Oh My Goodness!  The cuteness of this bunny is too much!    Most wild rabbits will run like, well, rabbits as soon as they see a scary human, but this little guy not only didn't run away, but actually kept hopping closer and closer !    I guess as scary humans go, Joy and I are okay : )

This is yet another Photo Safari Report but it will probably be the shortest one I've ever written.  So short in fact that I considered waiting for the next hike and combining them.  And then, I changed my mind, as I tend to do.  At any rate, this one I am calling the Ten Bunny Hike. We've never seen so many rabbits on one hike before.  There were bunnies everywhere we looked! At every turn, every curve in the path,  behind trees and shrubs, in the wild grasses and in this case, even right in the middle of the trail, there were bunnies! They are sooo cute!  And they always look so soft that I want so badly to touch them..................but I don't.

I'm not even certain that the actual number was ten.  It was at least ten but we stopped counting after awhile. One of the things about wild rabbits is that they look an awful lot alike. I'm sure you are thinking, "Sam, how do I know that it was actually ten bunnies and not one bunny ten times."  There are some things you just have to take on faith. This is one.  Here are a few of our ten bunnies:

It was a perfectly lovely day for hiking in spite of that fact that, outside of an abundance of rabbits, we didn't see a lot of other things that were photo worthy. Let's face it, you can take just so many pictures of a palm tree.  Or any sort of tree for that matter.

We weren't bothered by it being a less than stellar photography day. It all balances out. There have been hikes where I came home with several hundred photos. No exaggeration. And others, like this one, where it was less than 50. And most of those I deleted as being, not quite up to par.  On the other hand, we hiked a decent distance in a relatively short period of time.  On high photography days, we tend to cover a lot less ground because there are places where we stop "for a minute" to get one particular shot and end up being there for 20 minutes taking dozens of pictures because it turns out to be a Mecca for birds, flowers, bees, butterflies and so forth.  

On those hikes we don't travel as far because we stop so often. But during those stops we are shooting constantly and in every possible direction: straight ahead, to our left, our right, above us, behind us and way down low.  So low that I have to either kneel, lie down, or sit on the ground to get the picture.  

This was obviously not that sort of hike.  This was the fewer photos but more ground covered type.  And that's ok.  The bunnies were a surprise.  Of course we never really know for certain what we will find. Although we were hoping to see the eagles.  Nope.  Not so much as a feather left behind.  Just their slowly disintegrating nest:

The other unusual thing that we saw were a lot of crabs. It was unusual in that crabs generally hang out at the beach or in swampy areas and this was neither.  The water is nearby but not near enough for this particular preserve to be considered beach or swamp. So that's kind of a mystery.  Here is the crab.  Kind of hard to make out.  Use your powers of imagination:

The few birds that we saw, I did not capture very well.  Ah well, it is what it is.

I did get a few botanicals, primarily wildflowers though I will be honest and tell you that my interpretation of what denotes a wildflower is fairly liberal.  Basically, to me, anything that blooms and is not a domestic specific intentionally created Flower is a Wildflower.  Which means most of these are probably blossoming weeds.  I don't care. They are wildflowers.  You heard me. I said what I said.

Looks like I have just enough photos left to post some randos:

Like I said, one of the shortest Photo Safari reports ever!   Still for all it's brevity, I wouldn't change the Ten Bunnies hike for anything because I wouldn't be able to give up a single one of those little rabbits.

​Let's see what this week's hike brings us!  It's always a surprise!

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about Sydney the crow and how much fun I was having feeding him?  I also talked about how much the kittyboys were enjoying the CAT TV Escapades of  Sydney .  Well of course, it ended up being much more than just one crow. Of course.  Coz if you feed them, they will come.

The Grackles came right after the crow. Grackels are glossy black birds who, in the sun, show iridescent feathers that sometimes look deep purple. OOO pretty.  Then came the bunnies and a couple of squirrels.  That was pretty much it.   It wasn't much, but we were happy with it.  

Joy was totally on board.  She even offered up any old, stale, worn out bird-friendly items from her own pantry which was awesome.  Then she so generously offered something more. A bird feeder (SEE PHOTO ABOVE)  Note:  the leaves and branches on the ground in the background are from a big yard project Tim and I have been working on for a few weeks, trimming up all the greenery and oh my gosh there is SO MUCH OF IT!  But we only have 3 bins to put it in to be taken away each week so I keep refilling the bins every week and this is what's left right now.  Just in case you wondered.

Not just any kind of bird feeder you understand. This one is very fancy.  It has a camera in it!  Wow!  Joy received it as a very lovely and thoughtful gift. But alas, it really didn't lend itself to Condo Life.   Joy and Bob live, most of the time, in their high-rise condo overlooking Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It's a helluva view, let me tell ya!  But there is no place to put a bird feeder there so she re-gifted it over to us. Wow!

Tim set it up in the back yard near where I was already feeding the birds on the ground.  (There is also a dish of water for the birds that gets changed twice a day just FYI).  It took a little modifying to make the feeder stay put and stay stable enough for actual bird perchings.  Once Tim felt confident about the setup, off we went to find birdseed which was harder to find than we expected.  Finally found a small "starter" bag at Walmart and then much larger bags at the Tractor Supply Store.

I couldn't wait to get started.  As soon as we got home, I filled that feeder to the brim then I went inside and waited. And waited. And waited.  Brysco and Wyatt sat in the family room windows waiting with me.    I don't know why I thought that the instant that feeder hit the ground they birds would be flocking to it.  Flocking! LOL  Pun unintentional but apt.

So eventually I gave up waiting and set about getting other things done.  After awhile, I noticed my phone dinging at me.  Initially it was just one random ding, then more and more and holycats what's going on with my phone? 

It seems that there is an app (of course there is)  involved  which Tim loaded on our cells so that the pictures the feeder camera takes are sent to our phones.  How Cool is That?    I immediately began scrolling though the photos.  They were all of the Grackles and they were hilarious photos. Very Up Close and Personal.

Here's one just by way of example:

Too funny!  And for the first few days, that's all I saw. Various and sundry photos from the feedercam of the same bird.  But a few days later, we were in the car and just to kill a little time I checked the most recent photos from the feeder cam and oh my gosh, there was a wood pecker!  I didn't know woodpeckers at birdseed!!  Live and learn I suppose.

 From that point forward, we began to more of a variety of visitors and while the feeder/cam photos aren't perfect, they are still very fun:

But I knew there were probably other birds that weren't being captured by the feeder camera so I started spending a little more time with the kitties hanging out by the window, my real camera in hand and yup, I was correct. There were other birds, some I managed to get photos of and some I didn't. Oh plus a bunny and a squirrel just becoz:

There have been others too who have managed to avoid having their photos taken by either me or the feeder/cam brilliantly. So you'll have to take my word for it that we've also had blue jays, male cardinals and a host of others I haven't quite identified yet.  (they are so quickquick you see)  As time goes on I can only assume that the numbers and variety will continue to grow.  An exciting prospect to anticipate :)

Rather than go broke buying bird seed because the little oinkers will just continue to devour it every time I put it out, I am limiting myself to only filling the feeder twice a week.  I filled it this morning and already it's been a crazybusy birdie destination with as many as can possibly fit on the perch and the others waiting their turns on the ground and nearby shrubs and trees.  Lovely manners actually.

We are finding that there is something very lovely about watching those birds. It's fun in a quiet sort of way, it's really kind of serene and soothing, and I'm learning, without intending to, quite a lot about birds! Always a nice bonus.  The fact that the kittyboys are also greatly entertained is one of the best parts.

I still ground feed for the larger birds...there is no way that Sydney will ever fit on that tiny little perch. He is a big boy. And it turns out that some of what I put out for Sydney, the squirrels and bunnies also enjoy.  Who knew?  I do experiment a bit with that.  I'll stand in the pantry with a bag of stale potato chips and think..hmmm.. I wonder if birds would eat this?  The answer was yes.  They also like stale bread, crackers, cereal, tortillas (cut up) and cookies.  They were not fans of watermelon rind or orange peel however.  I am teachable.

Also found a source for ground bird food that isn't going to break the bank:  Dollar Stores!  There are three different ones in Venice. One is even on island which is terrific for me.  In their food and snack aisle last week, Tim and I found a box of off brand saltines for $1.25 and a large bag of pre-popped "Movie Popcorn" also for a buck twenty-five.  Not bad.  For an entire week the ground bird food has been dollar store off brand snacks that only cost me $2.50 in total.  I see another trip there in my near future.

So far I see this as a win all the way around.  The birds are being fed and watered, the kittyboys are entertained, Tim and I are enjoying their company and we are learning so very much!  It's awesome!

Have a Terrific Weekend Ya'll

It's a rainy Monday here, gloomy, dreary, wet and well, we need the rain after our long dry winter, so I won't complain (much).  It was dark and sporadically rainy yesterday as well.  And it having been Mother's Day, well, I can only hope that not a lot of folks around here had planned Mother's Day picnics!

I felt very celebrated all weekend and the weather did not impact it at all.  Even when it might have we just pivoted to Plan B!   Gotta be flexible.

It was a full weekend of celebration around here!  Wow!  In total I had an ice cream fest (3 different sorts of small batch locally made excellent flavours and of course I had to try them all), donuts (including the beauty at the top of the page that was ALMOST too pretty to eat), dinner out (ooo fancy!),  flowers (so pretty!), phone calls (love those so much) texts (also made me feel special!), brunch at a restaurant I'd never eaten at before (had avocado toast and it was fabulous) and cards that were funny and sweet and made me cry a little (which is to say, perfect cards).  Whew!  Sunday night the original plan was burgers on the grill at home but weather issues and all meant Burgers cooked inside instead!  Also excellent!

Saturday morning was relegated to yard work and we got a LOT done. Once we got cleaned up and changed, we were up and out and errands run including buying bird seed. More about that later this week.  A little teaser for you :)

It was a great get things done sort of day and I do love crossing things off the gotta-do list!  But Sunday was My Day.  It got to call all the shots.  I gave it a lot of thought. What did I really want to do yesterday?  I wasn't absolutely sure. The weather was yucky enough that while we did manage one walk without getting wet, I wasn't in the mood to risk getting soaked with an outside thing.

