Turkey, Anniversaries and Cats

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Turkey:

Well, it’s Canada’s Thanksgiving weekend, and it’s a beautiful day out. Of course, I’m not out and about enjoying the day, because we are preparing Thanksgiving Dinner this year, and the turkey needs frequent basting. We did go out to breakfast with my aunt, though, so we got to enjoy the morning walking around the Plateau.

As I outlined in this post, this is the first time we host Thanksgiving, so we are a little anxious about how things will turn out. We have never cooked a turkey before, but luckily, there are lots of pizza places nearby (or St. Hubert if we insist on having fowl for dinner!) The menu consists of: Sweet potato and onion soup, Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, and apple pie for dessert. We also have a baguette and some wine to round things out. Invited to dinner are my brother, his friend, and two of my cousins and their partners. In all cases, we have been “abandoned” by our parents on this “holiest of family events, Turkey Day”, as my brother likes to say. Apparently now that we’re all growed up, we get to fend for ourselves!

Actually, my parents have gone to Potato Island (aka Prince Edward Island) to vist my sister, who moved out there last March to go to University. She loves it out there, but misses us very much and I actually think it’s great that my parents were able to take the time to go visit her. And they don’t even have to cook a turkey, as she’s a vegetarian.

Anniversaries

Today also happens to be my husband and I’s first Wedding Anniversary. Yay us! We aren’t doing anything fancy for that (other than Thanksgiving, really!) mainly because we want to save our money. Moving from Ontario to Montreal this summer cost us a lot (and there are still expenses we want to take care of) and we only both started working at new jobs two weeks ago, so this year is simple, and maybe next year we will be able to do a little more. This month is also the 6.5 year point in our relationship, which is quite a long time, really! I love him more today than ever - he’s the perfect man for me!

Cats

Cheese and Crackers. Actually, Bree and Oreo - we are now the proud owners of two long haired, fluffy black and white cats. We adopted Bree a little over 4 years ago, and she’s been a terrific little monster ever since. Recently, my aunt has started dating someone who is severely (asthmatically) allergic to cats, and so she made the difficult choice to get rid of her cats in order to pursue a relationship that is truly making her happy. Since Oreo was already mostly an indoor cat, and he will adapt well to a full indoor life, we agreed to take him. My aunt was able to bring him to us today. Currently, he’s alone in the dining room, sleeping, since it was a good 3+ hours in the car this morning to get him here. He has met Bree, who has been socialised to other cats before and is as laid-back (but not submissive) as can be, there wasn’t any hissing at all. Hopefully the rest of the transition will go as well.

So, here they are : Bree

Oreo

First Kiss

As for my aunt’s other cat - he’s a 7 year old, indoor/outdoor (country house) male cat, very affectionate, who needs a good home. If anyone in the Québec City, Montréal, Ottawa, Upstate Vermont (?) area is interested, please let me know!

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Popular, aren’t I? Yes, this is a shameless bump :smiley:

The turkey was actually fantastic it was moist and perfectly seasoned - everyone had second helpings! I also didn’t mess up my mom’s apple pie recipe, although I wasn’t happy with the store-bought crust I used (for lack of time to find another store with something better). There was no pie left at the end of dinner. My husband and I just had a late lunch today - turkey sandwiches! I think that might be the best part of Thanksgiving!

The cats are not exactly getting along… there is some very strategic ignoring happening by Bree with a few hisses when she wanders near Oreo, and Oreo hasn’t ventured out of his carrying cage much at all. We already knew he was one big old scaredy-cat, but it’s actually a little bit sad, the way he hides in the back of the cage. He did venture out while I was having my sandwich, and he jumped up next to me and cuddled for a bit, but my husband walked down the hall and the floors squeeked a lot and he got scared and went back to his safe spot. I think it will take quite a while for him to adjust. He is absolutely adorable, though, and we are so happy to have him!

I also went out to a quick breakfast with a couple of former co-workers from Toronto. They were down for a church event, and gave me a call. I really miss them, and I’m glad I got to see them, even if it was only for about 40 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Cute cats, and the litter box in the photos is clean! Thank you for that. :slight_smile: (But if you put more litter in the box, it will be easier to scoop.)

Glad to hear your dinner turned out well. That first turkey can be traumatic.

It’s cool that Bree and Oreo look so much alike. Put them together and they’d be a double-stuffed Oreo!

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Gorgeous cats. We have four ourselves, so it’s a bit of a zoo. I’d agree on the litter quantity too; I usually say four to six inches is a good amount. It make sure no unplesantness sticks to the bottom as long as it’s done regularly.

We’ve never hosted a thanksgiving – we’re apartment dwellers and frankly, we’re just not set up for more than a couple of guests, which we’ve had in the past but it’s a very infrequent thing. We’re far more content to just suit ourselves and eat off our Table Mates while watching Law & Order. :slight_smile: (We’ve never really been dining room table people. Maybe when we get a house…)

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Oreo came out and cuddled a bit today, which is a good sign. He’s eating and using his litter box, so I’m quite happy about the first two days!

I know about having more litter in the box - that’s just what was put in there when we first got him in the house, and we went to get a new container of stuff but got distracted with pictures and cuddling first! It was enough for him to know it was there, and we took care of getting him more settled in a bit later in the day, once my aunt had a chance to say goodbye. Eventually we will move his box to the locker/storage room where Bree’s box also is, but not until we know he’s comfortable moving around the apartment. For the moment, he gets to live in the dining room, but we have left the door open all day and gone to socialise with him often.

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They look enough alike to be related! I’m sure they will get used to each other in time. Thanks for giving him a new home.