Kitty Kraziness

Here are some photos from the catnip-induced shenanigans that occurred last week after the delightful Katnip Loungers sent us a parcel o' FABULOUS cat goodies....

After getting a little stoned on 'nip...

...everyone wanted to check out the new cube!

"WOAH! What the...?!"

"Oh, Naomi, it's just you!"

Kitty triangle. Not unlike the Bermuda Triangle except that instead of sucking in airplanes...

...it sucks in DOGS!

Wildness ensues! Kitten fangs!

Naomi and Emily are best buds these days! They hang around with each other all the time. I think Alex is a bit put out, since Naomi has been his girlfriend for the past three years. They usually sleep together, groom each other, and hang out. But now Naomi is always with Miss Emily!

Still, Alex is good-natured and always ready to join in the fun!

"Catnip and valerian root, my favourite combo!"

"MMmmmm... valerian root. Mmmmmmm!"

"Hey Naomi, can I get me some of that?"

Look who crashed the party again!

Sophie has mixed feelings about cats but she loooooves Alex. She likes to come up and lick his face, to which he responds with a look of utter disgust.

Lucky kitties! Look at all these great toys!

Every cat has checked out and snoozed in this cube. It's very popular. I should get ten of them and scatter them around the house.

My sweet Tortie girl, all blissed out!

Thanks again for the bundle o' fun, Katnip Loungers.

Ski day!

On Sunday, we went cross-country skiing with our friends at the beautiful Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

Near the sanctuary, there are lots of ice-fishing huts on the the St. Lawrence River...

Yes, people drive their pick-up trucks onto the ice and yes, I think it's crazy, and yes, every year, somebody's truck goes through the ice. This happens all over Canada. Like this. And this.  And this. And, oh wait, this.

If you don't have your own ice-fishing hut (like this deluxe version we saw on the highway outside Montréal), you can rent one in Long Sault:

I'm guessing "collette" is French for ice hut. That's one word I don't have in my French vocabulary!

No thanks!

But back to skiing...

The bird sanctuary is a beautiful place.

 

The snow was pretty slippery though, and I should have put more wax on my skis...

...because I fell flat on my back three times! I was quite comfy lying in the snow, and the view was pretty, but people kept offering to help me up!

There were lots of animal tracks in the snow. These ones belonged to a raccoon!

Looks nice enough to skate on!

There is a little chalet and outhouse halfway through the ski course. I took pictures of tree graffiti while the girls had a sit-down.

I am wondering if that says Hope &  Todd forever, or "Hope", "Love" and "Todd Forever." I wonder if she still loves Todd? That graffiti is deeply ingrained has been there for a very long time.

GOrdon and our friend Jim skiing under the  afternoon sun.

There are a lot of tame birds at the sanctuary and this little White-breasted Nuthatch was looking for a handout. I didn't have anything on hand, but...

...later we found a few peanuts, and fed the chickadees near the main building. They are exceedingly tame there!

How can you not smile with a chickadee in your hand?

Here comes Gordon!

And this is weirdness...

pussywillows in January?! Too early!!!!

We had an excellent day and I hope to get out skiing again soon. It's snowing right now but we're due for up to 12 hours of freezing rain tonight into tomorrow. That will make for a big mess. I just hope our power stays on! I didn't live here during the Ice Storm of 1998, but this farm was without power for over two weeks, and all the hydro poles along the laneway had to be replaced after they collapsed!

Have a happy winter day!

My favourite day!

Today is my favourite day of the year, the day I get another year older! On Saturday, we had a dinner party at our place to celebrate my and Gordon's birthdays. My friend Ronna made me the most wonderful cake I have EVER seen! And it was delicious, too... chocolate cake with chocolate chunks and ganache.

It's me and Gordon snuggled up with all our pets! Yep, two dogs, four cats (including kitten with tail-tip snapped off!), a gecko, ducks, ducklings, chickens, honeybees and two mice. It was a chocolate cake and all the decoration was done with fondant.

We were beyond thrilled! What an amazing cake.

I am lucky to have such a great, talented friend.

Gordon looks almost as happy about his cake as he did about his kitten!

Isn't it fabulous? For more pics and details, visit Ronna's blog!

And to see more of Ronna's artistic cakes, visit her Facebook page. Please "like" it so we can get her up to 400 likes!

This morning, Gordon brought me toast cut into the shape of a crown (pictures later.) Then I got apple pancakes and bacon, earrings, a new purse, jelly beans and an i-Phone, which means I can finally retire my eight-year-old monochrome cell phone!

We are going snowshoeing today, then Thai food for dinner! Eases the pain of edging ever-closer to the half-century mark. :)

Clean up!

So after 24 hours, I did manage to get my car out of our laneway. Things froze up just enough for me to  get some traction under the drivewheel on the east side of our laneway. 

Then Bernie, the farmer who clears our laneway,  came over and "disced" the ice surface, breaking it up so tires can get some traction.

My knight in shining tractor!

The discs are far using on fields, but hey, they work great on laneways too!

Bernie took two runs up and down the laneway.

And off he went...

into the distance...

...and back to his own farm. That's our red car parked up by the road. After I got our car stuck on Wednesday while Gordon was, he didn't drive back down the laneway until we got the ice surface sorted out.

The joys of winter!