Simple Would Be Nice For A Change

The boat in the first image was heading (I think) to Deer Island this morning to get his A-frame installed on the back in preparation for Scallop Season which opens on the 10th. If his drags are there he’ll pick them up as well. That plywood box you can see on the deck is called a “shocking house”.

“Unlike clams, oysters, and other bi- valves, scallops cannot hold their shells closed and therefore can’t survive long out of the water.” So, they have to be shucked before they are off-loaded at a wharf. Note that since boats are paid by the pound this also means buyers are only charged for the meat. The “house” protects the crew doing the “shocking” from the worst of the wind and the cold. Theoretically. 🙂

Local wharves are busy with boats switching over from lobster to scallops: a-frames, drags, shocking houses, and sorting tables are replacing traps. The place is full of trucks. Market prices and weather apps are being closely monitored and there’s lots of chatter about mishaps with power blocks – this equipment weighs a lot.

I realize that my workload is very tiny in comparison and I certainly don’t have the kinds of problems these fishermen do. Still, I would like to remind you that life is not a competition. Whatever stress each of us is dealing with is real and we’re allowed to feel it just as much as the next person – even if that person is trying to solve world peace and we’re only feeling the pain of a stubbed toe.

For example, I have been trying to address the issues raised by a hormonal kitten. Oh, you might roll your eyes and dismiss this problem, but it is something that has consumed my household now for weeks.

The good news is that once she goes into heat she doesn’t stay there for more than about 4 days. However, that is a 4 day period when she apparently doesn’t need sleep. More good news is that she doesn’t yowl. She does, as I’ve mentioned before, chirp. She chirps long passages from The Vagina Monologues (appropriate, but after a while really quite repetitive). The boys have taken to wearing ear-plugs. If I try to sleep she sits on top of me to make sure I receive the full benefit of her dramatic recital.

Attempting to schedule her surgery is impossible unless we can time it when she’s not in heat. It’s a good thing she’s cute.

A trick you can use to calm a kitten in the throws of one of Mother Nature’s miracles is catnip. This worked on Blink once and I was very hopeful. However, the boys know instantly when I’m about to produce their favourite weed and appear from wherever in the house they might be and steal it from her. Instantly. I think it’s their form of revenge.

Another very effective Hormone Negating Therapy is Feliway. You plug it into the wall and it fills the room with pheromones and she calms right down. I’ve used it before when my cats were stressed from moving and love it. However. You have to put it in the room where the cat spends the most time or it doesn’t have a chance to work.

A hormonal kitten spends all day and night in constant motion – throughout the house. Picture me following her with a bottle of pheromones trying to catch her sitting still for more than 30 seconds so I can plug the damn thing in. Maybe one of the scallop boats would like a ship’s cat.