luv2lurk

Umm still waiting for this - unless it was Mo's Bday As for the microwave I think your new stove came with a newfangled thing called an oven. What can you do in an oven? Bake potatoes (no pan required) and re-heat food (no fancy pan required). I'm too lazy to find the posts on these matters, but yeash.

Potato Caesar salad. Original recipe calls for steaming new potatoes, pricking and then marinate in olive oil/garlic mixture before finishing on the grill. Then cube and toss with grilled bacon (crumbled) and green onion and Caesar dressing. Ground black pepper to taste. Shave/grind real (not the canned stuff) Parmesan cheese on top. The best type of Caesar dressing for this is not home made nor the stuff in a bottle as they are too thin. I prefer the thick ones in a jar sold in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. I changed it up a bit since I had winter potatoes to be used up (microwave baked then cooled to room temp) and some left over ham roast. Chopped the green onion, added the dressing, black pepper and voila quick salad for a hot day.

I loved Weruva wet food when I bought it for my cat with kidney disease. The can smells so delicious when you open it, you almost want to eat it yourself. Sadly after a few months the cat decided to only lick the sauce no matter how much I chopped up the chunks of chicken. So switched to pate only other brands.

In our fourth and final year of university, my friend decided she wanted to give me a kitten as a birthday present. However, my birthday is in mid-January and apparently no kittens were available at that time of the year due to breeding habits of cats (not sure if that is still the case). So it was actually late March when the kitten entered my life (the friend called to make sure I had finished an important paper before dropping the lovely surprise off!) My birthday had always been associated with the musical Oliver! According to my parents they were listening to the LP record when my Mom went into labour. And every year on my birthday it was played. So, kitten from the Humane Society - obviously an orphan just made sense. Funnily, the feeding instructions for this kitten was Pablum cereal - a well know human baby food (I was raised on Pablum) In other words, gruel . . .

To quote T.S. Eliot, the naming of cats is a difficult matter. And I want to thank each and every one of you for your suggestions. I did consider Isadora (hearing it my head as I adore [you], or I is adora[ble]) but that is a long name, and Izzy is reserved for a Grey's Anatomy character. I had no idea who Isadora Duncan was until I googled it. And happily this kitten does not wear a scarf in the car. Similarly, TK is a male character on 911 Lone Star. I liked the suggestion of Tikka until I googled and found out it is a rifle manufactured in Finland. Trixie is a cute name, but for some reason I think of a rabbit and cereal. @Mondrianyone I would love to know how your Tortie got named after a type of cheese. My first cat (female, long haired grey tabby) was named Oliver, so no to Olive Oil. And she is too feisty to be a Daisy ;-) Sorry if I left anyone out, but none of the names worked. So, I decided on the name Selene who is Greek goddess of the moon. It started with the name Luna who is Roman (latin) goddess of the moon - but that name is SO common. And according to Google I can pronounce it in Greek as Say-LEN! The kitten is responding to this pronunciation much better than the English one which is similar to a French-Canadian singer ☺️

Thank you for asking this @andidante I had been wondering the same thing and tried Googling to no avail. Margarine, yuck. Remember that from when I was a kid. Personally I use only butter and never on a sandwich - cheese and mayo are enough. Occasionally maybe butter when making an omelette if I fry onions first. Sometimes butter on steamed veggies, but actually I prefer sesame oil. Then mostly I use a small amount of olive oil to fry something else, but I always keep the heat med/low which is easy to do on a gas stove. So, mostly butter gets used for baking ;-)

Hello everyone - I have a new kitten in my life: She is 8 weeks old and looks remarkably like my former cat of 20.5 years, except no orange diamond on her forehead. She is very playful - any hockey team could use her skills on handling pucks, err crinkle balls. The problem is, she has no name. I call her Little One, or TK (Tortie Kitty). But neither of those are permanent names. SO, I am hoping the creative minds here (and/or their daughter - looking at you @JTMacc99) can make some suggestions

When I first met my Tortie, it was just after Halloween. I met her at a service operated by a veterinary clinic called Affection Connection. (As an aside this was an amazing business model - people adopt kittens, know they have been checked, then bring them back for care. Included in the very reasonable adoption fee was all initial shots, spaying/neutering, and 12 cans of food. Unfortunately for them I already had a vet I liked that was much closer to home so they did not get the years repeat of business.) Her DOB was listed as Sept 18 and apparently was a male. I fell in love with this kitten but the vet tech told me it was too young for adoption. I asked if I could put a hold on it. The tech took the kitten to the Dr and then came back to say deworming would be necessary and I could pick up in three days. Which I did - and the DOB had been changed to Sept 25th and gender changed to female. Now in fairness - as most of us know a tortie can only be female (I didn't at the time I just loved her colour markings after having said goodbye to a grey tabby). Now that I think about it there was a black kitten in the cage with her (probably her brother) - maybe that was the male! Anyway the 1lb, 1oz tiny bundle of fur came home with me and started a two decade affection connection 😁

OK so let me get this straight . . . there are two memorials for Rey off screen. Then we don't get the May the 13th wedding on Friday the 13th (which would be May 12th in Canada)?

Thank you everyone for your kind words. Love the thought of other Pet forum pets who have passed keeping her company, as she will them, until we all reunite.

Today I said a final goodbye to my housemate of 20.5 years. As some might recall, I posted concerns a few weeks ago about arthritis in cats. It seems the cat took it upon herself to just end life by not eating - torties can be stubborn that way. I will miss her very much, but we had a good life together and my final words to her were - thank you for sharing your life with me and see you at the Rainbow Bridge. For @peacheslatour and @Scarlett45 - here is a pic of her in younger days

Hearing your story of kites reminded me of the book - The Kite Runner which is set in Afghanistan starting in the mid 70's. I originally purchased the book about 15 years ago to try and understand why my country (Canada) was involved in military conflict there. I re-read it this past summer and thought nothing has changed for those poor people. And that was before the bungled evacuation and what has happened since. I would also recommend a book by the same author - A Thousand Splendid Suns which continues the story. To be clear - these are fiction, but I think strongly rooted in reality.

You need to get that dog a frisbee and or tennis ball - then he *might* leave your shoe alone.

I am following this conversation about cat arthritis with great interest. Because my cat can no longer jump and I don't know what to do. When I took Harlequin to the Vet in December for annual check up and 6 month blood work I mentioned that I thought my cat might have arthritis since she was gingerly setting down with hind quarters to lie (hope that makes sense). The Vet responded by saying the cat had probably had arthritis since age 10 and all that could be done was some oil treatment. To be fair, we were also dealing with treatment for vestibular symptoms (crooked head, lack of balance). So there was a good cleaning of dirty ears, antibiotics and steroids. And suddenly I had a kitten back. My Tortie is 20.5 years old, but she is clearly a fighter. She was diagnosed with Kidney Disease 5 years ago but somehow it has stayed at late Stage 2 (as of December bloodwork). When I remind the vet that she gave this cat 1-2 years to live upon initial diagnosis, she now says - well it was caught early. All through Covid, the Vet has let people in. She operates out of the main floor of a house (which was previously occupied by lawyers). So she is accessible, but now I am asking for your thoughts. Starting in January, Harlequin fell when jumping up. So I created a step box for her so she did not have to jump, just step up to the couch. That worked for a few weeks. Then she started peeing in inappropriate places (including on me!) So I installed an additional litter box on the main floor of the house and that seems to have solved the peeing problem. But now, I am dealing with an isolation problem. Harlequin just chooses to sleep on the floor in front of the fireplace (there is a futon cat bed she is now ignoring). When she is awake she just sits or stands staring at me. Except when I put treats on the step and then couch - she will make that journey! But stay on the couch for about 10 minutes before gingerly stepping down. Also, she is eating well - a can of food per day intended for an 8 pound cat - and she is about 6.5 lb. And drinking well - I need to purchase stock in cat litter So, I need ammunition (your thoughts) to take to the vet!

Congrats on your excellent cook book purchases, they will give you inspiration to decide what you really need to purchase for oven cooking. I just about had a heart attack when you said the price of cookie sheets, so happy you left them in the store!

A couple of decades ago I purchased one of those plastic mandolins that had a sharp blade but all the accessories to shape things were plastic. It also has a hand thingy with prongs to insert the vegetables before cutting. But it wasn't always stable and one time I did get a cut slicing corn (still have a scar from that). Plus there was always vegetable left over that had to be hand cut. Now corn on the cob gets cut with a knife. But I would still use it now (carefully) to slice onions for onion soup. And perhaps potatoes for scalloped potatoes. But speaking of gadgets from our mothers, one of many I kept when I cleared the family house was from the 60's era - Veg-O-Matic. This was how potatoes for scalloped potatoes were sliced when I was growing up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veg-O-Matic I have no idea how my Mother got it, but it has been restored to use recently to cut perfect French fries (or chips as the British would call them). Chop, soak in water, dry then into the Air Fryer with minimal oil.

With regard to the missing lids, you can use tin foil as a cover when baking in the oven. But it depends on what you are baking. Lasagne for example does not require a lid. And if it were me (cooking for one as I do). I would make a whole big lasagne in a dish that is the length of the pasta noodles. Then after eating a portion, either put the dish in the fridge covered or cut into smaller portions to fridge or freeze (or both). Re-heat in a microwave (which I think you have). As for baking sweets, do you have an electric beater to combine sugar and butter (that is the basic for most recipes). If not, use the money you saved on repairing the toaster to purchase one. Then I would suggest start with buying a cookie sheet (just make sure it has sides, not straight flat. Even better if there is a non-stick one). With this you can not only bake treats for the lads (cookies are easy to make as long as you don't over cook ie burn) but also you can discover the world of pan sheet cooking for dinner - just Google for recipes. I can't believe how big Mo is getting - hope he stops growing soon. And had to chuckle that the baby blue collar got dirty while it looked like the burgundy/pink stayed clean.

OK my first thought was could I have one shipped here, please. Then I thought about it - six burners . . . would require very small pans/pots to use them all at once. And where are you supposed to rest stirring spoons etc.? Then I thought some more . . . OK cooking for one there will be burners you do not use so you could put a heat proof plate on one of them for the spoons, spatulas etc. AND to have an oven, that is its own learning curve. I am curious - what is the fuel source for this white beast? I have a 30 year old natural gas stove/oven. The stove still works great, the oven I have to put on broil first to get the rest to light before cooking. But the best thing - when the power is out I can always get a burner on with a match. I did smile at your post about living in a place without electricity. I have a cottage just like that and it is a wonderful place to escape. Congrats on your new purchase!

I think a change of colour would be nice . . . but avoid black since Mo has enough of that already - he wants his collar to pop! Burgundy or pink with blue or yellow maybe? It doesn't look like he gets his collars very dirty.

Clearly they enjoy being able to look down at Cosmo!

Joni Mitchell is now also removing her songs from Spotify. https://variety.com/2022/music/news/joni-mitchell-spotify-removing-music-joe-rogan-1235166691/ My peeve: Why is it only Canadian singer/songwriters that are taking this stance?

Hi @peacheslatour- welcome to this topic! Not sure why it took you so long to find it but glad you are here! I have zero experience with Maine Coon cats but based on what @Bastet wrote - sounds like they are like a tortie - just bigger. Temper is another matter. Will leave it to the experts here to chime in.

Thank you so much for posting these pictures Scarlett - I am SO happy to see the kitties enjoying their new tree. They have a great mom in their new furever home. And looking at the pieces, no wonder you waited until Friday to assemble! Now curious minds want to know . . . is the empty box still lying around and do they go there to maybe rest after the tree?

Try not be be disappointed when the kitties decide they like the empty box better . . . I have lived with a tortie for 20 years - a new box is the best toy!

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