Happy New Year! Call me naïve, but I always have a feeling of hope for a shiny new year. I will be a better person! I will do everything I am supposed to do! At least I think about it, right?
Along with the usual "eat right and exercise" resolutions for 2015 I resolve to try to journal, and to write on this blog. It's therapeutic.
I will write what I did that day. What the weather was like, what happened at work, what my cats did, what my husband did. How did I feel? I will just try to write something, every day.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Sunday, November 30, 2014
A Neat and Clean Bandit!
When I got my feral cat colony, I also got a lot of paperwork and instructions from Treehouse Humane Society. One instruction was to put food down at the same times every day, morning and evening, and to ring a little bell so that the cats would come to feed. If the cats didn't come within an hour or so, I was supposed to pick the food up and bring it inside so as not to attract other wildlife.
Other wildlife, I thought? All we have around here are squirrels, garter snakes and of course, rats. I had already observed that the squirrels were not interested in the food, but only took a few sips of water here and there. I wasn't worried about the snakes, and I hoped the rats were staying far away from anything that smelled like cats.
Because my cats made themselves so scarce in the beginning of their stay in my yard, I left food down 24/7. Many days it would go uneaten, and I would just throw stale stuff away and replace it with fresh stuff. I assumed my cats were off hunting and catching their own food as they got familiar with their new neighborhood. I got a few reports from neighbors in the condo building next door -- my neighbor Louis was getting into his car one morning, and he looked down and saw a mouse head and a mouse tail. That made me laugh. Finicky cats, they only want the soft center filet of mouse!
So that I could see what was going on with my little colony, I bought a motion-detector camera, the kind that hunters use to spot wildlife. I strapped it into position on my deck and aimed it at the feralvillas (the cat houses) and the feeding station. I set it to take 20-second videos. It takes nice color videos during daylight, and black and white after dark, using infrared so there is no visible flash. The cats don't seem aware of the camera at all, it is working great. Dan and I have been watching the cats come and go at all hours of the day and night. We watch them feed, groom themselves, and perch on top of the feralvillas.
For a Thanksgiving treat, I mixed a bunch of turkey scraps in to the regular canned cat food and put it out in the feeding station. The next morning I retrieved the camera and Dan and I sat down to watch some cat videos. Everything was as usual until we got to a couple of videos that were shot at 1:30 a.m. Much to our surprise and alarm, there was a raccoon munching away at the feeding station!! Treehouse was right, I had attracted other wildlife into my yard by leaving the food out all night. It was a young raccoon, probably a teenager. It munched on the wet food -- enjoying the turkey, I'm sure -- and then it took a few sips of water from the water bowl and dunked one paw in the water. He looked like he was rinsing off his little paw.
So now, of course, I have to start doing what Treehouse advised me to do from the beginning. I have to put food down when I come home from work at 6:00 p.m., ring my little dinner bell, and then pick the food back up and bring it in the house before I go to bed. Hopefully the raccoon and his relatives won't come around during the early evening hours, but the wildlife camera will let me know if he does.
So what did I learn? To take the advice of people who know a whole lot more about this stuff than I do!
Other wildlife, I thought? All we have around here are squirrels, garter snakes and of course, rats. I had already observed that the squirrels were not interested in the food, but only took a few sips of water here and there. I wasn't worried about the snakes, and I hoped the rats were staying far away from anything that smelled like cats.
Because my cats made themselves so scarce in the beginning of their stay in my yard, I left food down 24/7. Many days it would go uneaten, and I would just throw stale stuff away and replace it with fresh stuff. I assumed my cats were off hunting and catching their own food as they got familiar with their new neighborhood. I got a few reports from neighbors in the condo building next door -- my neighbor Louis was getting into his car one morning, and he looked down and saw a mouse head and a mouse tail. That made me laugh. Finicky cats, they only want the soft center filet of mouse!
So that I could see what was going on with my little colony, I bought a motion-detector camera, the kind that hunters use to spot wildlife. I strapped it into position on my deck and aimed it at the feralvillas (the cat houses) and the feeding station. I set it to take 20-second videos. It takes nice color videos during daylight, and black and white after dark, using infrared so there is no visible flash. The cats don't seem aware of the camera at all, it is working great. Dan and I have been watching the cats come and go at all hours of the day and night. We watch them feed, groom themselves, and perch on top of the feralvillas.
