Trip to Ships Point - Fanny Bay

We met Shirley and Roy for a second time, this time with much better weather. It was cold but clear and sunny, the mountains and water being shown to their best effect.

We met at our usual haunt for a spot of lunch, and this time we could look out of the windows and have a lovely view across the water to the snowy capped mountains of the distant mainland.

We had Angus with us this time and after lunch we went on to Ships Point where Shirley and Roy have a holiday cottage.

The cottage is just off of the beach, so we took the dog along the shore for a walk and to make the most of the sunshine. It was very cold though, there was ice forming on the shoreline

We had a good walk along with Roy while Shirley made a cup of tea. We were able to hear seals barking out in the bay, but couldn't see them.

Roy told us all about the area, as we were walking along, but soon the cold got the better of us and we headed back indoors for a hot cup of tea.

We spent a lovely afternoon chatting and hearing about new places to visit, and all too soon had to make our way back home.

On our way we passed through Fanny Bay, just as the sun was beginning to set. The colour of the sky was soft pink, and the water a soft baby blue. We found a spot to sit in the car and watch until the light failed and we had to head home to get warm

Spectacular. Our photos do not do it justice.

Volunteering with SPCA - Cats Shelter

Today was our first day as proper volunteers at the SPCA Parksville-Qualicum branch.

Our shift started at 12 noon. We arrived at the centre and said hello to the regular staff on the front desk.

We headed for the Volunteer room where we put on our overalls and completed the signing in sheet.

We had a hand over with Lesley, a volunteer who had come in a couple of hours before us.

We checked the notice board to see which cats had already been out in the day room.

It soon became apparent that most of the cats wanted to be out and playing, and as only 3 are allowed at any one time in the play room, it is a constant juggle to play with the ones out, make sure they all get along together, placate the ones still in their cages awaiting their turn.

That was the easy part.... We then had to put the 3 that were out in the play room, back into their cages. Of course they knew this was going to happen and did not want to be caught, so they used all their repertoire of escape and avoiding skills that they knew.

We did manage it in the end though, and got three more cats that got along together out to have a stretch of their legs.

Their behaviour was much the same, they would have a tentative sniff around, all light footed and low to the ground. Then, when they felt relaxed they would start to play with all the toys that are in the room. Depending on their character, this took varying amounts of time for each individual cat.

Some of the cats were in an overflow room, so had to be wrapped in a towel so that they could be carried along the corridor to the play room. This was just a precaution in case they spooked and got loose in the building.

There were some really cute kittens there which are up for adoption in the next few weeks. Mainly though there are older cats. They are all really sweet, and have their own characters.

Max, a black short haired cat was quite shy to start with in the play room, he came out of his shell after a little while and started to play with the toys.

Garfunkel is a beautiful grey and white striped cat, such a handsome young man. He is a stray. He was exploring as soon as he got into the play room, he was fearless, jumping from one obstacle to the next.

Coco a beautiful black and tan tabby cat was quite happy to sit on the seat beside me whilst I brushed her.

Our 2 hours went very quickly, and before we knew it, the next set of volunteers were arriving.

We did a hand over with them, just giving them a brief summary of what we had done, and letting them know the names of the cats that were currently in the play room, so when they put them back, they would go into the correct cages.

It was harder than we thought. It is very hard to ignore cries for attention, and even harder to see the souls that didn't want to come out from under their hidyhole. We would have loved to have taken the ones that had been in the shelter for 6 months, just to give them a normal home.

Hopefully they will all be found homes in due course. It is always the kittens that seem to be adopted first.

We have put our names down for next week. We hope there will have been some adoptions

between now and then.

Walks, walks and more walks!!

Sunday morning 22nd November and after a week of rain and wind we took advantage of some drier weather to walk Angus down at the local beach - we all enjoyed the fresh air and the stiff breeze certainly blew away some of the cobwebs!
The following week saw yet more torrential rain and some gale-force winds but there were also some dry moments of which we took full advantage!

Tuesday 24th November we headed out to Nanoose Bay to meet a couple who had expressed an interest in using our house and pet sitting services but, as we were already committed to the "sit" here we were unable to help them out this time - however, they still wanted to meet us and we joined them at their lovely home in Nanoose Bay for mid-morning coffee and lots of home-made cakes!! We spent a very pleasant couple of hours chatting and getting to know each other - we hope that we will all have the chance to get together again before we return to the UK next Spring.

Wednesday 25th November and we had an early start as Angus had to have a routine blood test at the vets - luckily this was one of the sunnier mornings and after his trip to the vet we took him through the local park/forest where he bounded very energetically through the tall fir trees and played excitedly with lots of other dogs enjoying their morning constitutional.
We also had our orientation session at lunchtime today with the cat volunteer co-ordinator - this was a little shorter than the time spent on the dogs but everything seems straight forward and we signed up for our first proper session on Tuesday 1 Dec!

Thursday 26th November was an indoor day with persistent and heavy rain all day - still, we managed to catch up on emails and the business website enhancements so the time was certainly not wasted.

Friday 27th November and the sun shone brightly! There was a cold breeze but that didn't stop us venturing out and we headed for Craig Bay which is not far from the house - a lovely sweeping bay, clear blue waters and the shoreline edged with huge fir trees. There had been a lot of rain all week and at the higher altitudes this had fallen as snow - the peaks in the distance across the Georgia Strait looked magnificent. We walked the length of the bay, played ball with Angus and admired the views - it was great to be out and getting some much needed vitamin D!!!