They are not happy blogs: Sorry.
As anyone reading them will probably gather, I have been having problems with my left hip but that is now starting to feel better and I am back to doing yoga so all is almost right with the world again.
Yesterday we had out bi-monthly 'Lotto Lunch' and welcomed a new member of the group. She worked with us for a year and it was really great to see her again. Hopefully she will become a regular but as she is still working I will reserve judgement on that; she is very busy.
I suggested that people might enjoy a change of venue and that the new Fish & Chip shop might be good as they serve salads as well as chips and either batter or grill the fish. We will see what people think. The person who is organising the lunch next time has some strict dietary requirements so if it passes muster with her it could be a viable alternative place to meet.
I went back and read some of my very early blog entries and at that time, instead of limericks, I was posting quotes from what I remember as a rather funny book with hints on how to behave on the internet. I went to Amazon and the book is still available so I am thinking of doing a re-read and maybe posting some of its words of wisdom when I have run out of relatively clean limericks. I flatly refuse to post any featuring flatulent nuns, a subject which limerick writers see as funny for some unfathomable reason.
The only quote I read from the internet book, and which, out of the blue I cannot think of any explanation for is "In a survey always choose Option 4."
And the Limerick:-
A Kentucky-bound author named Vaughan,
Whose style often savoured of scorn
Soon inscribed in his journals,
"Here the corn's full of kernels
And the Colonels are all full of corn."
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Friday, March 22, 2019
Combing The Catgrass
I have always had a problem maintaining a good supply of cat grass for my cats. The seed kits which I buy from the pet shop are difficult to germinate and expensive. I have evolved a way of growing it but it is very hit and miss. I can buy cat grass from the local Bunnings Hardware Store but it is not always available and coarsens very quickly so I decided to experiment with wheat seed; the stuff which people grow to liquify and drink.
It germinates very quickly and the cats appear to like it but they tend to dribble all over it and the leaves stick together so I have to comb them with my fingers every day or the glued-together fronds die. I suspect that I need to trim them on a regular basis as one would harvest the stuff for human consumption.
This business of indoor cats is not as simple as keeping the outdoor variety. I hadn't realised how much work they create and they learn fast. Cleaning out the litter trays registers in their minds as the time when I groom them so they shout at me whenever they do a small pee and if I go to the bathroom in the late afternoon they take as an indication that I am about to feed them as that is the time when I change into my yoga clothes and give them their soft food. Two tiny black tyrants!
I have been watching an episode of Star Trek every night since Christmas and now have only seven or eight nights left before I either have to start over again or watch something else - probably Minder or Callan. I have most of the Callan series but not Series 2 in which Toby Meares features. This is disappointing as he was a smooth and thoroughly nasty public school boy . I enjoyed him and his replacement was small beer in comparison and eventually had to be killed off.
My hip is almost recovered and I am back to doing yoga which is a relief as I was getting stiff. I am still taking anti-inflammatory stuff but in a very reduced dose. I missed out on the Special General Meeting because I was still hobbling around on crutches but I nominated a proxy and let my voting inclination be known. I heard today that the motion to ban short-stay accommodation in the complex was unanimous. It only needed a 25% vote against Airbnb so hopefully the subject will not be raised again in my lifetime.
I am sorry that this is all so boring but the blog started as a diary and I find it interesting to look back. Hopefully I can make up for it with a limerick:-
You will read in Professor Schmuck's treatise
In the words of the famed Epictetus
The curious lore
That young girls by the score
Are afflicted with athlete's foetus.
It germinates very quickly and the cats appear to like it but they tend to dribble all over it and the leaves stick together so I have to comb them with my fingers every day or the glued-together fronds die. I suspect that I need to trim them on a regular basis as one would harvest the stuff for human consumption.
This business of indoor cats is not as simple as keeping the outdoor variety. I hadn't realised how much work they create and they learn fast. Cleaning out the litter trays registers in their minds as the time when I groom them so they shout at me whenever they do a small pee and if I go to the bathroom in the late afternoon they take as an indication that I am about to feed them as that is the time when I change into my yoga clothes and give them their soft food. Two tiny black tyrants!
I have been watching an episode of Star Trek every night since Christmas and now have only seven or eight nights left before I either have to start over again or watch something else - probably Minder or Callan. I have most of the Callan series but not Series 2 in which Toby Meares features. This is disappointing as he was a smooth and thoroughly nasty public school boy . I enjoyed him and his replacement was small beer in comparison and eventually had to be killed off.
I am sorry that this is all so boring but the blog started as a diary and I find it interesting to look back. Hopefully I can make up for it with a limerick:-
You will read in Professor Schmuck's treatise
In the words of the famed Epictetus
The curious lore
That young girls by the score
Are afflicted with athlete's foetus.
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Done and Dusted
. . .at least until next year when the
cats' vaccinations are again due.
Things went better this time
around. I arranged to take them on different days so that they could not
freak each other. Poppy went the day before yesterday and was sedated and
subdued but not downright hostile. Parsifal went this morning. The
sedative had no obvious effect on him but he behaved himself and allowed Dr. L
to examine him. Then I put him down on the floor to allow him to climb
back into the kitty carriage and Dr. L knelt down and gave him some treats
after which he smooched her; so she at least has seen his best side.
I am not going to the meeting tonight
and have nominated a proxy and put in my voting sheet. I could still go
but I am not sure if I can walk that far yet although my hip is feeling a great
deal better so maybe it will recover on its own. Tomorrow I am having my
hair trimmed and then coffee with a friend so the week is getting better all
the time.
I am back to doing yoga and feeling
much better for it and have started knitting the cowl neck to the the
purple possum sweater. Then it is just the sleeves and the sewing up and
I will get on to knitting wrist warmers for the unfortunate people who have to
sleep on the streets. D2 is very involved with an organisation called
Outreach which tries to improve the lives of the homeless people. Mostly
I have been knitting beanies but she mentioned that those who sleep out need
something to keep their hands warm.
Because of all the limericks which I
post here on my blog my mind tends to mentally recite in limerick form and a
couple of days ago the last lines of a limerick from my teen years started
buzzing around my brain. I looked it up in google, using those lines which I could remember and I will post it
today but there needs to be an explanation. It was a huge scandal in
England in the 1960s when I was at university and the newspapers were full of
it.
It involved two teenaged call girls, an osteopath, a Russian diplomat and a
Cabinet Minister and it eventually brought down the British government.
For information, if anyone is interested, google "The Profumo
Affair."
The Limerick:-
"Oh, what have you done?" said Christine
"You've
disrupted the Party machine;
To
lie in the nude
May
be terribly rude
But
to lie in the House is obscene."
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Red Letter Day
I have had my current pair of cats for over seven years and as they are entirely indoor cats they need to have their claws clipped regularly every three weeks. Parsifal is good; he knows that he is going to get a special treat afterwards and only gets restless towards the end in anticipation of said treats. But Poppy has always been a struggle and it is on her account that claw clipping day has always been something I dread.
But yesterday she let me clip all four paws without the aid of her muzzle and all-enveloping towel. Since she has been on anti-inflammatory medication she has been a different little cat and I am realising more and more that she must have been in considerable pain for most of her life. She is even having an occasional 'mad moment' which used to be entirely a Parsifal activity in which he would puff up his tail and gallop around the apartment growling.
This week is going to be the seminal time when they both have to have their health checks and immunisations. This has always been a battle ever since Parsifal bit the vet when he was a kitten when she dared to take his temperature. I have decided to take them separately as I suspected that they were scaring each other in their panic. Poppy has her check-up tomorrow and Parsifal has his two days later. I now have sedatives to give them so hopefully the vet will be able to give each of them a proper examination.
I am off my crutches and will recommence yoga tomorrow evening but gently until I test the waters as I do not want to stir up whatever it was which caused all the hip pain. And I have finished knitting the front of the purple possum sweater and have pinned the shoulders ready to sew up and pick up the stitches to knit the cowl. Then it is only the sleeves to knit and it should be ready for winter.
The Limerick:-
A forward young fellow named Tarr
Had a habit of goosing his Ma;
'Go pester your sister,'
She said when he kissed her,
'I've trouble enough with your Pa.'
But yesterday she let me clip all four paws without the aid of her muzzle and all-enveloping towel. Since she has been on anti-inflammatory medication she has been a different little cat and I am realising more and more that she must have been in considerable pain for most of her life. She is even having an occasional 'mad moment' which used to be entirely a Parsifal activity in which he would puff up his tail and gallop around the apartment growling.
This week is going to be the seminal time when they both have to have their health checks and immunisations. This has always been a battle ever since Parsifal bit the vet when he was a kitten when she dared to take his temperature. I have decided to take them separately as I suspected that they were scaring each other in their panic. Poppy has her check-up tomorrow and Parsifal has his two days later. I now have sedatives to give them so hopefully the vet will be able to give each of them a proper examination.
I am off my crutches and will recommence yoga tomorrow evening but gently until I test the waters as I do not want to stir up whatever it was which caused all the hip pain. And I have finished knitting the front of the purple possum sweater and have pinned the shoulders ready to sew up and pick up the stitches to knit the cowl. Then it is only the sleeves to knit and it should be ready for winter.
The Limerick:-
A forward young fellow named Tarr
Had a habit of goosing his Ma;
'Go pester your sister,'
She said when he kissed her,
'I've trouble enough with your Pa.'
Friday, March 8, 2019
Looming Health Checks
Next week is THAT TIME when I have to gird up my loins and take the cats to the vet for their annual check-ups. The vet, in anticipation, has furnished me with sedatives; one to be given the night before and one the morning of the visit. I have decided to take them separately this year as the couple of times when I have had to take one on its own there has not been the same panic and aggression. So next week is going to be busy. I have never tried giving either of them pills and have never had a problem with any of my other cats but I am not so sure about these two.
I am still fixated on the adventures of the Starship Enterprise. Spok had his brain removed recently and Captain Kirk was killed but they were both miraculously made whole again through the medical skill of Dr McCoy. I have noticed a certain sameness about the episodes; high drama and fisticuffs followed by last-minute resolution. Kirk is a master of unarmed combat and Spok is a dab hand with the short sword.
And my hip is recovering so I'll be back to doing careful yoga next week. I have enjoyed the break but it is frightening how quickly one stiffens up if one doesn't stretch regularly. I have spent the time trying to finish knitting the purple possum sweater before the weather cools down - and please God that will be soon. We have had several hot, humid, windless days and it is starting to affect everyone I have spoken to. This is Sydney weather and we are not used to it here in Perth.
The limerick:-
There was a young warrior of Parma
Who got into bed with his charmer.
She, naturally nude
Said, 'Don't think me rude
But I do wish you'd take off your armour!'
I am still fixated on the adventures of the Starship Enterprise. Spok had his brain removed recently and Captain Kirk was killed but they were both miraculously made whole again through the medical skill of Dr McCoy. I have noticed a certain sameness about the episodes; high drama and fisticuffs followed by last-minute resolution. Kirk is a master of unarmed combat and Spok is a dab hand with the short sword.
And my hip is recovering so I'll be back to doing careful yoga next week. I have enjoyed the break but it is frightening how quickly one stiffens up if one doesn't stretch regularly. I have spent the time trying to finish knitting the purple possum sweater before the weather cools down - and please God that will be soon. We have had several hot, humid, windless days and it is starting to affect everyone I have spoken to. This is Sydney weather and we are not used to it here in Perth.
The limerick:-
There was a young warrior of Parma
Who got into bed with his charmer.
She, naturally nude
Said, 'Don't think me rude
But I do wish you'd take off your armour!'
Friday, March 1, 2019
Crutchless
No - not knickers. I have temporarily abandoned my crutches as my hip seems to be settling. I have to turn my leg in and put most of the weight on my toes but I can move without pain so long as I remember how I need to hold my leg. Parsifal will be relieved when he realises that I have 'cast away my stick' as he is convinced that the crutches are some evil appendage which I have grown with the expressed purpose of beating him to a pulp.
I am not sure where he got his ideas about big sticks from; I have never threatened him with anything more damaging than a water bottle set at a very fine mist and then only when his behaviour moves beyond the pale. And mostly all I have to do is say "water bottle" and he stops what he is doing. And Poppy, with her newfound painless state is pretty efficient at keeping him in line.
My neighbour across the corridor, a 90 year-old Italian man, Senor SDS, is worried about a Council of Owners meeting to be held in a couple of weeks. His English is limited and faced with some points which confused even me he asked for help. I more or less told him how he should vote, especially the Motion to close the meeting as we had three choices - yes, no or abstain. I told him that we could still be sitting in the meeting until Christmas if we all voted 'No' to that motion.
But he worries me; he was complaining of breathlessness and what I gathered was either pain or weakness down his left side. I encouraged him to see a doctor but he has no doctor here and he needs one who speaks Italian. I googled 'Italian speaking general practitioners' but could only find two, one about a 20 minute drive away and the other in a regional town. Considering the huge influx of Italian migrants in the 1950s it is odd that none of their descendants seem to have studied medicine. I suggested that he should ask the man who looks after the apartment when the SDS couple are in Switzerland where they mostly live. Mario is Italian with an Australian wife and should be able to find my neighbour a doctor.
The Limerick:-
There's a notable family named Stein,
There's Gertrude, there's Ep and there's Ein.
Gert's prose is bunk,
Ep's sculpture is junk,
And no-one can understand Ein.
I am not sure where he got his ideas about big sticks from; I have never threatened him with anything more damaging than a water bottle set at a very fine mist and then only when his behaviour moves beyond the pale. And mostly all I have to do is say "water bottle" and he stops what he is doing. And Poppy, with her newfound painless state is pretty efficient at keeping him in line.
My neighbour across the corridor, a 90 year-old Italian man, Senor SDS, is worried about a Council of Owners meeting to be held in a couple of weeks. His English is limited and faced with some points which confused even me he asked for help. I more or less told him how he should vote, especially the Motion to close the meeting as we had three choices - yes, no or abstain. I told him that we could still be sitting in the meeting until Christmas if we all voted 'No' to that motion.
But he worries me; he was complaining of breathlessness and what I gathered was either pain or weakness down his left side. I encouraged him to see a doctor but he has no doctor here and he needs one who speaks Italian. I googled 'Italian speaking general practitioners' but could only find two, one about a 20 minute drive away and the other in a regional town. Considering the huge influx of Italian migrants in the 1950s it is odd that none of their descendants seem to have studied medicine. I suggested that he should ask the man who looks after the apartment when the SDS couple are in Switzerland where they mostly live. Mario is Italian with an Australian wife and should be able to find my neighbour a doctor.
The Limerick:-
There's a notable family named Stein,
There's Gertrude, there's Ep and there's Ein.
Gert's prose is bunk,
Ep's sculpture is junk,
And no-one can understand Ein.
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