Wanderlost
Nomad II
Joined Oct 29, 2004
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Re: Freeze Dried Foods for RV Travel
Freeze-dried more strawberries and raspberries, then shredded rotisserie chicken. That went very well. Decided to try my hand at a corn nuts substitute, so I drained a huge can of sweet corn, added sour cream as a binder, then spiced each tray with a different flavor. Dried up beautifully, but I don't think they'll be a snack. Instead, they'll each be wonderful additions to a meal as an already seasoned side dish, or included into soups and stews. I still think that's a success. If i try again, I'll use hominy. Going to make strawberry powder next. Having a lot of fun with this, but finding storage space is a bit of a challenge. We need to eat down the extant pantry so there's room... Time to throw a party and feed folks.Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
It's May already!?! We're finally getting some rain, which will lower the wildfire risk somewhat, but it won't put much of a dent in our extreme drought. The lake is at historic lows, yet water is being sold to the Big City that's not in our acquifer or even downriver, and said Big City wastes water like mad. Sheesh. Ian and Gym are doing well. Gym is due for neutering this month. He's just a mellow, loving cat that one can't really tell he's still an intact tom. He's now taller and longer than Ian, but still under 10 pounds. Ian is compact and stocky--and overweight. I'm having trouble finding a good food combination for both, since Gym still needs kitten food and Ian definitely does not! Right now, I'm gradually adding freeze dried cat food to their regular gooshy food, with middling success. Gym seems to be more inclined to eat it than Ian. On the up side, Ian is slowly becoming interested in the cat wheel. Good, he's the one I bought it for, so he can run off some of that fat. He's very active, just not so active that he loses that fat. Gym Ian Together Spousal Unit put off-road wheels on his walker so he can get out to the model railroad building (22 Twain Haus), and is getting around much better. If he keeps it up, he'll be off the walker by late summer. We've not been traveling, due to his disability, and it's long past time to sell Obi-Wander. But that's yet another chore that falls to me, since he can't drive an RV with Parkinson's, and I'm just not up to dealing with it right now. Obi needs new batteries and a bit of work before he can safely be driven to be serviced and those recalls dealt with, and finding a mobile tech has been difficult. Then someone will need to drive Obi, since I'm also a bit stove up now. With all the RV campgrounds around here, one would think RV mobile service and drivers would be readily available, but noooo. Sigh. Well, I need to take my pickup to get a tire fixed before it goes totally flat, so off I go. Later, y'all.Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Wow. DIdn't realize I hadn't posted in so long. Ian and Gym are doing very well as indoor only kitties. A neighbor has three--a gray tabby, a ginger, and a solid black--who like to visit our pool and deck. When Ian and/or Gym notice them, they come to the door and talk. Ian and Gym just look back. Ian has gotten terribly fat, Gym's still a kitten, so finding the right food for both has been an issue. Just ordered some freeze-dried raw cat food that will work, if they eat it. Last cat I had on a raw food diet thrived for nearly 23 years. She refused all foods except the raw food, and needed no vet care other than annual shots, so she was actually a pretty inexpensive cat. Hope these guys do as well on the freeze-dried version. Spousal Unit had his right hip replaced last month, spent two weeks in a rehab hospital, then came home last week. He's supposed to not use the wheelchair, but at times it's the only speedy way to get him into the bathroom before things just let loose. He's starting twice a week outpatient therapy next week, and he'd better improve! I've warned him that if he doesn't do the therapy and just sits around like Tall Friend did, then he's going to assisted living. He has incentives to get better; we'll see if he actually does the work. Mom turns 100 next month, so we're in the middle of party planning. I collected names and addressed, verified who's still alive, and will check on bakeries who can make Mom's favorite cake. That's the extent of my planning involvement, since I'll be hauling SU to/from therapy until who knows when. Our barn swallows have arrived and rumor has it the hummingbirds are around, so I'd best get to making nectar and putting out feeders. Hope you all are having a far more pleasant 2025 than was 2024.Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Hope your Christmas was a happy one. We spent it at home with Tall and Short Friends, watching movies and eating finger foods. Ian and Gym had a wonderful time going from person to person for playtime. We also had visits from the stag herd and a few does. Hope you and yours had a great Christmas and may you have a Happy and safe New Year.Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
After losing Czarny, and then Spousal Unit having one medical issue after another, we were not planning on adopting another cat(s) until after his hip replacement. The cat distribution system had other plans. While working at the library on 17 Oct, a librarian asked if anyone within hearing range wanted a cat. Seems a cat was in the butterfly garden, approaching humans and being very, very friendly. The librarians, having experienced this often, figured the cat had been abandoned in the library vicinity. No one took her up on the offer, but several offered to feed the cat and put up adoption/foster notices on social media. At library close, I headed out to my pickup. I heard a cat talking long before I got there. Sure enough, a ginger kitten of about 8 months was sitting under a tree near my pickup. And I made an enormous mistake. I opened a passenger side door to put some stuff inside, then turned and found kitty close enough to touch. He insisted on being petted, rolling on my feet and talking incessantly. I got distracted and didn’t close the door. After a bit of quality kitty time, I turned back to the truck, and now there was a cat inside. Okay, then — looks like I've been adopted. When I closed the door, he looked like he might have regretted being in the pickup. He panicked and started zooming all around the inside. I gave him a few minutes, until he slowed down, then quickly got inside. Soon as I started the engine, he stopped zooming and parked on the back seat. He stayed there, yakking all the way home. I called Spousal Unit to advise him we’ve been adopted. He had the front door open, ready to quickly close it as soon as I got Kitty inside. I pulled up right beside the porch, so there would be as little transfer time as possible. I slipped out the door and went around to the passenger side, but Kitty decided to decamp to the driver’s side, under the pedals. Sigh. A few treats and pleasant talk, and I finally got a good grip. Upon being released in the house, Kitty dashed behind the love seat, still talking. He eagerly came out for an entire can of wet food, then discovered the dry food. He talked to us off and on (mostly on) until we went to bed, first from behind the love seat, then from under our bed. He showed absolutely no interest in the outside world. He would not go near an outside door, staying pretty much in the center of the house. He does like to talk, and loves him some pettins. Not real big on being held and doesn’t quite understand being in a lap, although he’s showing a lot of interest there. So one kitty makes himself home with us on 16 Oct. He named himself Ian, after he perked up and answered when we mentioned a friend by name. On 28 Oct, I headed to Petsmart for kitten food, a toy or two, and some litter. Came home with all that, a new carrier and a kitten. Yep, the cat distribution system thought we needed yet another ginger kitten. The 8-week-old little thing got washed out of a pickup’s under carriage in a car wash. The employees caught the terrified little bit, wrapped him in a tee shirt, then didn’t know what to do. They needed to get back to work, and so were going to release him in the field next to the car wash. A customer said give him to her, and she promptly went to Petsmart. The vet clinic there checked him out, and other than covered in fleas and car wash muck, he was okay. Lee Ann (pretty name) walked around the store, getting a few folks interested in either fostering or adopting the kitten. Then I wheeled my cart by and the kitten made its decision. Well, crap, I’m going home with another one. Bought a smaller carrier for a one-pound kitten and brought him home. Even though he’d chosen, he was still right spicy and hissy. Drowning fleas on a wiggly little acrobat was interesting, but I managed. Then we put him into a big cage in the great room. Ian noticed him a couple hours later. They sniffed each other pretty thoroughly, silently, and Ian gently reached through the bars to touch Baby on the head. Then Ian laid beside the cage for several hours. No issues at all. Next day, Baby got his first shots and a drop of flea/tick/mosquito killer. He spent several days in the cage, where he could safely watch us and Ian, and get over being all hissy with the humans. When we finally let him out, he proved to be a real gymnast, so that became his name, Gym. He’s nearly trebled his weight since arrival, climbed all over everything he can reach, and shredded the dryer vent hose connection to the outside vent. I’ll need help moving the dryer out to fix that, so I’m drying the laundry outside. He adores Ian, who is the most patient cat I've ever had. He tolerates everything Gym tries with him. At the moment, Gym is trying to nap on my arm. Makes typing a challenge. Here they are, Ian on the left and Gym on the right:Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Spousal Unit now has GP clearance for the tooth extraction. Just waiting on that office to get back to us. When that's complete, he'll still need regular cleaning. Only then can we get back to the hip surgeon. Looks like this surgery may not occur this year. Sheesh. Meanwhile, no movement on the Simon front. Because SU is still in limbo, I really do not want to add a cat to the household. It would be alone a lot when he finally goes in for the surgery, and that doesn't feel right to me. Simon is being cared for, if not the way he was previously, so I feel no particular urgency in bringing him to our place. When we're both here more often than not, then I think he could adapt more readily to a new home. The barn swallows are long gone. Haven't seen hummingbirds in a couple weeks, so I'll be taking down the feeder today. Guess I'll make sweet tea with the leftover nectar -- not my favorite, but SU likes it. It's rut time, so the deer are really moving about. None show any inclination to adopt us humans the way Lassie and her progeny did. I'm not even sure if any of her descendants have survived. Our fox family has stopped transiting the property right around the house. When I see one nowadays, it's down near the gate. I miss them hanging around us. However, now that rabies has made another incursion into the county, it's best they don't come around the house anymore. Time to get back to crocheting Christmas presents. This year is embarrass the nephews. The Army pilot gets mesh shorts in desert camouflage (his wife is in on the gag). The college boy gets a willy warmer in a yet-to-be-determined color. His mom is really looking forward to seeing his face when he opens that package. Best get to crocheting. Later, y'all.Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
The good news is Spousal Unit does not have cancer in his bones. He does need a right hip replacement, though, as the femur top and hip socket are severely deformed now. He'll come home from rehab by the end of the month, as they've done all they can to help him function while not putting weight on that leg. He has a stress test scheduled, then a dentist visit, and then they'll schedule the hip replacement. Back to rehab after the surgery for a bit, to get him used to walking without pain. Back on his walker and later a cane after 3-4 months of healing and outpatient physical therapy, and then he should be fine. While I'm still not in the mood to get a new cat, I did meet Simon, the large ten-year-old ginger kitty whose person has utterly forgotten he's hers. She knows his name, but thinks she's just feeding a stray, so I approached her as though I'm thinking about adopting a stray. She's all excited now about rehoming Simon. Simon himself allowed me to be sniffed, then I could lightly pet him. Short Friend says that's a major indicator that Simon might accept me, as he's never done that with any other stranger. I did commit to going over often enough that Simon can get used to my scent and then we'll see if he'll accept me as part of his normal life. He's very schedule oriented and territorial about his home, which makes it even harder for him to understand why his person has pushed him out of his house. He's a lovely cat. If he does accept me, I will bring him home, but not until Spousal Unit's situation is a bit more stable. Simon will need a lot of time to get used to being in another home with other people, and if we're there more often than not, it will be easier for him.Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Spousal Unit went to the hospital on 19 Aug. There they found a small hip fracture due to tumors in both hip and right femur. He's currently in rehab so he can do things on one leg. We'll see an orthopedic oncologist next week to determine what needs to be done. I'm hoping his awesome immune system will fight off bone cancer the way it fought off prostate cancer. That said, it's a good thing we decided to not get another cat until October. Might be a bit later than that, considering how intensive cancer treatments can be.Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Saran didn't make it. Her little body just couldn't overcome all the challenges of starvation and illness. She went to the. Rainbow Bridge this afternoon, just short of two weeks after we brought her home. Losing two cats in a month really stinks. We won't be looking for another cat until October. We should know by then if Spousal Unit's health issues will improve or if we need to put him on a wait list for assisted living. If so, we won't be getting a pair of kittens like he wants. He can't have pets in assisted living, and I don't want to care for more than one cat at a time by myself. On the wildlife side, we seem to be down to only one hummingbird, and the barn swallows have either departed or decamped to lakeside. The deer continue to wander past the house once or twice a day. Otherwise, it's quiet around here. Today wasn't a good day, so I'll just leave it here. Later, y'all.
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