Best Friends ~

 You can judge a man's true character by

 the way he treats his fellow animals...

If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty

 and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.

Sniff and Arvid.  I may do everything for Sniff, but when

 he's scared or needs comfort he seeks Arvid out.

When animals express their feelings they pour out like 

water from a spout. Animals' emotions are raw, unfiltered,

 and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious

 of joys and their grief the deepest and most devastating. 

Until one has loved an animal a part of one's 

soul remains un-awakened.  They are such agreeable 

friends, they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.

Sniff and Arvid bonded quite a bit during the time I was in 

North Carolina. During the bad weather Sniff would sleep with him.  

One morning Arvid said to me, "I held Sniff for two hours last

 night.  He was really scared.  Now my body is stiff."

 Back home with Arvid and Sniff.  Was good to see my parents 

and sister for a few days, but always great to come back home.

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet...

~Nadiya~

October 4th ~ 💞

 With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts...

Four days into October.  Back home in Ft. Myers we still 

have no power.  The elevators are still being drained.  The 

water levels rose three feet in the first floor parking garage.  

Unfortunately many cars now need to be towed away.

Sniff 's first night was amazingly good.  He slept on the bed with us

 and never for one minute cried out as if he were lost or disoriented. 

 Our little Sniff adjust to this crazy life we sometimes have 😏

Arvid, Sniff and I are just waiting to go back home to Ft. Myers.

  It's strange how in just a few days we now think of it being

 home and not Fort Lauderdale.  Weird.  I do miss my wildlife 

friends in Branson very much, but right now with all going

 here, there is more than enough to keep us occupied. 

 Good morning and a good day to all.  Another 

day with the possibility of going home.

I’m glad tomorrow’s a new day ’cause I really messed this one up...

~Nadiya~

Hello Sunday 🙃 ~

I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be

 grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy...

 Yesterday morning I was out early it was one of

 the days I feed the kitties 😍 as usual I was met

 at the front entrance by Mama and Rascal. 

 They have been coming out together yet at 

the same time keeping their distance. Rascal would

 love more affection but Mama is not having any of it. 

At least she “allows” him to be around her.

Senior was also there as was ShyGirl.  These are 

the 4 I usually see first.  They have their own spot.

  Which is right by the building we live in.

I walked up the hill a little and Spitfire comes 

racing down. She comes running like a race horse.

 Crying. It’s her usual.  She runs to me crying.

Then Marbles and Milo come up.   Where Marbles

 goes MacGyver follows and vice versa. Yesterday

 no MacGyver. I freaked out, but 3 minutes after

 there he was.  Boy the relief I felt was palpable.

Missing was Baby and Rocco. Not normal for 

Rocco to not be there. He’s always round waiting

 for food. My anxiety right away picked up.  

I figured Baby was still in hiding from the dogs of 

 Friday, even  though there were none yesterday.   So I was

 not overly worried, but not seeing Rooco made me worry.

I walked around calling him but noting. I went to

 the main building to drop off a letter still calling him. 

 I heard his cry. I followed the sound and knew right away he

 was trapped in one of the sheds that house the dumpsters.

He was crying and crying.  My guess is that he was

 trapped since Friday afternoon.  I found a security guard

 and told her. Luckily she had the key to the shed.  She 

opened and I went in looking for Rocco. I found him 💙 

he was dirty. Dirty, but otherwise unharmed.

  Spitfire and MacGyver hear his cries and tried

 to help.  They went to the shed and waited for Rocco.
Once freed he was pretty scared and for a second not sure

 what to do but within seconds he ran out and the all

 followed me to the spot I would usually feed them.

I was scared something had happened to little Rocco, 

and I was so happy I heard his cries, and was able to

 rescue him.  Hopefully he will never go there again🙏.

No feeding today, but come tomorrow I will be 

there again.  I love those kitties and I hope that there is a

 guardian anger that continues to watch over them.

Supposedly it will rain everyday from today.

 One can hope this will change.  Rain means I can’t

 feed the kitties. They won’t come out even if I do.

Today we take it easy. Have lunch at home and

 just relax.  It’s going to be a long wet day. As always 

Sniff can never get enough sleep. He’s always

 trying to catch up on more sleep.

Arvid has a game today so he’s happy.  I have my

 book so I’m happy.  Sunday, time to just sit back 

and do nothing 🤨. Happy day to all. Stay dry 

and do something that makes you happy 😀.

It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to

 take note of the things you are grateful for, you 

begin to lose sight of the things that you lack...

~Nadiya~

Friday June 4th ~

 I'll tell you one thing, it's a cruel, cruel world.
Sometimes surviving is the worst kind of pain...

The homeless population of cats in our complex 

is really getting me down.  Because I am a cat 😿

 owner maybe it  makes it even worse for me.

  In each of their little faces I picture Sniff and

 wonder how would he ever survive in the wild. 

 He won't.  I feed them and do a little extra, but

 even so I is making me sadder by the day.  

The fact that I have reached out to just about every

 organization that helps homeless animals makes 

it even more depressing because none can help. 

 The answer is the same, "we are full"  I'm told to

 just continue feeding them.  So many babies are pregnant.  

Babies having babies.  I have a soft spot for so many.  

They each have a special place already in my heart.

Rascal does not seem to understand that the blades
 on the fence can kill him.  Hopefully now he will and

 wont find himself trapped up there any more.

Marbles is super affectionate.  She loves me, 

follows me and I really love her too.  She gets treats, 

fresh chicken or turkey depending on what I have. 

 She's also spoilt because now she's used to the

 extras.  I don't give it to her everyday because she also 

needs to look for food on her own.  Of course I am always 

tempted to give her her special foods.  She and MacGyver

 are very affectionate.  The both get plenty "extras"

Most of the day is already done with.  It has been 

raining everyday, and today is no exception.  On top of it 

all we will only be having water during certain hours. 

 According to management in our building there is

 a problem and because of that our water supply will

 be interrupted.  Could be just today or several days.  

We do not know.  Island living, you gotta love it.

happy start of the weekend all.  Hopefully you will

 be having beautiful weather. We got great news 

a few hours ago. We will soon be grandparents to

 another little girl.  Today was the big reveal.

Having a soft heart inn a cruel

 world is courage, not weakness...

~Nadiya~

Wet and Cold Thursday ~

Whatever is good for your soul, do that. Always 
believe that something wonderful is about to happen...

It's laundry day here for us.  Unfortunately, we do 

not have a washer and dryer in our apartment.  Some

 owners do, now they were grandfathered in.  Unfortunately 

this is not one of the units grandfathered in.  No big deal. 

 We go down to the 2nd floor, there I can do all my 5

loads of laundry at one time.  There are numerous machines

 and dryers.  Better than any commercial laundromat I have

 ever seen.  Makes the chore much easier and faster.

Yesterday was a pretty ugly day.  It was gloomy, cold, 

windy and wet.  We were not able to go for our daily walk, 

but we did manage to do a few fun things in between the rain.

 Sniff was happy to have us around most of the day.  Hopefully 

today will be better.  Cold, but at least no rain.  We hope.

Well the day is not looking so good as of this minute.
 It's raining and its cold.  same as yesterday, but
more rain and colder. One can always hope it will
 warm up a little more.  Miracles do happen.

This has definitely been one very strange start of summer
 in Chicago.  Everyone keeps saying that it will be
 a "mild" meaning colder summer.  That's
OK as long as it does not rain everyday.

Weekend is everyday for us, but I still like to believe our 

weekend begins on Friday.  Sometimes on a Thursday as well.  

Who knows what the day holds.  Whatever it is I'm HAPPY!

Sometimes life just calls for an umbrella.
  I love the feeling of the fresh air on my face 
and the wind just blowing through my hair...

~Nadiya~