Wonky Cat

Wonky Cat is doing really, really well. She still walks around with her head tilted to one side, looking like she's saying "Huh? What's up?". I hope her neck doesn't hurt too much. She does take a lot of naps like she used to. Then mean old mumma walks in with a pill hidden in her hand and proceeds to get all her skin scratched off trying to administer the med's!

Sox is eating a LOT, which I'm very happy about. Must be the pred... And she can go to the loo too, which I am *really* happy about!

Last night she looked quite unsteady on her feet, usually she has her back legs spread wider to balance better but last night she was just wobbling around and falling over. She is better today though.

Wanting some Dine cat food whereas usually she just eats dry cat food. She'll just lick all the juices off the canned stuff and then we can give the leftovers to the chooks. Whatever makes my girl happy! She will be much happy when the pills are gone, although is getting used to the sneaky mumma attack ;-P

Stroke

My baby had a stroke on Friday night :*( :*( :*(

My best friend Sox (at least 16 years old, probably a bit more) was holding her head tilted down to one side, and sort of stumbling around on the bed. After a call to the emergency vet then a sleepless night we took her to where I used to work as a vet nurse.

Dr M is a good vet, and he diagnosed her as having a stroke on the brain near the inner ear drum. The part that co-ordinates balance etc. May have been caused by an ear infection, though she doesn't have history. He says Sox is probably feeling a bit nauseaus at the moment like sudden seasickness. Thankfully she will most likely get better over time; it will always be there but there should be improvements. Phew!

She's on prednisolone and Clavulox bid, both very fun to administer --- NOT! I have scratches to prove it. I'm a bit out of practice with the pill-giving but hopefully getting better. The pred will increase her appetite too. Which is good as she is all skin and bones now :( When Roy first met her she used to be a very amply-girthed cat, but not any more.

Send healing thoughts to my girl, I need her around a while longer yet!

xoxo

D@mn RATS!!!

We've lost all our chickies-to-be :(

It's been about three weeks since Monday and Thursday started sitting on those eggs, and I checked under them yesterday. Nothing! All the eggs are gone with shell fragments though I did make a heartbreaking find -- a fully formed chick still half in it's shell with what looks like bite marks on it.

I think it's rats; the chook food has been disappearing faster than usual and we hear them at night. There was another nest similarly raided a few months ago.

I'm so mad! Out with the Ratsack!

Congo Cart

... gives me the poops! So far I've been on Ozebaby, my own site, and Yarn Collective, all using the Congo Cart platform. From the get-go when I was looking at getting my own site I knew it wouldn't meet my needs, so I've been considering osCommerce. Which is just not user-friendly enough for me I'm afraid.

Right now I'm getting a brand new site, on a new platform, for the jollyjumbuck.net domain set up, it is being done by a professional graphic artist. Let me tell you, this won't happen soon enough!

I have two huge totes of yarn to list and the CC site is playing up. Think I will pick up my knitting (currently, a Clapotis for my mum) and try again later. Looks like another late night.

By the way, I'm not going to go into the ways that CC is inadequate. I don't have enough time to list all the faults! *grumble grumble*

Off the whinge-train now...

I'm like an expectant mother!

My latest book purchase:
Well we have decided that it's time to move on and give love to another dog. Last year was very difficult in that we lost two dogs to the green dream (euthanasia). Lulu was a paraplegic and Missy was just really, really old. Our hearts have been healing, and now that we finally have a proper front gate installed, we feel it's time. So after our holidays this summer we are going to visit Poundwatch for a four-legged friend.

I've already found a few projects from this book I'd love to knit, but am holding off till we find the right friend, he/she could be any breed, any size.

Looped-out chicken

Ahhhh, spring. The season of chook insanity, of broody behaviour, fluffy new life, and a mathematical problem. Population of Chooktopia is set to increase in about 22 days; we have more than enough hens to meet our egg consumption and gifting needs. And definitely more than enough roosters! (we still have one more, "Pretty Boy", than we need -- but he is too pretty to relegate to the oven just yet). And the numbers seem set to rise at an exponential rate.

On Monday we were shocked to discover that Sophie, my favourite chook, had gone missing! Later on the day she showed up clucking and generally just being a looped-out chicken. Tracked her back to her hidden nest (among the bamboo), and discovered a sizable clutch of 14 eggs. Oh great, too late to rescue for the kitchen (a partly-foetus'ed egg -- not a pretty sight). So we let her be. But Sophie's problem is that she is breed-wise related to the battery hen chooks. So whilst she might have discovered her motherly instincts in the glorious spring days, she's not quite all there as a mother. The foodie in her dictates that she hops off the nest much too often, and then once she's off she'll start pecking at little bits on the ground for her not-yet-in-existence chicks!

It has happened once too often so I've just marked all the eggs and transferred them to the main roosting nest (where three other broody chooks have taken up permanent residence).

Oh, fun and games. I'll let you know in a further 22 days or so, what is happening in Chooktopia!

xoxo

A pictorial post

Because I'm as tired now, as Matilda was when this photo was taken, I'll just let a few photos do the talking...