the mellow tigger's musings

I gave Hope her first dose of "Mirataz" (mirtazapine) transdermal ointment in her ear this afternoon. I walked to the vet's office yesterday to pick it up. It's supposed to increase her appetite, so maybe she'll eat more solids instead of just lapping up the available liquids.

She was down to 4.1kg/9.0lb, which is still in the okay range, except that I can feel bones on her haunches now. The blood tests came back healthy all around, so at least that's some good news for an old cat who is about 13 years old. She doesn't otherwise show her age. She takes flying leaps over the last steps when she bounds down the stairway, which is cute. She also leaps onto the middle of my belly in bed at night, which isn't cute.

We both, of course, like spending as much time as possible under blankets on the recliner in front of the tv. I wish we were both free to do that together for many years.

I mentioned a year ago that I lost some weight after ending my job. I regained much of that weight during winter in Minnesota, which is part of the typical cycle, but I'm now back down again. I weighed 88kg/195lb this morning. Extreme stress is normally not supposed to be part of a weight loss regimen, but I'll take it as an improvement for my long term health. It's been many years since I weighed this little.

Somebody here on Dreamwidth runs a Little Library program. I'm sorry, I'm not remembering who. Dreamwidth isn't helping me search for them. (Maybe these were private posts instead of public?) For nearly a month, I've been wanting to share this photo I took about 2 blocks from my house. While the Little Library is nice (although somebody ripped off the front door already *sigh*), but look in the background. They've converted their entire yard to clover! I'm so glad that the Minneapolis #Lawns2Legumes program is spreading. There's no need for "grass lawns" in cities. I hope people xeriscape with more plants that don't require frequent watering and mowing.

It's old news making the rounds again, but bison have been reintroduced to the Native Wise farm with ties to the Lake Superior Chippewa. The farm is in northern Minnesota. The farmer's great grandfather was Chief Buffalo (which I think was a name, not a title). The bison were a donation from The Nature Conservancy (my former employer).

Minneapolis was ranked #1 city for "Best Places to Bike" in the USA. Minnesota entered the 5 "Top States For Business" ranking, pushing out Texas for the first time. As I keep saying, people really should consider moving to Minnesota. While still being part of the USA (and the downsides that involves), life here is pretty good.

I still have a few small piles of snow left in the shadows, even after recent days of 21C/70F weather. I expect them to disappear today, though. Our forecast includes 28C/83F temperatures or higher today, perhaps setting a new daily record for Minneapolis, then fresh snowfall returns.

The great thaw is upon us. I've used my small handheld vacuum to suck up dozens of box elder bugs in the house. I despise those creatures more each year, I think. My allergies are back, so I'm on antihistamines again for a few weeks. Those rotting leaves outdoors are exposed to air again, so mold is in the air in this new warm season. I never saw any snow fleas this year, though. Maybe the melt was too sudden for them to show up on the white snow after the leaf rotting resumed?

The deep snow this year might have been a blessing in disguise. All of this sudden snow melt is not producing the expected floods. Maybe the ground was protected from harsh cold by the thick snow blanket, so it let more of the melt percolate into the ground rather than run off? That seems to be how this spring is working, at any rate, because...

I've been able to dig into the ground with a shovel much sooner than expected. I spent hours Monday and Tuesday digging (instead of job hunting, like I should have done) to transplant a lot of things. From small flowering bulbs that I want to spread (they're too small to find before they sprout) to large trees. I moved my apricot tree that sagged under the weight of the heavy snow. I hope it and the even larger mulberry tree survive the experience, although their growth might be stunted this year from the shock. We'll see. Birds appreciated my digging, though, with a few different species coming to see if I unearthed any yummy worms to eat. All over the back yard, I saw lots of rabbit droppings, so clearly they spent time here this winter nibbling on the flora.

Unfortunately, with warmer weather comes human intrusion too. More than once I heard local gunfire while I was outside. This incident less than 1 block away is the only gunfire I could document, although I heard the sirens from this police chase farther away. I'm getting significantly less sleep than I should, thanks to all the yelling, fireworks, and gunfire at night.

I still want to stay, though. I like my garden too much, it seems. I hope to find a job soon.