Vet stress

The kittens were booked in for spaying and neutering yesterday.  We wanted the to be done at the same time so that they were both out of it from the anaesthetic together.  

There is an added complication that out Vet's operating theatre is being revamped at the moment, so all operations are being done from another practice.   We'd already been moved once.

There was a slight hiccup.

Lewis has one undropped testicle and the Vet said, because Lewis is young,  it would be better to wait a month or two to see if the other testicle dropped.     

We decided to go ahead and have Shelby spayed, as this would mean it wouldn't matter so much if we had to wait longer for Lewis.  We also decided that Lewis should stay with her for the day, because he would get very stressed being separated from her. (She might well be stressed to, but her distress is not so evident).

I had a pickup appointment at 3pm and I was to phone after 1 if I hadn't heard anything.  I didn't hear anything, so I phoned at 1.20.  Shelby was still having her op.   I phoned at 2.45.  Shelby was still in recovery,  and my pickup was moved to 5.30.

I was quite stressed about it.   Something didn't sound right.

We arrived at the Vets in good time, and we saw the nurse who told us that clinically everything was fine. Shelby had come round, she'd eaten something,  we could take her home,  we needed to make an appointment for 2 days and 10 days,   and the Vet wanted to speak to us while the Nurse went to get Shelby.

It turns out the reason for the extended time was that after sShelby had been closed up, the Vet saw some oozing that worried her a little, and she had to make the insertion bigeget to go an cdc heck all was OK.  Everything was fine, but the incision was much bigger than usual for this sort of op.

We were given some recovery food for her,  some food for sterilised cats to try, some Metacam.  We were also briefed o what to watch out for, and what to do if we had any concerns.

Lewis was very happy to see us.  Shelby was small and dazed, not quite all there.   We couldn't wait to get them home.

A face at the window

One of the kittens started miaowing in distress, and the other one joined in.  I rushed into the kitchen, expecting to find then trapped in a log bag (or whatever their latest favourite toy was).

DH said that there was another cat outside the side cat flap.  I went outside and recognised the back end of Thunderthighs as s/he strolled off.

Thunderthighs visited our garden a few times last year,  and caused the fence to creak alarmingly when s/he leapt upon it.  I've only ever seen his/her long fluffy grey haired tail and back legs, so I've no idea what sort of cat s/he is.

Thunderthighs is also the cat that Izzy got into a fight with  a few weeks ago.  We think thought it was him/her because of the mass of grey fur (mixed with the mass of Izzy fur) in the driveway.

The kittens have been very interested in looking out of the cat flap, ever since we showed them how to come in that way.   The flaps are programmed to let the kittens in, but not to let them out.  Now when we take the kittens out in the garden, with their jackets on, and on leads,  we let (by which I mean "only let") them come in the cat flap.   This is so that if they do escape and do ever get chased by a cat, they will be able to come in at speed.

Anyway,  they had been looking out of the side cat flap when, presumably, Thunderthighs had walked past and stared in.   The were most distressed.  Their tails were enormous, they were fluffed up, their little hearts were pounding.  Izzy had also fluffed up in protection mode,  and probably would have gone outside to defend them if DH hadn't stepped in and stopped her.

The 3 cats are all getting on really, really well.    Izzy plays with them,  she nuzzles them and lets them nuzzle her.   All of us are together in the living room in the evenings.

We're so lucky.

Febreezey does it

I *hate* Febreeze.

The smell of it makes me feel queasy.  My heart sinks when I smell it coming off newly-purchased fabric.   One wash  doesn't clear it,  it is vile, vile, vile stuff.

Today I had an Ebayparcel.  I've not bought much on Ebay lately (apart from some household stuff like a particular cat litter package which I have only found on Ebay and Amazon).   I couldn't remember what I'd bought.

I started to open it, and I could smell that darned stuff.  I was really puzzled now, as I couldn't imagine what I might have bought that would even be Febreezable.     When I got the box open,  there were two lumps wrapped in brown paper,  and I remembered what they were:  vacuum kitchen cannisters.

They were spotless.

They had to go in the dishwasher though, I've got to get rid of the smell.

One small step, one giant leap

Yesterday we fitted the Tabcat trackers to their collars and we were surprised at how well they accepted them.  When we put them on Izzy and Wash, many years ago now of course,  both then-kittens decided they couldn't possibly lift their heads or move with a ton weight round their neck.




Shelby and Lewis act as if theyve always had them on.  We tested them out, and rewarded them when they came up to us with their collars beeping.

Today we took the kittens outside with their jackets on( of course!) and this time with leads attached!

DH and I synchronised ceremoniously putting Shelby and Lewis on to the wet grass, and waited to see what happened.

They sniffed the ground for a while, and then gingerly Shelby went one way, Lewis another.  I had expected that Shelby would be the one to try and chase a chicken. I was wrong.    Lewis did.  He also dragged DH round the enormous pampas grass a few times. 

It was easy to see thatLewis was more comfortable in his Jacky than Shelby was. Once he got going, he was marching around.  Shelby was more measured.  She made me laugh as she stuck her head through some trellis and tried to get the rest of her through as well.  I am a mean mum,  I really wanted one of the Girls to come and peck her on the head (not enough to hurt her, but just enough so she knows not to mess with chickens).

Astrid and Sunshine came up to say hello, the other girls kept their distance.  Every so often SHelby decided that she couldn't possibly walk with Jacky on,  and she would fall overm or roll over.  She managed to cover quite a large area of the garden, sniffing non stop.

Both cats seemed to like being outside, ad both seemed to find it a little overwhelming.   Neither cat really wanted to come in though,  and it took a lot of persuading to get Shelby to go home.

Once back inside  we made a huge fuss of them.

We'll do it again tomorrow, weather permitting.  They won't be allowed out without us until after they've been spayed/neutered and recovered.

Bullying

Summer, one of our two silver duckwing leghorns,  is  going to have to have a name change, which saddens me.  I like the name (it was from both the season and from an actress called Summer Glau) and it suits her, but the name now has some unfortunate connotations.    

Miss Tween, who turned 12 last week, has been subjected to bullying by a girl called Summer,  and Summer's mother has also attempted to bully Miss Tween with a horrendous post on Miss Tween's instagram page.

I'm not sure what kind of person thinks it is acceptable to post a vicious tirade on an 11 year old's Instagram page rather than to take it up with the parent of the child.   The woman was responding to a comment which Summer alleges Miss Tween made about Summer's pony.  Miss Tween did not make the comment;   and even if she had,  the posting she received was completely over the top.
 The woman helpfully ended her comment by saying Miss T or her parents could contatct her if they wanted to discuss it further.

However, when Miss T's mum tried to call,  the mother  refused to answer the phone. She also refused to respond to messages asking to discuss it.



Whatever this woman thinks Miss Tween has said, the rant that she had is just appalling. 

Miss Tween has literally only just turned 12 and has a very strong concept of fair and unfair. Being unjustly accused of something has hit her hard, much harder than being called out for something she had actually done.   She is reeling from the browbeating this woman has given her, and cannot understand the vitriol behind it. 

The irony is that the girl concerned is one of those "Mean Girl" types,  and has constantly been belittling Miss Tween because she loans rather than owns a pony.   

It's a challenge trying to help kids navigate Mean Girl behaviour.   When the behaviour shown by the parent is even worse,  it's even harder to help.

Sasha

Sasha is out Appenzeller Spitzhauben, and she's a funny little stick.  We hatched her the same year that we bought Fleur (Cuckoo Marans) and Fay (Fayoumi).   The three of them eventually integrated with Poppy and Gloria,  and the 5 of them formed a flock with a strict pecking order.  Gloria>Poppy>Sasha>Fleur>Fay.

They often break into two separate flocks when ranging,   Poppy and Gloria go off as a pair, and the other 3 stick together.

Late last year there was a whole lot of stuff going on, and I think that Sasha was trying to move up the pecking order.    Nothing major happened,  and nothing outwardly seemed to change.

Later than that,  we divided the walk in run, and put the Littlees in one half with a coop to themselves.  It was a coop that had been shut up and access denied for a long, long time, so wasmn't one the older girls had used for some time. Years maybe.

A few weeks ago, at bedtime, there was a ruckus.  When I went out to see what was happening, I found Sasha in the nestbox of the Littlees coop.  The Littlees would not enter the coop and were complaining loudly.  I moved Sasha back to the big girls coop and all was well.

The same thing happened the next night.   Then it seemed to quieten down.  Then one evening I opened the nest box, on impulse, and found Sasha in there.

It was really odd.

If Sasha was trying to dominate the Littlees, she would have gone in the coop and barred the doorway to make it difficult for the others to enter; she wouldn't have gnone in and hidden herself away in the nestbox.  I wondered if she was having problems with the Big Girls  and was maybe trying to join the LIttlees flock.

But during the day, she is with the Big Girls as normal.  It's just at night that she goes off to sleep in the other coop.  

We don't tend to hear a fuss at bed time, so I guess the Littlees have got used to it.

During the day, they mostly live and let live.  Individuals from eac flock sometimes end up next to each other in the garden, and their is little or no trouble (helped by the fact that the two at the bottom of the Littlees pecking order are very respectful to the Big Girk and move away when they appear).. 

I would imagine that if we tried to force them all into one coop, there would be trouble.   I guess there may come a time when we need to do that, but we will worry about that when the need arises.
 happens.

In Lay

All the Newbies are now laying.  We'e got some beautiful white eggs,  some off-white,  and one (Sylvia) brown eggs.  Fay has also just started laying, the only one of the 5 older girls to do so yet. Fleur and Sasha will restart at some point;  Gloria and Poppy may or may not,  we don't mind either way as they've earned their retirement.

Fay egg underneath

The eggs started off fairly small, same size as Fay (our Fayoumi) lays.  They are gradually increasing in size and the eggs of one of the Littlees is now much bigger than those of Fay.

They are laying in both coops, and Sylvia switches between the two.  We know this because Sylvia's eggs are instantly recognisable.

Shell-less egg

We've had a couple of eggs laid on the floor of the walk in run,  and we had one shell-less egg in the garden. It was still warm when I found it, and one of the two silver leghorns had been running around just beforehand, so I guess it was hers. 

 It was perfectly formed, just no shell


The Littlees are little no more, they are fully grown.   They've lost their baby running (which is when they run with their necks stretched out), and I miss it.

Sylvia, the silver laced barnevelder, is beautiful but aloof.   Astrid, one of the gold partridge leghorn and top of this group,  is friendly and confident;  Sunshine, the other gold partridge leghorn,  has the prettiest face, and loves meeting new people;   Summer, one of the silver duckwing leghorn, continues to be the aquawkiestscardiest leghorn I've had;  and Blondie, the other silver duckwing leghorn,  is just delightful.

Summer and Blondie  will be moving the allotment as soon as the allotment boys have vacated their coop.  Although they are now part of the big flock, the two Boys continue to sleep in their separate coop at night.    We will force a change if necessary,  but we'd prefer them to make the decision themselves.   They are from a slow developing breed,  so it will take a while before they act like cockerels.   (I don't just mean mating,  I mean all the gentlemanly behaviour that goes with it).

Izzy and the Kittens

Izzy  rarely hisses at the kittens now.

All 3 cats spend their evenings in the sitting room with us.

Usually Izzy is on one of the sofas, and the kittens are in the enormous cat tree.

Izzy won't get on the bed if the kittens are there.  She sustained a few scratches in the recent cat fight, and is feeling a bit sore. I know what I'm like when my leg is painful,  I am always keeping it wout of harms way; I think Izzy is doing the same.  Luckily she's on antibiotics anyway.

 Izzy and Lewis are also getting on well now.  She's been happy to nuzzle Shelby for some time,  and the other day we saw her nuzzling Lewis.  

I'm really pleased.  Lewis has been fascinated by Izzy since he first saw her.  He had many rebuffs as, in his eagerness to get close to her, he ignored all feline protocols.

He loves to lie somewhere near her and watch her. 

Jackets and Collars

Some weeks ago we introduced them to collars, and they accepted them much more quickly than we expected.  We've had to replace one already.

Less than a week ago, the day after they had their 2nd jab, we introduced them to Jackys.

When Wash was recuperating, I bought him a fabulous jacket from Mynwood Cat Jackets so that we could take him outside without him running off.  We thought it would be good to introduce the kittens to Jacky so that we could take them outside on leads before giving them free access.

I ordered 2 Mynwood jackets for them, for their size.  This time I went for fluourescent ones,  I'll get something more low key when they've grown.

We let them placy with the jackets first,  and then put them on.   Shelby was a complete drama queen.  Lewis was walking like a Hackney pony,  lifting his feet really high like he was walking in porridge.    The first day, they had them on for 5 minutes and that was it.    From day 2, each time they had Jacky put on, they were carried outside.   They were shown to the chickens,  they were allowed to sniff the air and catnip.  And then they came in and had to wear Jacky for an increasing length of time.   In between times, both Jackys are on the foor in the living room,  and they play with them.

They are now walking normally when wearing them,  so it won't be long before we let them put theur paws on the ground outside.   

Before then, we want to get them used to wearing their loc8tor tabs on their collars,  so that will be happening later today.

Raw!

I mentioned the other day that the kittens transition to a raw diet was going well.

I went to Sainsburys a week or so ago to get some of the Lily's Chicken.  It was a good price, and I bought loads.  21 packs, which should havebenen enough to finish the transition.  Except things didn't work out as planned. .

When I got it home, I realised it wasn't Lily's Chicken whatever.  It was Lily's Organic Chicken something else.  They did not want to know.  They refused anything that was mixed with this stuff.

At first we assumed it was the raw they were objecting to.  We tried them on just the Organic Chicken and they wouldn't touch it. 

DH ended up feeding them just the raw food.  And they ate it.  All of it.  Since then, they have been served only Nutriment.  They eat the chicken, they tolerate the rabbit, they won't go near the salmon or the venison.     

They are currently eating about 1 and a half of the 175g packs a day, between them.  I've had to get a system going so that we always have a defrosted pack ready to serve, but we don't have lots of defrosted packs sitting in the fridge.  They like it fresh.

We're lucky that there is a company that specialises in raw food and they deliver to our area. I I think we'll end up getting a fortnightly delivery for a while.

Yesterday we decided to give them a treat, and I offered them a defrosted chicken heart, which is one of the additional Nutriment things that are suitable for kittens. .  They tried to eat it, but just couldn't manage it, so I cut it in half.  It took them ages to eat, but they seemed to really like them.  I gave them another half each today, and they devoured those.  Again, it took a lot of eating,  and Shelby speared hers on one paw, and held it up like a kebab to try and eat it.  It was good to see her natural behaviours showing as she worked out how to eat it.

They aso have access to dry food,  as Izzy likes dry food.  We're using Lily's dry kitten food, and only put down small amounts at a time. All 3 cats eat it.

They are growing well.  and now are the size of small cats (although they still have kitten faces).   Shelby weighed in a over 2.2kg this morning,  and Lewis was just over 2.3kg.

We'll be booking them in for neutering in a couple of weeks time.

Slattern

I have a a very old, very large, sheepskin rug, which has seen better days.

Back when we were working, I had a glorious deep purple 4-sheepskin sized rug in front of the fire.  It was gorgeous,  and rugs from other companies just don't compare.   Our previous cat, Maddie, had an accident on it in her later years, and washing couldn't save it.  I replaced it immediately with another rug in a dark brown, from the same company. 

I keep thinking about replacing this one, as it is getting matted now and it's glory days are long gone.  I haven't because Izzy is getting older and may yet suffer an accident.  And now, of course, we have kittens who  like to pick at the rug.

I'll replace it eventually. And from the same company (if they are still in business!).

Because it's in front of the fire it gets full of stuff.   I have to shake it out frequently.  As is proper, I used to do this in the back garden.  However, the last few times I've done it,  the Girls have gone beserk and last time one of them leapt in the air and flew into next door's garden.

I'm not surprised.  When I  flick it,  it both looks and sounds like a ginormous bird, of course it scares  the Girls witless.

I've taken to shaking it out at the front of the house.

I feel like such a slattern. My grandmother would be ashamed.

Goodbye Christmas

All the decorations are down, boxed, and back in the loft.

Despite only having relatively few things up, it took a day or so to get sorted out.    The new wall mounted cat tree arrived, and DH spent half a day building that and putting it up.    Lewis was fascinated, and wtached carefully as DH put it up.

It's big.  It's so heavy, it has to be screwed to the wall in several places,  and that's what took the time.  That and the fact that there were some missing bits, and DH had to make them.

All 3 cats ignored the new feature, which surprised me as the kittens are usually into everything. 

Lewis did decide to try out the Cat Cave this afternoon, so hopefully they will all try using it.

 Their current favourite plaything is a blue Ikea bag, which I used to bring logs in from outside and discarded on the kitchen floor.   It's provided them with hours of endless fun as they use it as a hiding place, a bed,  camouflage,  a sled, and something which makes a lovely crinkly rustling noise.

More progress with Izzy today.  She nuzzled Shelby, no aggression at all.  Later, she was eating from her bowl (which is microchip activated),  and she let Shelby muscle in and eat beside her!  We were amazed!    We had to remove Shelby though, as we're trying to get the kittens on to a raw food diet,  and Izzy was eating Felix.   (We have tried several times over the years to get Izzy on to raw,  but she steadfastly refuses to eat anything that has even a pinch of raw food mixed in.  Wash happily converted to 100% raw after just one meal. At the time Nutriment only did cat raw in 500g frozen blocks so nuch was wasted. We gave up in the end).

The kittens food transition is going well,  and the Nutriment (raw food) proportion of each meal is now just over 50%.   They have Views on which variety of Nutriment they will eat and which they won't ("No  thanks" to the Venison, " F**k off" to the Salmon (honestly, you'd think I'd put poison down), "If I must " to the Rabbit, "Not sure about this" to the beef,  and "nom nom" to the chicken).    It also matters what we mix it withh.  Chicken Lily's is most acceptable.  Lewis will also eat Lily's Lamb Casserole.  No one will eat the Hunters HotPot.     I'm re-trying the Poultry Pie and the fishy one over the next few days.  The local cat charity lady will be pleased to get the unopened rejected packets.

They continue to be amazingly sociable little cats.

 

Big Paw Forward

Last night, all three cats slept on the bed!

At the same time!!

Lewis, the young boy cat, was lying on my legs;   Izzy was lying between me and my husband;  Shelby was lying down nby my husband's feet.  

All was calm,  all was quiet.



This morning, Izzy was sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor and the kittens were having their pre-breakfast mad runaround.    She watched them.

A strange thing happened

Tired out from seeing in the New Year with our lovely friends (S&K),  DH and I went to bed early on the 1st Jan.

We were woken in the middle of ythe night by Izzy, crying.  We leapt out of bed and DH ran downstairs.

On the bottom step was a rat.  A dead rat.  Not a baby.

But that wasn't the cause of the crying.    Izzy was watching out of the kitchen door, and could see an enormous grey cat in the garden.    When DH arrived in the kitchen, she went through the catflap and attacked,  and there was a horrendous fight.

She came back in, and we checked her over to see if she had been bitten (by the rat or ny the cat).  She seemed OK,  just a bit wobbly.

We aren't sure if the rat was a present for us,  or whether she was staring to teach the kittens about catching things.    We aren't sure if she killed the rat herself, or whether it was already dead.   She'd gone out of the cat flap at ten (I love SureFlap Smart Connect cat flaps!, so ythat's when it would have been brought in.   Rigor had set in, and a quick google told us that the timing meant she might have killed it herself.   

She's never been a ratter, so that was a bit of a surprise.  She's not been a fighter either, so we were bemused by the night's events.

I mentioned this to Miss Tween, and she reminded me that we had had a big grey cat visiting before,  and I had called it ThunderThighs because it had jumped on the fence and made the fence wobble.  MIss Tween also found a load of cat fur (both Izzy's and Thunderthighs) at the scene of the battle.

We checked her (Izzy, not Miss Tween) over again in the morning, and she seems OK.

It occurred to us that maybe Izzy went out to fight to protect the kittens?

Kittens second week

Our guests left on Saturday afternoon.  We carried the kittens into the sitting room so Izzy could see them on her territory.  She was unimpressed.

