SAYING GOODBYE TO CHUMLEE AND NANOOSE BAY

POST # 145

Chumlee's sad.

I decided to take a closer look to make sure.

Yep! He's sad alright. Perhaps he's thinking about the fact that his house sit buddy is going to be heading out the door soon, and he will be stuck at home alone until the owners return later today, which is what I would like to think that he is thinking,  however he's probably just wondering who exactly is going to be feeding him his next meal or perhaps he's contemplating another nap. It's a cat thing.

Yes, another house sit comes to a close, and it's been a very relaxed one indeed. I've had plenty of opportunity to take bike rides.

Plus, Chumlee has had lots of chances to play with his favourite toy, his green straw.

Once the day has come to an end, it's time for the two of us to sit in front of the fire, and enjoy its warm, comforting glow.

All things considered, life has been very relaxed here in Nanoose Bay.

Now getting back to Mr. Chumlee. Once I leave later this morning, he will be left on his own to amuse himself until the owners return home. He has plenty of choices, but one of his favourite things is to do his "tap dance" at the kitchen sink.

I love how his head keeps time to the "music" of the dripping tap.

So goodbye for now, Chumlee my furball friend.  I look forward to perhaps another opportunity to take care of you in the future, but for now, the Thoughtful Wanderer must continue his journey.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

JET STREAMS, CHUMLEE, THE WOOD STOVE, AND ANOTHER RELAXED WEEK AT NANOOSE BAY

POST # 144


The earth continued its journey around the sun last night and by this morning, the sun appeared in the sky to the east. It's been sunny here all week, but the temperature has certainly cooled off from when I began this house sit.

However, in comparison to other places on the continent, here in Nanoose Bay it's relatively warm. That meandering jet stream is playing its roll again, with temperatures in some parts of Alaska, warmer than the south eastern USA. A small sliver of the west coast is on the "right" side of the jet stream, ie: the warm side, and Nanoose Bay is included. Not sure how long this will last, but Chumlee and I are enjoying the sunshine for now.

On my bike ride yesterday, I came across some ice in the ditch by the side of the road,

and a short while later, a deer in the neighbourhood. There are plenty more like this one around.

Continuing on my ride, I found a path in the woods that I hadn't seen before, so I took a slight detour to check it out.

This was a good place to stop for a while, and just BE. It was very soothing to the soul.

Eventually, I returned home to enjoy my view of the back yard.

Because it's been rather chilly lately, it was time to fire up the wood stove. The act of making a fire takes me back to my Yukon days and living at SNUG.

Chumlee appreciates the effort and likes to take full advantage of the heat that the stove provides. I don't usually start the wood stove until later in the day, and an alternative is to hide out in the office with a small space heater. Chumlee's never far behind me.

It's amazing how close he likes to be to the heater, but I guess he knows his limits, so I just let him be. I told Chumlee a very funny dog joke, and it just cracked him up with laughter. This is him laughing.

I received such a great reaction, I decided to tell him an even FUNNIER dog joke, and this is the result.

He gets so exhausted from laughing so hard, that he needs to take a well deserved rest on his bed near the window.

Eventually the day comes to a close, and it's time to give Chumlee a kiss goodnight.

Then one more task to complete prior to bedtime. A walk outside to listen to the sea lions barking across the bay, and a few precious moments to gaze up at the night sky, and just be amazed at the beauty of it all.

Happy Trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

MY NEW CHUM,CHUMLEE

POST # 143

So I've had about a week and a half to settle in at my latest housesit here in Nanoose Bay, and it has allowed Chumlee the furball and me to become pretty good chums.

"CAN YOU PET ME PLEASE?"

"THANKS PAUL, THAT FEELS GREAT"


It didn't really take too long for the two of us to bond. Chumlee has a frisky streak to him, however he was unaware that he would have to deal with the cat whisperer. He seems to have accepted his fate, and we have come to enjoy our time together. In fact, he even takes time to help me out on the computer every now and again.

"MAKE SURE TO DO A SPELL CHECK, PAUL"


When he's not being my office assistant, he can be found just hanging around at times.

"I NEED A REST FROM ALL THAT OFFICE WORK"

Sometimes Chumlee likes to get a better overall view of his world, so he stations himself at this location, so that he can keep an eye on the housesitter.

"IT'S A GREAT VIEW, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE A CAT TO GET UP HERE"


When I'm not hanging out with my chum, Chumlee, and if the weather is co-operating, I make sure to get out for a bike ride with the fancy mountainbike that the owners left here for me to use. Some interesting sights can be seen along the journey.

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FARMLAND CLOSE TO WHERE I CURRENTLY LIVE

A VERY OLD CAR, AND AN EXAMPLE OF THE FUTURE OF INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION

And finally, some pumpkin art left over from halloween.

Upon returning home, I can relax in the living room and gaze out at the backyard view of green things.

While this is happening, Chumlee can usually be found here, having his well earned afternoon nap.

As the day progresses into evening, Chumlee, having exhausted himself from all of his napping during the day, can almost always be found here on his cat perch, having a rest, in order to get in the mood for bed.

And finally, after a long day of r and r for the both of us, it's time to turn in.

Tomorrow is another precious day to look forward to with my new chum, Chumlee.



Happy trails,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

BACK ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

POST # 142

An early 6am flight from Redmond Oregon, plopped me into SeaTac airport in Seattle for a couple of hours, prior to my second flight to Vancouver. With some time to spare I managed to get to the library and finally the ferry terminal in Horseshoe Bay for my journey to Nanaimo.

