Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 4 February 2018

Thanks, TeeJay! - so you were right, DIBNLIB?!

Well, LINDY - it is a beautiful (cold) sunny day here so after I had read your post I opened the conservatory. Sorry to report that it wasn't warm, like yours :-( I can see a crocus or two and what looks like a gentian in the front garden.

Each time that I move the furniture in the bedroom (I can do it easily because it is light in weight) I hope to find an earring lurking. No luck so far. The strangest thing happened last week, I was vacuuming in the bedroom and spotted a button on the floor. It doesn't match any clothes that I have or that OH had.

ANNETTE - poor old Lightning. I know that cats are generally very clean animals so it must maybe incontinence due to old age? You have my total respect for putting your old pet first and the carpet second.

Glad that you are feeling better.

AQ - don't blame you for staying in the room that has aircon. Reading about your daughter's new kittens, I think that the girls will love cuddling them. My granddaughters in Elgin have two kittens, now seven months old. They have stayed here in this house once or twice. I'm always amused at the sniffing and exploring that goes on. My housekeeping cannot be up to much, last week I found cat hairs/fluff on the window in the office. I had noticed that they were jumping up there and looking out at everything happening outside. They were last here at least a month ago!

Went to M and S food hall this morning to stock up on things for the weekend. Loads of folk buying the £20 Valentines meal deal. I looked but didn't buy although it all looked very tempting.

dibnlib: Assume dominant Aunt was okay with her OH's choice?  :-)

Lindybird: What scares me is the stuff that lurks behind and under refrigerators, which typically don't get moved, even during a cleaning blitz.

Heather: Must say situation with Lightning is getting desperate; had to clean up yet another mess just now.  Was reading all about incontinent and creaky ancient  cats in an online discussion the other night and some people opted to make their cats totally  'outside' cats rather than anything more drastic. Lightning has always been an indoor/outdoor cat and has slept outside (in cozy quarters created by OH) for about 15 years.  OH and I have to look at her paws today as he found something that looked like a claw in the carpeting last night.  :-((   I may scheduled a visit with the vet, just to chat.....  The house is beginning to smell like a stairwell in a bad part of town and we have visitors coming this year.....  :-((

Heather: OH and I have different opinions about whether Lightning is suffering or not.  As our vet said, Cats are stoic.

Very difficult for you, Annette. xx

I perhaps should have said, 'obviously suffering'. It is difficult to know but in my limited experience (only four cats over many years) they tend to hide away and curl up when feeling very ill. Don't know if others would agree.

Have been ironing, and watching my recording of the Olympic Opening Ceremony - very good. They didn't spend as much as some countries on effects, but used some clever digital lighting which was effective.

My OH has finished the painting, hooray! - he wanted to do it alone as he said we would be in each other's way, so I've just been supportive. Now we have a whole lot of replacement of 'stuff', pictures, clothes, toiletries, ornaments etc. Will do this over the weekend. Now it only remains to persuade my OH to replace the old window blinds, which look shabby and are breaking.

Good luck with the blinds, LINDY! Believe me, I know how it is :-)

Well done LINDA and OH - including you both in that because it was quite an exercise of endurance with the number of interruptions!

ANNETTE - it does sound as if you have a very tough decision to make - don't envy you!

HEATHER - a lot of sunshine after a dreich start - but already around zero and freezing this evening.  We had Meter Man here this afternoon, with the heating off while he worked, but it was still warm then, and it only took him about an hour for each meter - changing to smart meters.

J has a three day weekend - kind of mid-term break - kids get two more days, but staff have two Inset days, and he will go in Wednesday even though he doesn't usually work that day, so in effect, it cancels out the Monday off, but good to get three consecutive days and then two days without kids!

Thanks, OG!   -- what's driven us on is the thought that apart from minor tweaks to things around the place, this was the only major redecorating we'd need to do this year. Now we can look forward to whatever kind of summer is thrown at us, and get out in the garden and off to Wales. Hooray!