On the Sunday morning, we opened the hall door so they could have the run of downstairs.   Once the dor was open, it will stayed open.    Izzy, our older cat, kept trying to get away, so we took her upstairs and she stayed on the bed.    Shelby tried the cat flap, but its microchip operated and she isn't programmed in to it yet so she couldn't get it to work.  

They've went everywhere, in everything, under everything, and they are fascinated by the christmas tree (I didn't put any baubles of decorations on the bottom half, so they are just biffing the branches).

Shelby followed me upstairs into the bedroom, and Izzy just glared at her.  A bit later, Shelby jumped on the bed,  and edged closer and closer.  Eventually she tried to sniff Izzy's face, and Izzy growled a bit and then just got off the bed.     We think that went really well!    Not ready for unsupervised mixing, of course.      Geoff took Izzy into his study, which is one of the few remaining kitten-free zones (and it will remain an Izzy only space for the forseeable future),  so she didn't get overwhelmed.

Downstairs, Izzy would sleep on the cat tree, and Shelby slept on the sofa opposite. Mostly, Izzy ignored the kittens.  

The kittens were fascinated by Izzy.  They kept wanting to get close to her, climbing on the back of the sofa or up th cat tree to reach her.  She would growl at them,  and then hiss or biff if they got too close. 

If they persisted, we removed them.  We didn't want Izzy to get stressed out. 


Downstairs again,  Shelby had been watching the chickens in the garden  and could hardly contain her excitement.   We're currently slowly merging a flock of 5 pullets from this years hatch in with our existing old ladies, and none of the garden is fenced off so there is plenty of room.    This means that, from time to time,one or other of the two flocks congregates around the back door (anfd, if its the youngsters,  they peck on the cat flap).   Shelby came round the corner to see a few hens stadiing just the other side of the glass door,  and she charged at them, ending up standing on her back legs with her body against the glass.   The pullets are used to being ignored by my other cats, so being charged at by something was a bit of a shock.  And of course once the alarm went up, they all started!

 Shelby is definitely the bolder of the two.  She's fearless in her investigations;  she's happy to be stroked,  but has no hesitation in mobving off when something more interesting comes along, or she's had enough.  Lewis is a purr monster,  and loves having his tummy tickled.    He likes to look out of the window, but isn't fascinated by the outside

More visitors arrived on Christmas Eve, and the kittens didn't bat their eyelids.  They continued to be happy, payful, well adjusted kittens.    

Izzy was brilliant with them.    As the days progressed,  we saw that she would sometimes let them pass without growling.     Yesterday (New Years Eve), Izzy and Shelby nosed each other.  Shelby was so excited she came back a second time.  On the 3rd time, Izzy had had enough and growled at her,  and she backed off.

We also noticed that Izzy started to watch with interest from the safety of the cat tree, rather than watching without being seen to watch.

We aren't home and dry yet,  but we are really happy with the way it has gone so far .



. 

Getting ready for Chritsmas

It was a struggle this year.

It took me days to put up half the normal amount of decorations. The tree was only half decorated (we kept the bottom half free of baubles because of the kittens).  

I did manage to make a wreath.  I forgot to take a pic until just now,  and the batteries have run out on the very discreet lights.

I also made and decorated some cakes. One was fully marzipanned, iced and decorated.    The cakes for us and for Miss Tween's Mum were not iced, they had glazed nut toppings.  I used only Almonds this year: Miss Tween has an allergic reaction to walnuts and pecans

Somehow I managed to not take pictures, which is a shame as I was quit eproud of the artwork (considering the limited nature of one type of nut)

I also made a few puddings, and I'm pleased I did.

Shelby and Lewis Meet the Vet

Each time our visitors went out,  we tried to get Izzy to take a look at the kittens.  We didn't force them to meet each other.  Izzy did well.  There was a bit of growling, and some hissing,  but that was only to be expected.

On Thursday the kittens went off to the Vet.  Shelby got into the travel bag, but Lewis refused.  Given their history, we wondered if he thought he was being moved on again.  They behaved beautifully at the Vets and were given a clean bill of health.  They were jabbed, and chipped,  and we filled in lots of forms.

Back at home, the kittens were very sleepy, so we left them upstairs.

They were both really good natured with the visitors.  We've started moving them on to a raw diet (the kittens, not the vistors).

We also gradually switched them over from a normal litter tray to an electric litter tray.  We started with a normal litter tray with normal (ish) litter.    The first change was to put a lid on the litter tray.   Then we put their normal (ish) litter on in the base of the electric one.  Then we switched them to the crystal litter.  Then we put the front on.  Then we moved the litter tray.  Then we plugged it in.

A couple of days later we found Lewis making himself at home in Izzy's identical litter tray downstairs, so that worked really well.

It amazes me that they take so many changes in their stride.

On Friday, Miss Tween came over for the afternoon and stayed overnight.  I'd expected that my overseas giests would be gone, but it turnedout that "Wednesday to Friday" really meant "Wednesday thru Friday".   She knew one of the guests so had a good evening.  We got to try out the new self-inflating, very sturdy, bed that I'd bought a few weeks ago. 

We'd been trying to get her over earlier, without letting on why,  but that was the earliest. we could arrange something.   It worked out really well,  she was completely besotted with them from the start.

Shelby and Lewis - first days

Shelby and Lewis spent their first evening in the bathroom.  They had a cat tree, a litter tray, food water,  two beds,  a bath with towels in, and lots of space where we'd cleared the room of damageable things.

On Tuesday,  we let them in to our bedroom.   And then put them back in the bathroom.  And then let them in the bedroom.  We temporarily barricarded the bannister,  but had nothing to block the stairs,  so we couldn't let them free range.

We made sure Izzy started to become aware of them.  She'd been aware of them since Monday, and wasn't happy.     On Tuesday evening,  I took her in to the bedroom, while Shelby and Lewis were playing.  I sat on the bed with Izzy, stroking her and talking to her.  She was Not A Happy Cat.  She tried to hiss,  she made that "intruder" yowl,  which I tried to cover up.  After a few minutes, I took her out.

I repeated the exercise later.  More hissing and growling,  but the kittens seemed oblivious.  Later, when the kittens were back in the bathroom,  I took Izzy upstairs.  She refused to stay.

She ignored me for the rest of the evening,  and was a bit more cuddly with her Dad.   She also refused to come in to the bedroom that night (she normally comes in when we are safely in bed).  And she refused to stay when we brought her in the following morning.

We got some cardboard out of the loft, and fashioned a barrier for the bannister, which folded round to block the top of the stairs.   With all the other doors shut, we were able to let the kittens free range between the bathroom and our bedroom.

Later in the day,  I cleared the stairs and hall,  and now their free ranging area included the stairs and hallway.   It's a bit of a challenge when we need to answer the door.

Izzy is not happy.   No surprise.   Despite lots of cuddles and reassurance,  she is busy being Not Happy.  She went out into the garden, and tried to climb on the (collapsed) swing bench.      Sunshine,  our friendly little Leghorn,  watched her with interest.  Izzy interpreted the interest as a bit of a threat, but was unable to escape.

Sunshine decided to go and say hello.   She climbed up the broken bit of swing to get closer to Izzy.  Unfortunately, it was an awkward climb, ad she had to flap her wings to help her balance.  Izzy tok that as an attack and ran off.    She's back in the house now, and is lying on one of her (many) beds on the sofa.   I picked her up for a cuddle, and she purred for a while... then she remembered she was cross with me, and leapt off me.

We did a couple more "take Izzy into the bedroom to watch the kittens" things,  and then our overseas visitors arrived.

New babies

After a (rather depressing) month of searching,  we collected two 16 week old kittens on Monday afternoon.

May I please introduce Shelby and Lewis.   

 
Rescued by a lovely lady near Daventry,  and turned into sweet natured little kittens.   She named them Shelby and Lewis, and those are the names we're currently using for them.

They are settling in well.

Izzy is unamused.

Bye, Boys

The Boys went off on Monday, leaving Simon (green ring) and Tan (brown ring) alone in the "chick" area.    DH said Simon started crowing as they left:  he hasn't crowed before. 

Yes, we're going to try and keep two cockerels together.  Barnevelders are one breed where it may well work.

I arrived at the allotment about an hour later, let the girls out s on to the path so they could eat grass, and let the two Boys out into the main area.    They came out of the "chick area", eventually,  and spent ages investigating.     They didn't meet the girls.

I did all the housekeeping,  and called the Girls in for some vegetables.   The Boys panicked a little, and stayed out of the way.  Over the next half hour or so, they worked their way into the same area that the Girls were in, but kept their distance. 

Violet, one of the previous year's Girls,  went up to them and stared at them.  She wandered off.

Simon was eating some spring greens when Elizabeth walked up behind him, and biffed him up the bottom.  He leapt in the air, straight up like a pheasant, and hurried away.

I sprinkled corn amongst the leaves, so everyone had plenty of reason to forage. Gradually the boys separated from each other  and worked their way around the area.  They came back together every so often, and exchanged quiet clucks.  They were definitely sharing info and trying to work out what had happened.

Much later, Simon tried crowing again,  and received a response from a cockerel a long long way away.  They had a convo for a while,  and then it all died down.

I left them to it.

We went back the next day,  and all was fine.   The Boys were in the same area as the Girls,  and were being ignored.    They have made no attempts to tempt the girls over with a bit of corn, and we've seen no activity (don't blame them, it's far too cold).     I think it'll be a while before they realise it's their job to find food and tidbits for the Girls.  They are a slow maturing breed, so they're still just young boys themselves.

Ping and Pong, our Dorking girls(bought in as chicks the year before Violet, Elizabeth and Bott), are looking much more relaxed and are milling around with the main flock more .    Bertie was vile to them,  I think they rejected his advances early on, and he never forgave them.

We don't know yet whether the Boys are sleeping in the Cube still or whether they've moved to the main coop.    I know the Girls were occupying 2 coops between them before Bertie went,  so it will be interesting to see how this works out.

I'm keen to shut the "Chick" area down so we can do something about the ground.  It's been very denuded,  despite normally only being used for a few months a year.    I want to move the Cube off it, into our current fallow area, so I can move 2 or 3 of this year's Girls down to the Allotment.   DH was rather surprised at this,   he assumed that I'd be keeping all 5 of the Newbies here at home.  

They need somewhere to stay for a short while before we introduce them to all the others.I wonder if the boys will recognise their hatchmates?  Will the Girls recognise the biys?

It was Other Chap's turn to name the cockerels,  so they have been renamed "Mutt" and "Geoff".

Onward and upward.



     

New DIgs

Tomorrow will be All Change for the Allotmenteers and the Boys.

Today, it seemed the right day to move the Littlees out of their Go and into the Cube, which means that they will be sharing the closed run (albeit with a divider down the middle) with the Big Girls.   The Littlees have had daytime access to their half of the run for a couple of weeks,  and they've visited the Cube before.

We cleared out the junk from their of the Run, and I moved their water, their chair, and their feeder from the Go pen.  Early afternoon, I shut their old run so they could nbo longer gain access.

At about 2.30, which is half an hour earlier than usual,  I shut everyone away.  The Littlees had a hanging feeder and some swede,  and were happy mooching about.   At 3.15, when they normally think about going to bed,  I put a torch inside the Cube.  At 3.30, I went out, opened the back of the Cube by sliding the roof open a bit,  and called them .  They came and had a look, but all went out again.

At 4.15, I coud see that they were hanging around by the exit door.  I went out, and could hear that they were calling, distressed at being in the wrong place.    I opened the back of the Cube, and called them.   Astrid and Sunshine, the two Golden Pheasant Leghorns, came straight up.  The others came up the ladder but wouldn't come in.

After about 8 minutes, I had 4 of them in.  I slid the pop hole shut, and waited.  I then opened it a crack so the torch shone out, but the girls couldn't get out. I called, and Sylvia climbed up the ladder.  I opened the pop hole so she could get in,  and Summer ran out.  I did the same again.  Summer was much more distressed, and was running around the pen.    I thought about going round the front to catch herbut I decided Id wait until it was dark to do that.   I really wanted her to find her own way in.

Eventually, she climbed the ladder.  I opened the door for her, and she went in, hesitantly.  When she was in, I gently closed th epop hole,   said good night to them, and shut the roof.

We don't have an auto opener on this Cube. The one I want to buy has an App, and the Android version should be available at some point. It would be possible to buy the older version and then retrofit a new circuitboard when the App is released on Android,  but the additional cost is quite big,  I've been hanging on, and hanging on, waiting.

The evenings aren't too bad,  it's the mornings that are going to be a bit tough.  (Every time I say that, I chuckle at how things have changed.  I used to start work at 6am!)

Lets hope that it's all OK tomorrow.

Princess Seams

I finally made myself make myself a top.

It didn't start well.

I bought Ellie & Mac's Tres Belle  wrap top drees pattern.  A lot of indy designers have been extending their size range,  and the pictures showed some ladies of a similar size to me.   I decided to make a muslin of just the bodice, to see if it would work, before I committed to the dress.

It was a disaster.

I'm experienced enough now to not get disillusioned by this,  but it did remind me of how I felt when I first tried to make an item of clothing (and then didn't try sewing clothes again for years).

I dug out my own cross over top pattern, made using my SureFit Designs body blueprint.  I wanted to compare the pattern pieces to see whether I could make some adjustments to one of the other.     As I contemplated the two patterns,  I thought about options.

And I decided to put away the cross over front for now,  and to make a princess seam blueprint instead.    I've been thinking about doing this for a loooong time,  I've just never been motivated enough.

I watched Glenda's videos on designing a princess seam,  and decided to try one from the armscye.  (I've done a princess seam from the shoulder when I made a jacket at Judith's Jacket Retreat) .

