Chazzie is so lucky he's cute

This is the window in my office. It looks out over the front of our house and I can see the bird feeder that John put there for me and the kitties. However, the Chaz chewed through the strings holding the blind together. You can see the damage that he did to the blind. The little dickens. Good thing he's cute.

So I decided to have shutters made instead. They will last forever and [I hope] Chaz won't chew through them. They are arriving next week. In the meantime, I will recover the windowsill that John made so that the cats can look out and watch the birds and bunnies.

The Tobester

Once again I was worried about a lump on Toby. Ever since she was diagnosed with mast cell cancer last year I worry about every little lump that I find. She has had one lump for over a year on her leg that has not changed [until recently] and then last week I noticed two new ones on her head. So, I put a call in for the vet and he saw her on Wednesday. The news is good. The lumps on her head are nothing to worry about and the lump on her leg is benign.
So, prayers answered. Mom happy. 

Bargain tips

Check out www.petflow.com

This is where I am getting my cat and dog food from now. not all their prices are better than local stores but some are.

In my case, it was a better price than my distributor here in town [I use Nature's Variety] plus I don't have to cart the bags.

And shipping is free if the order is large enough. that was the only way it made sense. They also have the cat litter we use [World's Best Cat Litter] but I found a better price locally at Target for that. And Target often has it on sale too.

www.Petco.com also has a program where you can have food and treats delivered on a regular basis and they lower the price if you do that.

I am ordering my canned food from them as well as the dog biscuits I use.

I just found all this out a few weeks ago and realized I could be saving over $40 a month if I did this.

Our owl friend is back

Well, I don't know for sure if it's the same one who was here last summer but he was on his usual perch on the neighbor's roof this morning when I took the dogs out.

This was 6 AM.

Click on the picture for a bigger version. This guy is  impressive.

 

Thundershirt

On the advice of a friend [Thank you, Lenora!], I looked into getting a Thundershirt for Toby to help with her anxiety issues.
It arrived the other day and I tried it for the first time when the cleaning service came yesterday. I keep the cats and dogs in my office with me when the women are here because I don't want them underfoot while they clean and I also don't want to worry someone might get out when the front door is open. However, as you can imagine, not only do I have the anxiety of all the animals in the small office with me but Toby is anxious because strangers are in her house moving our stuff around. How dare they!
So there is usually lots of barking and panting going on.
Not yesterday. Within seconds of putting on her Thundershirt, Toby was relaxed and calm. She would bark once - only once! - if I had to leave the office for any reason but calmed when I shushed her and told her I would be right back.
Then she went and lay down as if she didn't have a care in the world. Such a departure from her usual self.

I am in love with this shirt. So much so I ordered another one for Jessie. I am going to see if it helps her with her nervous licking. She is wearing it right now and calmly dozing. But Toby didn't like it when I put her shirt on Jessie. She's quite possessive of her new shirt. What a hoot.

Hmph!

The dog is in my bed and all I get is this stupid towel to sleep on.

I love living in AZ!

This guy visited my yard this morning.

Between him and the other birds and the bunny who came by too, Riley had a fun morning watching everyone.