Hope You Have A Spooktacular Time....

I am so hoping I get lots of little ghosts and ghouls visiting this evening... I must set up the tombstones and full size skeleton in the front of the house this morning ready for them!

Here is the coffin I made from chipboard to hold the mini book.

I just love those little red eyes on my skull...

and the spiders and hand...

This is the mini book sitting inside it's coffin...

Lots of fibres and a little glass bottle filled with shiny spookiness...

Pocket pages with chipboard tags waiting for photos...

My little witch with tags...

These are the treat boxes filled ready for friend's children to come and trick or treat and my cauldron which will be filled with candy for the regular treat or treaters... couldn't fill it too early or they seem to go missing... not pointing my finger at anyone in particular... but the cats don't eat chocolate.... ;)

Hope everyone has a lovely Halloween!

How was I supposed to know it would do that?

I was starting to get dinner ready and turned the oven on for the chicken pie and within a few minutes the kitchen was filled with the smell of burning sausage casserole!  Oops, forgot to clean the spillage after last nights dinner and not really wanting the house to smell of burnt sausage casserole when Chris came through the door, I pushed a few buttons on the stove - specifically the one that said CLEAN and then the light popped on to say the DOOR WAS LOCKED and then it proceeds to tell me it takes 3 hours!!  What? 3 hours to clean the oven? Oh heck... that means I can't even open the oven door till 7 pm this evening to start dinner... not good, not good at all!  Chris is as easy going as they come but he does like his dinner on the table when he gets in from work! Just knowing I won't get away with this one.... I figured it best to 'fess up and call in the reserves - specifically the lovely British Chippie at the little mall up the road!  I phoned Chris who should be sitting on the train/tram thing he takes to and from work... no answer.... called him again.... no answer.... eh? He's sitting on the train, why won't he pick up, I would have thought a chat to me would be a nice diversion on the trip home... pressed redial and it just rang and rang and rang... but then my cell phone started to ring and it was Chris!  Yay!  We will eat tonight after all!  To say he was not amused would be understating it... wanted to know why I kept calling him, what was so urgent??? It seems he wasn't sitting on the train bored and wanting to chat but standing knee deep with loads of other folk on the train with his bags hanging off his neck... it was packed and he wasn't  a happy bunny.  Once I explained that the oven had locked me out and there was going to be no dinner unless he made a trip to the chippy things looked a bit brighter and my oven can continue cleaning itself for the next couple of hours!! :)

I have also finished the little book I was making for Hels note holder box!  I popped in some bits she can play with, I think it was the metal tassles that she liked from last time, and I found some really cute cat face beads,I also made her a little lavendar sachet to cover the fish smell of the cat treats - they are now in a separate plastic bag!!

I popped some beads on the base as little feet and my little lizards that end up on the back of everything I make.

I made a little charm for the o'wires - and you can just see one of the cat face beads!

WOYWW 27th October and Box Note Holder

I am sitting here in the basement scrap room and watching the snow fall... just figured out another downside to being in the basement... it could get pretty dark in here if the snow covers the windows up! One of the other downsides is that it is a few degrees colder down here than the rest of the house... but I have bought a couple of heaters so that shouldn't be a major problem... the snow on the other hand... hmmmm?  Anyways, the two cats and I have been playing whilst it snows outside - sounds a pretty good plan to me!!  I did go shopping at the weekend and managed to find two pairs of boots.  (Two? I hear you ask).  yes, one pair is for -40 degrees and the other will be good for -20 degrees.  Neither pair will ever be a fashion statement... thick soles, wool fluffy lining... weigh about 5 kilos each foot... I am going out later to get a winter jacket/coat and I am told that I have to put fashion the back of my mind and think 'warm' - as in wearing a feather duvet with sleeves!! My impression of being Mrs Michelin may be revealed at a later date. I had sort of decided that hibernation like the big bears we have locally would be a good idea... but then someone mentioned that you have to clear your driveway and path of snow or the local council do it and then charge you accordingly!!  :(  So hibernation probably isn't the most cost effective way to go - mind you, the boots weren't cheap either!!  Local folk smile at me when I mention the snow... it has done so a few times recently but really, half-hearted attempts that don't stick around for the day and don't actually stop me seeing the green grass, but it is snow and I have spent the last couple of years in Saudi Arabia... we didn't see much of it over there!  Oh and speaking of shopping and brown bears... did you like the neat link I used there, clever eh?  Chris and I bought a Christmas tree this weekend gone too!  We were in Costco and the trees were stooopid money.. who pays $450 for a Christmas tree?  Not me, obviously! They were also very large and my lounge is not.  So we picked up this little guy! Well, we picked up these little guys, actually!

Aren't they sweet?  It is only 4 feet tall and has the two brown bears climbing it - they will no doubt be joined by the two cats once it is in place.... I didn't want a prelit one, they all appear to be like this now, which is brilliant as nobody likes to mess about with tree lights, but it meant I wouldn't be able to take it back to Scotland with me...that old voltage problem again!

OK, enough of my blabbing away... it is WOYWW again, they come around at such a speed, they sort of highlight the fact I have done very little since the last one! :(  This is my desk... admittedly it is my desk late Tuesday actually, but it will be the same in the morning unless the fairies tidy it up for me while I sleep!

You can see what I have been doing... it is all Hels' fault too... I was noseying at her desk a couple of weeks ago on WOYWW and spotted that she did the same as me... used an offcut of BIA o'wire as a note holder! This got me thinking... what about actually making a proper holder with the o'wire for her desk?  So I sat and had a play and made a box and then attached the o'wire to the top... the prototype version wasn't that pretty - you can spot it at the back of my green mat - so I re-did it with the o'wire centred and I like it much better now.  Towards the back of the box are the making of a mini book to go inside... and then I can post it off to her, if it survives the scrutiny of the two cats... who keep stretching up on hind legs to sniff and inspect it!  Now this could be because there are two small bags of kitty treats inside for the gorgeous Alfie Cat, to whom Hels belongs.  I think I may have to remove the treats as it must be making the box stink of salmon or something... not really quite what you wish to get in a parcel - a fishy smelling box?  I'll try packing them into another bag and hope the smell goes away before it completes it's journey!!

Here are the instructions for making the box and o'wire note holder bit if anyone wants to have a go...

Chipboard cut to the following sizes in inches:

1 off 2 1/2 x 6 3/4 - base

1 off 2 3/4 x 7" - lid

2 off 1 1/2 x 6 3/4 sides

2 off 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 ends

1 off 2 1/4 x 6 1/2 - sits on lid with o'wire

Cut and sand edges of all the pieces.  Put last piece aside for later.

Stick all the box pieces down onto patterned paper, using your blade, cut round each piece.

Sand all the edges and ink/stamp/decorate... these are the inside of your box.

Take your 12 x 12 patterned paper and place chosen design face down (mine is double sided, so don't get confuffled)!

I have stamped some bits and decorated the edges with glass flat beads.  Arrange your chipboard pieces the same as this photograph and stick them onto the paper making sure to allow a gap between each piece so that it will fold up nicely.  I used the width of two pieces of the same chipboard between each.

Cut around the outside of your shape leaving surplus paper flaps where shown in photo. You will use these to hold the box together.

This is what you will have once you have glued the flaps in place with double sided tape. Lightly sand the edges of the paper and ink all the edges.

and this is the inside with your stamping etc.

Now take the last piece of chipboard you cut out and put safely to one side... I have chosen a different paper to cover it.

I used my Crop-a-Dile and punched two rows of 9 holes just over half an inch in from each long side.  This matched the 1" o'wire I had chosen to use.

I used thin wire to 'sew' the o'wire onto the chipboard, thread would probably do the same job but may not be as strong.  Add some foam sticky pads to the base when you are done.

Voila!!  It is complete and you can add some charms etc if you wish.  Place on desk and sit back and enjoy!! :)  And as there seems to be a bit of confusion as to its use...

You put it on your desk and plonk the occasional reminder or note into the slots to keep them safe and you still have the box for holding lots of bits and pieces. 

WOYWW 20th October - it's not the cough that carries you off....

it's the coffin they carry you off in!!  And that is what is on my work desk this morning!!  I had been you tubing...as one does... and a gazillion hours later with no idea where I started or what I was looking for (please tell me others do this too) I decided to have a go at creating a coffin and mini book - there were so many halloween books and coffins to drool over that I think I may been 'inspired' by at least a half dozen of them!

