Category Archives: family

Baxie’s Adventure

Here is a short adventure in honor of live creative day.

Homecoming

Baxie grew up sheltered in a quiet neighborhood. She was adopted at a young age by a nice couple during a time of widespread illness. It had been challenging to connect with potential adoptees because they did not come in often. Some of those with her were shy and didn’t interact much with the people who came. She was one of the lucky ones, to be adopted.

Her new parents introduced her to her favorite person in the whole world when they arrived home. His name was Peter, and they had adopted him so many years before he was practically a grumpy grown-up. Initial attempts to invite Peter to play with her were met with derision and more than a little sniping at her, but she could tell he was lonely and kept poking. Eventually, he pounced back and ran around with her. They would snuggle up together for naps after their races.

People visit the family. While Peter loved meeting and talking to the guests, Baxie remained scared of them. She preferred her quiet family to herself. Those strangers could stay in their own homes as far as she was concerned. However, as she stared out their back window into the vast woodland surrounding their home, she wondered if something in nature might offer her more.

The Wild OutBack

Her parents and Peter roamed around in the back woods. She watched them from the doorway, listening to the tweeting of birds and the chittering of squirrels. Oh! How she wanted to go out and romp with the forest animals. It seemed safe enough for the rest of her family, but every time she started to paw outside quietly, a louder sound reverberated through the trees.

Winter turned to another spring, and the days grew warmer with the sun peeking out between the clouds and the rain. It was her third year with her new family, and Baxie knew she wanted to take a risk. She wanted to – finally – bask in the sun and chase bugs or birds in the fresh air.

Baxie stepped forward onto the back stoop. Her nose twitched at the scents assaulting her senses, and her ears flicked fore and back on alert for the slightest sound of danger. The world was quiet. A gentle burbling of water and a breeze rustling the leaves. She kept moving, slipping between two trees flanking the perimeter of the open area where the family cooked.

The tree smelled good, so Baxie stopped to take a nibble. It tasted different than the food she normally ate, and the branch was still connected, so it whapped her in the nose when she let it go. The feeling of it against her whiskers made her huff a breath before continuing.

Freedom!

Exiting on the other side, she froze in place. Massive trees rose above her. Water rushed to the left, and a small hill trailed to the right. A rush of wings above claimed her attention, and she crouched low as her eyes narrowed on the object of her desires. Her heart rushed, and she felt her jaw move, making a quiet clicking. The bird sang, oblivious.

Baxie crouched. She wiggled her back legs, positioning them perfectly to pounce in an instant. The bird sang, then fluttered its wings before grooming them with its beak.

So close, she thought, I just need a step to get up there.

The thought was no sooner in her head when the bird took off from its perch and flew toward the water. Without hesitation, on instinct, she bolted after it. Their chase lasted mere seconds. It disappeared between the leaves of another tree, so she halted her fast pursuit and took up a stalking position. In the distance, someone called her name, but she ignored whoever it was, intent on her prey.

Step.

Another.

Soft paws. Quiet paws. Slowly.

The bird took off again for another tree, and she threw herself forward after it. Her name was called louder this time, but she again ignored them. Behind the waterfall and across the field, her claws dug into the soil and she bolted forward like a supreme hunter. Excitement flared in her chest as she pulled up beneath the next tree. She stalked at the base, assessing her best path to the top.

“Baxie, you crazy cat,” Mom said as she approached.

No! No! No! You’ll scare it away!

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as she was plucked off the ground and into welcoming arms.

“You can’t chase birds, silly. You’ll run out of the yard and get lost.”

Baxie had no idea what the words meant, but she stared back at the bird as she was carried back inside, her eyes narrowing on her prey. I’ll get you next time, she promised.

Operation: Save the Guppies

If you have been following my social media, you have already seen the tidbits making up the bulk of this effort.

Backstory

When we bought our house together, it came with a pond in the backyard. It is lovely to look at and sounds peaceful when the pump runs the water through the rocky falls. The previous owner did an outstanding job caring for and maintaining the pond, even if it was only at the end to get it ready to sell.

They did so well getting this ready for listing pictures!

We quickly discovered that the pond is a beast to maintain. It is too shallow for a permanent koi pond, so it was chlorinated and kept clean. While it seemed easy enough, the thing leads…from everywhere. The pond armor paint needs to be refaced every year, or it leaks more. Where the pond armor is not submerged, it dries and cracks. If it’s not deep enough, the skimmer doesn’t work, and the skimmer doesn’t get all the tree debris, so it needs to be vacuumed and scooped frequently.

With everything on our plates over the last couple of years, pond maintenance fell to the bottom of our lists. Last year, we drained and cleaned it in early spring before the critters got to it. Not so much this year.

Frogs!

Not getting to it early this year meant the frogs used it as a breeding ground. I love frogs in all their forms, so I couldn’t just drain and clean, scooping up all the frog eggs to whither upon the ground. We decided it might be easier to let them do their froggy thing, but past years had taught us that the mosquitos also loved the pond, and the dunks did not keep them away.

The tadpoles would eat some of the mosquito larvae, but we needed something more or more aggressive to make a dent in the millions of future mosquitos squirming around in the water. It’s a little creepy to stare at the water and see it practically writhing with the little wormies.

After some option searching, we landed on guppies as our best option. Mosquito fish are invasive and not sold here. Goldfish would also eat the tadpoles.

Guppies!

Our first group of guppies did not last long. It was either too cold for them at night, or they gorged themselves into their next fish life. I like to think it was more the latter, and they had good lives as far as feeder fish usually get. The squirmers in the water certainly reduced. Just visually, it looked like about a 75% reduction. I called it a success, and we waited until further into the warmer season to get more.

Many from the second group survived, the frogs and salamanders grew up, and the mosquitos were managed. I enjoyed going out to the pond to watch my little fish swimming around. Eventually, I walked up to the pond to see a mass of little fish swimming away. My guppies had some little guppy fry.

And thus began my operation to save the guppies, because they will not survive the winter temperatures outside.

Aquarium Time

The animal lover in me decided I wanted to try to save the guppies, but my resources were very low. I had to get creative. My goal was to keep the entire endeavor under $50.

I found a second-hand tank with a filter and bought the smaller plants to grow in the tank and propagate organically. The substrate put me over my initial budget. I considered grabbing dirt/gravel from the yard, but that seemed a little too risky. I did pull some of the rocks from the pond to use in the tank, though, to bring in some of the algae and give the fish a taste of home.

As of now, the plants are growing and I’ve brought thirty of the baby fish into the tank. Since they are going to get bigger, the tank is probably at capacity now. I won’t be able to save all the guppies, as there are probably still another hundred out in the pond. I’ve offered them up as easy-to-care-for pets to friends and family, so maybe we will save a few more. The rest will return to the circle of life, likely as bird snacks.

For my new indoor friends, what do you think we should call their new home?

Cat’s Eye

The last few weeks were filled with multiple vet appointments. Big Cat turned nineteen years old at the beginning of the month, and he has developed an eye ulcer. His right eye started to develop an odd spot on it. He wasn’t rubbing at it or squinting, but, as it got bigger, I sent in a picture to the vet.

She was worried it was hurting him, and we did some eye drops for a couple of weeks. The spots shrunk a bit, but the vet wanted me to take him to an ophthalmologist. We are now trying a couple of different eye drops, and I’ve been able to reduce his pain meds. The eye doctor doesn’t think it is hurting him. Unless he starts squinting, I’m lessening the pain meds to what I have found to be optimal for his arthritis.

Everyone who sees him still says he looks good for his age. Considering that a cat half his age would still be considered almost geriatric, that is not saying much. He promised me at least twenty years – we had a heartfelt cat-person conversation. I would be happy if he at least makes it through this next summer. Since he can’t run away as much now, I’ve been taking him outside in good weather, and he has loved lounging in the sun.

Big Cat has been my companion for nearly half my life. He moved out of my parents’ house with me. He cried and laughed with me through my relationships. He accepted my husband when we all moved in together, winning him over despite his reluctance to become a pet owner. I want to make sure he is as comfortable as possible for however long he has remaining.

Lots of cat love to all!

Holiday Cheer

Schedules were more congested than usual this year, so we ended up packing a lot into the Christmas weekend. Every year, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, our group of friends has what we call Thanksmas. It’s a formal holiday dinner for us and our families that we do potluck style. While it is usually more centralized between the two holidays, this year, it needed to be all the way out on the 23rd.

My husband and I hosted both Thanksmas and Christmas with my family on the 25th. For both events, we prepped and cooked a turkey, meaning two events were hosted and two turkeys were cooked in three days. We dry brine our turkeys, so they don’t take up as much space as a liquid brining. This was essential with all the stuff we had to pack into the refrigerator.

I think these were some of our best turkeys to date, coming out very moist and flavorful with the nice crispy skin. The gravy also turned out very tasty. Some of my other favorites were the stuffing, sweet potatoes, and – of course – my family’s traditional noodles.

With the two carcasses, we made a bunch of turkey stock. Some stock from the first turkey was used for the noodles on Christmas day, but we also ended up canning some of it. A couple of the cans did not seal in the pressure canner, so we put those in the refrigerator instead to use for soups over the next week. We’ll store the sealed ones for use later.

One of the coolest gifts I received for Christmas was from my sister. She is big into crafts (knitting, sewing, etc.) and started doing some basic quilting this year. She made some small quilted items, a handful of potholders, and a small table runner. They have some heat stuff in the middle, so we can use them all to hold hot items, and most of them have a summer theme with watermelons and other such images.

To friends and family reading this, thank you for all the gifts, food, and companionship this holiday season. And, to everyone, happy holidays and get ready for the new year!

Thanksgiving 2023

It had been a while since I spent Thanksgiving at my in-laws until this year. Between COVID and their frequent trips to warmer weather in the winter, most recent years were spent with my side of our family.

This year the other side was hosting a larger gathering, including us. We brought some asparagus to contribute to the family feast of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and the rest. I’m not a big pumpkin fan, so I went with the apple pie for dessert.

My family ended up having ham instead of turkey this year. I approve of this, as it means we can have turkey for Christmas, and that is my preference. The only thing I regret about the switch is that I couldn’t snag some of our family noodles to go with my turkey leftovers.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned the noodles before. They are a family tradition for the holidays. The recipe is like an old spaetzle recipe transformed with more of an Italian pasta-making process. Either way, we cook them with turkey stock and drippings to use as a side or in place of gravy. Since they had ham instead, I’m stuck using the packaged poultry gravy for my leftovers instead. I’ll have to rectify this for Christmas lunch.

I hope you were all able to take some time for family and friends. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!