Tuesday 1 July 2008

the date, the garden, the cat

A quiet Canada Day here.

No parades, no face-painting, no ring toss or bouncy castles, just parents still waiting for all the allergy meds to kick in.

Two kids gleefully running through the sprinkler and then collapsing to look at the sky and kick their feet and discover the pictures the clouds made.




The pumpkin plants have lots of tight-budded flowers and three even unfurled to give us tiny waves today. If you're very still when you water them you can hear the vines stretch and begin looking for new ground to cover.
(They're so much prettier than all the flowers I planted around there - the ones that haven't bloomed yet, argh - next year I may just plant squash and pumpkins and sunflowers, easy crops that pretty much just soak up the sun and do their own thing)

Lucy (the new cat) is gaining a bit of weight. She was skinny as a rail when she got here, and has been making up for lost time and eating her fool head off since. Given her history*, we weren't going to stop her, just assumed she needed a bit of courage and then once she'd settled in, she'd settle down.
We work on a free feed system here for the cats - the bowls are always full. You see, I already have two cats. Chumba, who is so big that he outweighed Rosey until just before her third birthday, and Kate, who is teeny enough that if she loses more than a few ounces the vet gets worried. (Size difference probably most apparent here, although I swear he's bigger now.) We hesitate to go to timed feedings, for the few times we've tried, Chumba tucks in...while Kate (who apparently likes to purge in private?) puts her nose up and saunters off. It appears we will soon have two fat and one lean cat.

(How do we know it's Lucy doing most of the scoffing? Well, we see her there, and she likes to come in and lick Bear's nose at night and give him kisses with her hot little Iams-scented breath.)



Happy Canada Day! May you all have pretty things to look at, fun in the sun, and good things to eat today!


*We know she was found in a locked garage two weeks after the owners had moved out. Horrible, sick, twisted bastards.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is NO hell hot enough for people who don't take care of their pets. Thank goodness Lucy has you all.

Stomper Girl said...

What a terrible story about Lucy. I'm glad you're feeding her well. perhaps you could consider stomach-banding for your greedy cat?

(you know I'm joking right?)

barbra said...

We have a free-feed system here, too. We only have one cat at the moment, but we had three at one point. Only one was a chubbo, and she was so tiny when we took her in that I thought she was a kitten. The vet informed me that her teeth proved she was actually at least a year old.

I can't believe you have sick bastards like that in Nova Scotia, too.

meggie said...

Mongrels! A friend has just adopted a little toroiseshell scrap, that purrs at 90 miles an hour, & steals hearts!!

Sheryl (papernapkin) said...

That's terrible, I'm so glad you rescued her.

Also glad to know that pumpkins grow easily, I'd like to garden, but know nothing about it.

Elizabeth said...

Pumpkins are doing well this year aren't they? Watermelons, not so much.
I have 4 cats currently, ahem, and they all have their own eating style and it would be impossible please them all, feeding timetable-wise, so I have a freestyle free feed worked out.
Of course, I have too gluttons so when the morning bowls are empty I wait to fill them again until later in the afternoon. But then, I do feed the more delicate eaters when they come around as needed because they seem to eat so little I don't want them to arrive at an empty bowl.
Cats only eat a mouseful at a time anyway, yet all on different schedules.
Wait, does that make me sound like some kind of slave to these felines?
Yes, I believe it does.

alison said...

I'm glad Lucy has found a home with you. It sounds like a wonderful Canada Day was had by all.

Chantal said...

Oh poor cat. You guys are so nice to take her in and treat her right Happy Belated Canada day to you and your crew.

molly said...

That kitty is lucky she found you!.....Oh, to be a kid again in summer......

Woman in a Window said...

What's wrong with people? Really? I'm a little worked up about this. People can be so freaken.......

Anonymous said...

Glad your pumpkins are doing so well! Happy Canada Day to you! Sounds like your new kitty is adapting ok; that's good. It's good that she is now part of your family! Have a good weekend!

SUEB0B said...

I hope that the cat got trapped by mistake. I hope for the sake of humanity.

Anonymous said...

You'll fatten Lucy up in no time, and she will have her obedient servants at her beck and call.

kittenpie said...

Lucy is adorable, and I can't even imagine the person who could do that to any animal. (Well, except maybe a spider, but I'd still go fast instead of torturous.) That is just so, so wrong. I'm glad she found you.

And my cats are on free-feed for kibble, and then we used to split one pouch of wet food between them at night. I guess now Henry will have it divided over two nights.

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