Farewell Pretty Boy

 We had to say goodbye to Pretty Boy.

So pretty in pink, watching trains

Pretty Boy wasn't originally our cat. He decided to move with us several years ago. He was more or less outdoor cat - which is not a good thing here in the cold wilderness. He slowly transformed into a pet, on his own will. He developed a hearing loss, so he wanted to be indoor cat.

With us Pretty Boy (his name means "happiness" - we didn't name him, his first family gave it to him) found shelter, peace, family, love. I do hope he found happines as well.

Worried

The stray cat that moved in with us several years ago is poorly. I didn't pay attention to him during the holidays, because there was so much going on. It was really cold, so Big broher and Little brother were also inside the house all the time. Litterboxes were full and food was eaten.

Yesterday I did pay attention. He wasn't yelling for food as per usual - I don't know if he was as quiet on friday, I wasn't here. He has lost a LOT of weigh in a year, but now he doesn't weigh a feather. I gave him food, he started to eat, but finished after a few mouthfulls. Not good.

Off to to the vet. I know d would like to be there, but she's 80km away and still sleeping (as students are).

(also my keayboard is acting up, t isn't working, and neither is lefthand side shift. I can use righthand side shift, but my login ohe laptop has t:s and that is a bigger problem, copy-paste don't work in login)

It's a bit cold

I'm very happy my ancestors didn't want to move to Siberia. -42C is a bit too cold for me. This -24 is a bit too cold for me... But the storm, Goretti, isn't here yet. I don't know if it ever will reach us. Maybe it just destroys the western Europe?

I was at the capital today, it is by the sea, so very windy. I'm still frozen. 12hrs and I'm done. But I defrosted freezers this week AND put all things back to freezers!

Catfight

It's really cold here -24C). So I emptied all preezers, put the food outside (Ikea bags are multipurpose as all Nordic people know). Itt's been about 12 hours and there's STILL some ice in the big chest freezer. So it was a due time to do this!

I've been cooking on my wood burner stove, it heats the house nicely. It's now a bit warmer outside (-18C) but I wouldn't like to go out. Full moon was yesterday, but it is still very very bright. When you look up into the sky, you can truly see the outer space.

Oh the cat fight?  Well, we DO live in the middle of the forest, deep into the woods. Big brother and little brother, the not-bonded duo went outside to have a pee and a poo (because they do not want to go as low as to use the litter boxes and baby brother does everything his big brother (not biological brother) does). Awful noice, my sister on the other end of the fields said they heard howling and wondered what it was.

Hb thought cats were fighting once again together and went to call them to be nice. Nope. This  time bigbrother was howling to a lynx! And baby brother were there, too (you know, monkey see, monkey do). Hb shouted, three cats were fighting in the freezing snow and the noise was terrible.

Lynx decided it was time to go, and cats decided it was cold enought to go inside. Big brother thinks he won and he's been daring everyone to fight. He even chased 'Suma and swipes her everytime she makes the mistake of getting too close.

Ok, so no more venturing to the forest in dark time of the day (which is like 18 hours now) for the cats. Easier said than done.

Happy New Year!

First we didn't have any winter, just rain and darkness. Well, now we have a bit of snow, today was very bright sunshine and yes - it's freezing cold (-17C atm).

Christmas was. As per usual, most of us were sick. I wasn't. Not very festive feeling, when 4 out of six of family members had fever, sore throat, headaches, cough, sneezes...  Oh well, it IS a tradition in our family.

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful new year!

Need to make room

The house is a mess. My freezers are overflowing. There's too much food in my fridge. Mostly very positive problems, I think. In most times, at least. But Christmas is coming! Where would I stick my ham? Casseroles? Sweet bakes?

Can't use veranda as cooler, because it's still full of MIL's stuff. New kitchen is full of building materials, dining table is under... plumbing equipment? Video projector? We haven't been able to eat at the table for a long time, probably since summer.

So, from now on, I will not buy food...

Or maybe I will. I usually do.

Last time I went really shopping was Monday last week. I was leaving the next day, so I needed to make sure there was things os can eat (as he still has some issues with food). And then I got "free" food in the same evening (like 10 containers of vanilla soy yoghurt, half a litre each). I really didn't have much time to process all I got, so I just stuck them to the freezers where ever I found an empty nook... Boys did a fine job on emptying the fridge during the week. I was back home by 1am Friday.

Friday dinner was insired by pasta carbonara; I had spaghetti, bacon, and some basic cheeses (eggs and garlic at least are in the original receipe) Nevertheless, it was delicious.

Then by Saturday morning I was feeling feverish, so all things I planned on doing were left undone. I didn't eat much on Saturday, family had rice and chicken (from freezer) in cream sauce. Yesterday I decided we need to have a proper dinner, so I rummaged the big chest freezer and found minced meat (it's 50/50 pork and beef). Fried that with taco seasoning, cut some chines cabbage in to thin strips, heated a carton of baked beans, grated some odd ends of cheese and ta-da! burritos!

Today I'm feeling slightly better, but not much. I knew I had some marinated chicken in the freezer, and we have WAY too much hamburger buns in there, too. I fries the chicken, sliced it. Chicken burgers!

I'm not planning on going to grocery stores this week until Friday. If I'm feeling ok. I might need some cheese, if I'd like to make pizza (but I do have some real mozzarella in the freezer). Maybe I'll make a quiche to use up some veggies?

Veranda and dining table will have to wait.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Last week I was on a work trip in Denmark. Nice weather (sunny, warm, just a light breeze - something I WOULD NOT expect from Denmark!). Long, long days, interesting people and good food.

And unfortunately I got covid, most likely on my way back home at the airport security line (should've gone by train). Well, haven't got a covid test, but symptoms are just right for this new strain. I'm not completely wiped out, but sick enough to call my supervisor "Sorry, can't work". Really it doesn't matter that much, I'm usually working from home anyway, I could've played working by sending few emails. Byt why should I? Here where I live I get paid if I'm sick only few days, and I can just call my supervisor to tell I'm sick. So if I AM sick, I am sick and not pretend to not be.

But it is nice to be at home sick alone. No-one is demanding my attention, or asking me things. It is so quiet (it wasn't quiet in Denmark) and I just sit in my comfy chair sniffing and nursing some hot drink and do nothing else... (of course it would be completely different thing if I was really really sick, but I'm not)

And - I've not told hb I'm on a sick leave. Either he would worry too much or then think I'm not sick and calls me all day do-this, do-that blah-blah-blah.

I would LOVE to be able to do all those small things around the house, but I AM sick, now my head is full of something icky and my brains are slow. If I put washing machine on, I get exhausted and all sweaty. If I go out with 'Suma (I mean I open the door and just stand in the middle of the driveway "You better go now for a pee and a poo!") I will freeze with my winter coat on...

But it was nice to meet my colleagues from Germany and France and all other places.