I also watched Glenda's video on sewing princess seams,  and that was a real godsend. it made stitching the curved bit to the straight bit relatively simple.`

So, I made my pattern pieces,  I quickly cut a muslin and stitched it together, and.... it wasn't bad at all.    I kept the blueprint,  and made another version with a lower neckline and a shorter shoulder seam.   I made this in reasonable fabric,  and it looked OK.       I was pleased with it. 

It's not finished.  I need to do the neckband, and I need to hem it.  I did put sleeves in though, so I could test the whole pattern before moving on.

And then I did another version of the pattern, with a still lower neckline.   I've cut it out (apart from the sleeves) and it's sitting on the cutting table waiting for me to get on with it.

I had some other bits and pieces I needed to sort out, so it'll be a little while before I can complete it.

time's nearly up

So we're already 2/3rds of the way through November!

The Littlees are no longer little.   Emotionally they are still little chicks,  keeping out of the way of the Big Girls, and dancing and flapping about.    Astrid is the boldest, and she'll eat from my hand without hesitation.  She won't let me pick her up easily though.      She's currently the front runner for staying with Sylvia (the Silver Laced Barnevelder) when everyone else goes off to the Allotment.  Sunshine,  the timid but ewxceptionally pretty golden leghorn,  is the other contender.   She's a little sweetie too.   Blondie and Summer, the two Silver Duckwing Leghorn girls,  will both go to the allotment. 

We're trying to make a final decision on the Boys at the allotment.   They are now the oldest we've ever kept table boys.  Teh Barnevelders are fine,  but the Leghorns are pains in the prioverbial.   Junior, Bertie's son,  is just starting to become interested in the girls, so it won't be long before he starts being a darned nuisance as well.

Bertie also has to go,   and he will be replaced by one of the Silver Laced Barnevelder boys.  It's time to choose which of the 3 stay.

Do we keep just one (in which case 2 girls will go down to keep him company the day the other boys go)?   Or do we try and keep two, and see if they will coexist? .  We have a flock of 13 ladies, not counting the girls from this year,  and that is too many for one boy to manage, so I'm thinking that 2 boys might make a better job of it.  Or it might be a disaster waiting to happen.     I don't want to be in the position of having to cull a boy later.


We need to make a final decision,  as I then have to start thinking about how to introduce the boy(s) to the flock.  The process is likely to be different if I have one boy vs having two boys.

  

Makes for Miss Tween

Miss Tween came to stay during Half Term,  and she tried on the new sized clothing I'd made for her.  I wanted to check fit before final sewing of waistbands and doing hemming etc.

Of course I only have pics of the unfinished items, but here they are

The tops are a little big, especially the pink one,  but I'll carry on with that size as she's growing.

In other (random) news

I have needed to keep my leg elevated at night for some months now. 

It hasn't been practical to raise the end of the bed so, at the suggestion of the consultant,  I had been packing under the mattress with a princess-and-the-pea arrangement of pillows.   It has worked well,  and we taked about maybe getting an adjustable bed.

Our horrible, waste of a vast amount of money, Technogel mattresses have been bearable since I bought a fab wool mattress topper (Devon Duvets),  and we hadn't had any plans to change them at the moment.

By chance,  an ad for an adjustable frame which fits inside an existing frame popped up in my Facebook feed.   It turned out to be an American thing, and I couldn't find the equivalent in the UL.  It did make me look at adjustable beds though,  and I found that the choice was considerably better than when we last looked many years ago.

We drove a reasonable distance to check out the beds and the mechanisms and the mattresses.  The mechanisms and mattresses were fine,  but the beds just weren't up to the quality of our existing bed. 

The lovely company checked out our existing bed, and confirmed that it wasn't going to be possible to insert their mechanism into it. 

Their metal frames looked flimsy in comparison (plus one of the options we'd had meant that they were out of the picture anyway),  I can't stand divan beds,  and I'm not keen on wooden beds either.

We took a couple of days to talk through what to do.  I really liked the idea of an adjustable bed, but I didn't want to give up my gorgeous Nights in Iron bed. 

DH wasn't so sure that the mechanism wouldn't fit.  He thought that he might be able to make some mods to either the bedframe or the lifting frame to get it to work.   We decided we'd order a bed, and then DH could see if he could do anything.  He and I managed to agree on wooden bed from their range that would be an OK fallback.

 We placed our phone order.  All the bits to make the bed to our spec were available,  they had a van delivering to our area in a couple of days,  so it all happened quite fast.

As we watched them install the new bed, we realised that there was no way that our fabulous ron frame was going to work with it.    It's too big and heavy to store anywhere, so we're having to sell it.      If I ever go back to a normal bed,  my first choice would be exactly that bed again.





We've had the adjustable one for  few nights now, and it's working well.  We#re used to having 2 3 foot mattresses,  although our previous ones had a protector on to make them feel like one 6 foot mattress.  Because we are both using the head raising option, at different heights, in addition to me using the foot raising option, we've had to get separate sheets for the two 3 foot mattresses. It doesn't feel as odd as I thought it might.

We have 7 nights to confirm that we are happy with the mattresses.

 It's looking good so far.

In other (chickeny) news: BAD Big Boy

Big Boy launched his first proper attack against DH today.   

According to our original plan  they have about 3 more weeks until they go for the chop,  but it is entirely possible that they won't make it that far.  Big Boy and Long John Silver are sealing the fate of all this year's table boys.

We've agreed that we'll see how it goes.  We also need to heft Junior and the Barnies, to see what weight they are likely to be.

We're (I'm) also going to have to make a decision on who stays.

In other (sewing) news

I finally managed to clear the table AND do some cutting out.

I've made a new-size pair of leggings, waistband only basted on. in some lovely halloween scuba.   I'm waiting to see Miss Tween so we can see how they fit.

I've also made a really lovely looking raglan sleeved top.  Well, the fabric choices are lovely - glow in the dark green spider webs on a black background, for the front,  and bright green for the back, sleeves, and neckband.    However,  I printed the wrong pattern (Bella Sunshine Reagan Raglan), instead of one I've made before.

This pattern has asort of crossover V neck, which I haven't done before. It's mostly OK.  The inside is a bit of a mess,  but I keep telling myself it's only a test garment, and my next one will be better.  On the plus side,  I might not have actually made htis pattern if I hadn't printed it in error, so that's a win.

I've printed out the correct raglan pattern now (Patterns for Pirates Jolly Roger Raglan), which I've made before in a smaller size.  I've also sorted out some fabric for it,  I just need to try and get on with it before my sewjo takes another holiday.

I also had the urge to make her a Dolman sleeved top.  I looked through my enormous stash of patterns,  and the only Dolman for youngsters is an A4 version.  I don't have the energy for printing and sticking, so that won't be happening any time soon.   I did look at the adult's version,  but the sizing is too off, even on the smallest sizes.   If I can find a free or cheap PDF A0 version, I might buy it.

Pattern Emporium launched two adult tee shirt patterns recently.  I don't need tee shirt patterns (I don't really need any  patterns!),  but they were doing a special bundle discount, and if I bought other patterns I got them at lots of money off too.  So I ended up buying 5 patterns (2 tee shirts, 2 trousers, 1 shorts).

A few weeks ago I decided to print out all my A0 PDFs, to keep safe in case the A0 printer broke,  They are all hanging beautifully from hang-a-plan hangers, organised in alphabetical order.   When I was printing them, it made me confront just how many patterns I had,  and how few I had actually made.    Almost all of the patterns were for the types of clothes I'd like to make,  and most of them were bought when the designer had a sale (and after spending time  in my cooling off bookmark folder  "Patterns I'm considering Buying" ).

I then realised that pattern buying was a bit like fabric buying... a completely separate hobby to making things.   That was a very comforting thought.     It made me feel much better, and less guilty (that I shouldn't need them because of my Surefit Designs blueprint).

I'm going to have to split the adult sized patterns  into two hang-a-plan hangers.  Technically they all fit on one,  but it is blooming heavy to lift off the hook,  AND having them split onto two hangers would make inserting newly purchased patterns a tiny bit easier.  Not that I'm planning on buying any more, of course.   

If the clothes fit Miss Tween I'll take photos and post in the next couple of days.

   

Ashes

We had the expected phonecall from the Vet last Tuesday, to say that Wash's ashes were ready for collection.

I said I'd collect the next day.  So, on Wednesday,  I braced myself,  and collected the ashes.  DH was out until mid afternoon, so I did it as part of a circular tour doing errands in the morning.

It was a big box.  When Maddie was cremated 12 (?) years ago,  we had a small box which was just big enough to conain the ashes.  This was huge in comparison.    I put it on the table,  waiting for DH to get back.

Later,  we opened the box together.  Inside, there was a smaller box, locked into a cut out in the big box.  Inside that, was a plastic bag containing the ashes.   Underneath the smaller box was an organza drawstring ba which intelsf contaimed a folded plastic bag. .  We thought that maybe the idea was to double bag the ahes, and then put them in the organza bag.

I opened the organza bag and pulled out the plastic bag, to do just that. 

Inside were clippings of Wash's fur.

It was completely unexpected.

Caught unawares,  a surge of emotion.

I opened it again just now,  to take the picture.  It was OK this time.

Life goes on

My cat loving friend sent me a short but sweet email.

My other, animal loving, best friend asked lots of questions and was very kind.  Her sister, who also knew Wash, sent me a lovely message.

My brother came round while we were out.  I messaged to let him know we were 40 minutes away.  He was still there when we got home.

Miss Tween cried.  She has messaged me every night to tell me that she misses Wash.  She likes to reminisce,  it's her way of dealing with it.    I'm not ready to reminisce too much,  it's like picking at a scab.  I need to let the scab heal before I start scratching at it.

Mostly I've just been pretending that Wash is in another room.   Sometimes, the realisation that I'm not going to see him again,  or hear his loud purr,  or smell his fur, pushes through my pretence.  

This morning we received a condolences card from the Vet.   It was unexpected, and it made me cry.  It made DH well up.


There's lots of other stuff going on, and I need to keep myself under control. 

DH is keeping himself busy.   I'm trying to clear up, yet again - nothing to do with Wash's stuff.   I've been in a bit of a circular "trench" (I can't clear A until I've doneB,  I cant do B until C, I cant do D until D,  I can do E so I'll quickly do that,  I can't do F until D, I can't do G until A... that sort of thing)  and I can't summon the energy to  break the circle.   I know that the clutter is preventing me from doing stuff.... or, at least, it's giving me an excuse for not dong stuff.

Yesterday I managed some unrelated clearing up. This was stuff which is not in the circle,  it's a whole different set of stuff but it adds to the general feeling of overwhelming paralysis.  It involved clearing a spce in the utility room,  moving a large, rarely used,  electrical item out of a cupboard into the space in the utility room,  (getting side tracked into taking the another item from the utility room and spring cleaning it)   then reorganising the cupboard so some smaller electrical stuff on the counter could go in the cupboard but still be easily accessible.

This made a surprising difference and let me sort out two sections of the worktop  that they just look untidy now (rather than a mess of stuff).


On the Wash front, we've taken up his food bowl we've disposed of his opened medication; we've offered the unused syringes to a local cat charity (no one local had a diabetic cat that used those syringes).    We haven't yet removed the sharps box.

I opened the door to the front bedroom. I was only ever closed to stop him sleeping on the bed in there.

I also decided to break the circle of paralysis. I looked at the mess and resisted the urge to bin everything.   Instead,  building on yesterdays quick rearrangement,  I looked at what was a relatively easy thing to do, but would have an impact.  It imvolved me literally sweeping a load of stuff from the bed in the guest room into a pile on the floor, so I had space to work.

I'd better get back to it.  

Onwards and upwards.

Washy died today.

They kept Wash in last night.

The bloods an urine didn't show anything, but he was very poorly.

Our usual Vet was out today (he told us yesterday that he wouldn't be here). I rang at 9 and the Vet in charge of Wash told us that he had improved a little and was sitting uphe outlined what the plan for today was, and we would speak to her at lunchtime for an update.

She phoned about half an hour later to say that Wash's pupils weren't dilating in response to light, which indicated a brain injury.   She explained the options,  which were few.  We ruled out sending him to a Neurologist as we didn't want to put him through even more stuff, when the outcome was likely to be that nothing could be done.   We we agreed that we would come in at 5 to decide what to do. 

I had an appointment on behalf of ny brother at 2, and I was on my way to him just before 1 when the Vet called.  I pulled over to take the call, as it could only be bad news.

Washy had deteriorated, and she wanted us to come in sooner.  Almost now ish.

I phoned to cancel the appointment,  messaged my brother (his phone was engaged), phoned my husband,  and drove home.

We went straight to the Vets to see Wash. He barely registered we were there, apart from when we scratched his chin.   I told him all the usual thing: how loved he was, who loved him, how lucky we were to have had him in our life.  This time I added that he was going to have one more injection, and he would be pain free.  

I had wanted him to die at home.  He hated the Vets so much.  But we couldn't put hi through bringing him home.

We consented.  We said goodbye.  DH held Washy while the Vet injected through his tube;  I held DH.

Later, I messaged my other, cat loving, brother.  I did't know what to write.  In the end, I sent just 3 words.

"Washy died today." 

Wash

Wash has been having a really rough time lately.

Some time ago, he developed a limp.   It's not unusual,  we assumed he'd probably landed funny (again).  It improved a bit, and then got worse, and then got a lot worse very quickly.  We took him to the Vet.

Our normal vet was on holiday. The Vet we saw was very thorough and very kind.  She ruled some things out,  she shared her fears,  and we agreed that we'd crate him,   so we could ensure he rested his leg, give him so metacam, and we'd review in a week.

It didn't get better, despite him being crated,  so we took him in for an x-ray, to make sure that it wasn't anything sinister.    It wasn't a cancerous growth,  but there was evidence of arthritis, swe had to continue with Metacam.

He was not a happy bunny when we got him home, which is really unusual.  He gets very very stressed being left at the Vets, and normally he's really happy to be home.  He wasn't at all happy.  We assumed that his arm was hurting from being proddded and poked,  and that he was recovering from the sedation.

It didn't get better.  As time went on, we realised that he most likely hadn't been to the toilet.  (He had been outside, hiding under some bishes, dso he could have been, but we didn't think so.  We crated him again, so we could could double check what was happening, and we dosed him with Kattylax.   He did not go to the toilet, things got a bit worse, and we took him back to the vets.  

Th Vet confirmed he was bunged up.  They kept him in for the day so they could xray him,  give him an enema to unblock him, and do some some other tests. They did a blood test, and all was clear.   He came home,  he was quiet, but a little better.

It took more than a week before he got back to more like his old self - getting up on the sofa,  wanting to lie on our legs, that sort of thing.  He seemed quite well, almost his old self.  He even slept on our bed for a couple of nights.

And then on Saturday morning, he was sick after eating.  This is not particularly unusual,  although it hasn't happened for a long time.  He was sick again after eating a bit later as well.    We decided to stop the metacam, as this can cause sickness .  On Sunday, we tried him on white fish, but he was sick every time he ate, even if he ate only a tiny anount.      DH did an ear prick test, and the results were low (as he hadn't eaten) so we didn't give him any insulin.    

I put the 'Orange TV' on for him, as he really loves lying by the fire.  We wanted him to stay in the sitting room with us, so we cold keep an eye on him.

On Monday he didn't eat, and we syringed water (laced with electrolytes) in to him,  just a teaspoon or so every few hours.  He kept it down, mostly,  but he went and had drink in the late evening and was sick again;  then, in the middle of the night I woke up because I heard him being sick yet again.

So, this morning we took him to the Vet.  He did a urine test immediately, to check for ketones (which would indicate an insulin issue).  Nothing, fortunately.

We've had to leave him there so they can put him on a drip to rehydrte him, do a blood test,  and check for other things (like an infection).  he's an elderly cat, and the Vet doesn't keep them in if it's avoidable,  so we're going back this evening to see what the status is, to see if he can come home. 

Poor little man.

Sisters

It's soon to be the birthday of someone very dear to me.  I un-hibernated the embroidery machine to make her a special card this year.

The design is from Nicola Elliot, Picturestitch Designs,  and it is called "3 sisters".  In the case of my dear friend,  it represents a mum and her 2 daughters.

Blondie Bombshell

It was very windy yesterday and, for the first time,  I let all the girls into all  the garden at the same time. Up to now, the Littlees have had a few hours extended ranging in peace before I let the Ladies out into the rest of the garden.

It wasn't too bad.  There was a bit of chasing, but nothing mean.   The Littlees kept themselves in a little flock,  and moved away whenever any of the Ladies approached. 

I was also vauuming and washing floors.  Mid afternoon, I carried the sheepskin rug out into the garden with the intention of shaking it.  I didn't get that far.

As soon as I stepped into the garden, with the rug under my arm,  pandemonium broke out.   The Ladies screamed and ran for cover.  The Littles exploded into a sort of chickeny fireworkfountain,. Unfortunately, they were standing in a corner,  between the summerhouse and the fence. They exploded up the side of th esummerhouse, and up the fence.... and one of them landed next door.

I ran into thehouse to get a step-stool but, when I got back,  I couldn't see her anywhere.   DH climbed up further down the gardewn to look, and still couldn't see her.


We rounded up the hens to make sure that we had one missing; we did.  

I called her, threw a few sunflower seeds into the garden,  nothing.  Not a peep. 

Our lovely next door neighbour (LNDN) was away, so we had no way of getting in to the garden.  I suggested removing a fence panel, but DH declined.    While we considered options (including me climbingon the log store nd into next door,  borrowing a child,  waiting until the LNDN's daughter got home so we could get her to come over and let us in......      There was another complicating factor, which I can't talk about.

And then she appeared on the fence.  She was debating which way to go.  Into our garden,  back into LNDN's garden, or move a few steps and fly off into the wilderness.

I ran round the gouses to the wilderness, just in case.  By the time I got there,  she'd disappeared.   I I assumed that she'd probably decided to come down into our garden. I hadn't taken my phone, so DH couldn't phone me to tell me one way or the other.  Just in case, I checked all round for signs of her before returning home,

She was shut up in the Big Girls run,  and was as jumpy as a jumping bean.  Any noise set her off.  I tried to catch her to calm her, but it was hopeless.   I left her to it for a while,  and in the end I had to let the Big Girls in to their run, in an attempt to 'force' Blondie to let me 'save' her.  

She sat on my lap in the big run,  eating the occasional sunflower seed.   I stroked her, talked to her, calmed her down.  And eventually carried her next door to go in with her sisters.

I'm hoping she forgets that there is a whole new world next door.

Fabric-buying incontinence

After 9 months of buying virtually no fabric,  I had a momentary lapse.  My Facebook feed was the trigger,  but I shouldn't have looked.  Once I'd decided the fabric was worth breaking my ban for,  I ordered a few more pieces to make best use of shipping (well, to get free shipping).

This then led to another lapse Which led to another lapse, as I decided to order the other fabrics that I'd so carefully rejected.  Then, while I was waiting for the fabric to arrive,  I saw some fabric I knew  my sewing granddaughter would love, and I'm seeing her shortly... so that was another lapse. And then there was another one.    I have another lapse due to be delivered today or tomorrow,  and a final lapse which I've only just ordered, because it was all Christmas and Halloween stuff. Not that I have any room in the boxes for "Christmas" and "Halloween" fabrics.

Despite the apparent   incontentince,  I have tried to be discerning.   There were so many otherfabrics that I didn't buy.     I haven't looked at the website since.  

On the plus side,  I haven't had buyers remorse about any of them.   Well, I've had buyers remorse about breaking my self-imposed ban and my lack of self control,  but no buyers remorse about the individual fabrics.  They are all really lovely.

I am going to do some emergency making in the next few days. If I use some of the new fabrics up,  maybe it won't seem so bad.

Maybe.

October 2nd

Well, I didn't make anything yesterday, and I haven't made anything today.

I did manage to get a huge amount of clearing done by midnight on the 30th,  and I could have done some cutting out yesterday.   I didn't, but I could have done.

I feel OK about it.  I feel mentallly in better shape.  I feel I achieved the important part of my objective:   clearing the mess.  Insetad of sewing,  I did some other stuff.

Part of the stuff was pulling together some bits for my sewing granddaughter, including re-buying some patterns I already own to be fair to the designer.

The table is junking up again (not quite sure how it happens!), so I need to keep on top of it.