Chuck's Diary Entry: March 14, 2017

Dear Diary,

Yesterday, there was lots of noise and commotion in the backyard, so I hid from it all.  Guess these humans were cutting down the tree that fell on the power lines, then some other humans fixed the wires so heat could once again pour forth from the vents.  The human called The Hubby spent time plugging in things that had been unplugged, and taking jars and cans that he'd stored in coolers and on window ledges, and putting them back in the big cabinet called a refrigerator.

The results of cutting down the tree

Why would they leave that?

Glad they took out that fence, rather than
damaging our barn!

Am thinking the tree folks will come
back to work on these other trees

The Human called The Mom was so excited, that she was late getting home (and feeding us!), in order to pick up a carry-out dinner (Falafel sandwiches, with a bowl of garlic sauce) for their dinner. The Big Blow of March, 2017 goes down in the history books, at least for Eastside Cats.  Unfortunately, The Mom's big brother lives with his kitties in a place called Ann Arbor, and he is still without power. Here's hoping his kitties get their heat vents back soon!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly that resulted from The Big Blow of March, 2017:

The Good:

• The Hubby's thoughtful projects that kept us from shivering our fur off
• The Human's enjoyed hours of conversation, and made plans for some cool stuff to do in the yard
• The Mom learned to sleep without a fan or air-cleaner running

The Bad:

• Five days without power takes a toll on humans; they didn't mimic how us kitties just rolled with it
• The Hubby missed some important basketball games
• Cold toilet seats make humans grumpy

The Ugly:

• The Human's heated mattress pad is dead.  Something about surges or brown-outs...I am a cat, and I don't really care what the reason is.  
• I haven't yet scored any kibble, and that's a downright shame!

RIP heated mattress pad controls!
You did your job well; rest easy now in mattress pad heaven

Chuck's Diary Entry: March 13, 2017

Dear Diary,

The cold continues, but my humans are having more fun than they should!  While I and sissy Angel curl up in tight balls to sleep away the chill, the human called The Hubby is busily heating pots on the stove with hot water, then setting them around as mini-radiators.  This way, we've stayed relatively comfy.  The human called The Mom goes out every day to earn green papers or go off gallivanting.  She even had her head fur trimmed, but never showed it to us because it was too cold and she kept her hat on the whole time!

Scroll your mouse over each photo for more news.

And yet I am still frisky, and demand some kibble at every chance...even though The Humans tell me that I am not allowed kibble.  I WANT SOME, since I can see that my outside friends get to eat it!  I meow and whine, and dance around the kitchen.  The Mom thinks she can put me off by sprinkling more nutritional yeast on my wet food, and yes, it mollifies me for a moment...but I'll keep trying no matter what!  The Hubby found an old battery-powered radio, and some old speakers so they can listen to music or NCAA basketball games.  I enjoyed the music, even with The Mom caterwauling about Free Birds and Zeppelins and some other human named Bob Seger. She even danced around Angel, making screechy noises along with Frampton...what the heck is a Frampton?  I covered my eyes with my paw at that point, folks!

The Mom here!

The Hubby has gone all 'Jeremiah Johnson' on us; keeping things warm and a steady stream of food...yum!  The power company reports that we should have power by 11:30 PM tonight.  Since we are currently experiencing snow flurries and wind, it sure will be nice to having the heat on!  Patty and Sweetie are doing fine without their warming pad; here are some photos of them sunning themselves yesterday (before the snow) in the neighbor's garden.

 

Chuck's Diary Entry: March 10, 2017

Dear Diary,

At 10:30 a.m. today, is the beginning of Day 3 without electricity at Eastside Cats.  To recap, the backyard neighbor's tree fell across the alley, to land on the power lines.  This caused every house on the block (both sides) to lose electricity, and there was some sparking and weird flashing lights that scared me and Angel to bits.  The Human called The Hubby went into the area-that-cats-do-not-go and threw the switch to make sure nothing burned out while the wind whipped that fallen tree back and forth.  Actually, as long as I get my meals and snuggles, I don't really need this thing called electricity.

Tree laying on the power lines

The tree has broken the fence!

Tree and lines are rubbing on our barn

The Human called The Mom made all kinds of calls on her cell phone, because the landline is down as well as the cable (no internet, no television).  She sounded very polite, but The Human called The Hubby had curse words to say about the fact that no one was coming out to help.

The Mom put extra blankets on the bed, and The Hubby is keeping pots of water steaming on the gas stove, to make sure we have warmth.  I don't know what Angel is doing, but I'm gonna nap under The Mom's sweater for a couple of days, until this whole rigamarole is over.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

Chucky naps under the sweater

Angel on her couch

Down comforter, fleecy blanket, quilt, and flannel sheets

Recent map of power outages

See the two guys back there?  Seeing them
made us excited, but they left when it got dark out

This happened down the street from us; that garage
on the right hand side of the photo is crushed!

The Mom here:
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/more_than_615000_customers_wit.html has updated information on the havoc wrought by the March 8 windstorm in Michigan.  Poor Sweetie and Patty O'Malley's cardboard boxes were blown half-way to Canada, so I'll set out new ones for them this weekend.  In addition, their electric warming pad in The Cat Hotel won't be on for this snap of deep cold; I've told them to either snuggle up together OR COME IN THE HOUSE.  Workers and firemen showed up in the alley yesterday; one guy apparently turned OFF the juice, and another set of men looked at the tree and tied more warning tape across.  Then they left, and The Hubby and I felt a bit abandoned.  However, a large section of our town got it's power back right after that, so we know we are at least on the list.  I carted a box full of ground cooked turkey meat for The 'O' Cats to the office, so it's stored in the freezer.  We lose power about twice a year at Eastside Cats, but this is the first time in the cold weather.  The Hubby and I have learned to converse (!) with each other and tell jokes, to keep our spirits up.  Angel apparently loves to sit with us, even when she could hide under covers like Chuck.  She purrs and purrs, and that is good for our dispositions too! There are folks who have it worse than we do, so as long as the barn survives mostly intact, we'll consider ourselves lucky.