telling them to stop growing damn it but they just won't listen. J says we need to beat them more(very much a joke as you know - we don't even beat our pets).

Here's the best shot of a bad lot of M in her(paper) grad hat:

Here's a random shot of M cat and S dog laying on the bed together. K took the shot but J said they were cuter before because they had been back to back and touching. S rarely sleeps touching anyone.

Today was super busy because it was play day at my kids' school. K opted to stay home as her class went on a trip to an amusement park and she didn't want to go. A went in the morning but didn't want to participate in play day so he stayed home in the afternoon and M only had play day to go to and wanted to so she went in the afternoon rather than in the morning when she normally goes.

So I walked A to school for his morning of school and M walked with my and another Mom friend of mine with the dog on her walk(she wanted to come - crazy kid). I then had to walk to the school at 11:10am to get A for lunch(he freaks a little when he has to walk alone), take M back to school at 12:10pm for play day and go get her again at 3pm. Lots of walking but I had better get used to it since that will be everyday when my kids go back in the fall without K to walk them. I think they will staying a school a couple time a week for lunch.

Oh but there's more!

When we were just 2 blocks from home a kitten came bouncing out of nowhere right up to S and sniffed noses with her but then dashed away when S got playful. S would never hurt a cat but cats don't know that. I was totally stunned that the cat came right up to her! Cats normally try to make sure S doesn't notice them or get out of sight as fast as possible. The other Mom with me and my little girl M stopped to pet the kitten while I moved ahead with the dog and then, wouldn't you know it, the kitten started to follow us dog & all!!

She followed us all the way home meowing for us to pay attention to her. I felt I had no choice and she is now our second cat. We figure she is about 6 months old and may have been someone's pet since she seems happy to be inside and hasn't tried to escape or anything. She's eaten and otherwise has spent most of the day sleeping. I think she was someone's pet but they never got her spayed so she went into heat and ran away - she is pregnant. I'll give her a week to settle in with the animals we already have and see if she tries to escape then I will take her to the vet. M cat is always leaving the house but he always comes right back but I have a feeling if she gets out we may never see her again.

I know what some of you may be thinking. Why would I take in a pregnant stray? I'll tell you why: I want her because no one else will. I want her because there are 90 cats in my city's Animal Control, 33 of those are cats like C(yes we named her) female and under a year old. I want her because there are 104 cats/kittens free to good home postings on Kijiji. I want her because she's just a kitten herself and she's pregnant and so thin it's painful to look at her. No one cares about cats, cats are throw away animals. If I can't change that I can at least change her life for the better. I would love to see anyone find a better pet home than mine.

Here are some pics of C - her nipples are prominent because of her pregnancy. She is tiny - I think she may weigh as much as 5 lbs but I doubt it. She is very thin. She's grey and white and has interesting markings(to us anyway).

Wish us luck.

I'm a gravedigger.

I'm not sure I blogged about the last time my dog S rolled in something gross in the field where I let her run off leash so I'll recap that day to start.

A month or two ago S rolled in something. Now she rolled in whatever it was a few times but those first few times whatever it was she rolled in didn't reek so I didn't have to bath her. Then one day she came from rolling and was soaked with stench.I had to bring her back home and bath her. I waited a couple weeks before I went to the field again and this time I borrowed a shovel from a friend that lives near the field and buried what I discovered was a dead raccoon(mostly decomposed).

About a week ago S found something new in a different part of the field but again the first couple times it didn't smell all that bad ... I should have known. Today she rolled in whatever it is and yuck!! The smell was so bad both my friend that was walking with me and I gagged and tears came to my eyes! What a reek! Again. I had to bring her back home and bath her. Tomorrow I will go bury whatever it is and next time she rolls in something in the field I will find it the next day rather than waiting for bath level grossness!

This time I'm taking my own shovel. My man found a folding one in our camping gear so I won't look like I'm taking my dog out to kill her when I walk her to the field tomorrow :)

Edited to add: Looked today during our walk, no luck. Either someone else buried it or I wasn't looking in the right place. I guess I'll have to take the shovel with me daily and keep a sharp eye on her until I feel the risk has passed or I find it and bury it.

Edit June 17th: I finally found what S was rolling in and I am angry and sad because of it. I did my best to bury it but am still in a state about the whole thing. Of course you must first remember that this is a vacant lot that I walk S through. There are signs that others(probably homeless people as it is near the downtown of my city) using the lot to sleep and/or hang out and certainly signs of other dog owners walking their dogs(and not picking up after them). I saw lots of paw prints in the snow this past winter. I like the lot because there are paths worn thru it, it's a huge lot and it's almost completely fenced in. I don't have to worry about S when she's off leash other than if she finds something to roll in.

Why am I upset? The thing I had to bury this morning was a dead dog in a black garbage bag. It was tossed out onto a vacant lot like trash and the monsters that did it just left it there. To say I am upset is to put it lightly. I've dealt with the death of a dog - it was incredibly hard for me and J. We went $200 more into debt to have his body disposed of. If we would have been stronger and it was allowed by city law we may have dug a big hole and buried him in the back yard. If we had had more money we would have had him buried at a pet cemetery with a marker and everything. We would have NEVER tossed him in a garbage bag and dumped him somewhere for someone else to deal with.

I did my best to cover the bag and remains and then covered the whole lot with a bunch of branches so S can't roll there anymore but I'll never be able to walk by that spot without thinking of it and wondering just what kind of creature could just toss an animal away like that and walk away. Sadly there is no point in reporting this because after all it was "just" a dog ... I hate humans.

Mouses in my houses!

All right I have to come clean about something. I live in an old house and we have always had mice. Like, for the last 11 years we're talking here. Now, I know a lot of people are really all grossed out about mice and worry about pathogens and all that:

I Am Not One Of Those People.

So don't bother fussing at me about stuff like that. This is mostly meant to be funny. Disclaimer done.

Why am I blogging about mice? Well it's because my cat is insane. M cat likes to play with mice. Notice I say play, not eat or kill but play. M will go outside and catch a mouse and bring it into the house to play with it. Sometimes he catches the mice that are already in the house. The whole playing thing would work out a lot better if it wasn't for one tiny little fact: M's fave place to play with his live mice toys is on my king sized bed in the basement.

My basement is only about 2/3 finished and it's a bedroom/computer room/laundry room/work room & storage room in one. So there are lots of place in the 500 square feet down here for a mouse to hide. The cat's toys almost always escape him onto the floor and they stay escaped unless they get dumb and he recaptures them. Recently(like the last 3 days) we've had an explosion of bed mice & mice in the house in general it seems.

Monday night J called me down to the basement(I was on the phone with my pal Kitty - Look Kitty you're in my blog!) because M had a mouse and he didn't have anything to put the mouse in. I am a little softhearted so I like to capture the mice and take them 2 blocks away and drop them off. There are many houses and stray cats between my house and my favoured mouse drop site so I hope they aren't coming back. Anyway I got the mouse and took it away. M cat is a dumb dumb because he saw me pick the mouse up and drop it in the cup and take it away but still spent the whole time I was gone looking for it. Tuesday afternoon K hollered that M had a mouse and was on his way to the basement but it got away before I could get it and take it out of the house, later yesterday afternoon I came upstairs to see a mouse happily walking into the house through the open back door but it went under the freezer and wouldn't come out so I couldn't catch it. Later my Mom cornered it in the bathroom and we got it out of the house.

However, the basement mouse was still at large. S actually chased the mouse a little last night and both J and I were grumpy because we just knew M would catch the darn thing and drop it in our bed thus wrecking our sleep. At least twice we were up looking thru the bed until finally at 3:30am this morning I felt it next to me and when I turned on the light there the little bugger was I said "There you are!" and was about to grab it when it jumped off the bed. So basement mouse is still at large /sigh/ I have to say it's a cute mouse and I hope to catch it and release it away from the house(after marking it's tail with permanent black marker to see if he just happens to be the same mouse from before) so it doesn't wreck another nights' sleep!

I need a nap.

Cass :)