I TURN 14 TOMORROW

POST # 395

"Kwame is a Twi and Akan day name given to a boy born on a Saturday."

The resident human has put this stupid thing on my head.

Kwame here.  Apparently I turn 14 years old tomorrow, whatever that means.  Humans seem to have this obsession with a thing called time, and I'm not really sure why that is. 

They are so obsessed with time, that they have even invented something that they call a calendar.  According to this calendar, February 22nd, 2020 is the day that I showed up on the world scene back in the year, 2006.  My memory of that time is pretty vague, but I seem to recall that I was surrounded by others that looked more like me.  Somewhere along the way, I moved here, and I've been here ever since.  This is now my entire world, and I normally share this space with two other humans. For reasons I don't quite understand,  those humans haven't been here for a while now.  Instead, there is a new human on the scene.  He seems to know what he is doing, and I made sure right from the get go, that he understood who is running the show around here.  That would be me, Kwame.

Humans are such push-overs and it didn't take long for me to have this one under my spell.  I have my daily routine just the way that I like it, and I've got him just where I want him, so I couldn't be more content.  In fact, he spends even more time pampering me than those other humans that used to live here.  Occasionally, he disappears for a short while, but for the most part he is here, under my complete control. 

Right up until this morning, I was perfectly happy sharing my place with this new human, and then without any notice, he attempted to put this stupid thing on my head.  If one looks closely, you can see the shock in my eyes as I wonder just what the heck is going on.  Thankfully, he only tried this manoeuvre a few times, and because of my reaction, he seems to have backed off for the time being.  But I'll keep a close eye on him.  He needs to know who's boss.

So, as I stated at the beginning, tomorrow I will be 14 years old.  As far as I am concerned, it will be just another wonderful day, and I will plan on spending it like I do every day.  Sleep, eat, sleep, watch the birds outside, sleep, let the human cuddle me, and then sleep.  It's my favourite way to spend my time.  I'm not sure what the human has in mind for tomorrow, but I guess that I will find out soon enough.

He just did it again.  Crazy human.

Purring blissfully,
Kwame

grateful for every breath,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer aka Kwame's slave

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

POST #394

MARY & DORA-DOG

Thank you, for being you, and for saving Dora-dog's life*.  Happy Valentine's day.

*Mary and Dora-dog's first meeting was on Feb. 14th, 2018.

grateful for every breath,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

KWAME'S RELAXED LIFESTYLE

POST #393   

With the endless amount of rain that has been pouring down from the sky this past week, it has been a wise idea to spend as much time indoors as possible.  Kwame hasn't complained, and he seems to enjoy my company.

We don't spend the entire day on the couch, but it is an enjoyable way to spend time.  The house sitter likes to have an afternoon nap, and Kwame is more than happy to settle in, while I catch a few winks.

When he's not camped out on my lap, or in one of his two beds, Kwame can be found up on the counter top.  The owners warned me about this, so I just need to make sure that I don't leave any food items out in the open.  His main purpose in going up there is because he has a fascination with water.  You would be hard pressed to find a furball that enjoys playing around in water, but Kwame isn't your average furball.

This is just part of his morning routine, and once he's splashed around for a while, and had a drink, he is content to head back to his warm bed in front of the fireplace, and go back to sleep. 

 After all, he needs to save up his strength for later in the day, so that he has enough energy to jump up on the couch, and, you guessed it, have another nap.  He enjoys a very relaxed lifestyle.

That's about all I've got to report for today.  Maybe by this time next week, the sun will have made an appearance, so that I can spend more time outdoors.  I would like that.  It would be nice to have my daily walk and not return home soaked, as has been the case this past week.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

A LITTLE RAY OF SUNSHINE

POST # 392

MAGNIFICENT RAINBOW

Don't take anything for granted.  Seems like pretty good advice.  Since arriving at my current location, I was beginning to think that the Sun was just a figment of my imagination.  After it stopped snowing, the rain began, and the overcast sky has become the norm for this month.  Then just when I thought that I would never see the Sun again, a few days ago, the clouds cleared off for a very short period of time, and I was treated to a lovely morning rainbow.  Somehow, the rainbow made me instantly forget about how grey the sky had been leading up to it.

Even the furball, aka Kwame took full advantage, and he appears to be very happy indeed.

Fast forward to today, and the clouds are back in full force.  At least for the moment it's not raining, but I don't expect that to last for very long. The weather forecasters at Environment Canada appear to agree.  It's looking like rain all the way into February.  

It doesn't seem to bother the wildlife around here.  The birds are happy, and yesterday I spotted this character roaming around the back yard.  The raccoon certainly caught the attention of Kwame, and he wanted to go out in the worst way.  Alas, he just had to be content to watch from the window.

A RECENT VISITOR

Time to head out for my daily walk, which is certainly something else that I don't take for granted.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS: As of yesterday, I have been intentionally unemployed for 11 years, one of the best decisions I have ever made.

INTRODUCING KWAME

POST # 391

KWAME

This is Kwame (pronounced KWA-MEE).  He is an Abyssinian breed, and this is the first time I have ever come across this type of furball.  One thing is for sure, Kwame is moving rapidly up my list of favourite furballs.  That says a lot, because he has had plenty of competition along the way.

I arrived at my current location only six days ago, at the beginning of a blizzard. The owners wanted to head out as soon as possible to the airport in Victoria, because the road conditions were deteriorating fast.  They ended up following a snowplow down the highway, and their comment to me in an email that same evening when they described the journey contained one word- horrendous.  

By morning there was probably a foot of snow on the ground, but all I had to do was stay inside, stay warm, and get to know Kwame.  

