Seeing Dr. Rose

With my recent event schedule, I've put off the boys annual visit to Dr. Rose - the shots always make them feel bad and I like to do it when I've got a few days to be with them after they've been vaccinated.  Yesterday, I called asking for an appointment for today and was told she was booked, but that if I could come RIGHT THEN she could see us.  Well, you know that's a challenge with the Velvet Elvis ... he needs pharmaceutical personality enhancements before we go to the vet.

Since I didn't want to wait another week, I decided to risk it.  I tossed a few drops of Rescue Remedy down his throat, put on his Thunder Shirt and off we went.  He was remarkably well behaved - only hissed twice, which is a record for him.

He got a good report except that his weight chart was a cautionary tale ... as a baby kitten, he started off at 2 pounds and is now tipping the scales at 17.75 pounds with some of that bulk as fat around his belly. Dr. Rose said the fat deposits put him at high risk of diabetes and kidney disease and "with a cat like Elvis" we don't want to get into a situation where we need to do regular blood work or give daily injections.  No kidding.

So I've got to cut out the nightly cat treats - a favorite time of day for both of them - and she'd like for me to get him onto 100% canned food because the protein content is higher than crunchy and she feels he would lose the excess weight.  I couldn't promise that - it's rough around here when his crunchy bowl is empty, but I am going to scale back and try to walk him more for exercise.  The walks will make him happy, although I'm not sure they'll make up for treat time.

Here we are on the way home ...

Looking Stylish in his Thunder Shirt & Harness

Perhaps a Wee Bit STRESSED OUT - look at those ears!

After I got Elvis home, I went back with Denny.  Was very curious about his blood pressure readings - he's improved over the 210 spike this summer, but I haven't given him the Rescue Remedy as often since his last reading of 165.  Anyway, he got a great report too and his BP was 142. YEAH!  It's still not in the "healthy range", but he is at minimal risk of eye damage at these levels than he was at 210.

Look of relief that he's on the way home.

Checking out the traffic and offering commentary.

In contrast, Denny's weight chart showed a slow and steady climb from kitten-hood to adult - it leveled off and then climbed again with another stable plateau.  He's smaller than Elvis, but isn't carrying around ANY belly fat.  Of course, he eats the cat treats too, but he seems to burn them off.

Here are some cute pictures of them over the last week ...

He's so tired ...

My Beautiful D

Can a Three-Legged Squirrel Climb a Tree?

Yes he can!

While I don't have an update on the homeless cats - they seem to have disbursed from their original "camp site" - I do have updated photos of the baby squirrels.  I'm happy to report that all three are alive and well.

Hey, what are these green beans doing in our feeder?

It's hard to tell in most of the photos, but you can see how small they
are compared to a half piece of lettuce.  This is Lefty.

There has been a great deal of activity on the street lately, ranging from a broken water main that required part of the sidewalk to be dug out just north of our house (COH has not returned to replace it yet!) and a major construction project across the street, so the squirrels have missed a few days, here and there, at the feeder.  I didn't see Lefty for two days after the water main issue and was afraid he had met with an untimely demise.

Sibling in the feeder and Lefty on the Window Ledge

Lefty (on top) Wrestling with Sibling Squirrel

Lefty (see the short arm?) checking out a piece of lettuce.

The three youngsters have grown, but they're still pretty small compared to the adults who stop by for a spare sunflower seed or pecan.  Even though they're not very big, they've really gotten stronger in terms of climbing and jumping and running around. 

One of the active siblings getting a drink from the bird bath.  Doesn't
take them too long to figure out how to get what they need!

Lefty standing up an holding onto his sibling on the window sill.

Lefty on window sill planning an attack on the feeder!

Sitting in the shade and eating his snack

They're no longer sleeping on Harry's window sill (behind the burglar bars where predators would have a harder time getting at them) and must have either gone back to their family nest or built their own in Harry's magnolia tree. They go in and out of the Brewer squirrel house, but I don't think they're sleeping there. Luckily, they're not crossing the street like the adults do - some live in Mary Louise's magnolia and the others live across the back fence that borders the next townhouse complex.

Larger squirrel (spring baby) playing chase with the younger guys

Anyway, I was pretty happy to see Lefty again after his absence.

