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.

English Shepherd Hike, July Edition

Scheduling the July hike was a bit tricky.  We were scheduled to step out on the trail at 10 a.m., but summer weather had arrived with a vengeance.  After an anxious week of watching weather forecasts predicting the high 90's, I moved the start time back to 8 am.  Unfortunately, this meant Karen and Patches could not come, but it didn't dissuade the two families that were traveling two hours to get here from the Boston area.  We had a fair number of new dogs, because the Boston contingent each brought two, and Mary brought all of her five dogs since she was traveling to New Hampshire directly after the hike.  The introductions made for an interesting melee.

Heads and tails everyplace!

Mary is going Echo a lift because he isn't very sociable.

Despite the initial chaos, the dogs quickly settled down and started having fun.

Chase games! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Helo came in his summer haircut; he says it is much more comfortable.

This is Toast. She is Mary's terrier/cattle dog mix.

Here is Shiver, Mary's Pomeranian. She had a hair cut too!

This is Echo, standing with Mary. He prefers to be left alone.

As usual, the streams and reservoir were greatly appreciated by many of the dogs.  Most of them ended up soaking wet and happy.  Hank and Katydid really weren't that familiar with water.  There was a short comic interval where they both jumped out onto rocks in the middle of the stream rather than wade into the stream as instructed.

This is Hank and Katydid.

They aren't really sure what's with this water stuff in this photo.

After being led into the stream, Hank finally got the idea and began to wade.  Katydid was reluctant, and had to be coerced, despite lots of encouragement.

Well, she's wading, but she certainly doesn't look happy about it.

Toast and Bug say water is fun, Katydid!

Elvira thinks being wet is a good excuse to get the zoomies.

 

Dandy says water is fun too! His fur is soaked.

This is Dandy's sister Bridget.

Their family got up early to drive all the way from Boston!

Bridget needs to work on her swimming technique.

We had two Bridgets this time: shaded sable Bridget and black and tan Bridget

Black and tan Bridget was so good; she kept on coming to shaded sable Bridget's mom when she called for her own Bridget.

Good move Bridget! I make a policy of coming when somebody in the hiking group calls.

(They might have COOKIES!)

Chandler had an interesting time during this walk.  With Patches absent, Elvira decided to focus her attention on him.  Oddly, she didn't really seem to care about any of the other male dogs.  Poor Chan seemed a bit befuddled by all the flirting, but wasn't adverse to a few games.

You want me to play chase?

Mom says she likes me.

By the end of the walk, everyone was wet and tired.  It was getting a bit hotter, but we stopped for the traditional group photo. 

Hank, Elvira, Katydid, Kateri, Chandler, Bridget, Dandy, Bug (honorary ES), Pace, Bridget, Shiver (honorary ES), Toast(honorary ES), Echo (honorary ES)
  (left to right)

Everyone agreed that it had been a really great hike, and the families from Boston declared that it had been worth the drive.  I took Chan home for some rest and relaxation, given that the day was becoming mildly oppressive and rain was in the forecast.  He was worn out enough to curl up for most of the afternoon.

So tired...

Feline Friday: Green Eyes

Wordless Wednesday: Fluff Dried