I gave my heart to a cat to tear.

Rowan

1995-2012

Love you, mewlet.

Uh oh....the mountain bikers are NOT going to like this.

A very nasty storm passed through Connecticut in the late afternoon last Friday.  There was flooding in downtown New Haven, and our town got hit by a microburst which caused many people to think there had been a tornado.  Fortunately it mostly passed by our house, but south and east Glastonbury were harder hit.
The reservoir showed some signs of those 100 mph winds during our walk this morning.  Most of the widowmakers left from the October snowstorm seem to have been shaken out of the treetops, and there are a lot of living branches down too.  Some of the younger trees seem to have snapped off, and one large one broke off about 20 feet up its trunk.

The biggest loss was this:

A massive conifer has fallen directly over one of the main trails that follow the bank of the reservoir.  Unfortunately its location at the water's edge did not result in a stable root structure.  It was hit by the wind and simply uprooted.

As you can see, its trunk is about two feet in diameter.

 

It is a shame, because it was a very nice tree that created a lot of shade.  Here it is before it was uprooted.  You can see why the roots were undermined by water.



I'm not sure what the mountain bikers are going to do.  This is one of the main trails that they use and it is now totally blocked to wheeled traffic.  Getting around the tree is difficult enough on foot.  So far I've only seen the water company clearing trees on the main access road.  Hopefully they'll make an exception and clear this one too.

Sick kitty. :(

I took Rowan to the veterinarian this afternoon.  She's been a bit "off" for a week.  Rowan is the pesty cat, so you know something is wrong if she's not complaining to you every other hour.  There were a few moments in the past week where she seemed better; she'd get up to ask for attention, and once or twice she ate at least half a plate of food. I hadn't realized just HOW quiet she was until I was home this weekend and she spent most of her time sleeping on or under the bed.  It was also difficult to get her to eat very much; she's always been a snacker, but this weekend she'd mostly only eat a bite or two if you set her down in front of a plate of cat food.  She was beginning to feel overly skinny, and her fur was looking unkempt.

So off to the veterinarian we went.  I was correct about Rowan's weight; she'd lost half a pound, which isn't good for a 6-7 lb cat.  She was also running a slight temperature, and might have some kind of infection.  We're having bloodwork and a urinalysis done to try and track down the problem.  In the meantime, Rowan got an antibiotic shot and some fluids to keep her from dehydrating.

She ate a bit when we got home and has been resting.  Hopefully the antibiotic will take effect or the bloodwork will show something.

Oh where, oh where has our water gone...

...oh where, oh where can it be?

The reservoir is looking dryer lately.
There are suddenly sandy beaches where lapping waves had been.
I know drought conditions have been worse elsewhere, but the drop in water level is still troubling.
Here are two views of the same location, one taken from the tree line, and one taken from the water line.