Little Lefty

Later that same day a HUGE hawk swooped down and landed on the large potted plant near the sidewalk.  The small birds saw him coming and immediately jumped under the bushes for safety.  I was kind of stunned because the thing was really large and only a few feet away from my desk at the window.  As I grabbed my camera, Jerry said I'd better run it off because it would eat the squirrels.  YIKES!  What's keeping them alive could also make them a victim!

After the hawk incident, the squirrels stayed in the bushes and just reached up into
the feeder for snacks.  You'll have to click on this image to see if full size and
you'll see the squirrel just in front of the feeder.  They're crafty!

I tried to get a shot, but he quickly flew away when he heard the front gate open.  Haven't seen him since and I do hope he stays away.  I feel bad for him - I'm sure he's starving and has been displaced by the thousands of trees cut down in Memorial park, but I really can't have a hawk coming over here and picking off my birds and squirrels ... and cats!


Yesterday, during their morning visit, two of the baby squirrels were playing around and running up and down the crepe myrtles.  I assumed it was the two with all four paws and then I realized one of them was Lefty!  YEAH!

I caught him on the downward climb, but you can see his little short arm that he actually uses to climb on the way up.



One tough squirrel!



Overcoming the odds ... he's a climber!

His little brother or sister (who knows?)

And I couldn't resist this little guy ... he looks so pretty
on the red planter with the green leaves matching his skin.

Big D, Baseball and The Eagles

When we learned that The Eagles were touring - and Houston wasn't on the list - we decided to take advantage of a fun reason to visit the Dallas Brewers.  Since the concert was at American Airlines Center, we stayed downtown at the Fairmont. Friday afternoon, we walked around a nice park and saw lots of Monarch butterflies!

The boys spent the night with us Friday night, after dinner with Jason & Melissa.  We watched Turbo (cute movie) and hung around ...

Love this photo of Jerry, Luke and Zach!

View from our Room

Luke with his baseball cap turned to the side.

Saturday was a baseball extravaganza.

Zach in uniform, waiting on game time!

Highlights from Luke's game:

Luke at Bat

Running to First

Stealing Third



Crossing Home Plate

Zach at bat ...

After the baseball games, we met Jason and Melissa at Mesa Maya before "Ubering" over to American Airlines Center for one of the best concerts we've seen.

THREE hours of hits - they sounded great!

After the show, I couldn't resist posing for a silly "BIG" photo!

Surfin' Safari

Had a great long weekend at the beach.  The cats didn't know what to think, because we headed out on Thursday afternoon.  If felt great to be at the coast before the weekenders arrived!

Jerry played in the UTMB Nursing School Golf Tournament on Friday - I worked and hung around with the boys.  On the 18th green, they saw this baby alligator - it's about 4 feet long and they say the mother (or father ?) is even larger!

Not much work stress for the cats ...

Apparently, it's dragonfly season - they seemed to be everywhere.  I have to confess that the population is down by at least two after they made the mistake of hanging out on the balcony with Denny, aka hunter extraordinaire!

Saturday morning we were up before sunrise and headed to the beach for a long walk.  Beautiful sunrise.  Early ...

After it was light ...

Pink clouds over the back bay ...

Sunday afternoon we had tickets to the Beach Boys at The Grand and they put on a great show - 2.5 hours of Fun, Fun Fun!

And check out the eye candy in black ... that's John Stamos.  Who knew he could sing and play guitar?  He's actually a good drummer!

A good photo of Mike Love who was wearing diamond rings on almost every finger of his right hand, apricot colored jeans and matching apricot driving mocs.  Talk amongst yourselves ...

And Homeless Squirrels

The trip to New York was a blast and we flew back on Saturday evening. As we arrived, our driver asked about the flight in because a strong thunderstorm had recently moved through the area.  The flight was great, but the question explained the time we spent bobbing and weaving around the skies over Houston ... pilot avoiding the thunderheads.

Sunday morning, I look out my office window and see a young squirrel.  VERY young and one that I've not seen before.  Shortly, he was joined by another of the same age, but slightly larger.  They enjoyed the day in the bird feeder ... eating, napping and soaking up the sunshine.  Super cute. They're snuggling and sort of helping each other and it's pretty obvious that they've never been without their mom.  I fear they were blown from their nest during this storm that we missed because they're really young.

You all know that the birds and squirrels get fed around here and the cost is well worth the show - they provide 24/7 entertainment for the boys and I enjoy watching them as I work.  So I'm worried about these baby squirrels and hit Amazon.com to order an enclosed squirrel feeder to hide behind the bushes that they could use as a safe nest until they are large enough to climb back to their family home.  I'm just hoping to keep them safe until it arrives.

I get up on Monday morning and Elvis is throwing a fit to go out for a walk on his leash. It's just after 5am and I'm telling him NO. He will not give up, so I peek out the shutters and it's still dark, but I can see two tiny squirrels cuddled up and shivering in the corner of the bird feeder.  Not good.

As the sun came up, they were joined by a THIRD young squirrel, obviously a sibling, and they spent the day in and around the bird feeder.  At this point, I'm actually happy that I threw away $35 on a special squirrel feeder/house that they can use as a nest because they're not safe sleeping in a bird feeder.

So I'm watching them while I work and notice that two of them come and go from the feeder - they're playing around in the bushes - but one never leaves. He eats and walks around and he moves from the feeder to the window sill and back, but when he is alone he just lays on his side in the corner to rest.  He is the smallest of the three and as I'm watching him closely it looks like he's not holding his food right.

Then I see it - he is missing his left paw from just below the elbow.  It's just GONE!

Lefty - he does have a right paw, but it's tucked into his chest fur. 
You can see the left arm in this photo. 

I'm on a client conference call when I see this and can't even focus for thinking about this poor little squirrel and how difficult his life will be ... IF he manages to survive.  I'm flashing back on the SPCA and wondering what kind of appointment I'll need if I show up with a "special needs" squirrel!

These photos are TERRIBLE because I'm shooting down through a double
pane window, but if you look closely, you'll see the shortened left arm and
the fingers of his right paw on the "stub end" - just below his elbow.

In case you're wondering ... squirrels LOVE biscuits!

I know that there are squirrel rehab volunteers - I've actually rescued a pair years ago, but they were much younger.  I'm wondering what to do and wishing I'd thrown away a few more dollars on overnight shipping for the squirrel house.  St. Francis de Assisi is workin' me!

Now I understand why he never left the feeder - he wasn't strong enough to get down or to climb back up the bushes to get back to the platform when he was hungry again.  I also understood why I woke up to two tiny squirrels huddled together in the corner of a bird feeder - completely exposed to predators.  "Lefty" wasn't strong enough/brave enough to leave the feeder and his sibling risked it's own safety to huddle with him and keep him warm and safe through the night.

Nature is both cruel and amazing.

Aside from only having three full legs, he looks fine - there is no open wound that I can see from about 2 feet way and he's using his elbow to help hold his food.  He uses it to balance and to hobble around - seems to be gaining his balance but he does get tired.

By Monday evening, they're getting used to me and the cats staring at them through the window and have started to LOOK IN at the cats!

That's Lefty on the feeder, holding onto the window sill with one paw.

"I 'taut I 'taw a puddy-tat!" ~ said Tweety about Sylvester

A favorite activity around our place every morning - squirrel watch from the balcony as I make the bed and get ready for the day!

Watering is a scary thing for them ... water suddenly spraying out from the sprinklers and me dragging a hose around to water the potted plants.  They leave and huddle in one of Harry's windows and wait it out. They won't come near me and bolt if I get too close.

A ball of squirrels - all three of them are there.  Look closely behind the larger
siblings and you'll see Lefty against the corner.  They always protect him!

They're all growing and Lefty is much stronger.  The four-legged baby squirrels are using the bird bath to get water and I've got a little cut off cup on the ground for Lefty to use. He even plays with the others using both of his arms to maul them like they do to him - but he's not ready to jump onto the large planter and then drop onto the bird bath. 

I'm hoping he can get strong enough to climb - the others are now climbing to get to the nut cakes ... hopefully he'll get to that stage as soon as his partial left arm is strong enough to use.  They've got a safe hiding place, although I'm not sure how much time they're spending in the squirrel house.  The initial food I put in there is basically gone, so I know they do go in there.  I've tried not to touch it because I don't want to scare them away.

I'm thinking he can make it if he doesn't get run down by a car.  Hopefully he won't try crossing the street until he's much larger!