Sunday 23 March 2014

Poorly Cleo cat...

 I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but we have a visitor, a feline visitor. We are looking after her while a family member is unable to-she should be here til about June/July. Now, our cats dont really mix with others as they dont go outside of the backyard unless they are supervised.
This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly when D got them, they were about 6 years old and had always been house cats so they have never really got used to it and secondly because they are pedigree cats, I am not entirely convinced someone wouldnt try to take them-we were burgled one and Cleo went missing, we were both devastated for an hour or so until she turned up, I was secretly imagining someone taking her in a pub and selling her to someone who thought they could breed her. Luckily she had not got far-infact only as far as the living room curtains...for a cat of very little brain she did very well!! 

There she is being all brave and seeing the nasty burglars off (snigger)










Anyway, back to the visitor. She doesn't like Cleo or indeed Slinky, but especially Cleo Because she is very nosey and also very friendly, new cat hates this and shows it every time she sees Cleo...in a very hissy and sometimes smacky way and on Thursday afternoon Cleo was at the rough end of another smack, no big deal she just lay back down and continued snoring.
But, when I came back a couple of hours later her eye was all gunky. I bathed it with cooled boiled water, she wasn't happy at all. By that night it almost (or indeed did) look like her 3rd eyelid was coming out, it was horrible and she looked even more miserable than normal!
The next morning we took her straight to the vet, he examined her (after we had poured her out of the cat box) and said it was possible the smack had done it, but that the eye was definitely damaged and had become infected but the infection was caused by her rubbing it. He has given her some daily drops and we continue to bathe it each day as well. Additional to that, she now has to wear a big cone on her head..which causes much hilarity around these parts, although we are very sympathetic and letting her get away with things not normally allowed round these parts.

And here she is just after the doctors-she has dye seeping out of her eye, shes not really radioactive!










I never even thought about it before but because of the cone not only is it difficult for her to walk through doors, cat-flaps and the like, its also very hard for her to get up steps-shes only tiny and she kind of has to jump and now the bottom of the cone gets in the way so she sort of has to leap with her arms stretched right out-it doesn't stop her from getting upstairs, she just does it in a more amusing way now! Another difficulty for the 'coned' cat is also eating, again, the cone gets in the way...so we set up a special feeding station - its an upside down philladelphia cheese tub (empty) so that they food is high up so she can get to it..except she still uses the bowl and smears the food allover her new plastic accessory.....with the extra plus that she can sit for hours licking the stinky inside of her cone as she cant reach any of her furry bits now!


She is due to go back to the vet on Friday but the vet seemed to think she would heal well and be back to normal by then...but the cone stays til then!

Hope you haven't had to start wearing any plastic cones round your necks to stop you scratching...but if you have please post pictures!!

Wednesday 19 March 2014

As promised...
I mentioned last time I'd been making some cushion covers for when we move-to go on the dining chairs. Well Ive very nearly finished one but seeing as today is the first day in over a week when we've had decent light to take pictures I thought I better go for it!
This is the pretty much finished cover-I'm in the process of doing the seams.
Not sure whats happened there but it looks like the picture is upside down! Ah well, you get the idea. I love the Dark blue and after speaking to D I think I will be doing the other 3 in dark blue as well. 


I have got nearly enough circles done for the next one and am loving the ease of the pattern, I am not usually able to crochet and do something else-eg chat to someone but this one, I can give a very good impression of someone doing this. 
Im not great at sewing in the ends as I go, I like to get a few done and then do them all-so I will choose 25 for the first side of the next cushion and do those before sewing them together. 




Other than my crochet I am still keeping busy with my seedlings. They are doing really well even if I do have far too many!
These are the courgettes, I think we have about another 6 plants at the same stage and this will be it for this plant-I read somewhere recently that 2 plants will do for the average family....hmm 
I have grown courgettes before and was really successful so I am not really too worried about them. 
I also started off doing 'just a few' tomato plants and ended up with 32 sprouting. I have disposed of some that werent really doing too well and we now have around 22 left. They are doing well but although they were planted at the same time as the courgettes they are much smaller (probably a good job as we are running out of window sill space!)

I have also planted some peas (some inside, some outside) but no real sign of them yet and some flowers-the sweet peas are doing well and will be potted on this week and some others that I have read are good for companion planting that are just starting to make an appearance. 
These are all in the hope that in the next few weeks we will be in our new home. If we aren't we are going to have a yard that is full of pots..and some very happy chickens!
Do you grow anything and maybe have some handy tips for me as a relative newcomer..?


Thursday 13 March 2014

been awhile..

I think maybe I need to explain my long (ish) absence. The last time I posted we had just accepted an offer on our house and been accepted with our offer on what (may) is going to be our new house-I cant get too positive about it incase I jinx it all. We are still plodding along with this process...it takes a while, although we saw our finances guy the other day and he said it could go through within 4-6 weeks, with that in mind and with my usual pessimism I'm thinking 8-10...who knows!

The other thing that has kept me away is that I have been ill...boo! Not ridiculously ill, just ill...but it kind of dragged on and I was given medication that made me very sleepy and kind of 'I cant be arsed with anything'. Its something I have had before (kidney stones) so I knew when things were getting bad and when I needed help. It has also involved months of me feeling uncomfy and people saying "go to the doctors!!" in angry and concerned ways and then me saying "no, its not bad enough yet!" Then suddenly it was bad 'enough'. Im fine now, it looks like some of the stones have 'passed', I'll let you work out what that means but I also think some are hanging on as I still have a grumbly sort of ache. I am also still waiting for an appointment to go to the hospital for a scan to confirm I have got kidney stones...less said about that the better or I will get a bit grumpy.

Anyway, I have had a bit of a hiatus, simply because I spent quite a while not being able to sit up..then a while just feeling shattered followed by this last week of gradually getting myself back into it. I made a very small blanket for a friend of my daughter whos baby was born far too soon to make it and that in itself took it out of me -emotionally and physically. I didnt take a picture of it, but it was beautiful I think, I made it as pretty as I could in the short time I had and I am hoping it will have helped.

In my last post I mentioned I had started a new project for the 'new' to us house. I think I said I was making a 'runner' using this  brilliant pattern for our Poang  chair however, I have changed my mind and I have made two  5 x 5 squares that are currently being edged and will become covers for our dining chair cushions. My question is, bearing in mind I like my home to be a little different, would you do all four cushions with a dark blue 'frame' for the squares or would you use a different colour for each one? I have just gone to take some pictures and the camera battery is dead I PROMISE I will take some pictures and include on the next post...but, any thoughts anyone? I am liking the idea of different colours and my inital idea is to do one in ( look here ) meadow, one in a violet and the 4th in an oatmeal that I cant seem to find but that I have lots of...what do You think?