We have been engaging in the risky business of looking at pet adoption sites and sure enough, we got caught. Our new little girl is a beautiful 6 year old tortoiseshell named Simone.
She's a long, tall cat who jumps effortlessly onto cabinets but we are working on that. Shorty and her ignore each other. Sometimes she pretends to be startled when she walks by him but she's really doesn't care.
But there are adjustments to be made. Nobody declaws cats anymore but Simone likes to pull her claws on anything. We have scratching posts and are working to make other areas less attractive. I used cats' well-know adversity to aluminum foil to convince her to stop scratching on the bed frame. It looks tacky but it works.
Her real job is to cuddle. So far she does great!
Our Ring camera was busy last night! It didn't notify us so we didn't know it at the time, but a little after midnight some bears visited us. First they checked out our garbage can. Unfortunately for them, the garbage had been picked up earlier and the only things in the can were little bags of dog poo and cat poo.
So they walked up between our house and the truck to cross right in front of our porch steps, before walking up towards other houses and other garbage cans. The whole family was here - Mama bear and her three big cubs from last year.
Everything turned out fine and I still LOVE living where bears and alligators roam!
Last night when I was getting ready for bed I thought I heard something outside. Like an idiot I opened the back door to look outside. Didn't see much but there seemed to be dark, moving reflections on the truck's shiny bumper. A moment later I realized that of course, that meant there was a bear!
The outside screen door was still between us and I quickly ducked inside the house. I quickly pulled up the Ring video and there she was, helping herself to our garbage can.
Right about this point was when I had interrupted her so she left the can. It's a good thing because she shouldn't be checking cans but it makes me a little sad, she's just trying to feed her youngster.
We are really, really careful what we put into the garbage can but occasionally we underestimate what will interest bears.
We are getting out a little more nowadays. Still avoiding crowds and long exposures, but it's so good to be with people again, even with those limitations.
The only lights we drove out to see were the Leesburg lights; they have the whole park filled with lights like these - so beautiful!
We try to meet with a limited number of people now so we asked Pete and Donna, and our neighbor Sarah over for a late lunch.
Today has been a rough day. Randy felt bad most of the night and all of the day. Although our Oncology office was fully booked, the wonderful staff squeezed him for a visit. They ended up giving him an IV of all sorts of good stuff before sending him home to rest, and the doctor gave us her personal number in case he has problems over the weekend. Excellent care.
Additional brownie points to his nurse for making all her patients smile!
