The Hairy Menace

Our favorite massive lump of dark matter returned to Chez Nous this weekend, as his family ran off with my husband to the Carnaval.

Collecting material for his dissertation Urinary Markings of the Greater Montreal Canine. Or maybe he's writing a pop science or travelog... Pees of the World. Either way he is very detailed oriented, indefatigable in his quest to catalog every frikking mark.

What construction is so important that it's going on in winter, even on the weekend?

Photo Time!

Got tons of pics on my phone... time to offload them on you.

Our friend Shooter

 

This is what happens to my nails the second the weather chills.

Break break break break.

My DNA doesn't like the cold.

One day I opened the balcony door and saw this smashed car in the parking lot!

??

A Swiss Girl spotting!

This is where we go for sushi.

A couple weeks ago on of the buildings on my block (there's 7 almost identical buildings) caught fire on the third floor. We were watching TV in the early morning, when our power went off and we could hear the sound of buzzsaws. Fernando walked out to see what the hell was up, and saw the fire. The fire department was cutting through the roof to prevent the fire from spreading to the other side of the L shaped building. It turned into a 4 alarm fire--I guess the focus was on keeping it from spreading to other floors. Which they succeeded at, though the second floor must be water damaged. 

There were only 2 deaths, but it was still sad. The fire seems to have started in an apartment where a teen boy was playing with a birthday candle; his younger brother was saved by two young men from the first floor, but he and his mother died. Thankfully the father wasn't there, so the young boy didn't lose both parents. Sadness.

Some people rescued themselves by crawling down from balcony to balcony. It's unfortunate that the woman and her son didn't try it. You could even fall from the third floor and you'd be injured, but probably alive.

This was the view from the back (our parking lot). We can't see that building from our apartment, and we couldn't smell the fire at all. It's distressing to see a building that looks just like yours' burning up!

Our candlelight.

We were babysitting Shooter again. Here's Minion sitting on the floor with him, in the dark.

 

When I walked Shooter at 6 AM, the street out front was  covered in water, even though this spot is two buildings away.

It's spooky when you can see through a building and out into the sky. 

In lighter news...!

Fernando with a pillow on his head.

He gives me these pillows as gift--their guts pull out into a warm blanky.

It's feeding time in ladybug land!

This is the raisin dish.

    

Pupcicle

We have a new roommate this weekend. We're sitting Fernando's friends' dog--a big lab-Saint-Bernard mix.

DAY 1
Minion's finally met her match. Even though she's generally a bold cat, she's not used to strange visitors, including furry ones. When Shooter first arrived she came out... her tail PUFFED... and then she arched her back! Just like those Halloween pictures of cats! It was very cute, wish I'd had my phone-cam. Now she's just hiding in a closet in my room. There were dogs where she lived as a baby, but it's over a year ago.

Haley's being the brave one. When Fernando took the dog on an apartment stroll, Haley just gave him a look that said: "This is not the cat you're looking for." Then she hid under the bed for awhile, but I sweet talked her, and she's come out twice to explore.

When Haley was at my mom's there were several little dogs. She'd wait til they were all asleep and then c-r-e-e-p across the floor between them all. She gets outshone by Minion's crazy antics, but when the rubber hits the road, she's got grit.

DAY 2
The kittehs were still total scaredy-cats Sat morning. But we brought them, one at a time, to the Kitteh Tower so they could see the dog. They didn't stay, but it seemed to help. When I took out some treats, Minion was so excited she deigned to eat them two feet from the Monster (who was sharing in the cat munchies) whereas last night she wouldn't even come down the hall for the same food.

It wasn't long after that, sitting again in the livingroom with Shooter, I saw this:

And then this, from the other side of the livingroom... (You can get to the livingroom from the hallway, or the kitchen.)

And once she saw he wasn't going to attack she got bolder...

The rest of the evening passed without much fuss. Minion relaxed and started to frolick and play again, and catch up on all the mischief and finger she missed while cowering in a closet.

Haley still kept her distance, but came as far as the sideboard in the entrance between the living room and kitchen.

DAY 3
The cats acted a bit skittish again this morning, I don't know why. But I made Haley eat her breakfast on the sideboard, and Minion's been acting normal.

I don't know what the turning point was for Minion. Maybe it was after she and Shooter ate cat niblets together, and she recognized a fellow kindred pig-out spirit.

Above is Shooter enjoying the Bullwinkle (bull penis) that Fernando bought him. Minion has her own small Bullwinkles.

...Though Minion likes her kong better--she's finally using the tougher red one I got her. Last night she was kicking it around the apartment like a misshapen soccer ball.

And that's it for the weekend animal drama. Shooter is an exceedingly polite dog, because he's a retired "Mira dog." Mira is the seeing-eye-dog charity in Montreal. So Shooter doesn't chew ANYthing, rarely barks, is very calm and obedient, and doesn't react to the cat he lives with. (Or to Minion taking swipes at his ear.)

IN OTHER NEWS:

Here's the beautiful quilted purse I bought from Urthalun-Betty (she's off on the other side of the continent, in Oregan.) Isn't it fabulous? It's really well made, and perfectly fits my purse organizer. It will be the perfect accompaniment to blue jeans.

And finally, some random Minion cuteness. Her specialty (after torturing fellow companion animals.)

(As I posted those photos, Minion started attacking Shooter's ear again. He LOOKed at her. She backed off. ...Now she's going for it again.

Have a nice week. Peace out.