There I was met by Don, and we drove to Nanoose Bay to start my next house sit. So I'm back on the island with a new furball to care for. His name is Chumlee. He is a Siamese cross, so he certainly won't be as cuddly as Piper in Nanaimo, but then again, he's never spent time with the cat whisperer, so it will be a learning curve for both of us.

I'm just down the road from where I housesat almost three years ago, and it feels both strange and comfortable to be back here. Nanoose Bay is quite small and more rural than urban which I prefer these days. It's quiet.
Plus, the locals voted to not have street lights, so on a clear night, the sky is magnificent to gaze at.

So it's time to settle in, get to know Chumlee, and enjoy the area. The owners have supplied me with a bike, and I plan to take advantage of it while I'm here.

Happy Trails,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS. For those interested in a short video by my friend Pauline Schneider in which she spent a year following Guy McPherson on his travels, it can be found at this link.



http://guymcpherson.com/2014/10/pauline-schneiders-film/

It requires a password which is Going Dark. Make sure to use a capital G and a capital D and put a single space between the two words. Enjoy.

NEPAL BLIZZARD and GENOA FLOODS

POST # 141

I came across a story the other day about trekkers in Nepal who had been killed in an avalanche. October is meant to be the prime trekking season there, so things like this shouldn't be expected. The effects of a tropical cyclone that hit the Indian coast, brought unusually heavy snowfall to the Nepal region. The story caught my eye for two reasons. The first, is that the storm took place in a trekking area called the Annapurna circuit. That part stood out, as I had hiked that exact trek many years ago, climbing over a mountain pass called Thorong La, which is almost 18,000 feet above sea level. The second thing that caught my attention was the unseasonal nature of the blizzard. Here again is another example of the impact of climate change. A warmer planet means a warmer atmosphere, and a warmer atmosphere has the ability to hold more moisture, and whether the moisture comes to the earth either as rain, or in this example, snow, it can have un-foreseen consequences.

TREKKING AREA IN NEPAL WHERE THE BLIZZARD TOOK PLACE WITH MOUNT MACHAPUCHARE IN THE DISTANCE

In a different part of the world the precipitation came in the form of rain, and the location was Genoa Italy. These types of scenes are becoming the norm these days. The warmer atmosphere in addition to the wavy, and slow moving jet stream, causes any precipitation in a specific area to not only be heavier than normal, it also gets stuck in a specific geographic location for an extended period of time.

As can be seen by looking at the above images, infrastructure that has been in place for a very long time, just can't cope with the new weather systems.

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The house sitter has a week off at the moment, but I'll be back on duty again soon, with a new fur ball to care for, and I'm looking forward to that. In the meantime, I'm holed up in Bend, Oregon with a dear friend.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

PIPER THE DOG CAT and THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING NON-HUMAN

POST # 140

In the past couple of weeks, my feline friend, Piper has displayed some very dog-like tendencies. Almost all of the "normal" cats that I have had the pleasure of knowing going as far back as I can recall to about 1958, have been very independent. The human/s who attend to the cat's needs are like slaves attending to a King or a Queen. You may want to pick up, pet, cuddle, play with, or simply just move the furball, however if it doesn't want to co-operate (99% of the time), then the human is likely to end up with at minimum a few scratches, or worse.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, my friend Piper fit the above profile almost to a tee. And then something changed. Even though I have had plenty of experience with cats, I would have to admit that I have absolutely no idea what goes on in their brain. Perhaps, because I spend so much time with Piper, he now acts more like a dog than a cat. He spends the entire night on my bed. He's right there in the morning when I go to the bathroom, to the living room to open the blinds, and when I head to the kitchen, he's there meowing away, as he awaits his breakfast. Once breakfast is done, he searches me out, and settles in for a nap in what ever room I happen to be in at the time. With the exception of him going outside to do his business, he has become my shadow. Even when I go for my bike ride, he is there to watch me leave, and is waiting in the driveway when I return. I like that.

At the beginning of the housesit, there would be long stretches of time when he would be on his own. You see, Piper has a second residence, I call his cat "condo", which is located in the garage. This is what it looks like.

THE STAIRWAY TO THE CAT "CONDO"

THE CAT "CONDO" (upper right hand corner in the rafters)


But he seems to have lost interest in his home away from home, and now spends most of his time indoors with his housesitting buddy. Lucky me.

As far as the advantages of being a non human, I think that there are basically two. I strongly suspect that like most animals, with the exception of humans, cats live in the present, appreciating each moment as it happens. In addition to that, they have no idea about what crazy, stupid, dangerous, or self centred plans and schemes that humans are up to on a regular basis. Lucky for them. If they did know, we might see them marching in protest around the White House, or the Parliament buildings in Ottawa in an effort to tell their two legged companions to clean up their act, and do it now. But instead of that, we see this:

Piper, blissfully unaware of what humans are up to.

However, I could be totally wrong as might be demonstrated by the photo below. Perhaps Piper knows what's really going on, but like his human friends, he chooses to turn a blind eye.

I just don't want to know.

Whatever the case may be, I am very grateful that I have had the time to spend with Piper, and I will miss him when I leave, but the life of a Thoughtful Wanderer has me getting ready to be on the move yet again. I'll be curious to hear from the owner, after I leave, whether or not her furball, continues his dog like behaviour.

Time to say goodnight my furry friend, and soon it will be goodbye. (At least for now)


Happy Trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

The autumn garden

A CAT'S EYE VIEW

POST # 139

This is PIper's view of the world.

The point? It may be wise to see another species point of view; something that the human species has done very little of.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer