I’m still having a lot of fun with those googly stick-on eyes I bought at the dollar store the other day.  The other cats will follow in a future blog, but we’ll start out today with Pinky:

I would do it to little Mya, but she’s still recovering from her cold.  Look at the sleeping angel:

I’m going to keep this blog quite short (like my mother).  Mike and I went to see the Greg Frewin magic show in the Falls last night.  It was fantastic!  I totally recommend people see the show.  Mike and I had seats right next to the stage, which was awesome.  Seeing a tiger that up-close was pretty darn nifty.  And Chuck the Duck was adorable!  We had a buffet meal before the show – yummy!     Again, I strongly suggest folks check out this fantastic performance.

Today’s symptoms:  Actually felt pretty decent today, except for a fairly bad sinus headache.  It feels like my teeth are going to blow out of my mouth!  The great thing about this weekend is that my fatigue level was a bit lower than what it “normally” is.  There is nothing I can ask more with this dumb illness than to have less fatigue….well, that and to not have a relapse!

I mentioned in my last blog post that I used to always make a yummola tuna casserole for my mother and I when I was in university.  I made it again the other week.  Here is the super easy recipe:

1 can cream of celery soup

1/2 cup mayo (I used the low fat stuff)

1/4 cup of milk

big glob of relish

few squirts of honey mustard

one can tuna drained

egg noodles (I used No Yokes), the amount of dry noodles I cooked was 6-7 ounces

1/2 cup shredded cheese (a pizza or Italian blend)

Directions: Mix cream of celery soup, mayo, relish, mustard, and milk in large bowl (or a small one if you like to make a mess).  Fold in tuna, cooked egg noodles and about half of the cheese.  Salt and pepper to thou’s liking.  Place in casserole dish.  Cook uncovered at 375 for about 40-45 minutes.  About 15 minutes before it’s done, add the rest of the shredded cheese.

Yum.

I’m so glad it’s Friday.  I had enough of that weekday silliness.

Poor little Mya has a cold.  Little sneezer kept me up most of the night.  None of the others seem to have caught it yet:

Boo comforted Pinky about potentially getting Mya’s cold.  She said that they were in this together and would help each other out, if necessary:

Abby didn’t really care.  She said she’s always feeling yucky anyway (kinda like me):

I visited Jan yesterday and went with her to the joyous dentist.  Then we did some shopping and headed back to her place.  She asked if I wanted some chocolate, and after deliberating for less than a second, I said yes.  She knelt down to get the chocolate bar out of her cupboard then fell over.  I felt so bad that she was kinda laying there on the floor, so I joined her.  We had a good laugh then ate some yummola chocolate:

The other day, I bought a package of googly eyes from the dollar store:

So far they’re pretty entertaining.  Here’s the emergency light outside of my apartment:

Mike’s door:

Then Mike put them on his coffee creamer:

Hours of fun!

Today’s symptoms: Felt really weak and blah today.  I’m sure not sleeping much last night didn’t help.  I’m going to feel better tomorrow.  Mike and I are going to see the magician Greg Frewin.  Sweet!

Ok, I apologize for the lack of bloggage.  What can I say – after seven years as of April of doing blogs, I needed a bit of a break.  But I’m back.  I think.  Well, at least for now.

What’s happened thus far. Lots to do with the cats.  Man, I love my freaks.  Look at these adorable angels.

Mya:

Abby:

Pinky:

And Boo:

And of course, don’t forget the geckos.  I usually show pics of the infamous Peanut, but here’s Zim (just prior to Pinky eating him):

Christmas was awesome.  Jan came over to my place for a few days.  She’s so cute.  We had an amazing time.  I’d show pictures but I guess I didn’t take any.  My bad.  I’ll make up for it with these.  You’re welcome:

Oh wait, my bestie, Vyctor:

He looks like he’s on an angle.  Well, he was “happy and having fun” on Christmas Eve.  Without me – in the hangar with his plane friends.

Mike’s parent’s got me the coolest thing as one of my Christmas pressies.  Check out this totally cool gecko statue (which Peanut checked out by hopping on its head:

Love it!

So, my Christmas was so perfect!  I wish I could have said the same for New Year’s.  Unfortunately, I got a really bad bug and was super sick starting around 6:00pm.  Mike and I regularly checked hospital wait times, as I became so horribly dehydrated throughout the night that all of my muscles went into very painful spasms then I started hallucinating.  I was so determined not to sit in a waiting room for countless hours, when I could hurl in the comfort of my home, so I refused to go.  It got really scary though….After over 12 hours over being continuously sick, it finally settled.  I think my kidneys started to shut down as I didn’t tinkle for two days and when I did, it wasn’t pretty.  Let’s leave it at that.  Yes, I should have gone to the hospital but I’m as stubborn as they come.  Sorry Mike and Jan.  I love you guys.  Tee Hee.  On a bright note, I decided that once I was able to eat again (it took over five days to actually ingest anything substantial) that we “should” have nachos for dinner.  Over a week later, my dream became a reality:

I’m a little embarrassed to say it but we finished the whole bag of chips and jar of cheese that night.  I gained about 78 lbs but it was totally worth it!

On the subject of food, I wanted to show Mike that I could be all domesticated and stuff (barf) so I made him this lovely tuna casserole tonight:

I always made it for my mother when she came to visit me in Windsor (while attending university for my Criminology and Psychology degree).  It’s so yummy and simple.  Stay tuned, I’ll send the recipe soon.  Seriously folks, it’s yummola.  And easy.  And yummola.

One more thing on “food” before I sign off.  I was looking something up the other day (location of where I was going that day) and saw something kinda funny.  You know how Google Earth blurs out all faces they catch on camera?  Well, there’s clearly no discrimination when it comes to what types of faces:

Tee hee!  Poor Colonel Sanders.

So life is good.  Mind you, it would be a tad better if the weather was decent this weekend and I could go for a flight.  Whateves.

Today’s symptoms:  Felt pretty decent for the first time in over a week.  Still fairly weak from that stupid bug though.  I’ll be better tomorrow…I’ll be dancing the jig like I have all the energy in the world.

Mike and I celebrated our three year anniversary a couple weeks ago.  We went to the Keg for noms.  I was a little hungry and decided to pig out.  I managed to eat an amazing 12oz steak:

We were a tad full after dinner and decided to pass on dessert.  However, our waiter asked us if we were there for a special occasion.  I said it was our anniversary and he came back to our table with this beauty:

That is one honkin’ piece of ice cream-based pie!  We both decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and finish it off.  Needless to say, we left with mighty full bellies.  *burp*

It appears the kitties were a little jealous about our big meals when we got home.  I had to refill their food dishes and it looks like Pinky and Boo couldn’t wait:

Dorks.  My one gecko, Zim, has also been eating quite a bit lately.  Check out how fat his tail is:

I had to say “see you soon” to all of my animals recently.  Jan and I had our annual trip to Rochester for shopping and overall silliness.  It was a nice and uneventful drive there.  However, we noticed after one of our first stops that there was something hanging from the bottom of my car.  Of course, it had to be raining at the time.  I crawled under to see my heat shield just a’dangling.  Fortunately, I was able to secure it with a little force and one of the plastic strappy-things Jan brought to lock her suitcase with.

As usual, we had an amazing trip.  We hit the one main mall (Marketplace) on the first day, then drove out to Eastview the next.  It’s too bad the Canadian dollar is down so much right now, but we decided not to deter from buying things we saw and liked.  We came out of there with quite a nice little stash of clothes and other things.  I only shop for clothes twice a year, and almost entirely at my favourite store, Buckle, which is only in the States.   Probably a good thing since I never walk out of there empty handed and it’s a little pricey.  Great quality, unique items though.

On the third day in Rochester, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel then hit the nearby Walmart.  We used the GPS to head home, but I really should have turned off “avoid toll roads” before departing.  I didn’t notice the time of the trip to get home (usually less than two hours).  About ten minutes into the drive, we both realized things weren’t looking right.  I pulled into a parking lot and looked more carefully at the GPS.  It was taking us completely around Lake Ontario, to miss the toll roads!  It would have been over a twelve hour drive.  Ugh!  So, we head back the other way and made it home in good time.  What a perfect trip!

It was great to see my little goobers when I got home.  All looking cute as usual.  Boo is always doing something silly:

Peanut is always happy and googly:

Mya, either sitting on or leaning against one of her sisters.  At least this time she was just warming her paws on Pinky, rather than sitting on her completely:

Pinky looks quite annoyed.  Mind you, three of the kitties had baths and Pinky was super annoyed during the drying process:

And Abby looking cute and innocent:

Had a little incident on the first night back.  I have a pill tray for my big pile of vitamins I take every morning and night.  When I went to Rochester, I put my sleeping pills (which are foil wrapped) in my pill tray.  That night, I was quite tired and I had the light off in my bedroom.  I opened the pill tray, tilted my head back and dumped the pile of pills in my mouth and swallowed right away with a chug of water.  Something was seriously wrong.  The pills were stuck in my throat and really hurting.  I was actually on the speaker phone with Jan at the time.  I started choking and couldn’t speak.  I realized what I had just done – I swallowed the foil-packed sleeping pills.  I was a tad freaked out, with the thought of it going through my digestive track.  I ran to the bathroom and managed to cough it up.  Ugh:

I cut my throat as it went down, which was pretty obvious from the blood that came up too.  Yuck!  Thankfully, a good ending though!  Lesson learned!

Today’s symptoms: Feeling very weak and tired today.  I had to go home from work early and lay down for over an hour.  Hopefully the nap and rest did some good and I’m going to feel much better tomorrow! 

Mike and I had a nice trip to Toronto last week.  We caught the bus in St. Catharines and arrived in Toronto less than two hours later.  Our plan was to check out the St. Lawrence Market, the Eaton Centre then the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). I was still feeling so lousy from that new symptom I was experiencing – the burning sensation going up my spine and into my neck and head.  It was quite a struggle just to walk around the market, as I had very little energy and was experiencing quite a bit of pain.  By the time we walked over to the Eaton Centre, I was really out of it and feeling quite a bit worse.  Blah.  It was still nice to see.  Sure were a lot of peeps wandering around, especially in the Apple store

Good grief!  I felt like I was already ruining the trip a bit, with how I was feeling, but I had enough in me to go out for dinner that night.  Mike was really looking forward to the Burger place we picked out, W Burger Bar.  He ordered the Kobe burger.  Wow, it was delicious!

The next day, I wasn’t feeling any better and knew there was no way I would be able to walk around the ROM.  So, we hit a few stores nearby, bought some Christmas pressies, then caught the bus home.  We were glad we weren’t heading into Toronto.  Big accident and it caused a major traffic jam, closing all lanes:

Ugh.  The sun came out soon after we passed the accident.  We were sitting in the front seat and it was just a’blazing in our eyes.  I decided to make this spiffy little visor out of one of the garbage bags:

No shame!

It was a great trip.  I just wish I was feeling better so we could have done everything we planned.

On a bright note, my symptoms started improving.  I was feeling well enough on Sunday to go for a flight.  Mike and I headed out to Tillsonburg for breakfast.

I recognized a couple planes when we landed, and sure enough, there were some fellow pilot folks I knew in the restaurant.  Luckily, there were two seats left for us.  We had great noms, as usual from there.  Good times.

You know, my kitties are lucky they’re so cute.  The other night, I stepped in a half digested cricket.  I figured it was Abby, going after one of the little escapees.  However, at 3:00 am, Mya who was sleeping next to me, stood up and hurled all over my neck and chest.  Gross!!!!  After I cleaned up the mess, I crawled back into bed and put my arm in another pile she did.  Geesh!!!  Mind you, when you see innocent faces like this, how can one get mad:

I had just gone in the kitchen to wash dishes and I guess three of the four kittahs thought it was treat time.

Another cutie is Peanut.  Check out how adorable he is:

I’ll have to post pics of Pinky and gecko Zim in my next blog so they don’t feel left out.

Had a good day today.  Jan and I drove to Hamilton for my twice a year neurologist appointment.  Looks like my last MRI was good!  Yea!  Did some shopping when we got back to St. Catharines.  My good day continued into the evening when I sold some exercise equipment on Kijiji.  The nicest people (mother and son) came by to check out and purchase my Cross Bow (like a Bowflex).  I know it’s definitely  going to a good home.  I felt the need to sell it due to space limits.  That room was getting a tad full with my exercise bike and stair climber….and the two geckos and now the table full of cricket containers (trying to breed them).

Today’s symptoms:  That new symptom is continuing to get better each day.  Actually had a fair bit of energy today, which was so nice!  I’ve decided I’m going to feel really great on Saturday (it’s my birthday!) 

In my last blog, I mentioned how Boo and Pinky made it into the desktop 365 Days of Cats calendar.  On Monday, I got another package delivered to my apartment.  I was shocked to find two more calendars:

Lookie here – little Mya, my oldest girl, made it into the calendars!  Here’s the monthly wall-hanging calendar:

…and the daily desk calendar:

So that makes one of my geckos and three of my cats in 2016 calendars!  Yes, we do “sell” autographs.

As usual for Halloween, I briefly tortured the kitties with some costumes:

Can you tell how enthused they are?  Doesn’t Pinky look thrilled to be a bee?  She sat like that the whole time – little pink head lowered in shame.

From cats to crickets – since I have two geckos, I have to buy a lot of crickets for them.  I decided to try and breed the tiny dudes.  I did some research online and I think I have everything set up properly,…so now we wait.  It sounds like the great outdoors in here with all the chirping:

It should be a few more days before I know if things were successful.  Mike was actually a tad shocked after he walked into the room, seeing me standing next to the cricket bin with my phone, playing Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye.  Hope it got them in the mood.

On the weekend, Mike and I flew out to Welland to meet up with my mother.  We drove over to the 2×4 diner, just down the road.  Great place.  Actually had to wait for a table because they were packed.  After an awesome breakfast, we went back to the airport.  There were three Trojan aircraft there, getting ready to do a fly-over for a weekend Remembrance Day service.  Vyctor looked so tiny between them:

It was a really nice day.  It’s hard to believe how warm the weather has been so far this month.

Been having a little smidgen of a medical blip over the last few days.  There’s a burning sensation going up my spine and up through my neck into my face.  It’s a really yucky feeling.  Been much more fatigued since it started too.  I phoned the MS nurse at McMaster Hospital and she said that it sounds like a bit of an MS flare-up.  I see my neurologist next week so I’ll have a chat with him about it.

Today’s symptoms: Still experiencing the burning sensation, which has been about the same severity for the last few days.  That’s certainly better than it getting worse! 

Had a nice little surprise this morning.  The superintendent of my building said I had a package delivered.  I was a tad confused since I didn’t order anything.  I was just on my way to Hamilton to work today, but decided to open the box before leaving.  It was a calendar:

There was a letter with it that said Boo and Pinky were selected to be in the calendar!  As far as I could see, they were the only sphynxes:

Tee hee!  I love that picture!  (Actually, I photo-shopped Pinky a couple years ago to this):

So now Peanut will be in the Pet Valu 2016 calendar with this pic:

….and now Boo and Pinky are famous as well!  How exciting!

Last week Mike and I went to Mississauga for an RV show.  It was amazing to see how many vehicles were on display.  We checked out little trailers like this one (which we loved and is just like the one we borrow from his uncle to camp in):

Right up to $150,000+ house’s on wheels.  It was pretty neat!  Had a cool experience when someone walked up to me and said “Hey, you’re the one with the plane!”  He reads my blogs and like’s Vyctor’s paint job.  He is building a Cessna 150 model and may be painting it the same colour scheme.  That would be amazing!  I would love to see a mini-Vyctor!

On the way back from the show, we made a quick stop at the airport so I could drop off the log books in my plane.  Vyc was due for his annual inspection.  I dropped off the books and wished him well.  My mechanic is awesome so I knew he was in good hands:

The inspection is done now and unfortunately, I needed to buy a new starter.  Ugh!  It was about $800 and I ordered it from Aircraft Spruce, which has a store at the Brantford Airport.  I asked the customer service person on the phone if I could pay for it with kidneys instead of cash.  I said that my mother had a couple I could give her.  After a laugh, she told me that wouldn’t be possible.  Bummer.

Speaking of mothers, I visited Janski this weekend.  I was completely shocked and dismayed when I saw the beautiful window decoration I gave her for her car, was stuck to the wall in her garage!  How could she not want such lovely art upon her vehicle:

Geesh.

I guess I better show my other pets in this blog entry, so the “non-calendar” pets don’t feel left out.  Here’s Mya sitting on Pinky (She always sits on her sisters.  We call it Myaing):

Pinky looks thrilled.

Gecko Zim has a nice fat tail:

Little pig has been eating lots of cute crickets lately.

Mike had a staring contest with Abby while she was at the vet’s office:

Abby won.

Not too much else going on with moi. I’m hoping the weather is decent on Thursday so I can go for a flight.  It’s supposed to be quite windy, which is my kind of flying (only when I’m by myself – not with passengers!)

Today’s symptoms: Feeling pretty decent today following a few “meh” days.  Tomorrow will be better!

Had a really bad day today.  At 4:00am, Abby’s colon had a blow-out party on my bed.  Oh fun.  Poor little girly has had bowel inflammation issues since I adopted her almost seven years ago.  I’ve been told by vets that she probably wouldn’t last to age three, and yet the little goober is going to turn seven on Halloween.  Anyway, she has been on countless medications over the years, had tons of tests, etc.  She can’t make it to the litter box so I have been cleaning my floors daily all this time.  I actually had all of the carpeting in my apartment removed and put in vinyl so it is easier to clean.  The vets I have seen have said no one would have done this much – would have put her down years ago.  Even after crying for countless hours this morning and almost making the decision that we were at our breaking point and that this was the end.  Mike came with me to the vet today.  I completely broke down to the doctor, saying I don’t know what to do anymore and I just can’t take it.  She said that I should feel absolutely no guilt as I’ve done so much for her (as she read through pages and pages of reports).  I just couldn’t do it though.  The vet said we can try a couple more things.  I can tell that Abby isn’t suffering – if she was, it would be a somewhat easy decision.  So, I brought the little goober back home with a purse full of new meds.  Paws crossed this is the answer.  I just want her to have quality of life, no matter how long that will be for.  Besides, how am I supposed to give up on something this cute?

I swear, she likes things on her noodle:

They’re all so cute – I don’t know what I would do without the freaks:

Look at little Boo sleeping, with her chin all smooshed against her paw.  Abby in the background:

As usual whenever there is a bag in view, Pinky is in it – no matter where it is:

Then we have Boo and Mya, who were initially (when I first adopted Boo), the worst of enemies.  Now best of buds, Boo with her arm around her bestie:

I asked Mya the next morning what she thought about this sisterly love act from last night.  She was pretty proud:

Boo was impressed too – just chillin, knowing how awesome she is:

Of course, we can’t forget the geckos.  Here’s little Peanut, looking adorable as usual:

Changing topics, Mike and I went to the Niagara Central Airport (in Welland) renaming ceremony.  It is now the Dorothy Rungeling Airport.  She’s such an awesome person – is now 104 years young!  “She was the first Canadian woman to hold an airline transport license, was the first to solo a helicopter, earned numerous air race trophies and was awarded the Amelia Earhart Medal.  She’s been called Canada’s Flying Housewife.”  From Niagara, too!  So amazing to watch the ceremony then meet her:

Yes, as I said, she’s 104 and she is sharp as a tack!  I showed her a picture of my plane on my phone and let her know what an honour it was to meet her:

Ok, I am completely exhausted after this emotionally draining day.  I’m going to try and post again tomorrow, as I have a fun weekend to share.

Today’s symptoms: Well, as you can imagine, today really sucked.  I am so physically and emotionally drained.  I can’t wait to go sleep tonight.  I’ve had lots of spasms in my legs and hands over the last couple of days, but quite bad today.  It’ll be better once my stress level decreases when Abby improves!

Mike and I just went on one of the best trips ever.  Last Thursday, we hopped in Vyctor and flew to Manitoulin Island.  I thought the flight would be close to three hours but it was just a little over two.  The scenery was amazing, especially from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island.

I was a little leery flying over the water from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island, but it wasn’t too far.  Then the scenery got even better:

I used to go there quite often as a kid, but seeing it from the air was a whole new experience.  The Gore Bay Airport was on the West side of the island:

After landing, we waited for a couple minutes while a Coast Guard helicopter fueled up and took off:

We dragged Vyctor over to the tie-downs after fueling up:

I felt bad leaving him all alone in a strange place for a couple nights, but I knew Vyctor would tough it out.  Mike and I met up with the head dude at the airport, who was extremely nice and accommodating.  I had phoned him a couple weeks previously to see if we could use the airport courtesy van.  Fortunately, we didn’t have too far to drive while there.  Our cabin (Wolsey Lake Cabins in Gore Bay) was only about ten minutes from the airport.  We loaded up the van then headed into the town of Gore Bay to buy some noms for dinner.  Once we picked up everything we needed, over to the cabin we drove.  We ended up with a cabin right on the water.  It was so cute!

Great view and lots of room to play catch, frisbee, etc:

The cabin was so nice and clean.  We were both very impressed.  Another nice thing was that there was a games room on site, with a pool table.  That certainly gave us a few hours of entertainment both nights we were there.

On Friday, we headed to Bridal Veil Falls.  We didn’t do the whole trail, as our main goal for that day was the Cup and Saucer Trail.  We checked out the Falls, which was a few steps from the road:

It was neat to see all of the fishies jumping up into the falls.

Next was Cup and Saucer.  I was really determined to dangle my legs over the cliff, which didn’t sit too well with Mike.  Oops!  After about a kilometer, we made it to the first cliff:

Mike got fairly close to the edge, which we were both impressed with:

And I did more dangling:

The view was amazing, needless to say.  And we got to admire the gum stump nearby.  Unfortunately, we didn’t bring any gum to stick to it:

Ewwww….

We weren’t planning on walking too much further, but we did head up to the next level of cliffage.  Of course, I had to dangle again:

There were a few people there when we arrived, but no one else went out to the edge.  Mike thinks I’m mildly insane.

After heading back to the car (we walked 3.2km in total) we went to a restaurant (Twin Bluffs) in Gore Bay.  Mike ordered the Twin Bluff burger and said it was one of the best burgers he’s ever had in his life.  Slurp.

That evening, we noticed a fly buzzing around, pinging off the light in the main room.  I handed Mike the fly swatter and after a few failed swats, I yelled “Wait!”  I realize I’m extremely over-sensitive when it comes to animals (and anything living besides humans, because they can really suck), and I told him to let it live.  The fly annoyingly pinged off of the light for another ten minutes or so, before falling to the ground and spinning wildly.  I went over to him and realized there was something wrapped around his legs.  I untangled him, but then he laid there in a heap.  I felt so bad.  I ran and got a piece of toilet paper and tucked him in for the night:

We were THRILLED (well, not really) to see he wasn’t there anymore the next morning.  Good deed for the day, I saved a fly.  No applause, a cheque will do fine.

We headed back home on Saturday.  Before leaving, I decided to tuck in the stuffed fish I found in the games room:

While flying home, the owner of the cabins texted Mike and said that she loved the fish – it made her day!  Yup, I’m weird.

We passed the awesome ferry, the Chi-Cheemaun, which we used to love traveling on as kids:

The flight home was a tad longer, as we got vectored a little bit coming out of Toronto.  Still less than two and a half hour flight.  We enjoyed ourselves so much, we plan on flying back in the Spring and staying in the same cabin.  It’s nice to know we have good peeps to visit too, such as the Gore Bay manager and owners of Wolsey Lake Cabins.  My friend’s parent’s from work also have a cabin on Manitoulin Island and have invited us for RTV’ing next time we’re there.

Today’s symptoms: Still recovering from the trip, so am quite drained physically.  Lots of spasms in my legs, back and hands over the last few days as well.  Not fun but hopefully won’t last much longer.  I don’t have time for that silliness!

Continuing with my camping trip, let me show you a few little incidents we had to deal with.  Not sure what his issue was, but Mike had some difficulties with the challenging task of holding things.  First night, a piece of hot dog wiener:

And another:

Night two.  Hey Mike, how about a hot dog wiener?  Why don’t you just drop the entire thing into the fire pit:

Then drop another piece:

How about splitting that Tim Hortons smile cookie we bought the other day?  Here’s the best part – the eye made out of icing:

Thanks for doing the dishes.  Can you please hand me the lid of my Timmies cup?  Oh wait, you should drop it first:

Was that a text coming through on your phone?  You should check:

Can you please pass me that bottle of water?

Gee, I’m glad I didn’t ask him to carry me into the trailer.  I would have been all soiled!

Today’s symptoms: Feeling kinda blah today.  Not a huge amount of energy this weekend.  My dumb bladder infection is back (suffered with them for over a year starting in 2014).  Going to see a new urologist (local) this week – paws crossed he can help!

As I mentioned in my last blog, about the adorable lost dog I had the privilege of helping to find her owner, Mike and I went camping again. As usual, we went to Long Point and camped out at the same perfect site that we always take.  We borrowed my mother’s crossover and Mike’s uncle’s pop-up trailer again.

After setting up, we played some sports (catch, frisbee, badminton, etc.) then Mike went for a swim.  I sat and watched as I’m not a huge water fan:

My view was great, so I was quite content just sitting there:

Friday, we again played a ton of sports.  We were both so pooped in the afternoon, we had to take a nap.  Afterwards, we started a fire and roasted some weenies (piggly wigglies or whatever they’re called when you cut them like this):

We flew kites that night as well:

Mike thought I was being mean just because I kept dive-bombing his kite and knocking it out of the air.  I figured I was just being friendly….  On a bright note, as I went to retrieve my kite, which fell from the sky after my string broke, I saw this adorable butterfly.  I’m happy with how the picture turned out (taken on my iPhone):

On Saturday, the weather was poopy so our plan was to go into town.  Of course, we had to visit our favourite restaurant, the Sunrise Cafe in Port Rowan.  They make the best burgers and poutine there.  We love chatting with the owner, but she wasn’t there that day.  Her daughter said she would be in the next day.  Or darn, we would have to go back.

We unfortunately found it necessary to get some treats, like this Nanaimo bar and brownie.  What can I say – we were talked into it:

On Sunday, we decided to check out something kinda neat.  In Courtland, there’s the Gopher Dunes which has a bunch of tracks for amateur cycles, trucks, off-road vehicles, etc.  What I really wanted to see was the trucks running through the mud bogs:

It was so neat to watch.  There were about five that broke down and had to be towed out (by a huge green tractor) during the hour we were there.  Poor dudes:

What a neat experience! Have fun cleaning your vehicles:

We were camping for four awesome nights.  It was one of the best camping trips ever.  Can’t wait to head back (hopefully in May).

I have one more item to share about our camping trip, but I’ll do it in my next blog.

Today’s symptoms:  I’ve been, and not surprisingly, completely drained and blah since we’ve been back.  I always pay for these kinds of trips, but they’re completely worth it.  I spent most of today in bed, but paws crossed I feel better tomorrow.

Mike and I just got back from an awesome camping trip in Long Point.  I’m going to provide the details in my next blog.  Firstly, I want to share a heartwarming story from last night. We were going for a walk down by the beach when we noticed a cute german shepherd frolicking about.  We figured it belonged to the couple who were sitting on the beach about 50 feet away.  He ran back up the hill and they didn’t say anything so we assumed it wasn’t theirs.  Almost two hours later, we walked over to the showers to de-stink.  As I’m usually done showering first, Mike said to just head back to the campsite without waiting for him.  As I was leaving the washroom, a guy approached and asked if I had a dog.  I said no and I asked if it he was talking about a german shepherd.  He said yes and it had been running around the campsites for a couple hours.  I saw the dog a few sites away and said I would call the front gate to report it.  I couldn’t get through and tried about six different numbers for Long Point and camp wardens.  I made a few attempts to catch the shepherd to see if he had tags, but he would jump away when I was within a few inches.  I decided to walk back to my site and get the car to drive over to the front gate.  About half way there, I came upon two cars at the recycling and garbage area.  The drivers were speaking to each other and one had a dog in his car.  I couldn’t hear what they were saying and I still have no idea what made me think the guy with the dog had anything to do with the one that was running around, but I stopped and asked them if they were looking for a dog. The guy excitedly said yes!  I couldn’t believe it.  I told him that I knew where it was and said to follow me in the car.  We headed back to where I last saw it and pulled over.  I asked the people at a nearby site (who initially asked me if I knew who owned the dog) where he was now.  They pointed over to the playground and look what we found:

The man told me that it wasn’t his dog, but his neighbour’s.  She was totally frantic and had already called the police, the campsite office and tried to reach a warden.  No luck.  I’m not too sure how long he had been driving around looking. We kept trying to call “Fergie” over but she would get close to us and run away.  The man phoned the owner and she was on her way over.  A couple other people passing by tried to help grab the dog, but were also unsuccessful.  We even tried to coax her into the back of “Bob’s” car, hoping he would want to be around the other dog, “Baxter.”  Again, close but no cigar:

Mike came over after his shower, wondering what was going on.  I let him know that we found the owner of that stray dog we saw earlier and she was her way.  A few minutes later, after we were completely swarmed by mosquitoes, we saw a car come along the back of the playground, then heard a woman calling “Fergie”.  Instantly, the dog ran toward the car.  The owner got out and Fergie was jumping all over her.  It was such an incredible and heartwarming moment.  Bob thanked me for my help and I said it was my pleasure, as I’m such an animal lover.  I then started walking toward the owner – that’s when I broke down.  It was so amazing to see a pet being reunited with an owner, who for the last couple hours wasn’t sure if she would ever see her dog again.  I felt like such a dork, crying like that but I was so happy and moved.  She gave me a huge hug and thanked me over and over.

When I was speaking with Bob while waiting for the owner to arrive, he said he can’t believe I first saw him and pretty much knew that he was out searching for the dog.  He said “Must have been woman’s intuition!”

Today’s symptoms: Very drained today after four days of one of the best camping trips ever!  I’m sure I’ll be paying for it tomorrow and maybe most of this week, but completely worth it.  I’ll blog about the rest of the camping trip soon…..stay tuned!

What a terrific weekend!  On Saturday, I went for an awesome motorcycle ride with my friend.  We stopped at a Timmies in St. Catharines, then headed out for a very scenic ride through the Short Hills.  The weather was perfect.  My big blonde afro was whipping around behind me (sure makes us visible).  Got a neat shot of our shadow:

Hopefully we can get one more ride in before bike season is over.

Another awesome day on Sunday.  Mike and I went to the airport in the morning, went up in Vyctor to work on my hammer heads.  It was good having another set of eyes to help me figure things out.  Happy to say, I finally got it!  It’s really a fun maneuver to do.  I had another nice treat to look forward to after we landed.  I was able to go up in a glider with the Air Cadets!  It was so cool!  We were up for over 20 minutes, then it started to rain.  It was so neat to be up there in silence!  We caught a thermal and were able to ascend quite a bit.  The descent back down and landing were pretty cool!  Soon after we came back down to Earth, the sky opened up.  The second glider was brought out on the runway in preparation for the next flight.  Thank goodness they’re high-wings!

Fortunately, it was a small rain cell and didn’t last too long:

So there you have it – went up in a glider and another item off my bucket list!

Since things come in three’s, so we had the hammer head success, the glider flight and then this:

My 2009 Corolla (name Lola) hit 50,000km!  As you can tell, I don’t have to drive too much.  I’m so lucky in that I can walk to work in under 10 minutes.

Back home, I had some kitties to clean (they never love baths but it must be done – little grease buckets!)  Mya doesn’t need to be cleaned as often as the other goobers, and she screams while I’m cleaning her.  Thankfully, she gets over it pretty quick.

Had to clean the Geckos too.  As you can see, Zim was absolutely thrilled afterwards:

Life is good!

Today’s symptoms: I’m happy to say that I had a great sleepy last night.  It’s about time.  I’ve been dealing with insomnia for many months now so even getting only good night is a real blessing.  Had some decent energy today and very few aches in pains.  Yea!!!

Not too much new to report recently, but life is still good (even when it feels like it isn’t).  Actually, been feeling kinda cruddy for the last week.  I’ve had an awful stomach ache.  It got to the point where I considered going to the doctor.  However, I thought I had yet another bladder infection (last year had them for a full year), but never had abdominal pains with one before.  I was about to call the GP, but looked up the symptoms.  Yup, I’m sure it’s another beloved bladder infection.  Oh joy.  So I flew last week, but not this weekend. I took up a friend from work for a flight, which was really nice.  He had a great time.  The weather was so smooth, which is great for passengers but boring for me.  But nothing is boring when I look to my right a seeing my passenger smiling.  Good times:

He took some awesome pics of the Falls – I didn’t realize how many pics he took:

Awesome flight – love taking people up!

Ok, so there are the flight pics, now we need the kittah pics.  Here we go – aren’t they great?  Happy Pinky:

Ewwww…..Abby:

Boo, looking cute:

Hey Zim!

Mya was naughty and sent to the corner:

I bought these awesome lizard decorations….sweet:

Look, Zim on the left, Peanut on the right!

Ok, signing off for today.  I need more excitement in my life so I can post more!!!  I need more energy.

Today’s symptoms:  I always try to stay so positive and not get down no matter how I feel.  I’ll admit it – for the last few weeks, I’ve been really down.  Feeling pretty lousy lately….quite fatigued, lots of aches and pains and very little stamina.  I think to myself “I shouldn’t feel this crappy (physically) yet.”  I can usually climb out of these slumps, but I really am having a hard time lately.  I took my friend flying recently and I must admit, it made me feel so good.  There is nothing more awesome than giving someone such a great experience – such as flying around Niagara, especially over Niagara Falls.  I must admit, my life is so awesome.  I would give anything to be rid of this wretched disease known as MS, but until there is a cure, I shalt endure and continue to love life! (even when I feel yucky and don’t feel like loving life!)

Had a nice little surprise the other day.  I was interviewed by someone from the Standard while at Airport Fest.  I assumed she was just going to write a sentence or two in an article about the event.  I was so shocked to see she did a whole article on me.  I’m so flattered! On the front page too:

She did a great job.  You can read the article here: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2015/08/16/getting-a-rush-from-the-air.  She got a couple of nice pics too:

Had another great airplane-related adventure today too.  I took up the granddaughter of one of our Recreational Aircraft Association members.  She wanted to do aerobatics.  I must say, she was one of the most hard-core passengers I’ve had!  I could do every maneuver with her and she never flinched once.  She’s even looking forward to going up again!

It was very humid today so due to the extra moisture in the air, the plane didn’t perform quite a nimbly as usual.  It took us over seven minutes just to get up to 4000′.  Pulling the plane through maneuvers was really exhausting.  I was soaked (yuck!) by the end of the flight.  Great time though!

I noticed the airport got an awesome new sign at the main entrance:

Purdy!  Not sure when it will be turned on though.

I got a great pic of all four goobers last night.  It’s a very rare occurrence!

Could they be any cuter???

Today’s symptoms: Felt really good this morning.  Had plenty of energy for the flight.  Unfortunately, the heat and flight itself really took it’s toll and I had to leave work an hour and a half early to go home and rest.  Tomorrow will be better though!  I’m going to sleep well tonight (I hope!)

Had an amazing day yesterday.  It was Airport Fest at the Niagara District Airport (St. Catharines).  I had my plane on display again this year.  I got there just after 10:00 and had a prime display spot:

The show ran from 12:00 – 5:00.  Planes were coming in for the first couple of hours.

There were also military vehicles on display, I thought there was supposed to be live music but I didn’t see/hear any.  May have been on the other side of the terminal.

The beauty of having a high-wing airplane is that there is always shade to sit in.  Mike and I had our lawn chairs set up so were able to stay out of the sun.  As last year, lots of kids saw my plane and said it looked like Dusty from Disney Planes.  Last year a couple of the kids were a little rough with the rudder pedals when they sat in my plane, so I had blocks under them this time.  One less thing to worry about.

A couple of women were dressed up as Rosie the Riveter.  I asked them to pose in front of Vyctor:

My friend from the Flying Club brought his awesome motorcycle over and parked it under my wing.  I got this neat shot of Vyctor in the reflection of his engine:

I was the last plane left after 4:30.  I would have gone earlier but I had a memorial fly-over at 5:30 in Beamsville.  It was one of our RAA members who passed away last year.  I gave him his last flight a couple years ago – an aerobatic flight over Welland.  His family said he spoke about the flight quite a bit and even had a picture of us in my plane on his fridge.  They were all meeting at his grave site yesterday and asked if I would do a little flight over the cemetery in his honour.  After that flight, I headed back to St. Catharines.  Before I arrived, I thought it would be neat to fly over Mike’s sister’s house, as they were having a birthday party for their two year old daughter.  I phoned Mike, who left Airport Fest early to attend the party, and he let me know when I was directly overhead.  Apparently everyone really loved the show!  Headed back to St. Catharines again.  By the time I got back, I had been flying for over an hour and a half.  I landed and talked to a few folks at the St. Catharines Flying Club corn roast.  I figured I would give them a little air show, so back up I went and did some aerobatics for the crowd.  Good times, but an exhausting day.  I really paid for it today, spending most of the day on the couch or in bed.  I knew this would happen, due to the long day yesterday, plus the heat.  It was worth it though.  Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to bed tonight!

What would a blog be without at least one kittah pic.  Here is one of Mya and Pinky, chilling on the couch:

Today’s symptoms: Completely drained and feeling pretty lousy.  Yesterday, on the other hand, was great!  I felt really good and still can’t believe I had enough energy for that long day.

Jan had a birthday recently.  Mike and I took her to our favourite restaurant, the Lazy Loon in Fonthill. Oh yum – their food is fantastic.  And to make it better, they brought our dessert with a sparkler and all sang to Janski:

Looking good, little mommy!

Mike and I took advantage of the great weather yesterday and flew to Guelph for breakkie.  The folks at the Club helped Mike to get Vyctor out of the hangar:

As usual, the food there was amazing.  I don’t know of another restaurant with better breakfast food.  The restaurant is right at the airport.  We were the only ones who flew in, yet the place was packed.  Many locals have found this nom hot spot.

It was quite smooth on the way there, but the clouds came in on the way back and made it very bumpy – my kind of flight!

On the home front, my oldest sphynx Mya is becoming quite the little piggy.  She is so skinny – only about five pounds.  Every time I walk into the kitchen, there she is begging for wet food (they always have the dry stuff available):

She was again on her hind paws when she heard sirens outside:

She’s so cute.  They all are.

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty good the last couple days.  My energy levels have been decent, although I did have to take a wake-up pill this afternoon.  I hope the rest of the week goes well.  Mind you, if the heat hits like they’re predicting, that may cause an issue with my heat intolerance (which almost all MS’ers have).

What a wild week!  As mentioned in my last blog, Mike and I flew out to Welland for our monthly Recreational Aircraft Association meeting.  Good times!  Then on Wednesday, I flew over the Wise Guys Charity golf tournament.  The weather was crappy in the morning – low ceilings, so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to fly over.  Fortunately, the clouds lifted just before noon.  I ran down to my car to head out to the airport.  My keyless remote didn’t work.  Ugh!  I ran upstairs and got my spare – dead too!  Holy poop!  I used the key to get into the car, but that didn’t help since the remote is needed to start the car.  I was freaking out!  I had to text Mike, so he could leave work over his lunch and take me out to the airport.  I felt so bad but didn’t want to miss the flyover.  I made it over the golf course just after 12:30, which was perfect timing.  Someone from the St. Catharines Flying Club was leaving just after I took off to bring a plane over to the Club in Welland.  Since he didn’t have a ride back to St. Catharines, I stopped there to pick him up and take him back with me.  The favour was nicely returned when my friend from the Club drove me back home.  In the evening, Mike and I headed out to Fonthill to join the golfers for an awesome buffet dinner.  What a view from the club house:

Perfect day!  I couldn’t believe how well I felt too!  Thankfully, I was feeling just as good the next day.  Jan and I had planned to fly to Stratford to visit the town.  We arrived at the airport just after 9:00 and headed out to Stratford.  Perfectly smooth day (I’m so glad because if I hit one little bump in the air, Jan glares at me and says “You did that on purpose!”)  It took us about 50 minutes to get there.  While coming in to land, I asked the folks at the terminal building to phone a cab for us. Perfect timing as it arrived just after we parked Vyctor. We had the cab drop us off at the Tim Hortons downtown, for a well needed coffee before hitting the shops.  Another perfect day – weather-wise and feeling amazing health-wise!  It was almost too good to be true!  I can’t believe the energy I had.  We spent hours browsing the shops, then hit a sports bar for noms:

After we ate, we visited a couple more stores then called a taxi to take us back to the airport:

Great flight home – I couldn’t stop smiling with how great everything went.

