how now brownpau
Another day of picking strawberries on a U-Pick farm up in the Annapolis Valley.
We also walked along the beach at Blomidon Provincial Park on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, and went up to Blomidon Lookoff for ice cream and a scenic valley view.
As I mentioned when we got her, Smoky was advertised as being a Maine Coon mix, of which I’m somewhat doubtful: it’s a fairly well-controlled breed, she doesn’t have the size or weight, and her ears lack long end tufts. But sometimes she will turn her head just so and her face and eyes take on this extremely feral look, and the large, strong snout and whiskers become prominent, and I think, hmm, maybe there is more than a bit of Maine Coon in there.
This guy is now seven. Seven!
Peeking out from the deck at the neighbours.
Smoky is very flexible and is able to bend through non-Euclidean space.
She got in my pants.
She’s kicking and biting my hand. (Note the older wound, also from her.)
Cuddling up to Amelia on an IKEA POANG armchair.
Second vet visit went well.
I continue to collect more photos of Smoky’s first year here.
We were at a small get-together in a neighbour’s backyard when I noticed the sunlight had gone dark orange, and we looked up in the sky and saw the smoke over Halifax.
Conrad’s Beach is a bit east of us along the Eastern Shore of NS, though not as far as Lawrencetown Beach. It’s a bit tucked away at the end of a rural road with not much parking, so we haven’t been there yet, but I wanted to give it a look.
Weirdly the sign says “Conrod’s Beach” with an o, but our maps apps and every site I’ve checked calls it “Conrad’s” and it’s at the end of Conrad Road. (There’s a Conrod’s Beach farther east in Lower East Chezzetcook, so maybe the sign printers just got confused.)
It’s a very nice, sandy beach, might be worth a visit one of these summers if we can luck into a parking spot.
After dropping off some stuff at Value Village I noticed some kind of ship with a huge crane docked just off Woodside. Apparently this was the Offshore Installation Vessel Orion, loading up parts for an offshore wind farm.
Lobster Sandwiches!
Smoky had her first vet visit for a round of vaccinations and a clean bill of health. The vet techs enjoyed saying her name repeatedly. She’ll need to be back soon for boosters, and again to get spayed.
They also gave us a Purina-branded “new kitten” welcome box, with some brochures, a sample bag of cat food, and accessories like a measuring cup, silicone can cover, and grooming brush. Weirdly missing: kitten toys. (Although the box eventually became a toy itself.)
She’s gone on adventures onto the shoe bench, the sunny deck, the Corsi Cube, and my shoulder:
Amelia’s getting used to having her around and doesn’t mind sharing her spot on the armchair or on the bed.
True to her name, Smoky really does look like a little puff of gray smoke.
I continue to add more photos of Smoky to her kitten album on Flickr.
Please meet our new kitten, Ms. Smoky Jones*, an 8 week old Maine Coon** mix, last of a litter from a home in Lower Sackville, NS***.
I wasn’t sure what to name her until the moment I got her home, sniffed her, smelled the cigarette smoke of her previous home on her fur, and said out loud, “You’re smoky!” The name fit. We added “Jones” to indicate succession from our previous cat, the late Companion Kitten Martha Jones.
Amelia is, of course, understandably apprehensive:
More photos of Smoky here, and of course the relevant Flickr tag.
* No relation to the country music group Smokey Jones and the Three Dollar Pistols or the elephant trainer Smokey Jones.
** Not entirely sure she’s actually got any Maine Coon in her as the breed is tightly controlled, and there are sellers who will just call any domestic longhair a Maine Coon, out of ignorance or to boost sales -— but it’s not uncommon in this region, near Maine, for there to be descendants of older feral Maine Coons, and Smoky definitely shows some signs of the breed with her shaggy coat, bushy tail, long ears, chirpy vocalizations, and strong snout. Real Maine Coon mix or no, she is a pretty kitty and a cute floof.
*** I know we should really adopt rescue, but demand for rescues has been overwhelming, with kittens hard to get lately, so I admit with some shame that we purchased Smoky from a Kijiji seller. This meant she came unspayed with just one vaccination; we will have to bring her to the vet for further feline initialization tasks, including spaying and additional boosters.