deird_lj

- Voted in an election that still has no result. Apparently, our country has no firm opinions, and can't decide who we want in charge.

- Went to a birthday dinner for my sister. Three excitable nephews, LOTS of pasta, and a nice time. Also, the boyfriend met the rest of my family. :)

- Abandoned the new novel I'm halfway through, and picked up an Agatha Christie novel I've read several times. Had just got to the first murder (strangled girl guide) when I remembered that I'm actually trying to learn Latin and haven't looked at it for a while. Abandoned murder mystery before the second murder (drowned grandfather) and turned to Latin accusative forms - and then realised the second murder is where the whole thing gets interesting, and returned to Agatha Christie.
I seem to be indecisive...

- When I got home last night, Smudge (the kitten) came running to the door, realised it was me, and walked off disappointed. He's definitely a one-woman-cat.

- Played Knightmare Chess with the boyfriend today, who beat me very quickly - despite the fact that I'd ended up with 4 queens.

- Am halfway through House season 6. I think this might end up being my favourite season of the show. It's brilliant.

- Next weekend, by hook or by crook, I am getting new plants for my garden and planting them where the Evil Roses Of Doom have been sitting. It's spring, and I need my pretty flowers!

Very busy day.

( yesterday ...with footnotes )


The reason for all the packing? My parents are going to America for two weeks, and I'm housesitting for them.

I am now sleeping in my old bed, cooking in my old kitchen, and feeling eerily teenagered.


My cat is NOT happy with this sudden relocating, and is running around meowing in upset tones. This is impossible to sleep through - and the reason I was up before 6 this morning...

Elf has a fanboy.


Said fanboy is a tiny kitten called Smudge, who belongs to my housemate. He thinks Elf is the coolest thing ever, and has taken to following him around the house, and copying his every move.

My poor cat can't go and eat his breakfast without Smudge jumping in front of him and eating the breakfast Just Like Elf Does. (Or like Elf would if he could get past the kitten blocking his access.)

( an annoying part of kittenness )

So... kitten. *sighs* And now that I've mentioned that, I'm going to have to show you all photos, aren't I?

The kittens are staying with me again, this week.


This wouldn't be much of a problem, but my cat spent the early hours of the morning patrolling the front windows against possible threats. He does this every couple of months - presumably because he's seen something scary and bad out there, like another cat. Or a leaf.

It tends to involve increasingly lengthy and loud growling, which eventually turns into the most unearthly noises I've ever heard a cat make. And it is impossible to sleep through.

My general strategy in these situations is to shut him in the laundry (almost windowless, so nothing to growl at) and then leave him there to settle down and go back to bed.


Unfortunately, my laundry is currently full of kittens - who would not be happy being presented with an extremely annoyed cat who wants to attack everything on sight.

Instead, I have got up (at five o'clock) and am sitting with him on my lap while he glares at the world and make periodic attempts to get up and go back to screeching at the window...

I saw my sister's family the other day, and my sister asked Caleb if he could remember what bees do. (ie - go to flowers, get nectar, go home, make honey...)

He couldn't remember what nectar was called, and settled on "special juice!" before his mummy reminded him.


Then later...
"...and then, Auntie Deird, they go to the flowers and get the special juice."
"Really? How interesting!" (says Auntie Deird, in a fascinated voice) "And do you remember what the special juice is?"
"...special juice."
"And what's the name of the special juice, Caleb?"
"It's called special juice."
"Yes, but do you remember what Mummy called it?"
"...juice?"



When I got home, I found a pigeon sitting on the windowsill, smugly taunting my cat, who kept shrieking and trying to throw himself through the window, in a vain attempt at bird catching. In retrospect, it's probably a good thing that the window was in the way - he'd either have caught the bird, and left me with a big pile of bloody feathers to clean up, or have failed, and spent the whole night sulking.

1) Really scary when, while driving home, you start figuring out possible strategies for when if your car gets struck by lightning. Because there's lightning everywhere.

2) Really annoying when, while driving home in increasingly huge amounts of rain, you suddenly remember that you left one of the windows open so that you could air out the recently-vacated spare bedroom, and there's probably water pouring into your house…

3) Really freaky doing the last bit of the drive home at 20 kph, with the windscreen wipers on full blast, because you just can't SEE.

4) Really worrying spending a lot of the drive home trying to figure out whether or not you got struck by lightning while getting into your car - because, on the one hand, still upright/alive/burn-free, but on the other hand, there was a big static shock and now your skin's all tingly...
Pretty sure I didn't, though. I think.

5) Really REALLY cute when you finally get home, seeing the little black-furred person who shares your house huddled underneath the coffee table trying to get away from the scary weather.

Sometimes I would like to thump my cat. This is one of those times.


He has been trying to wake me up for an hour and a half. (Please note the time that I am posting this. He has been trying to wake me up since half past four.)

Why? Because he needs food, Mummy, don't you care, Mummy? I'm starving to death right in front of you, and you're just napping heartlessly while I meow myself hoarse right here! Mummy... get up, Mummy...

...and so on. For over an hour.


Sporadically - I mean, it's not like there was non-stop meowing for 90 minutes. It just felt like that because every time I started falling asleep he'd get in a couple more meows.


So, I just gave in, and got up to feed him. And there's a full bowl of food sitting right there on the floor. That he contently settled down to eating the moment I entered the room.

GRAAAAGH-SMASH!!!


*is cranky from lack of sleep*

Occasionally, my cat has to re-learn the idea that Mummy Does Not Get Up Until Mummy's Alarm Clock Goes Off.

The thing is, this isn't always true. Sometimes I wake up really early, and get up pre-alarm. Sometimes I just don't set my alarm at all.
So the poor dear gets confused.

And he wants company in the mornings. So he tries to get me up as early as possible.

...which I wouldn't mind, if it was five minutes or so before my alarm. But, like I said, he gets confused. And tries getting me up at 4am. (And then, continuously, every few minutes until I finally give in.)

So, re-teaching him this idea occasionally is rather essential.

This week is one of those weeks. Every morning, I've been waking up at 5:45, and having to pretend to be fast asleep even though Elf is jumping on my face.
And then my alarm clock goes off, and I go into a huge pantomime version of getting up, complete with massively loud yawns, big arm-stretches, and lots of loud talk about how I'm awake now!

One week of this, and he should be back to Get Mummy Up When Alarm Goes Off for at least another month...

The problem with having a sick cat is the same one you have with a sick one-year-old: communication.

You can't, for instance, say "You really need to take this pill, because it's going to make you feel better. So, no, you can't just refuse to have it. It's important."

Or "Honey, you really should eat your dinner. I know you're not very hungry, but it really is a good idea to eat something. You'd feel so much better."

Or "No, we can't go home. The doctor is a nice man who's going to see what's wrong with you. So please stop shrieking like that. We really do have to be here."

Or "Darling, if you're going to keep vomiting, could you maybe stay off the carpet? Linoleum is so much easier to clean."


Actually, you can say all of those things. But you'll still be left with a tiny person who doesn't understand you, being terribly upset about how awful they feel.


(Other similarities between sick cats and sick kids include owners/parents getting no sleep, and the house smelling of vomit and wee - but it's the communication thing that's the killer...)

This morning, I woke up early, thanks to my cat of +6 anxious meowing.

( a post of +9 creative description-ness )


*dances around in funky new stompy boots*