Today is my cats' seventh birthday

Yesterday I went to the doctor because she wanted to check on the lesions which she has frozen off my skin and while I was there she decided that I was due for another mammogram and checked me out only to find a lump so I am off to have a scan on Monday.  I have already had one false reading and hope that this will turn out to be the same but am not holding my breath.  A diagnosis of breast cancer would be, for me, a huge lifestyle change with the probable cessation of HRT and back to hot flushes.

I walked around the lake again this morning and this time I think that my pedometer gave an accurate reading.  It measured 4.23km which would give me a walking speed of about 5 km/hour which I suspect is just about right.  I went out early because the sky looked like imminent rain.  It still looks like rain but it hasn't happened yet.

The last time I went over to the park I looked for the pink orchid but was unable to find it.  Today, with more specific instructions I did find it.  A biggish clump with only one rather weary-looking flower so it may be getting a bit late in the season.  Hopefully I will be able to find it again next year when it is flowering more enthusiastically.

Looking around for something to entertain me I wondered if the local library might like a genealogy helper but found that there is already two hours per month of tuition which has to be booked.  I will speak to the Head Librarian when I am over the mammogram and probable biopsy and whatever follows from there.  I went to a free on-line program and put in the details of my parents and grandparents and was told that the program could now add over 70 more names.  That is no fun!!  I enjoy the hunt and find of genealogy research and to have some online program lift all those names from my proper family tree was cheating.

With a view to acclimatising the cats to the Kitty Carriage and all its works I took Parsifal for a quick trot around Claremont a few nights ago.  He seemed to enjoy it once he realised that we were heading in the opposite direction to the Vet.  Poppy hid under the bed.

The Limerick:-

There is an author's comment attached to this one;

"Somewhat off-colour  -  and the only such limerick that Langdon Reed ever allowed to appear in any of his many books.  It's to be feared that Reed did not get the pun in the last line."

There was a young fellow named Hyde
Who fell down a privy and died.
His unfortunate brother
Then fell down another,
And now they're interred side by side.

Boomerang Drone Mk. 4

The eagle has landed!

The drone was dropped off at the Post Office today and a notification was emailed to me.  A.D. from Amazinglycats.com told me that she had added some glitter balls to thank me for my patience but . . . the original glitch was that I neglected to put my Apartment Number in my address.  I emailed a correction before any despatch was possible but it arrived in Australia and was returned due to insufficient address.  

I paid to have it re-posted and iterated the correct address.  That was three months ago and it arrived today still with the wrong address but it had instructions to deliver it to the nearest Post Office and my telephone number was also on the label so besides sending it back to sender there were two alternatives to get the drone delivered.

So my insufficient postal address now seems to be fixed in concrete and anything else I buy from that company is going to face the same problem.  And if the drone doesn't work with fresh batteries it is a double reason to look elsewhere for cat toys.

Anyway, I have charged up the drone itself and put batteries into the control but the batteries may be old because there is a blinking light and no lift-off.  I will buy new batteries and try again after which I will turn it over to my grandson to see if he can get it going.

Parsifal appears to have had an intestinal blockage and was not happy about the Vet examining him so he ripped up my arm.  Things are moving again and I now have supply of tranquilisers just in case.  They are due for their annual physical early next year and I am not looking forward to it; nor is their vet.  I suggested taking the cats for visits to acclimatise them to the premises and found that many pet owners do that, especially dog owners.  They just sit in the waiting room for while and then leave so that is what I will be doing.

The Limerick:-

Concerning the bees and the flowers
In the fields and the gardens and bowers,
You will note at a glance
That their ways of romance
Haven't any resemblance to ours.

Why do I stick with Microsoft?

About ten days ago MS Word began to refuse to allow editing.  I went on-line and was told that for once it wasn't Microsoft's fault and that I would have to reload my Office 16.  When I went to Programs and Features I found that I had two versions of MS Office 16 and that both of them had been installed on 16-9-2018  -  nine day ago which is about when I started having problems.  So which one was I supposed to delete and re-load.  I decided to call Techie for help and advice but with a long weekend coming up and probably others with the same problem (a quick look on-line emphasized this supposition) I decided to wait.

I thought that at least I could try to sort it myself and Techie could clear up the mess I left.  So I copied the instructions for sorting the problem  -  not a download but an adjustment.  The instructions:

"Go to developer tab  File>Options>Customise Ribbon and select Developer.  In Protection group go to Document Protection.  Navigate to bottom of panel and click 'stop protection'."

Hmmmm   -  I couldn't find 'stop protection' so decided on my original plan of getting Techie to fix it.

I went back to an MS Word document and at the top were three words only  "File" "Save" and something I do not remember, probably 'Cancel' or 'Delete'.  I clicked on 'File' and suddenly I had all the editing tools back again not just for that particular document but for all my MS Word documents.  Don't ask;  I do not know! 

 BTW  Microsoft has extended the use of Office 16 to 2025 so I have some leeway until I am forced to buy a subscription version of MS Office.  This is just a 'by-the-way' for other Office16 users.

Parsifal is still vomiting a bit  -  well, this morning  -  but is eating and drinking so I will sit it out unless things get critical again.

Today's Limerick:-

"Well Madam," the Bishop declared, 
While the vicar just mumbled and stared,
" 'Twere better, perhaps
In the crypt or the apse,
Because sex in the nave must be shared."

Double Trouble

I have had a fairly fraught week with the cats. Spring is here and they are both moulting and on Monday night (today is Saturday here in Australia) Parsifal brought up ALL of his dinner.  Luckily I managed to get a rubber flipflap underneath and that caught most of it and I was able to wash it off, but then he spent the rest of the night throwing up all over the apartment and I had to spend all of Tuesday morning cleaning the carpets.

Then I realised that neither of them had been using their litter boxes so I took Parsifal to the vet where he gave me a nasty scratch in the wrist and refused to let the vet near him so I just had to wait it out and hope.  Neither of them ate anything for days but last night they started drinking and finally their insides started working again and they are now much happier little cats and have been sleeping bigly.

Yesterday I received an email saying that a parcel had been held up at Customs and I needed to identify myself and describe in detail what was in the package.  I phoned the number given and they already knew who I was so I didn't have to identify myself further but there lay the rub.  I have three outstanding e-parcels and none of them was being delivered by the designated courier so I took a stab at the missing drone, only to realise that the parcel was, according to the person I spoke to, coming from England so it had to be the silk flowers from 'Museum Selection'.  I cannot imagine such a reputable site would be sending me drugs or explosives so goodness knows if I will get my flowers.

Today was wonderfully warm and was the opening day of the Royal Agricultural Show so the RAS must have some special relationship with the weather gods because the last week has been VERY chilly.  The Show is held just down the road from where I live so there will be more people and more cars but I imagine that, long weekend or not, all the shops will remain open to catch the passing trade.

The Limerick:-

A book and a jug and a dame,
And a nice cozy nook for the same;
'And I don't care a damn,'
Said Omar Khayyam,
'What you say, it's a great little game.'

Boomerang Drone Mk. 3

A couple of days ago I once again filled in the "contact us" form for the cats' drone supplier stating that I realised that I was not going to see the drone any time in the future, that according to the supplier's tracking it had been sitting at a depot since July 7th awaiting collection to be sent on to me and I had given up trying to follow it up.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to an email apologising for the delay in reply to my message of July 27th and that they would be going through their back records to see if my purchase could be located.  What I did not say in my message was that I had already searched out another cat toy supplier although, once bitten, I was not going to spend up big to any company which had not proven itself although, to do this supplier justice mine was the initial mistake and the problem came with the mechanism of re-sending it once it had returned to sender.

I have been walking around Lake Claremont most mornings and yesterday invested in a pedometer which tells me that from my apartment, around the Lake and home again is close to 6.5km, burns 208 calories and takes 4,378 steps.  I now have three sequined peaked caps and there are a couple more which I have my eye on.  My theory about lost things is that as soon as I replace them the originals re-appear but so far my iinet and Make Australia Great Again caps have not surfaced.

Today was that day which the whole household dreads  -  the clipping of claws.  This has to be done every three weeks which seems to be the longest I can leave them before they are uncomfortable for the cats.  They always seem to be happy after the event but that might be simply because they know that it will be some time before it has to be done again.  Parsifal is no problem but Poppy has arthritis in her left arm and has to be muzzled and wrapped in a towel to save both of us from being injured.

Spring is definitely here but the mornings are very cold and clear so I need to walk briskly to keep warm.  Everyone else I meet seems to be rugged up but I found, in the olden days when I walked along the beachfront every morning, that I do not feel cold if I walk fast enough; and I absorb all that extra Vitamin D.

The limerick:-

There was a young peasant 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."

Fear!

I have just begun reading a digital copy of "Fear" by Bob Woodward but so far I am a bit lost; so many of the people mentioned in the early part of the book were long gone before I managed to get interested in American politics.  I imagine that I will catch up eventually.

I became hooked on US politics when I was not well for a while, spent an inordinate amount of time on my computer and discovered Rachel Maddow and a variety of stand-up comedians.  Now I am spending an inordinate amount of time on my computer, have read Fire and Fury and James Comey's book  -  I've forgotten its name; forgettable book.

Now I am hanging out for the Midterms and hope that I will not be disappointed by the results.  Meanwhile I spend a fair amount of time wondering about Americans and their beliefs and thought processes  -  they seem to be so different from ours.

I have, so far, had mixed results after having both wrists injected with cortisone.  I start to think that there has been no result at all until I start to list the things which no longer hurt.  They are little things but nevertheless they are good.  I can now do up my bra without pain, switch on and off my electric toothbrush, squeeze the toothpaste tube, dry between my toes and so the list goes on.  It still hurts to hold a pen and I haven't tried to do the ironing yet but I'll have to brave the beast soon or buy some new clothes.

With the coming of spring I have started walking for an hour over in the parkland on the other side of the railway line and am back to meditating twice per day.  I have discovered a shop which sells quirky peaked caps for $20 each and so far have bought two and am eying off a couple more.  With the skin lesions removed by the effudix cream I do not want to stir things up again and it is a good excuse to go slightly crazy.  Hopefully I will trim myself down a bit or buying news clothes will be a waste of money.

Tomorrow I am off to the Apple Store in the city to try to unsubscribe from "Pigment" which is costing me $5.50 per week and I do not use it.  Every time I try to unsubscribe I get to the last bastion to pierce the inner reaches of my iPad and it demands a finger print and since it refuses to log me in that way it is not going to let me start unsubscribing stuff.  I have tried many times and eventually realised that it is going to be easier to get an expert to do it for me even if it means putting the technician's finger print there.  Hopefully whoever it is will have a registerable print.  I sometimes think that I should take up a life of crime  -  my finger prints are almost unrecognisable.

The Limerick:-

A society climber from Crewe
Inquired, 'What on earth shall I do?
I of course know what's what
But I fear I have not
The faintest idea of who's who.'

Thumbs up Mk 2

For anyone with arthritic thumbs and who is in despair because doing anything is so painful, my thumbs are now, after their injection of cortisone much better.  Not best; it would take a miracle but I can now pick up a 2 litre carton of milk without dropping it and no longer feel like Donald Trump when I drink a glass of water.

I don't expect it to last  -  that was never a given and google gave a timeline of three months.  The trouble is that it is almost impossible to 'save' the thumbs although five days of fairly severe pain taught me a few tricks to avoid aggravating them.

Spring is here and yesterday was a perfect day so I put on a pair of shorts and went for another walk in the park.  It takes me about an hour to get around the circuit and this morning I did the whole circumference of the lake itself.  I was able to get closer to the water but also close to the school boys playing on their sports fields which somewhat spoilt the peace although I would never grudge them their tennis.  This morning I saw a group of fluffy goslings.  Yesterday I only saw one and wondered what had happened to its siblings.

I have started knitting the purple possum sweater, not because I have finished the disposable one but because I have reached a place in that one where I have to keep an eye on the rows and that is not a good idea at the knitting group; we all talk too much and have all discovered that it is best to keep it simple or it all has  to be undone afterwards.

So now I am walking for an hour per day, meditating morning and evening and will be back to doing yoga this evening.  I am not sure if I can keep up the pace but maybe I will lose some weight and will dare to wear the black rubber chastity belt which I bought this morning to let in the sunlight and boost my Vitamin D levels.

The limerick:-

A young trapeze artist named Bract
Is faced by a very sad fact.
Imagine his pain
When, again and again,
He catches his wife in the act!