Kitties and Kiddies galore

Our first full day, or rather night, at our Medicine Hat house was spent fending off little ghosts and goblins from the front door. Hallow’s Eve! Ann had fun handing out treats, and avoiding the tricks, while the kitties and I mostly stayed hidden.

Coming back to Gail & Pat’s place was easy and relaxing. The house is lovely and simple to manage. The location is beautiful in that surprising desert kind of way, and the kitties seemed to remember us. Allie, who is the more cautious of the two, warmed up to us right away .

Sasha… well, all you need to do is give her treats, and open the door for her occasionally, and she’s happy. But don’t leave her outside, because she’s kinda wimpy.

While it’s great exploring new locations and visiting new houses, coming back to a place we’ve already been always feels a bit like coming home. It was easy to settle in for our month in The Hat. Ann quickly found her way to the swimming pool, and I got back into river walks, and food dehydration.

Although winter was scheduled to arrive, we never saw much of it. There was the occasional dusting of snow, but mostly the weather was warm and dry. No snow shovelling required. Mostly, we just hung out with the cute kitties, and made sure everyone was warm and happily fed on time.

As usual, the time went by quickly. Too soon, we were saying our goodbyes and heading off for a short stay at Donna & Sam’s place in Calgary. It’s always great to see them, but the major attraction was, of course, the new kiddy OLIVIA! Ann went into serious speech-path mode right away, which is really just about playing, and having fun with little ones.

It was a short stint in Calgary, but long enough to have some fun playing pool , and squeezing in celebrations for the older baby. Happy Birthday Annnneeeeeeeeeeeeee!

After a short week of fun in Cow-town we headed off to our next house-sit, this time in Canmore, AB. The town is nestled in the crook of the Bow River, and surrounded by mountains. Our temporary home was minutes away from the river, with an amazing view of the craggy peaks. But best of all, it came with three adorable kitties.

As is true for all cats, each one had their own unique personality. They all loved to climb, and sleep up in high places . But while Big and Little Cat were a bit cautious, and took a few days to fully trust us, Indie, or as house-owners Andrew & Julie called her: FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), was immediately into everything we owned. She wasn’t shy to take ownership of us right away.

Our time in Canmore was short, but so very wonderful. Our temporary home was incredibly beautiful. It’s a wood home, with a great kitchen, outdoor hot tub, and funky pantry. But the centrepiece of the whole house was a massive fireplace, which we made good use of. The whole house, and the surrounding area, was an absolute delight.

One day during our stay we were visited by some of the Calgary crowd. It was great to see Donna, Sam and Monique. But let’s be honest, the true highlight, without a doubt, was (and always is) little ‘Liv. She fell in love with the monkey table.

Sadly, our time in Canmore went all too fast, but happily, this meant heading back to Calgary. Sam and Donna graciously took in us vagabonds once again, and we got to spend the holiday season hangin’ with the family. Christmas dinner saw Tash home and Peggy and her gang (Marc, Connor, Cailan, including Phil-Senior), come over for some good time and good eats. We all chipped in to make it a relaxing afternoon/evening.

We get to linger here in Calgary, and likely down near Pincher Creek at the Beauvais Lake cottage, while we await our next house-sit over in Cochrane. We are returning to our hobby farm, which we’ve come to know and love. The three horses, two donkeys, two parrots, two cats and one little dog will keep us hoppin’. But that’s always great.