 So you see... I have put the lovely Halloween stash to good use (and ben back to the dollar store to get more)!!

I have to hot glue all the pieces down now... have moved them all about half a dozen times and I think I am happy with how it looks.  I hope I get some tricker treater type visitors this year as I have the sweets and the sppoky tomb stones for the front garden and I will need photos of the little dears to put in my book!!

Pop on over to our dear leader, Julia, and have a look at the ever growing list of nosey types who inspect each other's desks each week!! 

Spooksville....

First of all... I apologise for the length of the journalling in the previous post... and the content if it upset anyone.  I went upstairs from the scraproom last night and found Chris in the kitchen... not looking very happy. :(  I tentatively asked if anything was wrong and he said no, I pointed out that he looked a bit 'off' so had I done something to upset him?  Nooooo, he had just spent half an hour in his study reading my blog post about the kitties... oops, I should have warned him that I done it, he is such a softy where animals are concerned.

Having now finished the book of Pandora I can play with something entirely different! (well, actually, Pandora is a bit of a witch at the best of times, so maybe not as different as it may first appear)!!  Halloween is BIG here... you can buy just about anything you want that is related to Halloween!  I went along to the dollar store and found some real gems for a spooky book... then popped along to the scrap store and bought up what they had as well!! LOL

Aren't these the cutest little ghosties and stuff?

Would you look at those skeletons!  I am going to have some fun with these gems....

WOYWW 13th October

My work desk is looking pretty tidy this morning... the book of Pandora is close to being finished, I just need to add the journalling to the tags and stuff and I can play with something else for a change!!  I had real problems with my printer, it just didn't want to play nicely at all so Chris took me out and bought me a new one!!  I have always bought HP printers, preferably the Photosmarts but the quality was terrible and half the time it refused to print at all, so my new one is a Kodak and I am really impressed with the photos!

You will have to wait till it is light and I will take some better pics of Pandora's book - at the moment it is 6 a.m. and dark outside and the lighting in the scraproom makes the colours look a little weird!

and yes, I may have gotten a bit carried away with the new Distrezz It All!!  I think it looks ok though and the book feels fab!

 Have added some new photos taken in daylight that actually give a better idea of the colours...

 I added a notebook type thingy to the inside cover with the 40 pages of journalling in it.

 Loads of pockets with tags for the extra photographs.

 More pockets with tags...

I love the distressed edges to the pages - though they do make books quite fat very quickly!

Don't forget to hop on over to our lovely desk drill sergeant, Julia, for the ever growing list of snoopers to see what is about on all the work surfaces.

The journalling for Pandora's book is finished!!  Yahoooo!  Please feel free to skip this section... it is very long but I really wanted to record her story and how she ended up staying with me.

The Tale of the Saudi Kittens

30^th May 2009

A couple of weeks ago a stray cat who was obviously very pregnant sniffed out the scent of 'stoopid cat woman lives here' and starting hanging around and I couldn't see her go hungry so I have been putting food and water out for her. On the 26th May she turned up slim and ate everything I put down, so I figured she had had her kittens but didn't know where. I had put a box with a blanket in it out on the porch in case...
So when she finished eating I followed her across the path and watched as she jumped into a windowsill, up onto the porch roof and then she promptly disappeared into a hole into their roof space above their ceiling... 
On the Thursday afternoon she was hanging around my porch and wailing and kicking up such a scene I had to go and investigate what the problem was and noticed that the people in the house and had put a brick over the hole so the cat couldn't get back in!! Taking into account it was 48 degrees here that afternoon and the roof space must have been in the 55 plus heat range I was incensed that someone would be so cruel!! 
I went and knocked on their door and asked why they had blocked the hole and the man said a cat kept going in there... so I explained she had kittens in there and he just said 'well, hard luck, they'll die then'! 

Well, the look on my face must have said everything I didn't verbalise as he got a ladder out and knocked the brick away so she could get back in. He did add that he would be calling maintenance to come and remove them as they made a noise in the ceiling above them....
Well, I just went outside and there is the Mum with 2 kittens in the box on the porch. So I went over and knocked on their door and told the woman that the Mummy Cat was out with 2 kittens so they could block the hole up. The woman replied that the maintenance men had been earlier and that there were 5 kittens removed from the ceiling space..... 5? Where were they? She said I had to have them removed I am allergic (yeah right, she got a sudden allergic reaction since Thursday because she feels bad about what they were doing) and said the workmen had put them out on the ground and pointed.... so I went over and there were 3 teeny kitties laying there in the sun!! I was almost too afraid to touch them in case they didn’t move but leaving them in the heat was not an option so I picked them up and took them to Mummy Cat.  I just sort of offered them to her at the entrance of the box and hoped she wouldn’t rip my arms to shreds, but she just grabbed one and I lowered the other two into the box, so I will have to wait and see if she accepts them back and if they survive..

3^rd June 2009

The kittens appear to be fine and Mum didn't growl at me today for shoving a camera in the box!!

4^th June 2009

 Emily Loved Him aka Helen on UK Scrappers said:

“As it is my birthday today can I have one please. Let them have at least 8 weeks with Mum, Annette - then just pack one up and send her over (would like a girl please !) Maybe not - but how about naming one Pandora as DH got me a beautiful bracelet today to mark the occasion”.

When it gets very hot outside Mum comes and lays along the length of the front door because there must be a bit of draft coming through from the air conditioning.... last night Chris suggested removing the draft excluder from the door so that she gets more cool air!!!

I was checking on the kittens and spotted this 

guy in the garden..... 

Hmmmmm methinks he looks awfully familiar!!

5^th June 2009

Two kitties have eyes open!!

I guess they will get ears in a few days too? 

6^th June 2009

  LOL... this is what happens when you just shove a camera into a box and click!! All I got was 5 little black tails!! The gardener kindly added a board to each side of the porch blocking it off so that when they finally (not like I am impatient or anything) start getting out of the box... they can't escape from the porch!

8^th June 2009

And then there was none...

---

Something must have spooked her as she has taken them all away!!

I gave her breakfast this morning and thought I could only see 4... then there was three.... so I followed her and she has relocated to..... wait for it.... roof space on a house behind mine!

and then this one was left on its own for a while   and then she came and carried him off too! 

I'll leave the box and food out and see if she changes her mind....

Well, I went and knocked on the door of the house and met such a nice lady, Rania Sabadine!! She is going to leave Mummy Cat and the kittens up there until they are ready to leave of their own accord. She said it was the same cat that had kittens in her roof a few months ago!! Maintenance removed them and put them in a box on the ground and some kids found them and the kittens ended up dieing... so this time she will just leave her alone.

Well, Mum keeps popping back here to get the cold draught from under the front door... and I'll leave the box and food out for her so maybe when she feels they are more mobile she will bring them back.... I'll miss the little beggars though!! (Mind you, I have managed to clean the house, change the sheets, and dust and polish the lounge this morning, so it shows how much time I wasted checking on them)!! 

24^th June 2009

The kitties might be coming home today! Spoke to the lady who has them in her ceiling last night and she said they are making so much noise that she will have to get the workers to come and remove them... so I told her that they must put them back in the box on my porch so Mum will find them. Whether she will leave them there.... is another story.

So I have extended the box to take their extra growth!!
I did have a listen in her bathroom.... and it sounded like 5 rugby players in a scrum dancing around on her ceiling tiles, so I think she has done well to last this long!!

25^th June 2009

 there back!!! Now just got to wait for Mum to come yelling about them disappearing and re-introduce them! 

Mum turned up and was totally stressed out.... so I showed her a kitty in the box and she had some tea and gone in with them. Wonder if she will stay now? 

26^th June 2009

 this one had a go at 'real' food this morning!

I have contacted PAWS in Al Khobar about re-homing the kittens and was told that this is kitty season and that they were inundated with them. I just hope I can find homes for them all.

28^th June 2009

It didn't take them long to learn that a cool draught came under the front 

door..... 

and this little one is so cute I could squish him....

30^th June 2009

Is it just me... or can anyone else see a striking resemblance between this little guy and this one?

 

 

3^rd July 2009

 Gremlin Groucho Marx
They are doing well, the heat is a bit of a trial for them at the moment but they are growing up quite nicely.
Chris and I were chatting and I said that there were two uggily kitties and he claims kitties cannot be ugly... they are always cute!! 
Look at Gremlin and Groucho Marx and tell me.... are they cute? 

