Hi. I’m the CoalBear.
It has been really, really hot here. The poor Mother of Cats woke up on a Monday and… she couldn’t stand. Like, her knees didn’t want to work. It took her WAY TOO LONG to get downstairs to give us our morning tuna, so it was kind of a hard start to the week for us, too. Here is what she thinks happened:
The air pressure in the Denver area dropped like a dead moth overnight, and for some reason that made her knees misbehave. She was very upset with the weather. Good thing the pressure came up again, but… it was hot. Really hot. Hannah and I do not like hot even a little bit. We slept all day, day after day, and we only went out on the deck in the mornings and evenings to look at what was going on in the yard.
The bunnies are always my favorite, but there have also been lots and lots of birds. The Mother of Cats saw an American goldfinch, and there were chickadees, blue jays, robins (lots and lots of robins!), and even tiny birds called bushtits. The Mother of Cats was so excited that she ordered a birdfeeder for the birds from Amazon and went out and bought some food from a store near me. A BIRD STORE!!!! Why didn’t she take me? I like birds… she never lets me catch and eat play with fun things.
Do you see what happened? The feeder is soooo cute because it has a cat face, but that didn’t stop the squirrel from moving in. He was so mean to the bird feeder (he knocked it down!!!) that the Mother of Cats had to make a move the feeder to a new place on a tree closer to the catio (which is a good idea in my opinion…) and put the food for the squirrel on a little platter for them. The food has special worms in it for the robins, but maybe the squirrel ate them too. Anyway, everything was going great until late one night…
Hannah and I rush downstairs to the big window down there to look out into the yard, and there was a big, fat raccoon climbing over the fence!!!
Now Hannah and I are really worried about going out onto the catio, and we will only do it if the Mother of Cats goes out with us. That raccoon looked mean! Really, really mean. I’m just a little fluffy cat…
So that’s all the news from around here. The Mother of Cats is still taking it really easy, and we take turns watching over her. She got some more chickens knitted up and they are kind of cute, but she put them into boxes and mailed them away this week. Bye, chickens! Watch out for the raccoons on your travels!!
That’s all for now. Hannah and I are watching the Mother of Cats while she types this, and after she finishes, I think that I will catch a little nap.
This is Mateo, signing off.
>^..^<
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Hey, Mateo – I’m not sure about your being “a little fluffy cat”, mate ! :
Lovely shot of Hannah being anxious !!
Marilyn, the business about the air pressure … More, please. Sounds worrisome.
He is a little fluffy cat (smallest Maine coon ever) with a huge personality. There isn’t enough play in the world to meet his needs. That is why Hannah is often anxious!
The air pressure can really swing where I’m at because of the Rocky Mountains to the west, the great plains to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico below. These big air systems can literally smash against each other right over Colorado, causing abrupt changes. Really hot masses of air (heat domes) are light because the air has expanded and is rising. As pressure from the air lessens, fluid moves into joints and pa-pow! they hurt like crazy if you have some type of inflammation on board. I also got up one morning this week and my achilleas tendon hurt too much to walk. Two days of wearing a brace and it returned to normal. So crazy, huh.
So it’s fluid in the joints … And what happens to the achilles tendon ?
The achilles tendon had to be just another round of tendonitis. When my disease is more active (a flare) a lot of my tendons are swollen and very painful. On an xray some of them are actually so inflamed they are turning to bone, which is more commonly seen in extreme sports athletes. Lucky me. I try to wrap my head around why my bones are losing mass at the same time my tendons are gaining…
I have read of this, in the days when I was a passionate follower of Italian football. I can say only that you will gain that knowledge, for you seem to ascertain it all, in the long run.
Our aged dog’s mobility is definitely affected by the air pressure. She’s much more prone to tripping over her own feet and reluctant to walk when the air pressure is very low. Is it bad I’m excited you had a raccoon visit? I didn’t get to see one when l spent the year au pairing in Michigan but had hoped to. That is a cute feeder…maybe you need a separate birdio that birds but not raccoons or squirrels can get in?
I think animals with compromised joints everywhere suffer in sudden air pressure drops. Oh, we have raccoons here!! I once surprised a group racing down the stairs at my son’s apartment building that had just finished a trash raid outside someone’s door. Another time I sat at a red light and watched a group boil out of a storm drain, assemble on the sidewalk, and then race through a stone gateway into a parking lot. I still think of them every time I’m at the stop light.
I did put together a tray for the squirrels, but they are greedy little guys and still raiding the bird feeder. At least the birds are now coming too.
Those raccoons sound like teenage boys here 😂🤣
Absolutely!!
You probably already know this, but if you want to observe real-time weather, from barometric pressure to wind gust velocity, just go to ventusky, aurora, co., and click on the type of information you wish. If you hover your cursor over aurora and enlarge the area, you can even check to see what your neighborhood is doing.
I use Ventusky in winter to help me determine what driving to school might be like for that day based on the snow accumulation, ground temperature, etc.
When a tropical disturbance is forming in the Gulf of Mexico, I look to Ventusky to see what the surrounding barometric pressure is in real time to have an idea of where the squall line/storm/hurricane might wander next. That plus prevailing winds, wave heights, and the sea water and air temperatures from the buoy data available elsewhere can be helpful to determine if the relatives along the Gulf coast might be in for a rough time. This beats having to wait for the weather forecast on the morning or evening news.
Oh, that Ventusky is really cool! Thanks for the info. I’ve been using https://barometricpressure.app/denver which also has a real time pressure map. The weather was a huge deal for me when I was teaching.
You’re welcome. It’s great! I’ll check out your barometric pressure app using the locations I need, so thanks for that.
Tell the Mother that changes in pressure always increase pain in my joints – and I like Hannah’s alarmed picture
The pressure/pain thing is really common, I think, but still very annoying. The good news is when you wake up with suddenly painful joints it helps to understand that the pressure shifted and it isn’t a big deal.
I get birds and squirrels, and an occasional bunny, but I’ve never had a raccoon visit! What a busy yard you have. That new feeder is adorable.
In the past I’ve had cats that would stand up like Hannah. But I’ve never seen Rowdy (current kitty) do that. And I doubt I’d have moved fast enough to get a picture.
I do have a busy yard. That shot of Hannah standing up was a lucky one: she had alerted, so I pulled out the camera to get the shot, and then she suddenly stood up! First time I’ve seen her do that!
Squirrels hanging by their toes on bird feeders…I have a similar picture of My Nemesis.
Good luck with the squirrels and raccoons. My bird feeder sticks to my window with suction cups so the critters can’t get to it. Hope your joints are feeling better.
My joints are much better today: the air pressure swings have calmed down for now, and monsoon season is just around the corner, which is good for me. 🙂
I would never have taken Mateo for a Maine Coon cat if you hadn’t mentioned that he was.
Well, he is a rescue cat of unknown parentage, but the vet told me that he appears to be mostly Maine coon. His ruff is much more obvious in the summer, but he has other attributes like the short fur over his shoulders, his muzzle, the constant chirps, fur covering his paws, and the extreme prey drive. He is a little like a border collie in how he focuses on critters in the yard and then sneaks up on them. There was another kitten from the same litter there who was twice his size: I didn’t put things together until later when the extreme fur appeared on Mateo’s tail.
Oh my goodness!! That is a lot of excitement for one back yard! I hope it cools down for you two cats, and that MOC’s knees keep on doing better. Wow, that is a lot of beautiful ES chickens!!
Hannah: today we had blue jays like crazy in the yard!!!