For a Thanksgiving treat, I mixed a bunch of turkey scraps in to the regular canned cat food and put it out in the feeding station. The next morning I retrieved the camera and Dan and I sat down to watch some cat videos. Everything was as usual until we got to a couple of videos that were shot at 1:30 a.m. Much to our surprise and alarm, there was a raccoon munching away at the feeding station!! Treehouse was right, I had attracted other wildlife into my yard by leaving the food out all night. It was a young raccoon, probably a teenager. It munched on the wet food -- enjoying the turkey, I'm sure -- and then it took a few sips of water from the water bowl and dunked one paw in the water. He looked like he was rinsing off his little paw.
So now, of course, I have to start doing what Treehouse advised me to do from the beginning. I have to put food down when I come home from work at 6:00 p.m., ring my little dinner bell, and then pick the food back up and bring it in the house before I go to bed. Hopefully the raccoon and his relatives won't come around during the early evening hours, but the wildlife camera will let me know if he does.
So what did I learn? To take the advice of people who know a whole lot more about this stuff than I do!
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Fun with Feral Cats
I live right in the city of Chicago, which has the dubious honor of being the "rattiest" city in the country. Congratulations to us! NOT It has been so depressing, seeing rats run through my yard every evening at sunset, and being afraid to work in my garden. We placed black boxes of poison all over by the alley and the garbage cans, and then I found a dead rat rotting away under a large clump of monarda. My husband Dan was worried that our brick patio was collapsing because of rats tunneling underneath. I had to do something to regain my backyard from these nasty rodents! I was contemplating a rat terrier, but didn't really want to care for a dog or put up with the damage that a terrier can inflict on a garden.
Then I saw something interesting on the 9:00 news. Treehouse Humane Society, a no-kill cat shelter, had implemented a program called "Cats at Work". They trap feral cats around the city, spay and neuter them, clip the tip of one ear, and install a microchip. Then they place colonies of feral cats in private homes and also in factories as natural rodent control. These cats are completely feral, with no hope of ever being adopted as pets. Once a cat lives in the wild and reaches a certain age, they will almost always be very afraid of people.
I sent off an email to Treehouse, and received a response. A few weeks later, on Sunday, October 5, I had my feral cat colony! It was a very exciting day when Erica from Treehouse brought 4 feral cats and a large dog kennel to my house. We set up the kennel in the yard, because the cats had to be confined for 3 full weeks in order to get used to the sights and sounds of their new environment. Inside the dog kennel were two large lidded Rubbermaid containers that had been retro-fitted into little cat shelters, with a round door opening cut in the side, Styrofoam glued on the walls on the inside, and stuffed with straw. These little houses kept the cats warm and dry inside the kennel, which we also covered with a tarp to keep out the rain.
Twice a day, morning and evening, I would bring fresh wet and dry food to the kennel. The cats always disappeared into the rubbermaid houses when they saw me coming. Treehouse told me to speak softly to them and ring a small bell so that the cats would equate the bell with feeding time. There was also a large litter box in the dog kennel that I scooped out every morning. Those 4 cats had nothing to do all day but eat and poop, so I did a lot of shoveling every morning! I have to say that I did not see any rats once the kennel of cats was in place. I guess the rats didn't realize the cats couldn't get out!
Finally 3 weeks passed, and Dan and I were very excited to wait until dark on Friday night, open the kennel door, and go back in the house to watch from our enclosed back porch. We saw the cats slowly and timidly exit the kennel and disappear into the night. The next morning I anxiously looked for them, and checked the food, which had not been touched. I was so worried that they would just disappear and never come back. Erica from Treehouse kept in close contact with me, and assured me that this was normal. Though it was late October when we released the cats, it was right in the middle of a string of beautiful, warm weather. I don't blame the cats for taking off and partying!
We kept watch for them from our back porch, and finally on Sunday night, almost 2 days later, we noticed the motion detector light by our garage go on, and we finally saw one of our cats sneaking down the garden border toward the food and water bowls. We were so excited! One by one, over the next few weeks, all 4 cats came back, and we would catch little glimpses of them from our back windows. Then we noticed that one cat was missing, a large gray and white shorthair named ElGreco. It has now been a full month since I have seen him, I hope he is ok and that he has just gone to live with another colony somewhere in the neighborhood. Maybe he will come back some day.
The other 3 cats, Moo Shoo, Goblin and Brando, are right at home in our yard. They live in little wooden cat houses that we equipped with electric kennel heating pads covered with straw, so they are nice and warm. On nicer days they like to hang out on top of the houses. We have a sheltered feeding station set up on our patio with electric heated bowls for water and food. I put food down twice a day, and ring the little dinner bell. Our yard is the Four Seasons for these lucky cats! I feel like we are the lucky ones, though, because I just know that the rats will be gone, and come next spring I will be able to happily work in my garden again. I may have to shovel some cat poop out of freshly-cultivated soil, but I will be happy to do it.
Then I saw something interesting on the 9:00 news. Treehouse Humane Society, a no-kill cat shelter, had implemented a program called "Cats at Work". They trap feral cats around the city, spay and neuter them, clip the tip of one ear, and install a microchip. Then they place colonies of feral cats in private homes and also in factories as natural rodent control. These cats are completely feral, with no hope of ever being adopted as pets. Once a cat lives in the wild and reaches a certain age, they will almost always be very afraid of people.
I sent off an email to Treehouse, and received a response. A few weeks later, on Sunday, October 5, I had my feral cat colony! It was a very exciting day when Erica from Treehouse brought 4 feral cats and a large dog kennel to my house. We set up the kennel in the yard, because the cats had to be confined for 3 full weeks in order to get used to the sights and sounds of their new environment. Inside the dog kennel were two large lidded Rubbermaid containers that had been retro-fitted into little cat shelters, with a round door opening cut in the side, Styrofoam glued on the walls on the inside, and stuffed with straw. These little houses kept the cats warm and dry inside the kennel, which we also covered with a tarp to keep out the rain.
Twice a day, morning and evening, I would bring fresh wet and dry food to the kennel. The cats always disappeared into the rubbermaid houses when they saw me coming. Treehouse told me to speak softly to them and ring a small bell so that the cats would equate the bell with feeding time. There was also a large litter box in the dog kennel that I scooped out every morning. Those 4 cats had nothing to do all day but eat and poop, so I did a lot of shoveling every morning! I have to say that I did not see any rats once the kennel of cats was in place. I guess the rats didn't realize the cats couldn't get out!
Finally 3 weeks passed, and Dan and I were very excited to wait until dark on Friday night, open the kennel door, and go back in the house to watch from our enclosed back porch. We saw the cats slowly and timidly exit the kennel and disappear into the night. The next morning I anxiously looked for them, and checked the food, which had not been touched. I was so worried that they would just disappear and never come back. Erica from Treehouse kept in close contact with me, and assured me that this was normal. Though it was late October when we released the cats, it was right in the middle of a string of beautiful, warm weather. I don't blame the cats for taking off and partying!
We kept watch for them from our back porch, and finally on Sunday night, almost 2 days later, we noticed the motion detector light by our garage go on, and we finally saw one of our cats sneaking down the garden border toward the food and water bowls. We were so excited! One by one, over the next few weeks, all 4 cats came back, and we would catch little glimpses of them from our back windows. Then we noticed that one cat was missing, a large gray and white shorthair named ElGreco. It has now been a full month since I have seen him, I hope he is ok and that he has just gone to live with another colony somewhere in the neighborhood. Maybe he will come back some day.
The other 3 cats, Moo Shoo, Goblin and Brando, are right at home in our yard. They live in little wooden cat houses that we equipped with electric kennel heating pads covered with straw, so they are nice and warm. On nicer days they like to hang out on top of the houses. We have a sheltered feeding station set up on our patio with electric heated bowls for water and food. I put food down twice a day, and ring the little dinner bell. Our yard is the Four Seasons for these lucky cats! I feel like we are the lucky ones, though, because I just know that the rats will be gone, and come next spring I will be able to happily work in my garden again. I may have to shovel some cat poop out of freshly-cultivated soil, but I will be happy to do it.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Oh where oh where did my mojo go?
If you're a compulsive overeater and a yo-yo dieter like I am, you will know exactly what I mean. You will be going along on your latest healthy eating and weight loss plan, thinking "this time for sure! I can't fail this time! Nothing will stop me until I get to goal!". And it really feels that way. Then, you lose your mojo. For whatever reason, it doesn't matter. Life, stress, the sky is gray, the sky is blue ...... It doesn't matter. I have slipped in my commitment to counting points with Weight Watchers. Can I get my mojo back this time, and not backslide until I gain this 30 lbs back? Can I continue to lose another 30 lbs to get to goal? Yes I can! I can do whatever I want to do, I am in charge.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Mike is gone
My big brother, Mike, died of esophageal cancer on Monday, July 28. His death came only 2 months after we found out his cancer had spread and was terminal. He spent the last 3 weeks of his life at Agrace Hospice in Madison, WI. My family and I are so grateful to this wonderful hospice facility, and the angels who work there. I will miss my brother so much, and I will never forget the strength and dignity with which he faced this illness. He never once complained or said "why me". I did hear him say, many times, "it is what it is". I hope I will be as strong and brave when my time comes to face something like this.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
We are Married!
Dan and I had a perfectly wonderful wedding day. The weather was gorgeous, 70 and sunny. We took the bus to the Blue Line down to City Hall, where we met Peggy, Ted, Dawn, Brad, Nancy and Sarah Riley. Sarah brought me a beautiful bouquet of cream-colored roses. Marriage Court at City Hall was awesome! We waited about 15 minutes, and Brad played the Hawaiian Wedding Song on a tiny little cassette player. Hilarious! We were ushered into a small office and were married by Judge Steven Bernstein, who was fabulous. It was a warm and very loving ceremony. It was so much more than we all expected!
After the ceremony Nancy passed out barley for everyone to toss at us when we exited City Hall. So cool! We then went over to the food court at the State of Illinois building to get something to drink and relax until it was time to go to Petterino's for lunch. We enjoyed a step dancing demonstration at the State of IL building. It was all so perfect, and we had a blast.
At 1:15 we made our way to the restaurant and were joined by my niece Katie and her husband Steve. Lunch was delicious, and then Dan and I made our way back home. Tomorrow we are off to Akron, Ohio for AA Founders Day.
I could not have had a more perfect little wedding!! We are very, very happy.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Emotional Eating
I always knew I was a compulsive overeater -- I always want "more" food, and actual hunger has nothing to do with it. It really hit home for me yesterday that I am also an emotional eater. A couple of days ago I came down with a bad chest cold. It was lousy, and my lungs burned when I coughed. I have to be very careful with infections because they tend to run rampant due to immunosuppressant meds I take for rheumatoid arthritis. A bad chest cold usually turns into pneumonia and a full week off work. When my fever got up over 100, I was positive I was headed for pneumonia. I felt extremely sorry for myself. As I hung out in my lazyboy for 2 days, all I wanted to do was EAT. It was ridiculous. I would have a snack, and then immediately start thinking "what else can I eat now?" I haven't had that feeling in a long time, and it was very telling. I did ok with the food, basically having little snacks, but the psychology of it really taught me something about myself and my brain as it relates to food.
And the good news is, no pneumonia! I am off to work this morning, and very very happy about it! Back to an orderly way of eating, too.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Life is Good
I am looking forward to my little wedding in 3 weeks. Dan and I will pop in to City Hall here in Chicago to tie the knot on June 5. Monday he came downtown and we walked over to Jeweler's Row where we picked out some nice matching wedding bands. Now we need to get a license, and we will be all set.
I am still doing well on Weight Watchers, but as expected my losses have slowed down. I was averaging 2 lbs per week, and I knew I wouldn't be keeping that up much longer. I will be very happy with 1 lb per week, we'll see. I have to eat this way for the rest of my life, so I am trying not to worry about it. I am enjoying my own delicious cooking every day, I rarely feel deprived.
I did have a few moments of "poor me" this past week at work. The lawfirm I work for was celebrating Administrative Professionals Week the way they do every year, by throwing fattening food at us just about every day. Tuesday was pizza bingo. I love bingo, so I decided to partake. I did pretty well, I had 2 smallish pieces of margherita deep dish pizza, it had either goat cheese or fresh mozzerella, and slices of fresh tomato. It tasted very good without being all ooey-gooey with a ton of melted cheese. I also took a large portion of salad and enjoyed the bingo. I did well!
One of the moments of "poor me" came on Thursday, when they catered lunch from Portillo's. Sausage, ribs, Italian beef, fattening green salads with pasta in them. And of course, the crowning finale, Portillo's chocolate cake. The best chocolate cake in the history of the Earth. My favorite. I absolutely did not have the points for a lunch like this, so I just brought my own lunch and retreated to an empty office with my book. I did not go anywhere near the catered lunch. When I got back to my desk, along came Julie, my sweet little cubicle mate, enjoying a piece of cake. Good thing I love her! Ha ha
I comforted myself with the fact that I will be going to a party at my sister-in-law's house on Sunday, where I will be able to have a treat for dessert. That afternoon I called Peggy to check on the time of the party and to see what she would be serving and what I could bring. Guess what she will be serving for dessert? PORTILLO'S CHOCOLATE CAKE!
Yes, life is good!!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Shrinking!
So far so good! I started Weight Watchers on January 29. I am down 25 lbs, and my blood pressure was perfect at the doctor the other day. I am trying to find a way of eating that I can stick to for the rest of my life -- I am so sick of yo-yo-ing up and down. I am eating all my favorite foods and using the same recipies, the only difference is the portion. One normal portion, not seconds and thirds. It's working! Now I just have to keep it up, forever.
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