Category Archives: Pets

How NOT to have a productive day

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Editor in Chief

I was trying to choose a post to share and ran across one of Rocky’s old posts. Just goes to show that I’m still scrambling for things to write.  Re-reading it made me laugh so here is is. I hope you enjoy this old re-run. 

Hi. It’s me, Editor-In-Chief Rocky, here to make our apologizes for the missing post today. Our traveling correspondent and main author, Dusty Roads, is having a BAD day. And that is really bad with a capital B! She just locked herself out of the house for the 2nd time in a week.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if the spare key she keeps hidden hadn’t fallen out of its hiding place yesterday and she brought it inside and yes, you guessed it, she didn’t put it back out.

So now she’s spent all morning running around trying to find a way to get back in. Inspiration finally hit her. The pet sitter, my 2nd favorite human, has a spare set. So She called Diane and yes, Diane had the keys with her so off Dusty went to pick them up.

She just got back in and wanted to put the spare key back out in its secret place and, well, umm, let’s just say it was shiny and it had tape on it…two of my favorite things. Well, I don’t think she’s in the mood for me to tell her where it is right now.  She’s turning the diningroom and livingroom upside down and inside out because she knows she left it on the diningroom table yesterday.

I think I’d better just sit back and watch. Sooner or later she will give up and I can sneak it back out  for her to find. It is rather amusing watching her stress out like this. But I can tell you any creative juices have taken a run for it for today.

SCOUT

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Scout is preparing a Scout’s Tips column for tomorrow in case Dusty is not back on track by then.  So please accept my apologizes and thanks for your patience.

Rocky

Rocky Update

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If you have been following this blog for long you know that I am a Cat Lady. At one point I had 3 cats but old age, cancer and illness have been picking off my furry family. Rocky is 16 this year and he is the only one left.

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Since I’ve been Rocky’s pet parent I’ve lost Little Joe, a Black and White Persian tuxedo kitty.

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Then there was Smokey; a fluffy, sweet natured gray kitty. He passed away from a fast moving cancer in his mouth.

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Before Smokey passed away our family grew again to include Buddy, another Black & White kitty. He was huge, tipping the scale at 17 lbs he was a gentle giant. Then as suddenly as he joined us he was gone, just a couple of years after we lost Smokey. Again it was cancer although tests didn’t find the actual tumor the abnormal cells seemed to be everywhere and my poor boy couldn’t breathe.

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That leaves only Rocky. My concern was that Rocky had never been an only kitty. He has always been surrounded by a fur family. But here we are 6+ months since Buddy passed and all seems well. Rocky has become a cuddly lap kitty, something he never did before. He seems happy. Of course he has the run of the house now.

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For years I worked a sort of 2nd shift, I left for work between 10-12 and got home between 7 – 9 pm. Now that I’m working a normal 9-5 shift I have difficulty getting “Lazy Bones” to get up for breakfast. On the weekends if I let him sleep in he doesn’t come around to eat until 10 am or so.

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As you can tell, he gets grumpy if you wake him up!

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I guess if that’s the worse problem we have then I’m very lucky.

Best of Intentions

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With the laundry done on Saturday I had no excuse not to get out on Sunday and do something interesting to tell you about. But when I woke up it was dark and it was raining…hard.  It was a perfect day for sleeping in and my bed felt so warm and comfy. As I’ve gotten older comfy has become very important to me. Even so, Rocky wasn’t going to be patient forever. He wanted his breakfast so began poking me in the face with his paw and walking all over me. Might as well get up.

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I was thinking about making the drive to Vermont today. It’s quite a long haul from where I live but the news was going on about the beautiful colors this year. I’m not much of a leaf peeper but still I thought a dreary day might be good for photographing the foliage and maybe the rain would keep the fair weather tourists away.

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I wasn’t thrilled with my plan but I was determined to have something interesting to write about so off I went, camera and rain gear in hand. By the time I had topped off the gas tank and made it to the highway it was almost 9 am. I should be in Stow Vt around 1 pm. The most direct route was to take Rt 93 which goes through Boston. Since it was a Sunday and raining I gambled that the expressway would be clear and not its normal bumper to bumper nightmare.

I lucked out. The traffic was moving at about 40-45 MPH. Pretty good for that stretch of highway but the rain was getting worse the farther north I traveled. By 10:30 I was just getting to the Rt 95 Split just north of Stoneham and already my shoulders were tight. It had taken me 90 minutes to go 60 miles. At this rate I wouldn’t get to Stowe until closer to 3 pm, not 1 pm and I’d be looking a a return drive in the rain and dark. As the Rt 95 split approached my car seemed to develop a mind of its own and I was off 93 heading south on 95.

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It took another hour plus to get back to Taunton. The rain had settled in for an all day drizzle and we need it but I was done running around in it. I made a quick grocery run and headed inside for the rest of the day. Still no big stories to share.

Time to put on the Pat’s game and welcome Tom Brady back to the field.

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Better luck next weekend!

 

 

 

The Best of Plans

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Well folks, I had a fun packed weekend planned but things just didn’t go the way I expected.

Since I’m  on a 5 day a week office schedule now I have to cram my homemaking chores into the weekend. My plan has been to do the laundry in the morning on Saturday and get it out of the way. This Saturday was no exception.

By 8 am I had 2 loads going. By 8:30 they were in the dryer and I was on track to be finished by 10 am so I would have the rest of the day to play. The Mystic Aquarium had emailed that they were rehabilitating a Florida Manatee that had strayed too far north.

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They would be exhibiting it just this weekend before sending it back to the warm waters of Southern Florida. I was seriously thinking about taking a drive down to Connecticut to see it. But then I got side tracked.

 

Rocky was following me around and being very vocal so once I took my clothes out of the dryer I set them aside to give him some attention. Big mistake. I should know better than to get comfy in my recliner with a warm kitty body on my lap.

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You guessed it. Our quality time turned into long nap and I do mean long. I woke up at almost 1 pm! I still had clothes to fold and I hadn’t even showered yet.

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So much for my big plans for Saturday. By the time I finished up it was time for a very late lunch! Too late for a drive to the Mystic Aquarium so I curled up with a book and planed to make up for it on Sunday.

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Pretty Penny

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Friday was another really busy day at work so it was nice to have a little comic relief.

One of my co workers has a pet pig.  Having grown up on a farm I am not a fan of pigs, big or small, but I had to admit that “Penny” is adorable. We’d all heard about this pig and seen pictures but finally Nicole brought her in to meet us all.

When it was my turn Penny was hiding under the conference table. I began to chant “Hi Pretty Penny Pig” and she headed right over to me. Nicole laughed and said now she could see why I was called the animal whisperer. (I didn’t know that but I take it as a compliment)  Penny had run away from everyone else. I guess my animal lover reputation is still safe for another day!

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Penny followed me around off and on all afternoon. She soon figured out where the dog treats were kept in my desk drawer and occupied herself trying to figure out how to open the drawer. Although she wasn’t successful she came close. Pretty smart little thing.

At lunch she came trotting along behind me. As soon as I sat down at the table she tried to climb up on my lap~ Nicole was horrified but the rest of us thought it was funny. By afternoon the little pig’s adventures began to wear her out. Nicole wrapped her in a blanket and Penny immediately fell asleep on Nicole’s lap.  Of course we all made Pig in a Blanket jokes.

Mostly she had a cute little oink when she vocalized but when Nicole and Ryan tried to get her harness on it turned to squeals. You would have thought she was being murdered! For a little pig she had a big set of lungs.

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She was certainly a happy little thing. Her little piggy tail never stopped wagging. She’s about 5 months old now and Nicole expects her to weigh in at about 45 lbs when she is full grown. Nothing like the big old sows we had down on the farm.

Penny’s a cutie pie and I hope Nicole brings her for a visit again soon.