“An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible.” – Unknown

Monday, September 22, 2014

Cabin Trip 2014 - One Week In

Let's get food out of the way first. Steak and baked potatoes for dinner on Saturday, Lynne's chili with homemade cornbread on Sunday. Yum to both! I also baked a loaf of bread on Sunday because I need bread and bread crumbs for the Italian meatloaf later in the week. We'll eat it up for breakfasts, I'm sure. Lynne made a peach cobbler recipe that called for self-rising flour. We learned that Bisquick is probably not the same thing -- at least at this altitude. Leftover sliced steak on salad with home made blue cheese dressing for lunch on Monday.

Here is the bread:

I'm writing this early afternoon on Monday. We arrived exactly one week ago. 

Yesterday (Sunday) was a cool and rainy afternoon. Not typical of Colorado, we had a full day of clouds and light rain. According to my little weather station, we got about 1/2" of rain. It was wonderful. Everything smells so good and the moisture is very welcome. It will help the trees get stronger and better fight off disease and critters. In fact, in the morning we walked down to the beaver pond to give Bella a chance to swim, and I have never seen the pond so full this time of year. 

The lumber jacks were supposed to come today and do the "clean up" of the meadow. However, they were short a person and for safety reasons, did not come. Probably best anyway because of the heavy downpour we had mid-day. It really came down for a few minutes -- cold, wind and wet. We even fired up the stove for a while to stave off the cold and humidity. But, it was a more typical Colorado rainstorm and passed quickly and the sun is now out. The loggers will try again tomorrow.

I got a couple of chores done today. I changed the oil in the generator. For the record, it has 77.6 hours on the meter, now. I also took down some "shelves" that I had put up on the porch years ago. They were staggered in a way that made them a great cat tree -- and they were for the cats. But eBay doesn't care, so I took them down.

I'll leave you with a photo of aspens that Lynne took:

Tags:  cabinnaturefoodbellaweather
Posted under: Cabin NewsDog StuffCat StuffFood and Cooking • by Rick on 09/22/2014 at 01:47 PM
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Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Ultimate Internet Video

Finally, the ultimate justification for the existence of the Internet and YouTube. A cat dressed as a shark, riding a Roomba, chasing a duckling, with a cameo appearance by a dog in costume. This one has it all.

Tags:  dogscatsvideo
Posted under: Dog StuffCat StuffStuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 04/25/2013 at 05:30 AM
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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Rest in Peace, Sam

This weekend, we lost our precious Sam. He was only nine years old and was such a fun cat. Here are photos:

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Sam at Cabin

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Posted under: Cat Stuff • by Rick on 09/18/2012 at 09:41 AM
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Thursday, September 02, 2010

Vincent is gone

Today we euthanized Vincent “van Goatee”, our “Frenchman”. We got Vincent while living in France over 18 years ago. Over the past couple of years his health had been failing. He became unsociable, forgot all good bathroom habits, stopped caring for himself, lost weight and hollered all the time. We nursed him along for a long while. We did blood tests (lots of white cells, probably an infection, tried treating it, maybe cancer….) He ended up living the last year in a large dog crate where we could contain him and care for him.

He was a cute kitten. Passionate. I remember saying that he “ate passionately, played passionately, pooped passionately and slept passionately”—what a life!

Now, he is gone. Tough decision, but I think his quality of life sucked and he was likely in constant pain. The few minutes after receiving a heavy sedative were the most “at peace” I’ve seen him.

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Posted under: Cat Stuff • by Rick on 09/02/2010 at 02:47 PM
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Sunday, September 06, 2009

The Dogs Remember

It is very clear that the animals remember the cabin. They immediately fall into old habits and behaviors. They remember the daily “routine”. (Except their internal clocks are still on Eastern time, so they wake us up at 4:00 a.m.) They remember where we set their food bowls. They remember that we take a long walk each morning after breakfast and a shorter walk in the evening before dinner—and they remind us if we forget. They remember the trails in the woods and all the places we normally stop to gather everyone together and give them a treat. (A way of keeping them close on walks that we train into them from pups.)

What about Bella? Well, she “owns” this place—at least in her mind. She shows no fear. She leads us down every trail. Today, she went swimming in the pond. She is really good at following the game trails—which we also use for our walks. She runs and jumps and swims—not having any problem with the adjustment. See Lynne’s blog for photos.

The cats have settled into their routine also and seem very much at home.

So, the animals are all well and happy. As are we!

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Posted under: Cabin NewsDog StuffCat Stuff • by Rick on 09/06/2009 at 05:19 PM
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