I have a spectacular view to look at each day, and this place is very quiet.  So what's not to like?  Nothing at all, and I am very sure that I will be content to stay here, and enjoy Kwame's company, as the days and weeks pass by.  The field out front has a variety of bird life to keep me entertained, and there is even a resident heron, that comes and goes from its perch on the tree in the foreground of the photo below.  The owners have provided me with some binoculars, and I have been fascinated watching this bird as it goes about its daily routine.  In my opinion, herons are about as close as it gets to looking at a prehistoric bird, and having just written that, I decided to look it up.  It appears that they have been around for up to 60 million years.  Sounds prehistoric to me. We humans think that we're so special, yet we've only been around for about 300,000 years. It's a blink of an eye in comparison. 

ICE FALLS JUST AFTER MY ARRIVAL

KWAME'S FAVOURITE LOCATION

That just about wraps it up for today's post, however I wanted to include a photo I received this past week from my friends John and Kim who live along the Klondike river near the village of Rock Creek, in the Yukon Territory.  The photo was taken on the evening of the Winter Solstice this past December, and the only reason that I include it here, is because I think that it is a spectacular photo.  So thanks to John and Kim.

And finally, my January 21st post wouldn't be complete without mentioning the dear woman who helped to raise me, my mom, Madonna.  If she were still alive today, it would be her 104th birthday.  Of course I miss her.  She was the best mother a son could ask for, and when I think of her it only brings back warm, loving memories.  If I could pin down the main reason that I feel so blessed on my journey through life, it is in a very large part the result of the love that I received from her through all the years that she was alive.  She always supported me on whatever path I wanted to follow.  What more could a son ask for?

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW and GO

POST # 390

MY CURRENT LOCATION

FROZEN HUMMINGBIRD FEEDER

Snow, snow and more snow.  Tomorrow, I go.

For the past couple of days, the snow has been relentless, and as I type these words, it's coming down even harder than before.  There is a snowfall warning in effect.

Having grown up on the Canadian prairie, seeing snow in January was normal.  Ah, those were the good old days.  Back then you could confidently predict what the jet stream was going to do, long before I even knew what a jet stream was.

But as the decades have gone by, and the Arctic ice sheet has continued its disappearing act, the effect on the jet stream has been very significant.  Now, instead of flowing around the globe quite rapidly and in a relatively straight line, it has become a slow and meandering flow of air. This jet stream that used to be a defining line between cold in the North, and hot in the South is now so abnormal, that it can be colder in Baja California than it is at the North Pole, which can be seen by clicking on the link below.

https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#t2anom

When the temperature at the North Pole is +20C or more warmer than it is down south, something isn't right.  This wavy jet stream trend will no doubt continue, and its effects will be felt all over the world.

In spite of all the snow here, at least it's not too cold.  The current temperature is minus 5C.  Just out of curiosity I decided to check out the temperature yesterday in Dawson City, Yukon, where I used to live.  The temperature was minus 47C.  Today it's warmed up ten degrees, so I imagine that all of the locals are putting on their summer clothing.

Aside from looking up the temperature yesterday, I also went for my daily walk. I haven't owned a pair of long pants for decades, so I certainly received plenty of strange looks and the occasional comment on my dress code in the snow storm.  

But soon it will be time to go.  This has been just a short sit, with one of my furball friends, so it has been very relaxing to be sure.  Silken spends the majority of her day in the bed by the window, and when she's not sleeping, she seems to be amused with all of these white things coming down out of the sky.  At least she doesn't have to go for a walk in it.  Being a three-legged furball, she would find that chore a particularly difficult one to perform.

ANOTHER STRESSFUL DAY FOR SILKEN

Tomorrow I leave for my next house/pet sit, with a furball breed that I haven't spent any time with up to this point.  The breed is Abyssinian.  I will be looking forward to getting to know this new critter as the days go by.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THOUGHTFULLY WANDERING INTO 2020

POST # 389

"Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we are doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."

Homer- The  Iliad

2020 in Bear Creek, Yukon

(photo courtesy of my friends, Rose and Gary)

Considering that the above quote was written about 2800 years ago, it still rings true in the year 2020.  I'll come back to this Homer quote later, but first I have to take time to thank my friends Rose and Gary who provided this photo.  They did the same thing last year, and it is the perfect photo to start the New Year. The photo also reminds me of all of the good times spent in Bear Creek.  If I look past the tall trees on the right, I'm looking towards where Snug was located. Just thinking of Snug is enough to fill my brain with very pleasant memories. 

With a number like 2020, this must be the year for a clear vision of what is going on in our world.  Looking back at my post from one year ago today, I mentioned then that I suspected that the beginning of 2019 was going to look a lot better than the end of 2019.  From my point of view, I think that was pretty close to the truth.  Unfortunately, for some of my Australian friends, that statement is playing itself out right now.  I could make the same comment for 2020 and still be on the right track.  Apologies to all of the optimists in my reading audience.  

I am now entering the 15th year going down this path, and I have to admit that in spite of some of the truths that I have come across that shall we say are less than palatable, overall I am glad that I have continued the journey.  The rewards have far outweighed the costs.  I am curious to see how 2020 pans out.

Now getting back to the Homer quote which began this post.  I have to credit my dear friend, Dr. Guy McPherson for pointing it out to me, many years ago.  Perhaps there are plenty of people out there who would be familiar with this quote, but I was not one of them.  As stated above, I think that it still rings true all these years later.  I wonder what Homer would think about the state of the world in the year 2020?

Finally, let me end this post with one of my favourite songs.  It always puts a smile on my face when I hear it, and because I am here alone*, I can crank up the sound and sing along, which is exactly what I will be doing, once I post this entry.  Enjoy, and Happy New Year.

*Silken, the resident furball may take issue with the volume.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer