Category Archives: Pets

Where Have We Been?

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Where have we been?

I don’t mean travel. COVID still has us locked down but where have we been the last couple of weeks? Well kitten duty is time consuming. Even with toys Banner is a demanding little bugger! I try to play with him for at least 30 minutes before work every day. If I don’t he is so wound up I can’t get any work done. It took him only about 2 seconds with my back turned to tear into my work laptop. Yup he pulled the F2 key off. I lucked out because I snagged it back from him before he he swallowed it and I don’t use the F2 key. I didn’t even know what it did so other than a white spot I guess there was no real harm done.

We Got Our First Snowfall

It snowed here yesterday and then the temps dropped so we still have snow on the ground today. I read that the Farmer’s Almanac has predicted a snowy , cold winter. Why not?  2020 has thrown everything else at us!  I tried to get Banner interested in watching the snow come down but he had no interest at all, A kitten after my own heart. He’s more interested in the feather trim on my witch hat for Halloween.

 

You need to arch your back a little more , Banner , to get that scary Halloween witch cat look! At least he’s got the tail thing mastered.

New York Wildlife

On a more photography/travel related note I got my New York Wildlife Viewing guide. Hopefully this will help me choose some trips in 2021. I couldn’t just buy the book. The only way to get it was to subscribe to Conservationist Magazine. I’ve gotten one digital issue so far and it was really good. I hope some of my issues will be print because the color photos are gorgeous and the articles weren’t boring at all!

The first thing I checked was Adirondacks and the first place on the list was “The Wild” in Tupper Lake. If you recall my brother and I visited “The Wild” in August. 

From the description in the book it sounds like there is a lot more to it than what we saw. Of course we were there while the pandemic was still in full force so half the exhibits were closed. Once this COVID is all over I’ll have to go back. We might have missed some other things there too because my knees were  really limiting my mobility.  I’m working on possible solutions to improve that too.

Puzzle Update

The Puzzle is still laid out on the table but I picked up the loose pieces and put them in the box.  So far Banner has not tried to eat them but I don’t want to tempt him either. So there’s been no progress to report but no damage from curious kitty either. It’s just waiting for me to get some time to work on it again.

 

 

Banner’s New Toy

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Banner’s New Toy

Kittens are so much fun but keeping them amused can be a full time job. To help avoid kitty boredom I got Banner a new Toy.

It’s not like he was lacking toys . His starter arsenal included 12 mini mice, a crooked cat tree, a kick toy, catnip and a scratching ramp.  He lost the mini mice within 1 day. I found myself trekking back to the store for another package of 6.

Boxes, Boxes and more Boxes

I’ve been ordering from Chewy almost daily so the living room is filled with Chewy Boxes. I have to start throwing some out but Banner uses them all. They are another form of toy for him. Which one will I steal away from him first? One of his favorite games is “Find the Kitty” sort of a cat hide and seek. 

The Feather Wand

Rocky my cat

“Uncle Rocky”

Just like his “Uncle Rocky”, Banner loves his feather wand toy. Of course that requires my attention. He bounces and jumps like Tigger trying to catch that feather. We play with the Feather Wand every morning before I try to go to work. It’s fun but it’s also my way of trying to tire him out so I can work. He likes to sit on the computer keyboard or chew on my headset when I’m in a zoom meeting so getting him tired is a necessity.

The Wellness Checkup

Dr Ross, a mobile vet in our community came over for Banner’s wellness check that was required by the shelter I adopted him from. He passed with flying colors. Dr. Ross played with Banner and gave him treats. What a difference from my previous vet visits. No stress on Banner. No stress on me either. Switching vets was such a good idea. Yes, I know, I am spoiling my kitten. But I have to say he is one happy kitten. He’s my purr machine. The only thing I can’t get him to do is to eat wet kitten food. He only wants the dry. This is the first cat I’ve ever had that didn’t want wet cat food. 

Banner! I almost named you George

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His name is Banner, Not George

 

Looney Tunes got it right. He’s only been here since 8 pm last night and already I love him to pieces. I could kiss him and hug him and pet him and squeeze him but no, I didn’t call him George. His tail is just too much a part of his personality. It waives proudly like a banner or flag so his name is Banner.

Go Ahead, Say I told you so.

I know I said no more cats after Rocky but the house felt so empty without a furry friend. Then when covid came along and stuck us all at home it just wore me down. I have always believed that cats find me. I’ve never had to go looking for one and I didn’t really do much searching now. I told myself to be patient but the grapevine was quiet. I didn’t see any strays in the neighborhood. I didn’t even see my neighbor’s cat much.

Then out of nowhere a little kitten face popped up in my facebook feed! I see dogs for adoption all the time but this was the first kitty and I fell for that face. 

The Shelter named him Teddy

 I put in an application right away to Project Safe Pet- RI but Teddy was already spoken for. I didn’t want a different cat. I only wanted Teddy. Turns out my friend and former boss has connections there and she convinced them to give Teddy to me. The other adopters agreed to a different kitty. So here we are. I’ve renamed him Banner and we came home last night, October 10. I expected him to hide and left a lot of boxes around for him to explore but he wasn’t shy at all. He wandered all over the house. He found his food and litterbox and made himself at home.  I imagine you’ll be hearing a lot more about Banner. Kittens are crazy fun but can be trying. All that energy! But they are oh so worth it.

How Y’all Doing?

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How are  Y’all

I know Its been awhile. This Covid thing is taking its toll. How are all my Dusty Roads Friends? I hope everyone is staying well and safe. 

What Have you Been Doing?

I guess the next question is What Have Y’all been doing cooped up inside, sheltering in place? I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing …working and dreaming about the time I’ll be able to travel again.

How Y'all Doing?Work

As most of you know I don’t post much about work. It’s not PC and can easily come back to bite you but I will share that early on in the pandemic my company laid off or furloughed a ton of people. I don’t know how they missed me but I was one of the ones they kept. They expected business to take a steep drop and had to worry about paying a large staff with nothing to do. That was short lived. After a brief dip business came back strong but those of us that were still on board were overwhelmed. On my team they did some scrambling and almost everyone is back on board now. At least we still get to work from home and we’re still busy but its more manageable for now. Needless to say I didn’t have much time for my beloved Aroundustyroads.  

Being CreativeHow Y'all Doing?

When I had downtime I was doing a lot of reading but it was getting hard to find books by my favorite authors that I hadn’t read. I even made a list of upcoming new releases. I was getting desperate. There is nothing on TV these days. My one favorite show is all re-runs because they can’t go out and how many different ghost stories can a person watch? Tired from work my brain needed to just let go, not try to think up things to write about so I as I stretched out in my recliner I let my mind wander and I remembered that I used to love to put together Jigsaw puzzles. I wondered if they even existed any more.

Jigsaw Puzzles

I gave up these table top puzzles when I got cats. They love to bat away the pieces, chew on them and I even had one cat that would take a run and a flying leap. He’d slide across the table pushing all the pieces ahead of him to the floor. Not Funny Rocky! But now I’m  catless although it probably won’t be forever. I figured I’d try the jigsaw puzzle thing again but here’s the twist. I found a web site that would make puzzles from your own photos. I’m always looking for ways to use my pictures besides hanging them on the wall so I gave it a shot. I ordered 4 (they were on sale) and they just got here. I haven’t opened the boxes yet but the outside looks really good, even professional! I’ll let you know how the assembly stage goes. 

How Y'all Doing?

Taking Back my Condo

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Taking Back My Condo

I’ve been living with a cat for more years than I can count. Seems like forever. I bought this condo in Taunton in 2006 and moved in with 3 cats. Over the years one by one they have passed on but I made little effort to change anything since I still had cats until finally there was one.

Now that Rocky has passed away I decided to take back my condo. It’s harder than I thought. I’m attached to his cat trees. I expect to see him sitting there when I walk by. He would tap me with a paw whenever I was near. There are no more taps. I went into the bathroom to open the vanity and realized I could take the child safe lock off the door. Those Bar stools- they can be placed back by the breakfast bar. They don’t have to block closet doors any more.

Rocky’s Favorite Toy

I found Rocky’s favorite toy today. It was missing for about a week before I called the Vet for that fateful visit . I was going to send it to be cremated with him. He’s had it as long as I’ve had him. Seemed appropriate that it should go with him but I couldn’t find it. Its a little worse for wear but still intact. A 19 year old toy. Imagine that! I’m going to save it. Maybe I should have it bronzed. Do they still do that?

Shelters and Friends

Some of Rocky’s things have been shared with my friends. My neighbor’s cat “Moochie” was thrilled with a catnip kick toy I gave him today. I found a shelter to take some of the other toys and ceramic cat dishes. I didn’t realize how many I had. Although they may have accepted the cat trees they are just too heavy for me to move. I found a man with a truck to come pick those up. It’s so quiet and empty. I never knew a little cat could leave such a big hole!