Another flight yesterday!  It was the Flying Club pig roast.  Mike and I got there a little early so he could try to record me from the ground doing aerobatics.  We need to tweak things with the camera a bit.  We had issues with auto focus, which we shouldn’t have had on, plus we need to make some adjustments to the tripod.  It was still a fun flight but very hot!  It was a relief to head into the air conditioned Club and eat some piggy!  Yum!

So there you have it, a flighterific week!  And just to make it even better, Mike got me this cake for hitting 500 hours of flight time recently!

How perfect!  And it tastes amazing (we’re still eating it!)  The kitties didn’t get to enjoy it with us though, although they all ran into the kitchen last time I got us a couple slices:

I still can’t believe those few great days I had health-wise.  I would give anything to have them more often.

Today’s symptoms: Dealing with insomnia the last couple of nights, plus all of the extra stuff I did the last week are starting to take their toll.  Still had decent energy today and was able to last pretty long (Mike, my mother and I went to the Pen Centre to do a little shopping).  Tomorrow will be good!   Oh and by the way – it wasn’t my car remotes that were dead, it was my car battery!  I was sure I didn’t leave anything on.  Mike and I gave it a boost and drove around for about 20 minutes that night.  I tried to start the car the next day and it was dead again.  Ugh.  CAA came out that evening and replaced my battery.  

Mike and I flew out to our monthly Recreational Aircraft Association meeting in Welland last night.  It was another great turn-out, since joining up with Canadian Owners and Pilots Association group for the summer meetings.  A few of us flew in, which is always nice to see.  After we landed back at St. Catharines, we had to tie down Vyctor since the hangar was closed for the night.  This is where Mike accused me of being silly.  I don’t get why he would think that:

And despite what he says, tying down a plane is exhausting:

Anyway, I survived and that’s the main thing.  I also survived a very busy but amazing Saturday.  Mike and I flew out to a BBQ in Oshawa.  We were told to park on the North apron, so we did.  Lots of spots to choose from:

Where was everyone?  We had to call someone from the Ontario Regiment Museum to drive around the entire airport and pick us up and bring us to the South apron.  We decided to go through the museum prior to getting something to eat at the BBQ.  We met up with a 91 year old WW2 vet who gave us an incredible hour long tour of the museum.  The stories he told gave me constant goosebumps.  We just didn’t want him to stop talking!  Unfortunately, the tour ended and we had to bid him adieu!  Next, we headed outside for the tank and vehicle demo.  Right on.  The first one was just like the jeeps I used to drive in the Army:

About ten vehicles roared by, plus there were many more in their garage and outside:

I truly recommend visiting the museum, especially during Tank Saturdays.

It was a little smoggy that day, but we still got some great pics.

It was surprising how few people were at the stadium where the rugby game was being held as well as the volleyball tournaments:

We also flew over Henley in St. Catharines where our Canadian rowers were kicking butt:

What a perfect day and I haven’t felt that well physically in probably a year or more.  I knew I was going to pay for it Sunday (which I did), but it was totally worth it.

Today’s symptoms: The main MS complaint was this weird thing I get now and then where it feels like I’m sinking way down in my chair, I’m leaning way back and my hands feel enormous.  It also felt like one leg was bigger than the other.  These symptoms usually only last a few hours and are more annoying than anything.

Mike and I were supposed to fly to his aunt and uncle’s BBQ near Newmarket last weekend, but the event was cancelled due to the weather.  Instead, it was rescheduled to this past weekend.  Fortunately, the weather was perfect, especially to fly.  Who wants to drive two hours?  (Sorry Mike’s mom and dad!).  We took off from St. Catharines at 1:15 on Saturday and headed around Lake Ontario, then North to Newmarket.  As always, it’s great to fly over downtown Toronto:

The stadium is all ready for the Pan Am games starting this weekend:

Fortunately, we did some flight planning the day before so it was no issue getting there:

I accidentally put a bag on Mike’s head.  Oops.

In less than an hour, we arrived at Holland Landing, which is a private airport:

Nice big hangar with some sweet looking aircraft:

Of course, none were as cute as my plane, but they meant well.

Mike’s parents literally just arrived at the airport within a minute or two of us touching down (I’m so glad I did smooth landing and didn’t embarrass myself!)  Onward to the party.  It was so nice to see everyone again.  Had some great conversations.  The only bad part was having to leave fairly early.  The airport we were at did not have any lighting, plus I wanted to get Vyctor back in the hangar in St. Catharines before the Flying Club closed up for the day.  So, his dad drove us back to Holland Landing around 6:00 (unfortunately, just before dinner was served!)

It was another nice flight for us, directly over Toronto.

Toodles, big city!

They’ll be doing some Pan Am sports here, in St. Catharines.  Ready to rock:

The only thing we missed on the way back was not seeing the Lancaster fly by us, as it did on the way there:

Awesome weekend.  I paid for it a bit on Sunday, as it was very busy and tiring on Saturday – completely worth it though.

Last night, I went to bed quite early as I was pooped.  Before packing it in though, I had Zim out for a little romp:

As you can see, Mya was thrilled to see him.

Today’s symptoms: Quite drained still today but not as bad as yesterday.  Going to feel even better tomorrow.  Had quite a few spasms in my left arm and hand today that were painful and a little out of the ordinary, but I decided they will be gone tomorrow too!