So Much Kindness

and other stories of the week

Hi all!

We hope you are happy and healthy out there!

This week’s stories are a bit centred around the non-pet things, but I hope you find the stories just as good. To keep things on point, I’ll do a quick pet round-up.

Bernoulli continues to recover from his surgery.

Today is day 8 after surgery, and Bernoulli is supposed to be in his cone for a couple weeks. We broke down his neutering in last week’s Pupdate. Bernoulli’s patience is getting a bit thin now — he is healed up enough to go on walks, so we have been taking his cone off and heading out, but he isn’t allowed to swim for a bit. We caught one really sweet interaction where Bernoulli was sadly whining in his cone, and Bunsen came over and started to lick his head, in what we think was an attempt to soothe him. It helped. Bernoulli calmed right down. Bunsen’s such a good boy.

Bunsen’s Joint Pills

We have also had Bunsen on some joint supplements and arthritis stuff for about two weeks now, and we are honestly seeing a bit of a difference in a good way. Bunsen seems to be much less stiff after walks, and sleeping/napping MUCH better. His sleep is where we are noticing the biggest difference. The Joint Pills are these chew things which he is bananas for, so getting him to take them is super easy.

You can see how much bigger Bernoulli is here than Beaker and Bunsen

Beaker The Good Girl

Beaker is still our steady good girl. She is getting in hours of much-needed cuddling with us humans, who have been home more than normal. When Bernoulli is healed up, we are heading to dock diving and the mountains so our goodest Golden girl can start to enjoy the summer her own way.

Brix is Back Baby

Now the most important thing — Brix. Brix is doing SO GOOD. His first week back from the hospital in July he was not quite himself, but this week the Brix shenanigans are SO back. He is stealing food, pouncing on things, zipping high up on his wall steps, and more. He is a HANDFUL in the best way possible.

Kris found these awesome cat furniture things at Costco, and I’ve installed the coffee table, which functions as a cat hidey spot, and it’s a hit! Brix can zoom inside the thing and look out. We haven’t bought new furniture for ourselves since we updated our couch about 4 years ago. Sadly, the bookshelf arrived destroyed, so Costco is sending us a new one.

The Brix Stuffie Launches!

If I could pull back the curtain a bit, I’d like to chat about the Brix stuffie and our history with making replicas.

Developing a stuffie started with our first Bunsen stuffie — the Bunsen 1.0 — and things have only improved since then. It takes months of back and forth to get the design to a point we are happy with, and the Brix stuffie took a lot longer than the last few. Normally we have this process done in April. Then the order starts and it takes months to make all the stuffies. The whole process is very long and takes a ton of passion to get right.

At any rate, it is always SUPER nerve-wracking starting a presale or Kickstarter, as we so want the product to succeed. We have never failed a presale, as our store reviews can attest, but it’s always in the back of my mind.

Kris and I are proud to say we hit the goal within 16 hours of the presale going live to the public. Also, I’d have to check, but almost 100 people are donating a Brix stuffie through the Brix Kiss donation option. The Brix Kiss will see a Brix stuffie donated to the CACAC, and then the profit above the cost of the toy will be donated to a fund that Cedarwood Pet Hospital has for pet parents who need financial help. It’s a small way that Kris and I can help spread the sweetness of Brix through our community. Thank you to everyone who donated a stuffie, but also, don’t be shy about getting one for yourself!

The biggest shock came only hours after the presale went live: I got an email from a guy here in Alberta. He wanted to fund a donation of 110 stuffies.

110 stuffies? I was STUNNED (and maybe a bit suspicious). Kris insisted I talk with him on the phone (because she is smart), and I had a wonderful conversation with the man who would remain anonymous. It filled our cup. He said that what Kris and I do with our account puts goodness into the world, and the world needs more goodness. He has followed us since Bunsen was a puppy. His family has Bernese dogs, and sitting at his desk is our calendar.

That’s now over two hundred stuffies that will spread across Alberta to children in their dark times, their sad times, in hopes that things get easier. I would wish for everyone to have a real-life kitty like Brix. He is friendly, affectionate, and soft. I’d be lying if I said my eyes weren’t a little misty thinking that all of us, together, are making a small difference on the worst days for kids.

The presale will run until next Saturday, and we have zoomed past our Kickstarter goal — we are now approaching a total sellout. As of right now we are approaching 50% sold out. Like, 50% of the total number of Brix stuffies we have. Kris and I are just so thankful for the support; when the Brix stuffies arrive, we hope you love them!

(grab yours here)

A quick trip to Edmonton

Adam asked if we could come up to visit on a day he had off, and that was yesterday. Kris and I drove up (and listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl on audio, HA!) for an afternoon. We didn’t know that the day before, Edmonton had wild rain which flooded streets and knocked down trees (the tree parts were all over the roads downtown), but luckily we had awesome weather.

We got a ton of snuggles in with Ginger (boy, we miss her), and got to see more of the other cats, Toque and Poe. Poe is a pretty friendly guy, and I played with him while

Kris got her Ginger fix.

Once Annalise got back from work, we went to the Muttart Gardens, a really pretty conservatory in the river valley, a walk through the river valley, and then had a nice supper (with some yummy ice cream!).

It was kind of funny seeing Adam and Annalise try to deal with having a very smart cat like Ginger, since there’s this weird foam thing over their door. I did my best Seinfeld impression — “What is the deal with this foam thing?” — which they didn’t get, because I’m ancient. Anyway, Ginger would hurl herself at their door and open it, getting into their bedroom and then meowing at them for food. I’m up at the crack of dawn every single day, and so are the Berners, so this literally never happened when Ginger was at home. I fed the kitty breakfast for years. I didn’t want to tell them that it was likely because I gave her breakfast between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning for years. HA! Wake up earlier, sleepyheads.

So that’s about it for this week! Maybe folks have noticed I have been putting out more content, and I’d like to think it’s of higher quality, with more of a science emphasis. That’s just the summertime helping. Maybe I should do this full-time!

At any rate, thank you to everyone who supports us by watching our content, reading this newsletter, or getting our products. It pushes us on, and in becoming a community of kindness, great things are happening.

Until next week.