RIP Rusty

 

Sadly Rusty had his last big adventure on Monday, June 6, 2022. We had just finished setting up camp at one of his favourite campsites, Macleod River, when he gave a yelp of distress. When we saw him hes left front paw was crumpled. With some help from our own vet, Animal Ark in Edmonton and Sunrise in Hinton we did find an excellent vet at the Edson Veterinary Clinic. They were very kind and compassionate and helped us make the right decision for Rusty. It was very hard to have to let him go but it was best for him. 

He was an amazing cat right from the first day he moved in. Rusty (previously known as Twinkle) wandered around his new home for about 30 minutes - found his food, his litter box and a place to sleep and said "OK, This is good". He helped with computer repairs, watched videos, chased toys, climbed trees and kept the wildlife in check.

He made many friends on his adventures. A great way to meet people is to walk a cat in a campground! There is a young girl in Whitehorse that carried him around - Rusty was taller than that young lady. At the Vintage Trailer Rally in St Andrews By-the-Sea, NB in 2018 more people visited with Rusty than checking out the trailer. The neighbours here still talk about Rusty.

We didn't post much anything the 2018 trip to Eastern Canada because Dave needed surgery in Timmins on our way home. We had a tough 2 months so blogging fell by the wayside. 

He will be missed but he will live on in our memories.

Camping Season has begun 😺

Miquelon Provincial Park,  June 2020

How do I know. Mum and Dad have been scurrying back and forth between the house and the trailer. So unless they are squirrels getting ready for winter it must be camping season. And I am going too - there is my travel bag with my food and toys.

We had a nice camping site at Miquelon Prov'l Park but there wasn't much wildlife - except for lots of mosquitoes! They even picked on me. We did see pelicans flying overheard and lots of robins. There was a rabbit one morning. The one time I did have a mouse in my sights Dad brought me in for the night. Even though Mum and Dad have a catch and release policy Mum says the park rangers are not keen on the "catch" part.

There was lots of walking but the gravel is hard on my paws. It was just nice to hang out in the fresh air. Staying in the trailer is great. We have a magic screen door so I can go in and out to snack as I please. Mum and Dad do not have to play butler.

Birds eye view

Chilling in my chair

Mum and Dad spent the evenings playing cribbage. Mum was ahead in games until I started helping. Dad even double-skunked Mum at least twice. 'Course they were sitting at my table so there was no reason why I shouldn't help.

We did arrive in time for poplar fluff season. It looked like snow and got into food, drinks and noses. It even made me sneeze!

Spring time?

It finally was nice enough to go for a walk. Although, it was mostly "carry" as there is a lot of puddles. No one is coming out to say hello due to some silly virus. But we did make it to my climbing tree.

Mother Nature is picking on me!!!!

Christmas treated me well - Mum and Dad got me my own indoor tree. That way  I didn't have to worry about other cats or dogs leaving messages! It even had a few entertainment decorations just for me.

I even got some new catnip so life was good.


Suddenly, my indoor tree disappeared. And then Mother Nature interfered!  It got really, really cold -30C for a long time.










No matter how winsome I looked, or

Please, please, please - can I go out.

how many times I got Dad to put cat string games up on his laptop

Where did that string go?

or how many times I jumped on the table (not sure why this was such an issue - it is the same blue towel that Mum uses in the trailer so I can sit on the table there......😾) I was not allowed outside! Even the pet police were telling everyone to keep their pets inside. 

Well I finally did get out for a walk after 10 days and it was wonderful. But, Mother Nature wasn't finished with me yet!  It snowed. Now my prowling area in the backyard was much reduced. Even with bird TV it was pretty boring. I think even the mice have found a new place to carouse.

 All my favourite sniffing locations had snow banks so it was no fun to get to them. Walks will be boring for awhile.

Too much snow....

OOOO - cold paws, cold paws.

Walkies

It has been very nice weather for the last couple of days. Yesterday, I took a different route than normal. I was searching for the perfect tree! I even wanted to cross the very busy 4 lane road 'cause there looked to be good prospects there. But Mum and Dad wouldn't let me do that. Then all of a sudden - I found it - the perfect cat jungle gym tree. Can you see me - all camouflaged with the fall colours matching my lovely rusty coat.
😸

 

Clear Lake - Sept, 2018

Cows in the field.

What the heck! There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing from the house to the garage and trailer. Wait a sec - Dad is trying to put 3 huge planes in the truck. Yippee - there goes my travel bag - I guess we are going float flying camping. The truck was packed to the rafters- I even lost my back seat. Not that I use it anyway - I prefer to rest on the console so I can put a paw on Dad or Mum.

Dad is letting me check out the cows but I do believe there is something far more interesting on the other side of the truck. I am not scared - honest.

We are going to my favourite campground. Hope we get my favourite site.The weather was absolutely beautiful. A little misty in the morning but clear for flying later in the day. I got to spend all day outside. There is a magic screen door so I can go in and out of the trailer to take advantage of food and other facilities. Mum says an I am indoor pee-er and poop-er. She likes not having to be my butler. Although she does have to hang around to protect the wild life and untangle me.

Hiding in the bushes - mice won't even know I am here.

Misty morning

Gorgeous flying

There were many highlights on the weekend.  Dad's Piper Cub flew very well but it did get pranged. The 415 also flew but it also got a little damaged. Mum helped with the craft. That seemed to go well but she is still waiting to see pics of the finished project. While Mum was doing the craft I got to go down and hang out with the dogs on the beach. It was all good until they started sniffing my butt. 😝

Keaton and Dodge and me.

It was also the big fall wrap up dinner. Dad was one of the carvers so he had to be in the skit. He played one of the secret service men protecting a "president". Something about building a wall to protect the rest of the planes from the Northstars. Not sure what that was all about as I wasn't allowed to go to the skit - furry friends are not welcome at foodie events.

Supper!

The wildlife were very active. Coyotes howled in the evenings. A huge flock of whooping cranes flew overhead. They were very noisy but it sounded like they were having fun. There were leaders looking for thermals. Once they found a thermal the rest followed. They got so high they were hard to see. Sadly, one mouse did not fair well. Mum went to the washroom so she couldn't enforce the catch and release rule. 😈

It was the best weekend of camping. Certainly made up for the July event.

Garner Lake Provincial Park - Aug 19 - Aug 23

Mum and Dad are loading up the trailer - no planes and there goes my travel bag. Hurrah we're going camping! 😸 We didn't head west like we usually do - where are we going? We ended up at Garner Lake Prov'l Park. Although there was a small glitch - all the sites were reservation only. There was no staff and no self- reservation. We drove around and found a site. Luckily we were able to reserve at the gate so we didn't have to go home. 

Five minutes in and I am already dirty. Dad had to shampoo me. The smell of VO5 certainly hampered my stalking. Although by the second day the wildlife all seem to avoid our campsite. There didn't seem to be any mice but there were lots of birds, ground squirrels and ordinary squirrels. The ground squirrels would go into the underbrush and grab bunches of leaves in their mouth. Mum figures they're getting ready for winter. 'Course - we were surrounded by dogs - lots of dogs!

Our campsite.

Mum and Dad went for lots of walks. I got to go for shorter walks but the gravel was hard on my feet so sometimes it was more carry than walk. And did I mention there were lots of dogs - it was hard to find a route that didn't set off a chorus of barking dogs. I did meet a few people and some of them had even brought cats. Mostly indoor cats and apparently not other-cat friendly. And the people carry a canoe scared me enough to hide behind Mum. I'd never seen a canoe before! I even climbed a tree - twice. Well, it was the same tree but I did climb it twice. Mum didn't see but Dad saw so it counted.

Dad making cookies - a daily treat.

My hiding spot

The weather was quite nice. Only one thunderstorm at night. Mum insisted that the tent heater should be used in the evening during the cribbage tournament. For awhile Mum was winning most of the games but by the second day Dad caught up. They think it ended pretty even by the end of week.

It was the best week of the summer!