R.I.P. Mama

Sadly, we had to say farewell to Mama in mid-March. She was a tough old gal and had been hanging in there for longer than we would have thought, and still showing joy in her daily routines in spite of her advance age. She had gotten quite thin despite her ravenous appetite, and though we didn't know her age we guessed her to be around 18 years old.

She arrived on our property in February 2011, looking for warmth and safety. Her leg had been ripped open fairly badly, so we locked her in our garage to give her somewhere safe to eat, drink, sleep and heal. Lo and behold, she up and had three kittens one day in the garage, and our little family swelled by four, Mama and her Nugs. We had planned to give the kittens away, but of course we fell in love and could not break up the family.

She loved socializing with us outside, whether it was stealing my chair at the fire pit, hanging out in the hammock as I read a book, our crawling into our tent when we camped in the yard. 

We named her Pooka. In time she healed and stuck around, living mainly outside except on the coldest winter nights. In her later years, she spent more time inside cuddling and enjoying the warmth. She even started to sleep between our pillows and purr softly in our ears. 

She continued to rule over her three babies and also tried to rule the other cats as well. She had real attitude, and her one nickname "Crankenpuss" was well-earned. Mama was matriarch of the property, and the name stuck early on. Even in her declining years, she was a large presence in the house that is already sorely missed.

Farewell sweet baby girl - Mama, aka Pooka, Mama Pook, Crankenpuss, Crankers, Jim/Jimmy/Jimsy, James T. Mifflesmiff, The Smiffler, Tabby Thunder, Stumblebum, and in her chunkier days, both Two-Pants and "The Nuclear Football".    

Bring on Spring!

Spring finally sprung here in the sunny south, after about six weeks of "real" winter. We got a lot of snow for here, but nothing compared to what the rest of Ontario got. Thankfully, we have a very nice neighbour with a tractor, because the drifting was quite bad - he did our driveway three times in a little over a week.

We watched a lot of Olympics from Italy whilst snowbound in February, including the two nailbiters in men's and women's hockey, in which we lost both games in overtime to the Americans. We'll get 'em back in four years.

Late February brought a few concerts of note to raise our spirits. We headed to Chatham and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Korean Fusion before heading over to the Capitol Theatre to catch the Sam Roberts Band from our front-row balcony vantage. He/they did not disappoint, bringing all the hits and his usual cool vibe. He also made me slightly regret our delicious dinner when he announced that the band hung out and had drinks with the locals at the bar we usually go to before shows, the Elephant's Nest.

About a week later, the venue was Caesar's in Windsor. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Legends before heading to the Colosseum for a double shot of Crown Lands followed by The Trews, as they wrapped up their Bloody Light tour. Eschewing our usual nosebleed seats in the mezzanine, this time we opted for second row on the floor.

The boys brought their A-Game and wowed the crowd with all their hits plus a few new offerings, rendered in Colin's unfaltering vocals. They even threw in a few mashup covers with nods to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and The Who. The band also came out into the crowd twice, having to pass right by our seats each time. 

Any day now we will break the van out of winter torpor and repopulate the deck with furniture - bring on spring!

Beef bulgogi - Spicy pork - Sweet and Sour chicken

Two kinds of kimchi at Korean Fusion

Balcony seats at Chatham Capitol Theatre

Sam Roberts Band bringing the love!

Released from winter's icy grasp by late February

Crown Lands - crazy sound from just two dudes!

The Trews rock the Colosseum at Caesar's!

John-Angus lays it down

The hardest working band in the land!

Colin in the crowd for Ishmael and Maggie

The boys passing by our seats in the second row

R.I.P. Gronk

And then there were Six. What a crappy start to the New Year.

We lost Gronk in early January. He had been diagnosed with a mass on his lungs that was also compressing his trachea. Steroids bought him a few good weeks to say his goodbyes but this was a hard one.

He was born Perca on the property in May 2011 with his sister Pita (passed) and his brother Bonk (Pistol), all offspring of crazy Momma who is defying odds and still with us.

He was our dominant male after taking the reins from Jebus, and was a BIG personality. Literally, it was HIS world and we just lived in it (and served his needs). As a younger boy, he led the Nug Pile by sleeping on top of his siblings, or whomever happened to be in "his spot". 

Once he matured, he definitely also mastered the Resting B!tch Face. He also grew into his signature b!tchy meow which let you know he wanted in, he wanted out, he wanted food, or just wanted your attention. From there his name Gronk was established, and it stuck for most of his life.

He took his job of securing the property very seriously, driving off interlopers and patrolling the perimeter with regularity. He had his usual spots, and of all our outdoor cats definitely liked certain places in the barn or garage to curl up and sleep.....and MAN could he sleep. We've never had a cat that slept deeper than Gronk when he was "out". We were constantly amazed he was able to sleep so hard and survive outside.

 Also unique - he fished in our ditch every spring. We used to think he was crazy, but then we saw him actually attacking fish in the water. We even found a half chewed fish up on the bank, proving that he was a successful angler at least once.

On his last day, with newfound energy he took one last patrol around the whole property and even out into the neighbour's field and halfway to the corner. We spent his last days cuddling a lot on the couch, a luxury we don't always get. He slept harder than normal in his weakened state, but he also had a number of "good dreams" in our laps as he chased his final rabbits and bagged one last fish.

Farewell sweet boy - you are already missed and have left a huge hole in our household.

R.I.P. Gronk (Perca), aka Gronky, Grump, Grrrrr, Grrr Digivens, G, G-Dogg, Big Nug, The Rump, The Fisher King, Garnk, Grim/Grimmy, Grimiss Daladay, Grimiss Jackson, Grimmy Poliver, Grimmy Po, Grimpel, Ronkers.....and Nuggles Nuggington the 3rd (of the Wheatley Nuggingtons).

Baby Gronk in 2011

Early feedings in the garage with his siblings

Nug Piles!

He was a paddler at the door when he wanted in....

Sleeping hard with brother Bonk

Out like a light!

Fishing in the ditch

Who does that???

Surveying his domain

One wet and angry boy!

Marking his turf

Beautiful boy

Let me in!

Comforting Pennywise

Bromance with Vincent

Snuggled up with Pinhead

One final patrol before signing off duty

Quality time on his final night