GimletBlog

(Cross-posted on Sinister Craftiness.)

Apparently Nanaimo was jealous of all the attention Chinook has been receiving for his recent illness (two car rides to the vet, nightly pills and gel in a syringe) so he has one-upped his housemate by sneaking into the craft room and swallowing an embroidery needle.  Nanaimo’s fondness for thread has been previously documented on the blog, but Your Humble Narrator spent over an hour crawling around the downstairs on hands and knees, hoping the needle would turn up, before admitting her most dread suspicions and calling the veterinarian.

The X-rays confirmed our fear:

A variety of options for removing the needle were presented but none seemed to be as effective as surgery.  With a heavy heart and light wallet we left Nanaimo at the veterinarian’s office to be operated on later that afternoon.

The veterinarian called us after the surgery to let us know that it went very well.  The silk thread which had tempted Nanaimo in the first place had wrapped itself around the needle like a cocoon, preventing the needle from doing any damage to his insides, but also causing it to lodge tightly in his stomach, so surgery really was the only option after all.

The next day, Your Humble Narrator and Kitty Grandma (also known as Hå to her human grandchildren) visited the patient.  Nanaimo was pretty miserable but calmed down a little when he recognized his family, and the visit seemed to comfort him. We also collected the souvenir needle.

Wednesday morning Nanaimo came home with a row of stitches on his shaved tummy (which should help him stay cool this summer) and wearing a “cone of shame” to protect his stitches.

Now he, too, has pills to take and follow-up visits to the veterinarian.  Chinook gave Nanaimo the once-over and fled from him as though he were a space alien, or perhaps he recognized the scent of the vet’s office.

By our reckoning, Nanaimo has used up at least three of his nine lives thus far.  The Gimlet hasn’t decided whether this incident should be categorized under the the pet budget or the embroidery budget, but he is determined to get as much enjoyment as possible out of Nanaimo stumbling around, bumping into furniture and walls, or futilely trying to chase the light reflecting off the collar snaps.

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Last Thursday night Chinook had an upset tummy and was unusually lethargic and unresponsive the next morning, so he spent Friday morning at the veterinarian.  He doesn’t appear to have eaten anything permanently damaging (we learned early on that Chinook has never met a packing peanut he could resist, and keep an eye on him whenever a package arrives) and thanks to antibiotics, he began to come around Sunday morning.

By the end of the holiday weekend he was eating again and playing with his favorite (safe) toy.  He is still resting more than usual, which is difficult to tell with a cat, but there’s definitely a difference between normal catnaps and a sick cat lying listlessly on the floor.  In this photo he is back to climbing up to his favorite napping spot on our bed, which he wasn’t able to do all weekend.

Nanaimo celebrated the invalid’s return to activity by jumping on Chinook and trying to wrestle.  Even now, while Chinook is napping, he is staying close by on the windowsill.  He has missed his buddy.  (And Nanaimo wants his fans to know that he is feeling just fine, by the way.  Thanks for asking.)  We’re all glad that Chinook is on the mend.

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Nanaimo: Do I look like I’m about to jump into this basket of laundry, fresh from the dryer?  Would I ever do such a thing?

Chinook: Yes, I am as soft as I look.  You know you want to rub my tummy.

Surely you can think of better captions than these.  Leave some in the comments!

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Editor’s Note: Cross-posted from Sinister Craftiness.  The Gimlet thought this was worth sharing on both blogs.

This is a ball of #8 perle cotton.

This is Nanaimo.

After we leave to run errands, here’s what happens when the two combine.

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We’ve seen sharp-shinned hawks around the city in the past, but our first up-close encounter occurred a few weeks ago, when I opened the front door and was startled to see one perched in the camellia shrub just a few feet away.   The behavior of this little raptor (at 9-13″, just smaller than a crow) is described in Birds of the Puget Sound Region as follows:

Feeds almost exclusively on birds, often near bird feeders.  Bursts forth from hidden perch to surprise prey in low, rapid flight.

Who says field guides can’t be thrilling reading?

Those of us who watch nature shows have a pretty good idea what’s coming next, but for everybody else, cue ominous music …

This morning I saw the hawk standing in the front yard.  Hmm; odd to see it out in the open like that …  A closer look revealed that it had successfully obtained some breakfast from our bird feeders.  Judging from the bill and feathers, today’s early bird special was most likely a dark-eyed junco.  The full-size photo is probably not for the squeamish.

Meanwhile, indoors our mighty hunter Nanaimo, growling triumphantly, trotted around the house with Thing One’s new coonskin cap firmly in his jaws.

Days like these make us thankful for opposable thumbs and a high brain to body mass ratio.

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A few images from our multiple snowstorms:

The view up the street

Brr for the birds
(The chickadee in the top photo tried to nibble on that frozen apple,
but didn’t have much luck.)

A good day to stay home

but some of us have to go to work
(We’re especially thankful for the Gimletmobile and its 4WD,
without which we would have been completely stuck!)

A cozy spot

Kittens watching the snowstorm
(There can never be too many kitten pictures on a blog)

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In a time-honored holiday tradition among household pets, Nanaimo and Chinook drink deeply from the wassail bowl we have so thoughtfully provided.  What is it about that evergreen-flavored water that they crave?  They probably ask the same question about our eggnog.

The guys haven’t cooperated for a portrait of both of them together on the hearth, so these two photos will have to do.  Chinook hopes Santa will bring him some smoked salmon for Christmas (he’s living up to his name and loves the tidbits snuck to him when The Gimlet isn’t watching) but will settle for any cookie crumbs Santa drops during his visit.  While waiting for Santa’s visit he satisfies his mooching urges by cleaning up after Thing Two’s snacks.

Judging from his size (and he’s only six months old!) you might guess Nanaimo has already polished off Santa’s cookie plate, and perhaps the jolly old elf himself, too.  But unlike Chinook, Nanaimo doesn’t beg for treats.  Nanaimo would like his very own sewing basket for Christmas, filled with balls of perle cotton (#8, please) to knock off the table and bat around the room.   Given his fondness for embroidery, and some of his other holiday escapades, there is some question whether Nanaimo will be on Santa’s “nice” or “naughty” list.

Looking angelic in an effort to butter up Santa, Nanaimo is large enough to play the parts of all the manger animals in our childproof and kittenproof creche.

It wouldn’t be the holidays without dressing up the pets and children!   The kittens looked so handsome in their green velvet jingle ruffs, but it would appear the Things had more fun than the kittens did.  Note the classic limp pose, typical of the Ragdoll breed, especially when being humiliated.

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We’ve been snowed in for the past week:  school was cancelled for the last three days of the week and The Gimlet worked from home as well.  It’s not usual for this part of the country to experience temperatures well below freezing, not to mention snowfall, so when it happens the roads and hills become impassable and we find ourselves dealing with an unexpected “staycation” (formerly known as “cabin fever”).

Before the storm the birds were going crazy stocking up on food.  Here’s a flock of bushtits mobbing the suet feeder, and we also managed to get a picture of a flicker (similar to a woodpecker) at one of our seed feeders.  During the summer we saw mostly sparrows and chickadees at the feeders, but once the weather turned cold, the sparrows haven’t been around much.  The chickadees are still frequent visitors, but now we also see plenty of nuthatches, Bewick’s wrens, purple and house finches, bushtits, and dark-eyed juncos.

The lion in winter (a.k.a. Nanaimo) contemplates the snowy scene and the busy bird feeders from his comfy perch indoors by the fire.

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