Happy American Thanksgiving!

Gravy on the stove.
Wood chips soaked for smoking
Applewood chips soaked for smoking
Turkey prepped to grill!

I’m sure many American’s are at that same stage now. Have a lovely feast.

Spicy Rosemary’s
      memories slowly faded,
but we remember.

June 9, 1920 – April 28, 2015
Arrangements.

Cold January
Snow covers the bbq.
More cold predicted.

Happy New Year! See what the New Year brought us? I’m in DuPage county which relative to other places didn’t “get hit”. My mom’s in Lake County. Libertyville supposedly got 16″.

We spent New Years Day retrieving Cosmo from the animal hospital in Aurora Illinois. Driving conditions were icy but the streets were plowed and traffic was light. We were glad to get him back home. He’s now weak, but cuddly. I’m checking our poor diabetic but affectionate fur-lump regularly.

Needless to say he is not going outdoors. Neither is the other cat (though he has the option. The cat door still works.)

(For those wondering: This time it was a bladder/urethral issue.)

Yesterday Argonne National Lab closed for snow. So Jim and I both hovered over the poor fur lump and watched lots of Netflix while petting him. The other cat came by and demanded lots of treats. He would then return to “guard” the cat door in case some other critter braved the snow and tried to take shelter in our house. (That’s how that cat came to be ours in the first place.)

What’s the weather like where you are? I’m hearing rumors parts of Lake Michigan are freezing up this year but still no stories showing ice fishing huts which appeared often in the 70s. There’s still time though. The meteorologists are predicting ‘Dangerous cold moves in after lake-effect snow’.

This weather is giving me horrible 70s flashbacks.

It’s only weather.
Not a sign of climate change.
But it’s snowing now.

We often notice the first snow around here. It’s snowing lightly right now. No accumulation so far. Even if we get an inch it won’t be a record. Still… a bit early. Meanwhile the leaves on most my trees remain totally, completely green. That said: No one lives in Chicago for the weather.

 
Our intrepid cat
dutifully goes outdoors
even in the snow.
 

For those wondering: Yes. It snowed yesterday. We now have a snowblower. I cleared out my driveway around 3pm yesterday, ran out of gas, went out and purchased more and then plowed over to my neighbors and did half of his driveway. Jim cleared the driveway off again around 7pm. I cleared it again around 6:30 this morning.

I love the snow blower!

Blizzard socks midwest,
The wall street journal reports.
Look at my backyard!

 

Jim came home an hour early yesterday. The reason? Argonne told employees to leave because they were anticipating a huge blizzard. It was raining at that point– and the temperature was just on the bubble for snow. But snow had not yet fallen.

It has been very windy out. We had rain and “wintry mix” all evening. (I hate “wintry mix”). The record long period of ‘no snow’ in Chicago has ended (I assume. I’m in the suburbs.) But we haven’t gotten the feet of snow I read about in Madison, Dubuque, etc. I’ll update the photo if any accumulates today.

Jim’s theory is we aren’t getting snow because we inherited a snow blower. I suspect that effect won’t last through March.

Temperatures soar.
Our strawberry protector
finds shade under leaves.

By the way, he’s doing a great job. We’re going to eat these:

I’ll harvest more and make strawberry frozen yogurt tomorrow.

Donner and Blitzen
Flew through the sky Saturday
Now no internet.

Ok. Not no internet but it’s been very spotty. (I don’t know what will happen when I hit post.) I don’t have phone service.

I phoned ATT on my cell and drove to the library to report the problem. Supposedly I’ll have service by Wed. We’ll…. see.

Open thread!

Sleeping peacefully,
While we were shoveling snow
Mo’s blood sugar dropped.

 

 

I had a very bad day. Jim and I shoveled snow for about 4 hours. We resolved to break down and buy a snow blower.

I came in, took off my jacket and went to check out my fat ‘mo only to find him having convulsive seizures!

I phoned our vet: closed.

The phone number for the emergency vet was either wrong, or the particular one my vet recommended hadn’t opened yet. Jim and I spent time trying to feed the cat corn syrup (the recommended treatment for low blood sugar.) Mo’s seizures got weaker and spaced out. But we couldn’t call what we were seeing recovered.

We worried about brain damage. We worried that maybe it wasn’t low blood sugar but high. We fretted.

Luckily, Jim’s brothers phoned from their Dad’s. (They were shoveling out the 94 year old guy’s driveway.) They learned about Mo and on the drive home took the route by one of the emergency vets in the area. That emergency vet was open!

Jim phoned, the vet said bring him right in. So, we suited up, wrapped Mo in a blanket and took him to the vet. The vet tech was standing at the door when we arrived. Evidently, Mo perked right up when the gave him Dextrose. But we left him in the ICU for observation to make sure his blood sugar doesn’t plunge again. They’ll keep him a minimum of 4 hours, but if he passes 2 of the hour checks in a row, he’ll get to come home.

We are hoping for a call in two hours so we can bring our fat boy home!

On the drive home, Jim commented that the budget now dictates we wait a while before buying a snow blower. For the time being, we’ll continue shoveling the low carbon footprint way.

Update
Zeke’s cats aren’t doing well either. Here’s a cute video of them: