3.09.2015

weekend hodgepodge














the images from my camera this past weekend are a bit all over the place, but they tell a pretty accurate story of our goings on the last few days.  our 13 year old cat, Ziggy, is experiencing renal failure and has been needing a lot of extra TLC in the form of meds, special food, and, until a couple days ago, subcutaneous fluids (administered here at home to save some $$).  the first day it was pretty simple because he was so tired and listless from not having been eating well.  so he didn't put up much of a fight.  since then, however, giving him liquid meds and pills a couple times a day and jabbing him with a needle to get extra fluids in him has been as enjoyable as one might guess doing such things to a cat would be.

which is to say, it is not enjoyable.  for anyone.  but alas, onward we go.  fingers crossed we can get him over this sizable hump and then maintain his health for a good while longer through some specialized nutrition.  because I'm pretty sure he's got at least a couple years of mousing and purring snuggles (wherein he and I spoon- I'm the big spoon, and it's so nice and warm) in him.

enough about our feline situation though.  there are old linens from my grandmother to be enjoyed, a nubby pink hat finished and being worn (finally she happily wears something I knit for her!), seedlings reaching for the light.  I've been making soups and frittatas and other things that I can easily throw tons of veggies in.  My body is really craving GREEN FOOD these days.  not that it isn't always, and not that I don't eat much green food in the winter, because I certainly do, but it isn't anything like the rest of the year when I can just grab handfuls of greens and other veggies from the yard and munch on them all the time.  this whole having-to-go-to-the-store-to-get-the-veggies thing is tiresome and I don't care for it.  so here I am, stocking up regularly at the store but dreaming of backyard kale and green beans, collards and chard, tomatoes and carrots and peppers, and, and, and…….  soon.

she had ballet, I'm reading a book I probably shouldn't read because it just makes me even more twitchy and anxious about food and water and plastics and exposures to all sorts of things.  and I'm already fairly twitchy and anxious about that stuff.  holy cow, it's a scary world we've created folks.  it's like a perpetual Erin Brokevich out there.  ooph.

the last of the syrup was finished off, bringing us up to a total of about 2.5 gallons this year, down from about 4.5 last year (but having tapped less than half the trees we expected that).  I'm pretty thrilled with that and pleased to know we've made ourselves another year's worth of the sweet stuff to be used in granola and baking and on yogurt and on pancakes and french toast and gosh wherever we want a little splash of sweetness.  we also busted out the extractor we borrowed from a friend and got about 2.25 gallons of honey from the supers off of the two hives we lost this winter (that makes it sound like we have other hives- we don't, that was it).  still leaning towards taking a bee break for the year, but not 100% decided on that.  the happy thing is that we've got all this liquid sweetness filling the pantry now. we could just about call ourselves sugar-self-sufficient if it wasn't for the bit of powdered sugar and granulated sugar we use here and there.

also, kite flying.
rather, attempted kite-flying.  there was a bit of wind, though.  we got it flying around the yard for brief fits and spurts.  mostly it was just crashing immediately into our bare fruit trees and the woodshed.  we'll give it a go in a better location sometime soon.

weekending with Karen


8 comments:

  1. Poor old Ziggy, hope he is feeling better soon. I too am craving food grown in my garden although we do have the next best thing local vegetables grown on a farm. We need to get started with our planting...

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    1. oh me too, me too. if only he'd eat I'd feel so much better. our house is starting to look (and, um, smell) like cat food restaurant. there are plates with dry food, wet food, cream, sardines, tuna……. trying to entice his appetite. stubborn, stubborn guy.

      we've been able to get some local greens here and there, but not a whole lot. I am SO looking forward to chowing down in the backyard!

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  2. hope your pet improves, my I can only imagine wrestling a resistant cat....eep! I would be sad reading such a book-but I bet it's informational.

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    1. thank you, Karen, me too.
      oh I know- I have to consciously limit the amount of such knowledge that I care to equip myself with via books and such. it can get too depressing!

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  3. Hope your cat improves soon. Craving greens here too, I always do at this time of the year, and like you, I dislike having to buy them at the grocery store...bring on the garden greens. We tapped yesterday, only a few trees, it doesn't give us much, but what we do get tastes so darn sweet! Have a wonderful week.

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    1. thanks, Kim! I'm fighting the good fight and trying hard to coax his appetite along with various tasty (I imagine, to a cat) treats. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, our house is starting to resemble (and smell) like a cat food restaurant! ahem.

      oh hooray! I hope you have a lovely sugaring season~ we tapped just 4 trees, but three of them were very large and each tree was large enough for two taps.

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  4. i'm so sorry about your feline friend :( you are obviously taking great care of him... i hope he recovers well and enjoys many more years of spooning! i'm a bit jealous of your "sweets" there. yum. i realize it's all a lot of work too. which actually makes it sweeter, huh? :) i completely ignore reads like that... i shouldn't... but it gives me such a pessimistic, unsettled, worried feeling.... i prefer to focus on the good... but at the same time... i think if we all read more of that stuff... many more changes would be happening... sigh... this world.... what have we done?

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    1. thanks, jenny~ we take him back to the vet tomorrow to recheck his kidney levels and see where things stand. I am hoping that with a specialized diet we can keep him healthy and happy for a while longer.

      the sweets- yes it is work (though most of the work for the honey admittedly is done by the bees) and I think you are right- it makes me appreciate honey and maple syrup all the more!

      oh I don't know- I am usually all about ignoring this kind of stuff for the sake of my sanity and sensitive self too. it can just be all too much to take in sometimes but I agree- if awareness grew, then maybe things would change. (sigh) I don't know.

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thanks for taking the time to read and comment~