. . . and today is a black letter day

I took possession of my two black kittens almost eight years ago when they were about ten or eleven weeks old.  Special breeder kittens are usually not released to their new owners until they have been vaccinated and neutered  -  at approximately 16 weeks old.  I suspect that I was allowed to take possession of them so early because my long-time vet was the consultant for the experimental breeders and perhaps gave me a good report.

Anyway, Poppy must have sustained an injury to one of her front legs, possibly when she first went back to her breeder to the boarding kennels attached to the cattery.  I base this on the fact that the comment when I picked them up was, "Poppy is very aggressive."  That was news to me but later I noticed that her right front leg seemed painful and it was very difficult to clip her nails as she found it very distressing.

Now that she has been on regular anti-inflammatory medication for the last six months she has been getting easier to handle and allows me to clip her claws as long as I produce the container of 'special' treats which both cats are given only when their claws are trimmed.

Now I have noticed that she is starting to chase balls and pipe cleaners and today  -  for the first time that I can remember -  she helped me to make my bed.  That is normally Parsifal's job and it was a joy to see her underneath the top sheet as soon as I tried to spread it.

The Limerick:-

There was a young drover named Gorse
Who fell madly in love with his horse.
Said his wife, "You rapscallion,
That horse is a stallion!
This constitutes grounds for divorce."

Today is Black Cat Day

. . .and I have two black cats who spent the day sleeping (It was a very hot day for October) and emerged in time for their dinner and a shouting match because they wanted me to clean out their litter trays although neither of them had used one.  A typical day in the Chez Pink household.

Tomorrow will be cooler and hopefully the team of little men will setup the scaffolding on the balcony of Apt. B511 and fix the hole in my wall.  They arrived on Friday to compare glass samples to get the colour correct.

I have nothing planned for this coming week except for the knitting Group on Tuesday so I will grasp my resolve and make an appointment to have my toes fixed. My main worry is that I might have to have a general anaesthetic and stay in hospital for a few days and if that happens I will have to make some sort of arrangement for the care of the cats which are not easy to deal with.  Parsifal's fondest ambition is to be allowed to go out and catch rats and he gets a bit noisy when there are no rats allowed in the apartments.

Poppy's antii-inflamatory medication is reaping amazing benefits.  I have thrown away my packet of wet-wipes.  She is now able to clean up her own little butt, something which I have never seen her do before and she has been with me for almost eight years.

And I have to arrange a coffee and cake meet-up which I promised to organise some time ago and which is due sometime soon.

The limerick:-

There once was a couple named Kelly
Who walked around belly to belly
Because in their haste
They used library paste
Instead of petroleum jelly.

The Eyes Have It

It looks as though the hole in my outside wall is going to be fixed in the near future.  I gather that management is concerned that water will get into the cavity but that horse has already bolded.  Last Friday was very cold with a lot of rain.  I gathered from listening to them that the plan is to erect scaffolding from the apartment below me on Level 5 and the men were here today with a lot of glass samples in order to match the colour.

D2 has been laid up since last Friday after surgery to repair a torn and detached retina in her right eye.  A gas bubble was inserted into the eye and until two days ago she had to lie on her right side and was only allowed respite for 15 minutes per hour.  Wednesday was her first day of freedom and she came to Claremont to buy more litter for her cat and to do some grocery shopping.  She wore an absorbent patch over the eye as it is a bit red and weepy.

I have started knitting myself a blanket out of all the odds and sods of homespun yarn which has accumulated over time  -  and there is rather a lot of it so it is going to be a big rug.  Bigger than I planned because I originally intended it to be about a metre wide but the more I knit the wider it gets so, at this stage, I am aiming for a very large square.  Thus far it is looking very pretty with a multitude of coloured stripes.  The yarn which I am knitting at the moment is the ends of a vast number of leftovers on bobbins which I have spun and plied together  -  but that will change.

The Limerick:-

As 007 walked by
A spider just tried to say "Hi".
That spider was shot
Right there on the spot
When he started out "Hi, I'm a spi…"

My cats are now eight years old.

Last Saturday ((12th October) was the cats' eighth birthday.  We didn't celebrate but simply noted the day -  an easy one to remember because it was my parents' wedding anniversary.

I am still struggling to focus my eyes.  It has been a long haul and I am reluctant to have my other cataract removed as it would mean another round of trying to get spectacle prescriptions sorted.  My everyday glasses work reasonable well although I sometimes see double when I am trying to focus to read.

This difficulty has been compounded by the death of my e-Reader last weekend.  It suddenly refused to connect to the internet and when I went on-line I found that my particular model is no longer supported.  I can read the books which are already on the e-Reader but am unable to download any new ones so I have ordered the newest Kobo model which just happens to not be in stock.  So I am going to have a sleep cover with nothing to put to sleep.  Since I have ordered the latest version of the Kobo reader I am hopeful that mine will be available before too long.

The weather is all over the place at the moment; more like autumn than spring.  Last Friday was a freezing cold day with gale-force winds and a great deal of rain and tomorrow is going to be another cold one.  The cats have been hibernating, curled up together for most of the time although the scattering of cat toys which greets me in the morning leads me to believe that they have a secret life when I am asleep.

The Limerick (and from the new book):-

A wonderful bird is the pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week.
But I'm darned if I know how the hell he can.

This is a very old one.  I first heard it from my mother.

Euphemisms

I have been battling euphemisms for most of my adult life as I believe in facing up to the truth except when a little white lie will make someone in distress feel a bit better.  This all came to a head for me when my mother-in-law said to my husband, "I see that Tony has gone away."  I was about to ask her where Tony had gone when I realised that Tony was dead.  She didn't even use the commonly used  "passed" or "passed away".  Gone away?  Honestly?

Anyway, I saw a euphemism yesterday which, I think, takes the cake.  There was an advertising sign downstairs in the arcade which read, "Cosmetic Injectables".  Interpret it as you will  -  I read it as a pointing to a place where I can get Botox enhancement on my very doorstep.

I promised not to head this entry into my blog as Limericks Mk 4 but I am happy announce the arrival of "The Great Australian Book of Limericks".  Yes, it has some very unprintable limericks but the book is divided into sections, starting with absolutely clean to utterly obscene with varying degrees in between.  There is even a whole section in "The Dirty Section" called "Bums and Blow-offs" where I would probably find my often-mentioned flatulent nuns.  The final section is labelled "The Really Filthy Section" with sub-sections titled Various Sexual Practices and Shocking and Shameless.

Some are tried and true favourites which I have come across online and in various books so I will try not to repeat myself  -  but some are worth repeating which is why I keep on tripping over them.  The one below is from the Introduction chapter.

The Limerick:-

The limerick is furtive and mean;
You must keep her in close quarantine,
Or she sneaks to the slums
And promptly becomes
Disorderly, drunk and obscene.