Thai 7

Two cat calls this morning .
I went to bed early last night as my eyes were hurting so much . I have a condition called Dry Eyes and if I'm working on the pc all day , especially the laptop it seems to really get to me . They stream and hurt and the left one feels like there 's a lump of grit in there and I get convinced if I rub hard enough it will come out . In the end I went to bed at eleven thinking maybe reading up there will be less painful than messing on the laptop . I managed a few minutes of Margaret Drabble "The Radiant Way" ... having started the trilogy with last weeks migraine I'm now hooked again . Its the eighties but still good , still feels relevant . But my eyes were hurting up there too .. so I fell asleep early , woke at fivethirty and then back to sleep . I don't know about you but if I have more sleep than usual I end up waking feeling worse . This morning it was so hard to drag out of bed , after weeks of being up and raring to go at 6 30 . Or seven maybe ?
Everything happening in slow motion , couldnt be bothered with my usual breakfast , cereal bar and coffee instead , and off to the first CatCall .

As soon as I open the frong door , and through the porch and hurry to the alarm pad , I can smell something is not right . Now often there is a wierd smell here as these cats need their litter tray changing every day , but this was something different , so I go into the kitchen carefully wondering what Im going to find . These are the Mischief Personified big kittens who eat vast quatities of everything going , nip the back of the legs if the food doesn't materialise fast enough , and then give cuddles and kisses standing on the kitcehn benches and reaching up to my shoulders to steady themselves .

Right in a swathe across the floor is this terrible streak of red and this amazing smell I can't quite place . Blood is my first thought , though the cats are racing about happy to see me . Across the counter tops are red foot prints , and a path over the shiny glass table top . I step closer , still not sure I want to know whats been going on , and begin to see that the red stuff is powder , and there rolling in the corner is a spice jar . Thai 7 its called , Not one Ive come across before ..... the cats smell of it too , their food bowls are full of it as its trajectory from spice rack to floor with lid parting company with jar is a wide one . In fact , lets face it , everything is covered in Thai 7 .

Arrive home to find a load of whites locked in the washing machine . Those things are great till the door handle breaks then you find yourself staring forlornly through the porthole and wondering if it might have been simpler to wash them by hand in the bath .
Oh well maybe not .

Back to the laptop and the report , this one will probably end up in the High Court ....

Edinburgh tomorrow . Reckon I 'll stay up late tonight to make sure Im fresh in the morning .

Mugshots and PopTarts

I'm late posting today . Several reasons , I'm no longer on hols from the Day Job so report writing has had to come first , and this time I had to go into the office as well . Ah well such is life . I love it really .

Next , I started looking at other blogs and diaries in earnest this afternoon / evening and I just got hooked . Some people have been blogging for ages and there' s so much fascinating stuff to read , I keep logging back onto the same sites and being unable to drag myself away feeling vaguely voyeurisitic as I go , peeping through windows into other worlds . Most of the worlds are very other too , people writing about their relationships in great detail , about their kids , about their spiders . Etc etc . I could go on . But that would keep me from my own efforts .

N is still on summer hols and keeps popping up with her friends as I sit at my laptop , surrounded by cats and papers and a mounting pile of echinacea tea cups and other assorted debris , including a half completed Times Quick Crossword and Oh Bliss my latest obsession Codeword . This is an amazing new ( I think , if not I've only just noticed it ) puzzle which is remarkably wonderful if you get it right and believe you me can ruin the day if you make a mistake .

At the dinner table the girls are belching hugely . I note their trick of , immediately after burping , shouting Safety . If the other person gets to shout Badger before they shout Safety , there is some consequence .
I burp myself , very loudly , partly showing off in front of a guest and partly to see what happens . They shout Badger . I fail to shout Safety and they start slapping me on the arm( albeit gently in deference to my age and presumably , lack of understanding ) , in unison . Shouting at the same time " name six cereals " which I hear as name six serials , so I shout Skins ( which I have heard them meantion is a new tv show .
They look bemused ..... No Mum , shouts N , Breakfast cereals
Oh right I say , entering fully into the spirit now
" Rice crispies !
Mugshots !
Tarts ....
Mum ! tarts ! thats not a breakfast cereal !
Pop tarts I shout
Cornflakes !

Before long I have six ... some time later , during a post mortem of my word-confusion , the girls look at each other . Mug Shots ! Says P . Mug Shots ? says N. D is queitly wetting himself behind his dinner .

Dont worry , says N . Its just those pills she takes . I keep my counsel .
I stopped taking those anti epilepsy pills at least three months ago . This is just how my brain works these days .

healthy living

N eating a pot noodle for breakfast and I ask her is it possible that she might eat something healthy in addition . Oh yes she says companionably ...I will have something ....( I wait .).... I could have one of those red balls . Red balls ? I ask , yes red balls , she says , in the plastic tub . Those red and green balls .... (I wait ).... she looks up and gives me her attention . I think they're a fruit or something . She means nectarines .

She finally did have one , at nine fifty pm .

Down to two sets of cats now and one tomorrow then back up to two for another three days this week . Its all good . Back to the Day Job this morning so it was great to get up at six forty five knowing I still had cats which extended the feeling of being on holiday and as I was report writing from seven thirty onwards it was a welcome relief to fit in visits to cats and gardens and bird and fish feeding , not to mention trying out my best handwriting to make it legible for the Returners .

The report didn't go so badly either , though it will need working on again on Wednesday if I can find the time to go back to it as there s another three looming .

Weather sunny this afternoon so the Pigs went out in the pen for a while ( run I should call it otherwise they sound like Proper Pigs as opposed to GPs .)

Last night the bedroom door was accidentally left open and the cats all fell asleep in our room . This morning at five am as they started to parade around I began to think of how without opening the eyes its possible to work out who is who . Toby comes in heavily , straight up to the middle section of the bed , squeaks like a bat a few times , paddles with his paws a bit then flops down and sleeps heavily , barely stirring . If you needed to push him across he would go with the flow , sink back nto place and start sighing in sleep again .
Jessie arrives to the side of the bed , lighter on her feet , no noise , and immediately starts scraping with her foot like a deer scraping the snow in search of a blade of grass. If she can she ferrets under the covers , finds a fleshy protuberance and digs at it . And digs , and claws appear . And finally , either she settles down , or you lose patience at being used as a sharpener and ask her politely but firmly to leave . At which point she leaves via your head . Standing On and Walking On . Your Head .
Pearl makes chirruping noises in her throat , and mostly sits in the upright stance on the chest of drawers . For hours . Watching as you sleep ,Most disconcerting . Occasionally she comes to the side of the bed and stretches a paw out in front of her and sleeps .
Kitty is noiseless but deadly . At the bottom of the bed , never heard arriving but lashes out ferociously and purposefully if the feet move .

Kittens

The wicked S kittens continue to surprise and delight .

Girly Cat flies past us into the utility room and dives into the pile of newspapers there for purposes of lining the litter tray . Squats for yet another long wee, looking happily over her shoulder as she does so . Triumph !

Navigation ....

Me yesterday , when my excellent navigation skills were called into question .

Rosemary cake ....

Rosemary cake , with rosemary and orange infused icing ......the picture doesnt do it justice , it tastes better than it looks .