And as they day passed and I still wasn't coming up with a brilliant plan for what I wanted to do, I decided that perhaps I didn't really want to do anything at all. Maybe I just wanted to be a lazybutt. Perhaps I wanted (needed?) a do-nothing day!  And that is as rare as snow in July.   So, as it was my day and therefore my choice, we did little to nothing. We watched old movies and did some reading. We played with the cats and snacked. We talked and sent each other funny videos.  It was such a relaxing, no obligation whatsoever, glorious blob of a day and I squeezed every single second of enjoyment out of it that was humanly possible.  It was an Ahhhhhh day.

Sometimes doing nothing is the best sort of thing to do!!!  It was Perfect!

I hope you either felt well celebrated and appreciated, OR  made someone else feel that way on Mother's Day  this year.  I know how much I loved my day AND the people who  made it happen.

I believe I've mentioned before, (but perhaps I did not) that when Tim and I bought this house, which needed a LOT of work, that we decided to break it up into bite sized pieces.  We decided that every year we would do one and only one project.  Any sort of reno is not only very expensive but also very stressful, it's just the nature of the beast.  Our thought was that if we focused on doing only one project a year, it would feel a lot more manageable in a myriad of ways.

Some projects were very large, some were relatively small.  Several projects were the sorts of things nobody sees like electrical work or plumbing stuff. The end result is never visible but it's still of terrific importance.  There were projects that we were able to do completely ourselves, some that we had to hire out and others that were kind of a mixed bag:  us and them.

Then came that last huge project, the family room. That one was a bear. We knew it was going to be big, we knew it was going to be expensive and would take quite awhile to be completed, but of course we never could have predicted that the contractor would bail (with the $$ of course) partway through, that we would need to figure out how to finish it ourselves or that it would take so much longer and be so much more expensive than we ever anticipated.  Whew!  What a mess that was.  But somehow we muddled through, we came out the other side even  though I at some point I said something along the lines of never ever wanting to do another project again. Ever!  And I meant it when I said it.

Well that was then and this is now and this year's project has been a much smaller one. This year, we (I say we, it's been 99% Tim) tackled the courtyard.  It's not 100% finished yet but I'm so excited about what Tim already did that I'm going to go ahead and write this up as if it were.  He deserves all of the credit.  He is my hero!  I adore every single bit of it and I'm sure you will too.

The photo above says it best I suppose. This is our house.  Well the exterior of it.  It's an older photo and some of the greenery no longer exists. Lost to time due to various storms/woodpecker damage and the capricious nature of life.  But the house is still the house.  As you can see, it's basically just your basic circa 1962 light green crackerbox of a house.  The only thing that differentiates it from other houses of that era is the courtyard in front of the house.  

When we bought the house the courtyard consisted of some wobbly, faded, old adirondack chairs and a shade umbrella that was anchored by a very heavy metal base.  It worked ok right up until an unexpected gust of wind carried it off to parts unknown.  well dang!  We replaced the umbrella only for it to happen again. Rather than continue to replace the umbrella, Tim put up a sail shade.  It worked wonderfully though it only covered a small section of the courtyard.  The answer, obviously, was to get a second sailshade.  Two triangles, opposite one another makes a rectangle y'see!  Perfect.  It just needed a big post to anchor one corner. Tim took care of that!

It's so much cooler under the sailshades.  The plants and the humans are both big fans!

Next up was lights.

Our first Christmas in this house, we put up those exterior grade Command Strip hooks and boy oh boy, those things have lasted really well. It was a snap to put up and taken down the lights each year. The lights only ran along the roof line, so no big deal.  Until the first sail shade went up. Then it became a bigger dealio to take the shade down to put the lights up and then vice versa after the holidays.  I guess I got lazy because after the first time I just didn't take the lights down.  Yup, we became Those People with Christmas lights up year 'round.  Didn't bother me a bit.  Until the Christmas lights, after being up far too long, just gave out. Dang.  When we had to take the sail shades down for the next hurricane, we took down the lights too and out they went, right in the trash.

I decided that since you really cannot see the roofline with the sailshades up, I would forego Christmas lights from now on.  I would miss them, but I'd get over it.  Tim to the rescue.  He got lights :)  This time, no Christmas lights, but so called "partylights" Love it~!  AND for bonus points, he also got some dragonfly lights for my whimsical heart :)  Like I said, this guy is my hero.  They look Fabulous!
​

 The next addition, to my great surprise, was a wind chime that is so perfect.  Yet more dragonflies ( my favourite) with a sweet tinkly sound that's loud enough for me to hear, yet not a gongish sort of sound.  I can see it from the kitchen windows and if the windows are open, I can hear it to. Love it!!!  I hung it by the front door :)

Soooo the project isn't quite done because there is also the other side of the courtyard which we refer to as the Future Garden.  When we moved in it had a narrow strip of over grown ornamental grasses, anemic hostas and two palm trees on life support.  We had the palm trees cut down and I tore out the rest, digging up roots endlessly or so it seemed. But now it's ready. Or almost ready.  I learned that even though we thought the "soil" had been sufficiently amended, not true.  It needs more and more and more.  What passes for soil here is actually sand which makes perfect sense. It's good for drainage but not for plants.

But we found (on sale!) some mulch and some garden soil, Tim put in a watering line and we've been visiting nurseries, making notes and coming up with a plan.  Eventually it will be ready for fragrant, colourful, butterfly, dragonfly and bee attractive shrubs and plants and then the transformation will (mostly) be complete. I am very excited about it!

See!  Isn't that a great start!

The Courtyard Project is well on its' way. We are so pleased with the results so far and I look forward to sharing the finished or nearly finished results at some point in the future :)Small Projects are the best projects!  That's my new mantra

​

Well Howdy do to you. It's been a little more than a week and my eyes are a little bit better.  We'll see how this goes.

Thought I'd start off with a Photo Safari Report coz, as you can clearly see, Joy and I were out there again, tramping through forests, taking photos, and having a heck of a good time.  Yesterday's hike led us down paths we've ever never seen before, or at least it's been so doggone long that we don't remember them which is practically the same thing.  I will be calling this the Fairyland Hike for reasons you shall soon see.

The vast majority of the hike was along the river's edge.  That's the mighty Myakka River to be specific which is interesting all on it's own.  While the water was moving, it was such a slow, lazy current that the water surface was nearly a mirror. Very cool.  And we saw a few river critters as we went:

So there we are hiking along the water then to our surprise,  the trail began to curve inland and suddenly we were surrounded by wildflowers, some of them waist high! I mean surrounded! They were Everywhere!  The colour, the fragrance and that gorgeous early morning light made us feel as if we had gone through some portal to another world, a Fairyland of sorts.  There were butterflies and dragonflies, bees of all sorts,  and bird song ringing out through the dense forest growth. It was both silent and noisy at the same time.  No sounds of civilization other than our own footsteps but nature makes one heck of a racket all on it's own. It was glorious.

No photo will ever truly capture the magic of that  Fairyland but here's what I have for you:

We were cautious as we trekked along, especially along the water.  The trail is sometimes skirting rrriiiggghhhttt along the very edge of the water and while I'm sure we would survive the fall (dignity schmignity), we would for sure be very wet if we fell in and of course, you never know what's IN the water.  Well, there is this guy of course. Remember him?

And other times, we were stepping and even climbing over downed trees to say nothing of the uping and downing of small hills, bits of muckiness, unsteady precariously placed rocks,  exceptionally narrow pathways and the occasional unknown spider.  We are careful but unafraid.  A little out of breath and sweaty perhaps at times, but that doesn't stop us:

Oddly, while we heard birdsong throughout the hike, we didn't get many bird photos until we were nearly back to where we began!  Still they were worth waiting for. (along with a squirrel and a bunny)

So that's it for the Fairyland Hike, but I do have just a couple of photos that are not from this hike that I haven't shown you yet, so I'll tack them on here.

If you don't mind bearing with me, I think I'm back to posting speed.  I did have to write this up in two sessions to give my eyes a chance to rest part way through which is why this is posting so doggone late !  Sorry about that.  There may be a few more late day posts for awhile, but it feels good to be back!

Have a terrific weekend ya'll!

This is me in my natural state. That is to say, reading.  It's already been well established that I am a reader.  Not just a reader, I suppose, but an indiscriminate reader.  I will read just about anything.

I read on the computer, I read on my phone, I read things written on paper and even on television (captioning is one of the best inventions ever!)  I don't just read things, I READ things. My dad used to say that I ate books.  I devoured them whole. 

And it doesn't even have to be books. I will read magazines, newspapers, brochures, cereal boxes,  greeting cards, grocery lists and dictionaries.  If it has words, I will read it.  I am voracious. And worse, I am endlessly curious.  Which is why having my phone with me a great deal of the time is awesome.  If (when really) I have a questions, a query, a thought, an " I wonder" moment, I can immediately look it up and read about it.  Poor Tim, in the car a captive audience, gets to be read to.

I work at my computer be it writing the blog, curating the photo site I am a member of, emails, reading news articles on and off throughout the day.  And when I am doing other chores, say washing dishes, baking cookies, ironing or folding towels, I have my phone propped up so that I can multitask - reading while doing chores.  I read actual books while I am eating, relaxing in the bath or after dinner curled up all comfy on the sofa.  It's kind of an all day thing.  Seriously, it's probably an addiction at this point.

And I believed it to be glorious!  Turns out it's also sometimes an issue.  

Recently I began to notice issues with my eyes.  They hurt, they burned, they felt gritty and sometimes there were blurry spots in my vision.  I began to be very light sensitive, to the point where sometimes I was wearing sunglasses Inside the house and every once in awhile,  I would even experience double vision.  Ok this is a problem.

I began using eye drops throughout the day. Over and again, constantly.    My eyes would feel pretty good for a few minutes and then back to gritty, hurty burny, blurry, not good dangitall.    It's frightening to have issues with your eyes.  And in my case, especially scary because since my ears don't work very well, I am extra dependent on my eyes.

In two words what we have here is some serious eye strain. And the only thing to do for it is to severely limit my reading for awhile.  Which also means limiting my writing. And both of those ideas stink on ice.

I don't quite know what to do with myself without a book in my hands, or the computer mouse or my phone.  But I'm going to find out.  Starting when I finish this blogpost,  I will be taking a sabbatical from the blog, from the library (gasp!) from my cell phone and computer.  I'm not sure how long I'll be away, but however long it takes for my eyes to calm down.  Calm Down for heaven's sakes!  Just going to give them a bit of a break.

I'll be back eventually, I'm quite sure, and then  I will, most likely, have lots to catch you up on. But in the meantime, ya'll please be good, be safe and have fun.  Oh and take good care of your eyes!

​Hugs all 'round

That was intended to look so much nicer but apparently, I do not have the gift of being able to "write" nicely with my computer mouse!  ARGH~

Regardless of how messy it turned out, the intention remains.  With Easter right there on the horizon, just a couple of days away, I hope yours is wonderful no matter how you spend it!

Hoppy, or rather, Happy Easter ya'll!  See ya next week!

Hugs all 'round

How would you like an update on sweet, baby Brysco?  This is him looking pretty dang healthy if you ask me.

It was a long, sometimes scary, expensive and difficult road to get here but worth both surgeries, the money, the recoveries, the sleepless nights, the worry, the numerous vet appointments, the medications and specialty foods.  Absolutely positively do not regret any of it.  He is in a pretty good place right now and back to being the silly, energetic, fun, very sweet and loving cat that we first adopted a year and a half ago!  

Obviously we have to keep a close eye on him, make sure he doesn't go backwards. That would be awful. It took so much time and work and effort (on everyone's part including his) to get him healthy again, I would hate to see him regress.  

Right now the biggest part of keeping him healthy is medication.    He is down to only needing it every other day now and you would think that was very do-able.    Just one eensy tiny little itty bitty pill every other day. Nobody would blame you for thinking that.  But you would still be wrong.

 Have you ever attempted to give a cat a pill?   The difficulty level is right about on par with disarming a bomb or attempting a reverse 4 /12 somersault dive.  Think Bull Riding mixed with Coal Mining and add in a cranky Panther.  Something along that line, except you actually are quite fond of the cranky Panther and don't want to hurt him in anyway.

I will attempt to describe how it goes in case you have never done this yourself. First you must find the cranky Panther, excuse me, the cat.  In my case, with two nearly identical black cats, we must find the Correct cat.  The one who needs the medication, not the one who doesn't.    Somehow he always knows when it's medication time. Even if I've gone nowhere near where the medication is kept, even if I haven't even whispered the word pill or medicine or anything like it. I didn't even Think it hard but he always knows. Somehow, he just knows.

Brysco like to hide in dark places. Black cats in the dark, very sneaky and very smart.  If his eyes are closed, his is virtually invisible.   He hides in the backs of closets and under beds in the farthest, most difficult to reach corners possible.  Of course he does.  I suppose I could snatch him from those hidey holes but I don't.  It's too traumatic for me and for him.  Instead I wait.  Eventually he will emerge. He will relax and think I've forgotten about it.  He will lay in a sunny spot and stretch out looking quite pleased with  himself.  And that is when I pounce.

Well I don't pounce.  I'm not a good pouncer.  But I quietly approach with the pill in one hand and the other hand ready to scruff him.  Scruffing is grabbing the cat by that extra fur at the back of the neck, much like a Mama cat does. It does not hurt them at all but it usually (Usually) renders them very compliant.   In a perfect world, the cat is scruffed with say, your left hand  and with your right hand you put a small amount of pressure at the back of the cats jaw to force it open just a little bit, with your third hand (?) you pop the pill into their mouth and, while holding the mouth closed, you massage their throat until they swallow and taadaa mission accomplished.

It didn't work like that at all.  I did approach quietly while he was relaxed in the sun.  I did scruff him, but he did not relax into compliance. Instead he shifted over into survival-I-am-being- attacked mode.  A secret kitty button was pressed and all twenty claws popped out to play. I once heard a fellow refer to those as murder mittens.  Sounds kind of cute yet dangerous.   Yup that's accurate. Murder mittens.  

To be completely fair, my hands are not very strong anymore so I don't know how tightly I was really scruffing him. Severe Arthritis has rendered my hands far less useful than I actually require much of the time. But I always have the plan to do the best I can with what I've got and at this point, I am fully committed.  I knew that I could release him knowing that he would then scurry back into his hiding place and be extra leery of my existence for a while  OR I could move forward which is what I did.

Meanwhile, he has, telepathically I think, communicated to his brother that the humans were killing him or at least torturing him and Wyatt has now run into the room to rescue him and is getting in the way, trying to stop me from doing whatever the heck it is I am doing to his brother. Very loyal and sweet but not helpful at all.

I attempted to avoid the wildly flailing claws while literally holding him now in midair. He gyrated, hissing and growling, swinging those scimitars of death at me and I stepped into it, got closer, hugged him to me to hold him more in place.  Somehow, miraculously, I did manage to shove the pill into his mouth.  I could tell when he swallowed because his body went limp. But his eyes. Oh those eyes.  They were open as wide as they possibly could and he starred at me with absolute shock.  How on earth could I have betrayed him like this?  I was a traitor, I was now the enemy and I would pay dearly.    Sounds about right.  I gently put him back on the window sill and as soon as I let go, he took off like he was fired out of a cannon.  Back into a safe hiding place to glare at me for the rest of the day while I applied bandaids strategically here and there.

It was awful.  I hated doing it to him.  He hated me doing it to him too.  There had to be a better way.  I could not bear the idea of this being our life every other day for the remainder of his life.

I watched several extremely unhelpful videos of people giving cats pills. And in each video the example cat was so easy going, cooperative and downright helpful that it didn't apply to our situation at all. But I went ahead and tried several different suggested methods.

 The burrito method (or purrito as they adorably referred to it) only works if it's a cat that will allow you to wrap it in a blanket. Brsyco will not.  He was out of that blanket faster than Houdini.

Another one was to put the pill on a washcloth, put some liquid cat treat (we refer to them as lickysticks in our house and both of the boys love them) on top of it.  The washcloth is suppose to hold the pill in place so that kitty licks don't push it across the plate/bowl or floor.  Instead, Brysco licked every bit of treat off the pill and then walked away leaving the naked pill behind.

Making a very tiny kitty meatball with the pill at the center of wet kitty food.  Other than the grossosity of handling wet kitty food in that manner,  this actually worked at first.  I made a very tiny kittyfood meatball with a medication middle and put it in his dish.  He leaned forward and gobbled it up quickly then I put the rest of the food in his dish and he was none the wiser.  I thought, Jackpot!  We've finally hit on the way that works.  Until the day shortly thereafter when he ate around the pill. Dang.

I tried getting super sneaky and making multiple kitty meatballs, making sure one had the pill. Of course he didn't know which one did,  hehhehheh, medication roulette I gleefully thought to myself. I completely underestimated how strong a cats sense of smell is  doggone it.  He would eat the two unmedicated meatballs and walk away in triumph. Ratz.

Sometimes I thought he was eating the pill but I would find it somewhere later in the day, slightly soggy and beginning to disintegrate. Obviously he had walked way, me thinking he had taken the pill but when I wasn't looking, he spit it out. Such a smarty britches!

In desperation I tried grinding the pill into a very fine powder and mixing it into his wet food.  It did work a little bit sometimes. He never ate the entire bowl of food when I did that, but he ate some. The issue here is that I had no idea how much medication he was actually getting. 

Which lead to a far bigger issue was that I could see, literally see, that he was beginning to fail a bit once again, right before our eyes from receiving sporadic and uneven amounts of medication instead of the nice steady equal distribution he needed.  Dang it all.

Tim told me about transdermal application of medication.  Transdermal application is medication in ointment form which is applied to the skin and absorbed into the body.  That sounded like a great plan.  I called the vet to discuss it and they were onboard.  They ordered it and it arrived last week.   I approached it with great hope.

It has to be applied to the inside of his ear, alternating ears with each application.  It's applied and rubbed in and that's it!  Sounds super easy yes?  Well I will say this, it is getting easier with each application rather than harder which was how it went with the pills. At this point, he thinks he's just getting pets instead of medication.  

Once again, I  approach him only when he is already relaxed and snoozy.  First he gets lots of pets, which he adores, then the medication ear massage, then more pets and all is good.  Tim helped the first few times and we are learning the tricks of the trade so to speak, as we go.

And we are seeing such a wonderful difference.  He is more consistently playful, funny, silly, energetic and loving.  He spends more time each day awake and engaged.  Best of all, he is starting to put on a pound or two which was seriously needed.

I think finally, FINALLY, we have the medication method that works for us and for him and Brysco is on his way to the rest of a very healthy happy life!

Welcome to yet another Photo Safari Report.  I'm calling this one the WhirlyBird Hike for obvious reasons.  While Joy and I were tramping along,  fairly early in the hike,  I asked Joy if she could smell smoke. She agreed and we searched the sky for signs of smoke and saw nothing, but then our view was a bit obstructed by giant trees.  But it was no surprise when shortly thereafter we both heard and saw this bright red helicopter or whirlybird flying just above the tree tops, back and forth, over and over, in what I assume was a grid pattern,  perhaps searching for the source of the smokey smell?  Or maybe the fire had already been put out but they were making sure that the wind (it was a rather windy day) hadn't carried any embers off to begin another fire anew.  It is, after all, still our dry season and in a forest, it doesn't take much to go from small fire to raging inferno, y'know?  Safety First!

Still between the smokey smell and the very loud helicopter it was awhile before we saw much worth taking pictures of.  It's ok, some hikes have a zillion photos, and others just a few.  This one is the second type which means it'll  be a short post.  Ready, set go!

The first photos were taken as we were entering the Preserve.  Seriously, we had just turned onto the dirt road that leads us to the parking area when Joy glanced off to her left and saw them. Sand Hill Cranes~!~  Wow!  I was cleaning the lens on my camera in preparation so I handed her my camera and she quickly snapped these guys right out the window:

It felt like a great start!  Eventually, we did see quite a nice variety of birds, the best and most unique of which was an indigo bunting. We had just turned on to a side trail when Joy and I both saw him at the same time, but Joy was quicker with her camera than I was.  By the time I had my camera up and focused, he was long gone.  Luckily Joy was kind enough to share her photo with me so here is this little turquoise cutie:

The rest of the birdie gang, most of which you probably recognize is here.  The only kind of different one is a crested something that I cannot remember. Joy told me and I've already forgotten. Ah well, He knows who he is:

Time for some botanicals and a couple of randos

We've come to the end of the WhirlyBird Hike AND the end of the week.  Hope your weekend is a terrific one with loads of fun and laughter!  We'll meet again, right here next week.  No idea what I'll be writing about, but it'll be something.

​Hugs all 'round

Despite the cover photo (and isn't it a doozey!) this is not a Photo Safari Report.  Nope, Photo Safari Reports are exclusively reserved for when Joy and I set out, cameras in hand, together.  This was something else altogether.

Tim and I had the genuine pleasure of spending one morning this weekend with another photography minded couple who we had never met before in person.  I belong to a photography group online and I "met" the couple there.  As much as you can really get to know someone online, I enjoyed them and took the opportunity, when offered, to meet them in person this past weekend. I know, I know, general consensus is that is always a bad idea. Especially when their photography is something I greatly admire.   

They, especially the hubby of the couple, are seriously dedicated photographers and they travel all over the world taking the most amazing photographs.  The fact that such experienced, interesting, successful photographers were interested in meeting us at all was flattering in the extreme. I have long been an admirer of their work and now, perhaps, (I was hoping) to have the opportunity to learn at the hands of yet another photography master (Joy being the other one).  for some people it's singers, actors or athletes, for me it's artists and photographers.

Not only did I learn, but I was encouraged and even praised by someone I greatly admire,  The biggest surprise was that I was also relaxed into an easy comradery with these people.  Tim and I both enjoyed their company tremendously.  It was that rare feeling that was as if we had known them forever.  To our surprise, they expressed the exact same thing.  Awesome. Love when that happens.

Here are some of the photos that I took.  Hope you enjoy!

One of my favourites was this young bird who hadn't quite figured out how his wings worked yet. He was adorable, awkwardly attempting to flap around the nest while his parents calmly looked on:

Another favourite moment was watching this bird fighting with a vine while attempting to gather yet more nesting material.  PS the vine fought back:

There were quite a few nests, some with tiny baby birds in them, all being lovingly tended:

An impressive variety of birds were in the area. Here are just a few of them:

Managed to capture a few flowers too:

And even a few randos:

They say, "never meet your heroes" but  in this case, it worked out perfectly.  

This is a crow.  Just your basic crow.  A regular bird. I'm sure you've seen them and probably not paid a great deal of attention to them. Me either.  Until Sydney.

We have our own crow now and I've named him (or her)  Sydney.  Why?  I have no idea.  I tend to name creatures and that was the name I arbitrarily chose.

I first noticed Sydney when  we put a bird bath in the courtyard.  There were a few small birds that occasionally came by to use it, but it wasn't exactly a high traffic area.  I was considering moving the birdbath and debating where to place it when I looked out the window one day and saw this massive black bird perched precariously on the edge and helping himself to a drink.   Wow!

I thought it was great the cats weren't certain how they felt about it.  They were also watching out the same window and looked at me with big round eyes that kind of said, "What they heck?"  Crows are good sized birds y'see. The wingspan alone is more than a yard across! That's a wee bit intimidating to a small cat !

The second time the crow showed up at the birdbath, he actually used it for a bath.  Water went everywhere as he splashed around. It was very entertaining though I was concerned for his safety as the birdbath was originally not intended for a bird his size and the structure tipped a little this way and that as he enjoyed himself.  After he left and I replaced the water, I also took the time to make sure the birdbath was more stable for his weight.  He returned multiple times which was when I bothered to name him. 

And then suddenly, one day without warning, he was gone. Just disappeared. Awwww, bummer.  I read up on birdbaths and attracting birds. I moved the birdbath to the backyard to an area that seemed more bird friendly and still no Sydney. Nor any other birds either.  I stopped concerning myself with the birdbath after a few months. If nobody is using it, why I am constantly putting in fresh water, y'know?    Then last year's hurricane season happened, and the birdbath was damaged.  The subject became Moot.

A few months after hurricane season, I was cleaning out the pantry one day and noticed that somehow, we had collected multiple boxes of microwave popcorn that was very short dated. I started to just throw it away and at the last second held back.  I suppose I could go ahead and pop it all and put it outside for birds/squirrels/whoever wanted it.   I filled a large garbage bag with all of the popped corn, scooped one bowl of it and gave it a toss into the backyard without any real thought.  I figured that I would check the next day and if it was gone, hurrah, somebody enjoyed it.  If it was still there, I could always just throw it away. After all, it was already in a garbage bag, right?

To my surprise I had barely made it back into the house when a crow landed and gobbled up some of the treat, ate it with apparent relish and then grabbed some more before flying off with it.  As I watched, he returned for several more trips before the popcorn was all gone!  Hurrah! Sydney was back!

Every day, around the same time, I put a bowl sized scoop of popcorn outside in the same general area and every day, as soon as I went back inside, Sydney would come down and enjoy it before taking some with him to, I guess, share.  Huzzah!

Eventually I ran out of popcorn, but found some slightly stale cereal which he also loved, some broken granola bars of which he was also fond and currently I set out crackers for him.  He loves them all.  I hear him caw to announce his presence around 9 o'clock every morning now.  I go outside and yell, Hey Sydney!  and hold up my hand with the crackers so he can see that I have a treat for him.   I put the crackers on the ground in the same spot and, usually, he swoops from the tree to the rooftop and then, once I've gone inside, to the ground to eat.

I was thrilled a few weeks ago when he gracefully glided from the roof's edge to the ground while I was still outside.  I believe we have established a level of trust.  It is so amazing that Sydney and I have created this Trust between us. We cannot  communicate really, so it's not like there was a negotiation or a discussion.  But I suppose I've proven that I mean him no harm and that was good enough for him.  It's good enough for me too :)

In reading about crows, I've learned that they are extremely smart creatures. Apparently, they have the same brain weight to body ratio as humans.   They are inquisitive, curious and clever.  They create tools to use and are quite adaptable to their surroundings and situations. In my reading I learned that they are monogamous and that while some cultures believe them to represent death, other cultures believe them to be good luck omens.  I also now know that a group of crows is referred to as a murder, which is an unkind choice of words!

As far as intelligence goes, I have seen Sydney tucking crackers away in different parts of the yard, saving them for later so I know he's giving the situation a great deal of thought. He doesn't turn food down, but he doesn't waste it either.  Smart!

I took a few photos from the family room window the other day of Sydney and his crackers:

I believe I misspoke before. I said that we have our own crow now.  That's not true.  We don't own Sydney and more than he owns us.  He is his own bird, comes and goes as he pleases. Isn't the expression "as free as a bird after all?  So no, we do not have a crow, but there is a local one that trusts us enough to eat what we have to offer and isn't afraid of us. And that'll do.

I'm really glad that Sydney decided that we were ok.  Not as good as crows, of course, but as human go, we aren't half bad.

I went back through my recent pictures and found a few other non-Sydney crow photos to finish up with.  Hope you enjoy!

Ready for yet another Photo Safari Report?  Yay!  Well come on down then!  Let's go!

As you can clearly see from the photo above it was a truly gorgeous day. Perfect for a good long hike.  Joy and I kept trudging along for just over 5 miles and loved every second of it.  We hit up a preserve we rarely go to, not becoz we don't enjoy it, we do!  But because, due to heavy morning commute traffic, it's hard to get to.  Still every once in awhile, we go anyway, patiently waiting for the perfect size gap in traffic to pull a you-ee  and set to.  I'm going to name this one the Animal Uber Hike and I'll explain that in just a minute here.

A few miles into this hike we got to a place that is normally completely flooded over, making it impossible to go any further along that particular trail, so it was a real treat that to be able to hike beyond that spot.  This being the dry season, most of the lake was MIA but there was just enough water left to attract quite a variety of critters including: roseate spoonbills, egrets, crows, ibis and several others.   Very Pretty. Reminds me of a Monet painting :)

They were all very hard at working looking for their breakfasts and therefore were completely  ignoring us.  The ignoring us part was especially important because we also saw a wild hog close by.   Yikes!

Looks a little like the loveable, adorable, Eeyore of Winnie the Pooh fame doesn't he?  Well, just for the record, they are not loveable or adorable. In general they are mean tempered and cranky and just as apt to hurt you as not.  Usually we give them wide berth!  But since he was Very Occupied and on the complete other side of the pond from us, we quietly took our photos and tippy toed onward past him with no problems. Whew!

However, on the way back, we saw that not only was he still there, but he was giving a ride to a crow!  Animal Uber!  LOLOL

We saw a lot of Scrub Jays on this hike which was nice since we haven't seen any in awhile.  They are especially fun to see because they aren't afraid of people and seem to love having their photos taken.  They literally were posing for us!  Here's a set of Scrub Jay pictures:

Yes, there were other birds. Of course there were. Want to check those out too?  Okey dokey:

Got some pretty botanicals too.  Let's face it, on such a beautiful day, it was genuinely difficult to take a bad photo. I did manage of course, but I was shocked at how few pictures I deleted during edit!  Henceforth, trees/ flowers/etc.

And finally, FINALLY, we are starting to capture dragonflies again, which means butterflies cannot be far behind!  Huzzah!

We have, once again, come to the end of another Photo Safari Report.  Hope you enjoyed the Animal Uber Hike.  What could be better than a great hike on a beautiful day with a terrific person, seeing and capturing lovely things AND having a good giggle too.

Hope today is the start of a Fabulous Week for all of you! 

Leaving you with photos of us  (Joy on the left and me on the right)

The above photo, which I did not take by the way,  is of both the Venice and Nokomis jetties which form a channel which in turn is an entrance to the Intercoastal Waterway.   If you've never heard of the Intercoastal Waterway (or just intercoastal)  it is a 3,000 mile inland waterway that runs along the Atlantic and Gulf of the US.    It stretches from Massachusetts south along the Atlantic Seaboard around the southern tip of Florida and ends in Brownsville Texas.  In short, it's quite long.  heh  And wildly popular with boaters.

Venice, the town we live in has the south Jetty and Nokomis, which is one town north of us, obviously has the north jetty.  Both have a lovely long walkout  which is lined with enormous rocks and is usually populated with sightseers ogling dolphins and manatees, fisher people, folks waiting to watch the sunset and loads of birds.  There are often surfers to be seen, boats to wave at and a public beach to access.  Ours used to have a snack shack called, Jetty Jacks that offered, in addition to food and drinks, live music, clean bathrooms and picnic tables  - some with umbrellas for shade.  used to have.

Our jetty is pretty much toast right now. The last hurricane season beat the absolute snot out of it. Jetty Jacks sadly, was completely destroyed and the rest is, well, it's barricaded right now. Though shalt not pass!    We are coming dangerously close to hurricane season once again and our jetty remains closed.  Oh I'm sure that eventually it will be repaired and that will be grand but in the meantime, we are jetty-less.

The folks who fish can fish elsewhere, off the pier if nothing else, sightseers can see wildlife from any point on the beach and y'know, we are in island so there is a lot of beach /waterfront to choose from,   The sunset  is right there in the same spot, every night, all you have to do is look west.  I'm not certain where the surfers went.  It's just a matter of time and patience until it is repaired and once again accessible to all.

But in the meantime, poor Tim is going through some sort of Jetty Withdrawal I think.  For reasons known only to Tim, our jetty just speaks to him. It was one of his most  favorite places to be here.  That's where we  went to watch the solar eclipse (with the proper eye protection naturally).  It's also where we would sometimes go on a moonless night to star gaze very very very late.  As if we were tourists we would go there, on the regular, camera in hand to capture frolicking dolphins, huge waves, not yet dangerous but still very impressive storms, bird close ups and whatever else happened to be there.  We went there to celebrate, to eat donuts on cold rainy mornings,   to squint through thick chewy fog to see what appeared to be ghost ships passing through the channel or just to find some peace when life gets to be a bit much.

And now, it's not an option.  He misses it. He doesn't complain of course, he's not the sort of person who complains about anything. But I know him.  And I know how much he misses being there.  If jetty visits were a once in a long while thing, it wouldn't be a big deal.  But it was at least weekly, sometimes multiple times in a week that Tim and I, or just Tim alone, would end up there. I felt so badly for him :(

This past weekend it occurred to me that the Nokomis jetty had reopened. Perhaps a visit to that jetty would fill the gap so to speak?  So on Sunday, we drove over to check it out. 

We stood at the edge looking down into the water from the rocks, we watched the birds, waved to the boats and made out way on to the beach and watched the sun begin it's descent.  Eventually we left.  I asked him how he felt about it and he said it was fine but just not the same.  And he was completely correct.  We stood on the Nokomis side looking at what remained of the Venice side with longing and nostalgia and, I suspect, missed it more than ever.  

For some things, there simply are no substitutes, it seems.

But hey, we tried.  And it isn't as though we had a bad time after all, we did not.  But it wasn't the same.

I did take a few photos which I will end with.  Eventually our jetty will be repaired, I have no doubt and then we can return to visit one of Tim's favourite places.

I'm going to be 72 this year so I am completely qualified to the following opinion:  Getting Old Sucks.  In fact, it sucks rocks, it stinks on ice, it's gnarly pits, it's.....I cannot come up with a phrase that adequately explains how downright lousy it is.  

Those of you who are around my age will probably agree that 90% of being old is crap.  If you are younger, you will not understand no matter how compassionate and empathetic you might be.

It started small and sneaky, almost like a comic book villain.  A few wrinkles and crinkles around the eyes that we justify by calling them, "smile lines".  "Isn't that adorable?    I started noticing them (they were probably there before but I don't look in the mirror very often) when I was mid 50's.  I piffled it off and declared that it didn't bother me a bit.  (I was lying both to me and everyone around me. It bothered me, a lot)

Then it was the things affected by gravity.  Let me start by saying that I'm glad we have gravity, I'm happy to be firmly placed upon this planet but when it comes to the impact of gravity upon my personal person, not a fan.  Gravity pulls everything down and I mean everything (it's why we fall down and not up afterall).  I began looking in the mirror even less than before. That's how I combat my enemies - with a strong wallop of denial!

When it came to arthritis, I couldn't pretend it wasn't there, dang it.  It wasn't just the pain and believe me when I say this, it hurts, all day every day there is some degree of what the medical books laughingly describe as "discomfort".  If you have arthritis, you understand, if you don't, you absolutely do not.  For me, the pain alone wasn't the biggest issue it was that suddenly, my fingers were pointing in all sorts of wrong directions and most of the joints no longer bent.  the accuracy of my typing was severely impacted coz the doggone keyboard keys were no longer where my fingers were aiming.  And of course the lack of ability to bend my fingers also meant playing violin was out of the question, picking up small objects takes a lot of creative problem solving and even people who seriously need to be punched, would go punchless.  

Growing up, even into younger adulthood, I saw a doctor once a year.  As a kid it was shots and the school and sports team clearance more than anything.  Once a year was frankly more than necessary.  Suddenly one innocent annual doctor appointment ends up being referred to specialists of all sorts.  Now we have an entire rolodex worth of medical professionals and it feels like there is some sort of doctor appointment happening every month.  Our calendars are cluttered up with all sorts of medical nonsense.  

The old digestive system that never let us down as kids allowing us to eat an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies with potato chip chips on the side and a soda chaser with impunity, now balks at the stupidest things.  Spicy food?  No I'm sorry, my body doesn't like that anymore.  Fried foods?  Oh it smells so good, but I'm afraid I would have to pay the price later. Citrus? nope. Acidic foods? negative.  Pizza?  Oh I love it way more than it loves me, I'm afraid.   Ice cream?":  Stop torturing me!  The list of foods we cannot (or should not) eat is much longer than the ones we can.  Most of what's left is very boring.

Then there is the really scary stuff, cognitive issues.  Walking into a room and not remembering why.  Setting down my glasses and having no idea where.  Starting one project and getting distracted by another part way through over and over so that by the end of the day I am surrounded by a half dozen, half-finished projects.  There are days when I walk around all day thinking, "there is something that I forgot to do" and not realizing what that thing was until the next day. All those times when I cannot think of the word I want to use.  I know what letter it starts with, I know what the word means, I just cannot for the life of me think of the dang word.  ARGH!  Frustrating and terrifying all in one.

Fatigue is a close personal friend now.  I get out an exercise, I do.  Nearly every day I get out and walk, whether it's around town, into town to do errands, to get to wherever I need to go (I walk errands rather than run them heh) or in the forest on a Photo Safari.  I am not the sort that just sits on my tushy all day. I have a round of exercises that I thoroughly hate doing but loyally do at least 3 or 4 times a week. And I'm busy with volunteer work, yard work, shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning, planning and my many interests.  All of these things are highly recommended activities to combat fatigue and yet.............and yet!  Every single afternoon around 3 or 4 o'clock I could easily have a little nap.  A tiny snooze.

Someone (much younger than I) recently was talking to me about certain aspects of the global/political scene and while I was able to calmly reasonably intelligently discuss the topic with her, I wasn't getting all steamed up about it.  And that made her a little annoyed.  "Why aren't you mad about this?", she demanded, "You are sitting there just as calm and cool as a cucumber instead of really being PO'd".  I answered without giving it a seconds thought, "I'm too tired to be angry".  It seems that, for me at least, being angry takes a lot more energy than being calm or being happy or pleased or content or anything positive and I just don't have the oomph for anger anymore.

For the most part, we don't complain about it.  My Nana used to say that there is no point in complaining about the heat because complaining doesn't make it a dang bit cooler.  Same goes for this getting old stuff.  Not only will complaining not change it, it's boring to talk about. It is!  It's dull and boring and nobody wants to hear it. So when anybody says, "How are you?"  My immediate answer is "just fine, how are you?"  even when I am very clearly not fine.

As you can plainly see, there isn't much to like about getting old.  Well maybe one thing.  I find that I am more apt to speak my mind now.  usually in a kind, polite way, but still if you ask my opinion, beware because you will hear the truth. Sometimes I will even give a warning, "Be absolutely certain that you want to hear my answer because I will tell you what I really think".  This is new for me and for the most part it's a good thing.

The other, slightly related thing, is that I don't always say yes now.  Sometimes  I say no.  Again politely and kindly, but firmly.  "Hey come join us for pickleball?"  'No thank you, but kind of you to ask." 'oh come on, it's fun"  "I'm glad you enjoy it"  "Really!  It'll be good for you"  "no thank you, I am not much of a sports person".  See! Most of that was very polite but firm.    Turns out you can say almost anything as long as you have a smile on your face.

One of the biggest and life altering things I can do now is say no with NO explanation.  This brand spankin' new for me!  "Hey we are having a party on the 12th, would you like to come?"  "No thank you". The end.  I was a shocking revelation for me that not only could I say no but I didn't have to explain why. Just no.  Wow!   And now I can do that.  I make no apology for wanting a nap mid afternoon, or turning down the offer of eating Thai food, or not wanting to loan out a precious book.  it's  whole new me. And I like it.

Why I am suddenly so much brave so say no, to speak my mind, I have no  idea but I'm positive that it's related to being older and I am grateful for it.  I am so much more confident in my own decision making these days.  I don't second guess myself as much, I don't over think like I used to either.  Both good things.  

I reckon that's it.  My opinion about getting old is, avoid it if you can.  Put it off as long as possible. I don't care how many cute commercials they show on TV of smiling old folks loving life (and I do love my life - don't get me wrong) and having a ball, most of getting old sucks. Be prepared.

Here it is folks, the promised Photo Safari Report from last week. Since this hike was on Joy's birthday we will call this one the Joy's Birthday Hike. Sometimes the hikes name themselves.

As you can see, we started out fairly early, which is such a pretty time of day even if it means also a chillier time of day with heavy dew on the ground.  Which in turn means we wear toasty layers and our feet get wet and therefore also very dirty.  (the dirt sticks to the wet y'see) Oh well. But since we both hike in sneakers and sneakers are washable it's no biggie.

Like lots of our hikes, there were areas with not much going on and other spots where we stood in one spot taking one photo after another over and over for quite some time.  We do move around in that one spot because the shots are in every direction all at the same time. We resemble photo snapping whirling dervishes more than anything in those moments.  And then the moment is gone, we move on and that's just how it works.  We are good with it.

I'll begin at the beginning with some bird photos. The first photo of the day was of a bird and the last one was too.  Very "full circle".  I love when that happens:

,I was surprised and pleased with the number of wildflower photos I got , some perhaps past their classically considered prime true enough, but always beautiful no matter what:

The forest was, as it always is, breathtakingly beautiful just on it's own:

I even have a couple of Randos for the post today!

I reckon that's about the size of it.  It was a good hike. I would go so far as to say that it was a great hike!   Hope you had a good time reading the Joy's Birthday Hike Photo Safari Report. 

See you soon!  

​

Yesterday was Joy's birthday !!!  All together now:  "Happy Birthday, Joy!"  Oh that was nice.  Her request for her birthday was a hike which is what we do almost every Thursday so that was easy to give her :)  There were a very small gifts and some oatmeal cookies too.  Not bad.

You know, as sisters go, I got really lucky. Joy is one of the good ones.  While our interests and talents are not much the same - she is an artist and a dancer and a genius quilt maker while I'm more of a reader, writer, housemouse type - she has always been my biggest supporter.  Back when I used to write music, I would send her tapes of me playing and singing the songs I wrote and then she would listen and call me and we would discuss them.  Which meant that she honestly, actually, really and truly listened to each and every one of those doggone tapes.  That's huge.

In school she was super popular and active in social groups like theatre, art and dance while I had a very small (emphasis on the very) circle of friends and spent a lot of time on my own hanging around libraries and typewriters.   But we shared a room, in a courteous way, and helped each other out with whatever the other needed.  We comprised on room colours and were genuinely interested in each other's lives even though our personalities were very different.

I suspect that part of the reason that two people who were so very different, (even though we are still to this day told how much we look alike) got along so well was that in our childhood years, we moved so very much.  Life was sometimes kind of traumatic and difficult for one reason or another and we were always stepping into the unknown.  There was sometimes stress and pressure in the household which of course needed to stay secret and that left the two of us often feeling very much alone. There were times when we were all we had.  So we cherished and nurtured and so carefully protected our collective which, I suppose, was sisterhood.

After sharing a room for our whole childhood,  we were finally separated when I left for college after which I moved on with my life and she with hers. And it so happened that life dictated that we would live far away from each other for the greater part of our adult lives.  But we couldn't really be separated so we burned up the phone lines on a regular basis, talking, listening, supporting, sharing, venting and advising.  And to this day, nobody can make me laugh harder and longer than she can.  We crack each other up, laugh until we cry, leave the room separately to calm down and then when we return all we have to do is look at each other and we start laughing all over again. That's priceless.

In our entire lives, we never really fought, never raised our voices and certainly never resorted to violence!  Come to think of it I do remember one occasion when Joy - for whatever reason was willing to poke the bear.  We were in primary school still, in California in the second house there.  Joy was inside and I was outside charged with watering the garden.  I'm not why, but Joy was feeling a little bold and silly both at the same time and was mocking me through the open window, making fun to me having to do a chore while she was foot loose and fancy free.  I listened to the teasing through three different windows (two rooms) and suddenly for a brief moment, turned the hose on her. Through the open window.  Into the house.  She was shocked into silence, sputtered a moment and then started laughing. I mean way deep down in  the belly laughter!  Which made me laugh too and we ended up sopping up the wet floor (and furniture - yikes) together and our parents never knew.  That's the best kind of sisterhood.

Now for the past almost 9 years now, finally we are living in the same state, only about a half hour apart and how very nice to get to spend time together, once a week at least, to giggle and vent and listen and talk and support and advise once more, but now live and in person.  

We still have different interests, personalities and talents though there is more crossover now. We've both raised our beautiful, wonderful and amazing children (she had all girls, I had all boys).  We both retired from jobs that were in medical offices, departments and clinics (odd eh?) And now here we are, hanging out together because we enjoy each other's company, hiking because we love getting out in nature, taking photos because that has become a shared interest (her pictures are a zillion times better than mine, but she is patient and teaches and I learn more every time we go out).   We still talk and listen and crack each other  up every single week.

We both a little creaky now, a little grey, a little wrinkley and we both have discovered the frustration of arthritis in our hands.   When we are out together, whether we are hiking through forests or off on a shopping adventure (always hilarious) we aren't two old ladies anymore, we are kids again, two sisters who always have each other's backs, giggle a lot and never run out of things to talk about.  We always share what we have, listen with open hearts and quite honestly, I cannot imagine my life without my sister in it.

Happy Birthday Jo!

I will write up the Photo Safari Report from yesterday's hike next week, I promise!

Yeah, I know, the photo is a little crooked.  Sorry about that.  Doesn't change that fact that this is a photo of the Kittyboys new little house!  Isn't it the cutest thing?  And since, as you can see,  there is a kitty napping in the little house, it is a hit! They like it!

About a year ago we had received something we ordered online that came in a pretty big box and rather than throw away the box, I had made it into the Kittyboy Hideout which had two doors and a skylight!  They loved it. In fact, they loved it to death.  Eventually we had to finish breaking it down and throw it away. So sad.  

I think Wyatt was a little more okay with it but Brysco missed it so much that he kept trying to turn other things into his new kittyhideout. Things like Tim's office garbage can.  Anytime we wanted to throw something away, we had to check it for kitties first.  

 It was very obvious that Brysco not only wanted a new hiding spot, he actually needed it. Ok.  The plan was to make one out of the next box that arrived.  But here's the thing, not all boxes are created equally.

Some boxes are too small, others are too flimsy and some, apparently smell "funny" as they are immediately rejected by both resident felines after a few tentative sniffs.  It took some time and a lot of "testing but finally, two boxes showed up within a few days of each other that passed all three tests: they were of a decent size, sturdy and passed the stink test.  Tim set out to create a nifty little kitty house.  In very short order it was complete and before it was even done, there was a cat in it.  Success!  With the addition of a nice soft kitty sized blanket, Brysco was snoozing inside it within about fifteen minutes of completion.  Yay!

I, of course, cannot leave well enough alone andI decided to decorate it. Armed with scissors, tape and wrapping paper, I evicted the resident cat and set to work. Eventually, I had made an adequate mess (even though it wasn't fully decorated) that  Brysco decided enough was done enough and jumped back in, giving me "the look" which dared me to remove him again.  I wisely decided that at least for now, it was done.

Tim did a great job and it is kitty approved.  Not only is it snazzy looking and cozy for napping, it even has a back window which is roughly kitty face shaped. Awwwwww.

The only downside is that it is the size of one full grown cat, not two.  There have been a few tussles over who gets to be in the little kitty house. Brysco seems to win every time even though he is far smaller than his brother. He must be a sneaky fighter. If you cannot win with brawn you gotta use brains.

So we will be on the lookout for another box or set of boxes which meet the same criteria and then Wyatt can have his own little house.  That does not mean there will be no fussing over the boxes you understand.  Of course there will be.  Just  like with human children.   Shenanigans abound with kids and with cats.  In this case it's Kitty Shenanigans!  

Yesterday, for example, was a very chilly, rainy, windy day and there is something about those barometric pressure changes that make cats crazy!  They were tearing around the house as if hungry tigers were chasing them, tussling in window sills, leaping out at each other from behind furniture  and I swear, at one point they were holding chariot races in the kitchen!

On Sunday, Tim pulled out a big ladder to work on the nonfunctional living room ceiling fan.  He set the ladder up first then went to get the rest of the things he needed for the job. When he returned, he discovered that he had an assistant for the project.  Brysco!

Whenever I'm writing at the computer I have my own personal assistant, Wyatt who pats at the words appearing on the screen as I type and walks across the keyboard if I take my hands off for two seconds!  He's helping!

They sit in the chairs at the kitchen island watching me cook and bake with great interest.  They especially like when I let them sniff each thing. They are very good and never attempt to eat it, they just want to find out how it smells.

They inspect all packages that enter the house, especially grocery bags, assist in both removing and replacing bedsheets and are quick to remind us if we are late with a meal or if they even suspect that it's possible that we might be late with a meal.  Or a snack. 

A small cranky aside at the point:  This time change thing is really hard on them.  It's tough for all pets and young children I think.  After all they do not operate on clock time, they follow Tummy time. and Tummy time does not fall back or leap forward.  I really really really despise the time change.  Pick one and keep it.  I honestly do not care which one, just choose dang it.

Anyway,  all is well in kittyland for the most part. Brysco has a follow up appointment at the vet tomorrow morning and fingers crossed that all is well.  That poor little guy has had more than his fair share of troubles.  Wyatt on the other hand has been hale and hearty the entire time we've had him. When I pointed the difference in the brothers out to the vet he pointed at Wyatt and said, "You must have gotten the extended warranty for that one".  heh

Ok I guess that was it.  It should be clear to you by now that we live a Very Exciting Lifestyle :) But it works for us and for the kittyboys who say, "Thanks for reading about us!"   They are suckers for attention.

I know, I know, I'm a slacker.  I haven't posted all week 'til now.  It's been kind of a crazybusy week so I apologize.  Not too busy to miss hiking day though so here we go with this week's Photo Safari Report.  Hope you are wearing a cozy sweater.  Don't let the sunshine fool you, it was dang cold outside for this hike. I am calling this one the Blustery Day Hike since it was not just chilly but very very windy too.  Enough so that it was slim pickin's as far as wildlife photos. 

​The light however was exquisite.    The above photo is totally unedited. I did nothing to it artificially. I didn't crop it,or brighten it or use any of the (small amount) of editing tools available to me to make a photograph better.  This one was perfect, just as it was.

We saw very few birds , or rather very little variety of birds.  There were a lot of one particular sort tho, all hunkering down against the wind trying to stay warm, poor things, while still fishing for their breakfasts.  These are all herons, different ones, not multiple photos of the same one, I promise:

Herons were not the only birds we saw, just the most plentiful.  There were a few others.  Ready?  Here we go:

We kept remarking that we weren't seeing any ground critters, no mousies, no lizards or squirrels and not even a rabbit!  But my guess is that the bunnies and the rest were all toas ty warm in their little burrows, wearing their fuzzy slippers and warm robes, watching cartoons and eating poptarts by the fire.  Smarter than us for sure!

Moving on to what we did see.  Number one with a bullet was, way  too many of these guys.  But then, it's their "house" so I shouldn't be surprised.  They were also trying to get warm, laying on the banks in the sun, despite the chilly temps and snappy wind gusts.  Let me tell ya, that wind had teeth!

Honestly the biggest star of the show on this hike was the quality of the light.  There is something very special about the early morning light on a cold day.  Everybody talks about the "golden hour"  in the late afternoon/early evening and no question, it's gorgeous!  But give me this early chilly light every time. Part of it is the richness of colour whether it's on the on the water, in the air  or on the greenery The light sifting down through the canopy of trees creating shadow and highlighting everything else is perfection. Here's a few other examples, it's all just scenery shots soo please indulge me:

Enough of me waxing poetic. Maybe it's time now for a few randos:

I guess that's it.  We have come to the end of another adventure, another Photo Safari Report.  Thanks for coming along on the Blustery Day Hike.  Hope you bundled up and stayed warm!

Have a terrific weekend ya'll and we'll meet here again one day next week!  Got lots more to tell you!
Hugs all 'round.

Hard to tell from these particular photos, I know, but Joy and I (that's me on the left and Joy on the right) seem to get ourselves in some funny positions when we are out hiking!  heh.  At least this time it was SUNNY!  First time in weeks we had sunshine on hiking day!  Woohoo!  We knew it was going to be a Great Day. It was an auspicious beginning.

In actual fact, we did find ourselves in odd positions a time or two during this hike, not the least was which was the three different times we ended up in the exact same spot!  Even though each time we had a different starting point and came in from a different direction, ultimately, over and again,  we found ourselves in that one same spot!   The second time through we muttered a quiet little, "gosh this looks familiar" to each other  but the third time was just a flat out, "Oh no!  Here we are again!" followed by bursts of helpless laughter!  So with that in mind, I'm calling this Photos Safari, the "round and 'round hike" .

Despite the mild frustration of the Kafka-esque situation,  it did result in a few terrific photos because that one ever returnable spot had wild iris's growing everywhere!  What a treat! We appreciated how perfect and rare to find something so elegant and refined amidst the wild surroundings:
​

There were plenty of other wildflowers to be seen throughout the hike though the Iris's were definitely the stars of the show:

Other botanical type stuff:

Oh, you expected to see some birds?  I got Birds for ya. Including two eagles (in the same tree!) and a hawk!!  It was a good birdie day

A couple of randos just for fun:

Overall I'd say it was a great hike, repeat viewings of one particular part of the forest  notwithstanding.  heh.   Hope you had a good time joining me for the "Round and Round hike". It was a terrific Photo Safari I think.

And just in case you wondered, as it turns out, the forest loves us, just as much as we love it.  You want proof?  We saw this right in the trail path:

Awwwww!  We Heart You Too Mother Nature!

In a bizarre bit of serendipity, late last week the "check engine" lights in both Tim's car and mine popped on late last week.  Dang.  We decided to tackle the issue one vehicle at a time and since Tim drives about a zillion times more than I do, obviously, his car is the one currently at the garage awaiting a repair verdict.  Sigh.

I think everyone in the known universe is well aware of how I feel about driving  (boo hiss)  but did  you know that feeling extends to cars in general?  Yup, I am not a fan.  And I wish, I so wish, I could say that it was for save the planet type altruistic reasons but it's not. It's primarily because they are a constant financial drain.

First there is the initial purchase price which is big buckerooties, then registration, taxes, insurance  and the continual updates on those things.   Oil changes, brake repair, tire rotation and eventual replacement, windshield wiper blades and batteries.  Here in Florida, probably due to the heat and humidity in summer, we have to replace batteries far more often than normal. And those are just the normal things that costcostcost but are expected.  Then there are the things you don't expect like "check engine" lights blinking on out of the blue.  And, of course,  there is no such thing as an inexpensive car repair. It just doesn't happen.  Then there is the gas to fuel the vehicle OR if you have an electric car the cost of getting the hole Plug-In set up in your garage (assuming you have one) and cost of replacement batteries which I understand is prohibitive. 

Eventually the day comes when the car must be replaced and then it all starts over again. It's like the longest con in the world. It never ends.  grrrrrrr.  No matter how careful you are, regardless of how perfectly you maintain it, somewhere along the way, something is, unexpectedly, going to go wrong and kapow, car trouble followed by a big bill.

Luckily for us, we live in a very walkable town which is unusual, in the US anyway, AND the weather is very nice right now.  If you gotta walk to the grocery store carrying home multiple heavy bags, it's nice to do it when the temps aren't screaming and the humidity is just a whisper. 

Luckier still is that we have a good repair garage where the people are really nice and good at what they do,  and that they are nearby so again, we can walk a drop off/pick up. I suppose it could be worse.  

But it could also be better.  Remember a very long time ago when most people did a lot of their own car maintenance and repairs?  Under any car hood sat an enormous engine in an even bigger space so there was room to easily work on a car. You could practically crawl inside of it.  Most of the tools required were things that people already had in their home took kit. And  the whole combustion engine thing was pretty straight forward. If this then that.  I remember not just my dad, but the entire neighborhood of dads and teenaged boys, tinkering away with their cars in the driveway on a sunny weekend.

Nowadays, cars are much smaller, more compact in design and it's tricky to even identify the various parts, let alone reach them to attempt any repair.  Additionally cars are basically giant computers on wheels now so the tools and knowledge you need to work on them is a whole different set.  It is unusual for anyone to even try to do much on their own cars these days. HOA's prohibit it even if you had the time, tools and talent.

It's a different world I suppose. For sure it's a different era but cars are just as big a pain in the arse as they were when they were first invented.  They are, and have always been, costly, sneaky, unreliable and needy. So very needy and demanding. Like Giant Metal Babies! grumpgrumpgrump.

Ok I'm over it now.  Hopefully the price tag won't be too frightening  and soon enough we will both have ready access  in the not too distant future.  Regardless, as far as my feeligns go, whenever I can, I will stick to walking, thank you very much.  Costs me nothin' and that is my favourite price.

Whatever shall I write about today? Care to venture a guess?  If you picked Photo Safari Report you would be correct! And for those of you counting, that means I did 3, count 'em, 3 blog posts this week!  Woohoo!  Of course last week I only did 1 so I suppose I'm making up for it. Balance in the Universe ya'll, it 's a real thing.

Even though the rest of this week was sunny and gorgeous, this particular hiking day started out, once again, grey and gloomy.  Yuck.  It was also windy, sprinkly and chilly.  Great.  But Joy and I didn't let that get us down. Nope.  We decided that since we probably weren't going to get any  terrific photos on such a wet and dreary day, we may as well go for broke. We drove all the heck the way to Port Charlotte (about 45 minutes away) to  walk around Ollie's Pond.  And since it's in the area we would also hit Pennington Park.  What the heck, why not?  So this Photo Safari Report will be the Pond and Park Hike.

I have to say that we were a bit disappointed in Ollie's.  In the past it was such a lovely walk, absolutely teeming with wildlife of all sorts.  But now it's overgrown, and needs to be dredged badly. The lack of care means less of a food source which in turn means less wildlife. Very Sad.  That said, Joy and I are troopers of the first order. We didn't let that get us down. We took every photo that there was to be had before moving on.

At Pennington we fared much better. Partly because Pennington seems to be better cared for but also because, at last the sun began to emerge now and again and at least some of the photos are beautifully and naturally lit.   I did the best I could in edit with the first set, but it's really and truly not the same. You will be able to tell as you watch the slideshows which photos are from which hike. 

Onward:

Let's begin with the birds, always a good place to start:

Next up, botanicals and this time I got a few wildflowers.  It's beginning to feel a lot like spring around here:

I think it's about time to throw a few Rando's in the mix now.   Looks like I've got everything from soup to nuts, or at least squirrels to canoes:

So ends the Pond and Park Photo Safari Report.  Hope you enjoyed!  We will try to come up with something even better for next time!  See ya then!

Boomers.  Millenials. Gen X. Gen Z.  When did the different generations acquire nicknames and who assigned them?   For reasons unknown I have difficulty remembering which generation goes by which title. It's sort of like the Kardashian girls,  I'm pretty sure I know all of the names  (I've certainly read and heard them often enough) but I'm not positive which name goes with which face.

Going to take a guess here and say that Boomers is the oldest group.  Most likely a shortened version of Baby Boomer which is post WWII.  And then maybe.... well hmmm.  Millennials probably has to do with the changing millennium which would be the year 2000 so since X comes before Z then the order must be 1. Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z.  I'm fairly certain that's accurate but what happened to Y? Shouldn't there have been a Gen Y too? XYZ ...?

I am not a fan of this nicknamed generational separation thing.  I think it tends to create a bigger divide between generations than there already is.  Because there is a nice tidy handy dandy label, we can tuck everyone into their correctly aged box and assume that they, like everyone else in that box, is exactly the same. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There has always been a kind of gap, a line of separation, a divide between generations. But I think it's currently worse than it's ever been. I've been trying to figure out why.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but I largely blame the media.  Not only is there a tendency to sensationalize everything but since we are bombarded with media's opinions 24/7, there is no escaping it.

Naturally within each generation we share similar experiences, music, history and fashion which means, yes, we at least have first hand knowledge of those things in common. BUT our response and reactions to each of those things is different. Our ability to change and move forward is different. Our interests and personal histories are different.  We are not carbon copies of each other.  Which is hilarious thing to say because carbon copies themselves are such a thing of the past.  Just dated myself :)  I still "dial" a phone and "roll down" a car window too.  LOLOL

The reason this popped into my head today was that I keep getting these articles in my online feed like "Things Gen Z hates about Boomers", "Things Boomers do that Gen Z finds rude", "Things Gen Z finds confusing about Boomers".  Very Annoying Articles. 

I read the first few.  Why?  Because I am always interested in learning new things AND in improving myself.  I don't read them anymore tho because the articles were less informational and more inflammatory.

Apparently one of the things that we oldsters do that really bothers youngsters today is...........get ready for it........we use punctuation.  The actual quote from one of the young people with regard to our insistence on using punctuation is that it "is really offensive when I see all that unnecessary punctuation".   Interesting.  That part where punctuation is offensive to him out kind of made me chuckle.  You have a very low 'offensive' threshold my friend.  And as far as punctuation being unnecessary, there is a huge difference between, "Let's eat, Grandma" and "Let's eat Grandma".   And if you don't see the difference in those two sentences, we need to talk.

Another thing that, so I read, truly drives young people up a wall is the fact that I write my grocery list on paper instead of typing it into my phone.  Why on earth would that matter to you? I am not asking you to write your list on paper.  I'm not handing you my handwritten list on paper and asking you to shop from it.  I'm over here, quietly writing and shopping all by myself.

The other thing I remember on the list that young people hate is our clumsiness with technology.  Ok I will cop to that one.  I am not the most technologically advanced person out there. On the other hand, I think, for someone who as a child considered the idea of personal computers and cell phones to be science fiction, I do pretty well.  And I continue to learn.  On purpose!

Perhaps young people forget that someday they will be the outdated change resistant old folks who the new young generation makes fun of and has no patience with.  It's inevitable. It's happened since the beginning of time. The only difference now, as far as I can tell, is that now the generations have names.

I will say that the gross generalizations regarding those words: Gen X, Millennials and so forth, go in both directions and that's wrong too.  The assumption that ALL kids today have no work ethic is unfair. The claim that ALL Gen Z-ers are entitled and have an unrealistic expectation of life is based on a few frankly outrageous stories that the media just loves to shove at us. 

I have no doubt that some Boomers are judgmental and closed minded the same way I'm sure some Gen Z-ers are addicted to their cell phones and have crazy short attention spans.  But by the same token,  some old folksre brilliant with technology  and some young people are focused and determined. 

This isn't one size fits all. We are all individuals. We all have purpose, value, skills to share and things to learn.  I think what is needed instead of snazzy sound bite labels is more respect in both directions. Aretha sang it.  Let's live it.  Be open to change and be open to learning from everyone we meet, older and  younger.  Let's try to be patient with ourselves and each other.  And above all else let's be a little more respectful to everyone in our lives. 

 I honestly think that'll help a bit with the divide.  If nothing else, it certainly can't hurt.

This past Thursday, as per usual, Joy and I headed out to hike and we were very excited because one of our favourite hiking spots, Carlton Reserve and FINALLY re-opened!  Yayayayayay!

On the other hand, we could not ignore that fact that the lighting was terrible.  It wasn't just a matter of it being early morning. Nope it was Very cloudy and Very Grey and for the longest time, it seemed like there was some sort of barricade up in the sky refusing to allow even a single beam of light through.   Eventually, there was an occasional. random ray of sunshine that managed to fight it's way through and that helped tremendously.  By the time we were nearly done, at last we had blue sky and sunshine yayayay! From the two photos above you can see clearly that the natural lighting in the photo on the right - which was most of the hike - is seriously substandard especially compared to the photo on the left which was the tail end of the hike. Oh well.

However, since the majority of our time was spent attempting to take photos in very poor lighting conditions,  most of my shots looked a lot like this:  (and this is having attempted to edit in as much light as possible!!)

Not Good.  I believe that I deleted more photos from this hike than ever before in the history of Sam.  How many photos of indistinguishable blobs do you care to look at?  Not many is my guess. Which means this Photo Safari Report will be called,   the Silhouette Hike.

It was still a good time, please don't get me wrong.  We ended up with a few good shots, a decent number of miles on our sneakers and a few good giggles which always makes it worthwhile.  Heck if we had come home with no photos at all it still would have been a great time :)

By far and away, the coolest thing we saw was a juvenile Eagle.  I'm not sure I ever saw one before.  Honestly, I would have thought it was just some bird I'd never heard of (there are lots of those) but nope, turns out it's an eagle, just a teenager eagle:

Captured a goodly number of woodpeckers of one sort or another.  We saw at least 4 different types but I think I only got photos of 3 and only two of those came out at all. Oh well.  Still a bird so it counts!

And of course some other birdies:

Not many botanicals for you today.  But of course I"ll give you what I've got :

And............................that's it!  That's all I've got for you on this "Silhouette Hike".  Hopefully the next hike with be on a lovely sunny day and I'll have all sorts of exciting things to share!

​Stay warm, stay safe and have fun 'til we meet again!

Let's start out this week on a great note.

It's time for another Photo Safari Report and this time I'm just going to jump to the biggest and best surprise of the entire hike, this sweet little raccoon.  Look at that cutie face!!  As he (or she) was definitely my favourite part of the hike, I will call this the Cutie Face Hike! 

Joy was the first one to spot this adorable critter crossing the tail in front of us. I was off to one side looking at something different and nearly missed it entirely.  Joy softly said, "raccoon" behind me so I turned and saw something rush across the trail and into the brush.  I had to peer behind and beneath other foliage but managed to get this photo which, while not perfect, definitely explains the sensible caution of the raccoon but I think also projects how non-threatening we try very hard to be.  He (or she) felt safe enough to pause and look at us with curiosity from the safety  of the overgrowth and that makes me very happy. Our goals, always, while hiking with our cameras are first to spend time together, then to get some exercise in the great outdoors, and lastly to get some decent photos while NOT terrorizing the wildlife.

Now I'll back up to the beginning.  When we first set out upon this explore, we saw, well, not much.  The preserve itself was of course, stunning, so I had kind of accepted that this was going to be mostly a botanical hike.  Ain't nothin' wrong with that.  Here's some of the best of those sorts of photos:

Oddly, just as I was going to give up, replace the lens cap on the camera and sling the strap over my shoulder to just enjoy the hike with no more photos, we began to slowly see birds. Including one I had never seen before, (Joy had but I had not so it counts as new to me!)

Speaking of new and unexpected things that we saw, there was this giant round metal thing, looked like a short silo(?) out rusting to death in the forest beginning to be covered with leaves and vines, a turtle surfing on a large stick and several squirrels, one on the beach. Oh, and a few butterflies:

The young raccoon was absolutely the best part of the hike for me but it was all simply grand!  I guess that kind of wraps up the CutieFace Hike.  Hope you enjoyed it!  

Wish you all a Wonderful Week!

Thank you all for your lovely well wishes.  As you can see from this morning's photo of Brysco, he did very well through his surgery and is recovering remarkably quickly.  He is slowly returning back to his old self being sweet and silly and up to his old shenanigans.

You see him here at the window spying on the neighbors, one of his favourite hobbies.  He also wrestles with his brother, greets us at the door when we've been out of the house for any amount of time, inspects all packages that come into the house,  races in and out of the various kitty tunnels and cubes chasing things that are invisible to us, gently wakes me each morning by tapping me with his paw and lately, has decided that the garbage can in Tim's office is the perfect place to nap.  Cats are so weird.

It is such a relief to see him happy, healthy and not in pain anymore.  The lack of teeth don't seem to be hampering him much.  It took him a few days to figure out how to eat efficiently but he seems to have it down now and is making up for lost time with an appetite far larger than his size.

The doctor explained that the way Feline Stomatitis works is it tricks the body into believing that teeth are the enemy, a foreign object in the body and the body, naturally, does everything in its power to get rid of that foreign object.   Once the "foreign object" is gone, the problem is gone.  Luckily, his canines (the fangs) and his front teeth were unaffected so he got to keep those.

When I first brought him home after surgery, he was of course still heavily medicated and staggering around like an adorable, furry drunk.  The instant he was let out of the carrier, he made a wobbly bee-line for the litter box (such a good boy) then he stumbled his way to his food mat and sat, swaying a little,  waiting to be fed.  Because we thought ahead, we had some babyfood on hand and put down a dish of that.  He plunged into it straight away, nearly face planting and gobbled up as much as possible with his numb mouth, which is to say that he made one heck of a mess.

No worries, easily cleaned up.  He ate until he could hold no more and then, finally, greeted us each in turn.  First his brother who was sitting there patiently waiting. Then he went to Tim and purred on his ankles and happily received pets.  Finally he made his weaving way to me where he looked at me with those dinner plate sized medicated eyes and pointedly turned his back.  oh ho!  Message received.  I was the one who took him to and from the vet so he made sure I knew he was angry with me.

By the next day, most of the medication had worn off, including the gentler pain medication so he laid low most  of the time, napping, eating and healing, but he made it a point to come to me sweetly requesting a pets.  I have been forgiven.  Nice to know he doesn't hold a grudge. At  least not for long.

And now, he is, as I said, back to his old self:  goofy, loving, funny, curious and endlessly entertaining.   His brother Wyatt is delighted to have his playmate back and we are  overjoyed that he is healthy and happy once again.

Tim's office will need a new garbage can however, because Brysco as claimed the old one.

 

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!  I know that some parts of the country are getting terrible cold, ice, freezing rain and snow!    Yucky!  Please stay warm and stay safe!

I'll be back next week with a Photo  Safari Report.  Joy and I went for a terrific hike yesterday and I cannot wait to tell you all about it!

Hugs all 'round