4^th July 2009

Well, it appears everything is down to personal taste... because Groucho Marx appears to be female and she is the one that the lady who wants a kitty has chosen!! 

One down... four to go...

Well, I need to find homes fast... have to take Mum to the vets tomorrow to be spayed before she comes into season! I have managed to borrow one cat basket... just need to locate another one or I will have to go and buy one. Mum has to stay in for 5 days because she isn't domesticated, to give her time to heal properly. I'll take the kitties with me and get them all inoculated at the same time which is going to be about £250.00 but Chris has to take the morning off work to drive me the one and half hours to Khober where the vet is... Chris says he doesn't mind, he would rather do this than give money to charity.

What do you mean they have big ears? Don't all kitties have ears that are too big for them? maybe nobody will notice.... and give her/him a home anyways!! I think that one might have suffered a bit from the time in the roof... because he was lovely and round and plump when she took them off but is now skinny with a big head when they came back... think it might be the runt? He has loads of character and out of the five kitties he is the one happiest sitting in my hand snuggled against my dressing gown. 
Now you come to mention it... he does look a bit batlike, doesn't he?

5^th July 2009

This morning was pretty traumatic... trying to get a big Mummy Cat into a travel cage!! I have never even attempted to pick her up before... but we managed it on the third attempt and took her off to Al Khobar to the vet... we can pick her up on Friday when we take the five kitties with us. They have to be 6 weeks old for the inoculations and he will worm them all and check them over. We also said to vaccinate Mum (I presumed she had never been done) and give her a rabies shot... it seemed daft to do all this for her and not make sure she is as covered as the kittens.
The kittens are now in my bathroom at night so that nothing happens to them. I can have a go at handling them all and smoothing them and getting them used to human contact which should help with re-homing them. Personally I don't think they like their foster mum very much at the moment... but hopefully that will change! 

8^th July 2009

 well, shows what I know about what peeps are looking for in kitties... because these two have homes to go to! I have to look after Gremlin until August 18th when the family come back off their vacation in South Africa, but if it means she gets to go to a good home, I really don't mind. (had a bit of a soft spot for our little runt anyways)!
 Just these three to find homes for now. I am going to put up their photos in the compound shop and restaurant and PAWS are going to send them out in next weeks newsletter... so I really hope we get them sorted.

9^th July 2009

 today was the first day that Gremlin could climb up onto the top of the box... all the others have been doing it for days but she was still too small... but today she managed it and was knackered and promptly fell asleep! 
 she is cute in a weird sort of way!!
 and her big brother looks out for her...

11^th July 2009

Now got 4 kitties... Maisie has just left for her new home, wrapped in a towel and Trudie went shopping this morning to get her a teddy so she wouldn't be lonely in her box!!

Oh and we have a Pandora again... because Pointy Haired Boss is a girl so we have re-named her!!

18^th July 2009

 they are coming along nicely. Not had anybody asking for the 3 I have left and they have been advertised free to a good home for a week now... just hope they find homes soon! 

19^th July 2009

It’s odd, most of the cats here are white... which might be to reflect the heat? The only black cats I have seen have been imported from outside when people have moved here with them. They don't seem to get burned in the sun but then they are also pretty smart... Mum keeps herself and the kittens in the shade of the porch all day, sleeping, and then when the sun goes down she takes them out on the lawns for a good play to exhaust them before bedtime!

22^nd July 2009

Took this one this morning while they were out in the cool 'grass' of the front garden.

28^th July 2009

Had to take little two ears to the vet in Khobar this morning because he couldn't stand and was having fits... spent all night on the lounge sofa with him curled up with me, he would only settle if I had my hand resting on his back. The vet thinks he has had a bad fall and hurt is head/neck, he is going to try some medication today and see how he is tomorrow but doesn't hold out much hope for him. 

29^th July 2009

 now Pandora is going the same way... back legs and not eating or drinking just curled into a ball on her blankie in the box. Spoke to the vet this morning and he says two ears is no different, no worse and is going to continue hydrating him today and then make a decision tomorrow. we think it may be toxic shock from poisoning as the compound and my garden were sprayed with insect spray a couple of days ago and the kittens go out and play in it then clean themselves.

Pandora is eating again, she had a really good supper this evening and her back legs look stronger, so I am hoping that she is over the worst of it and will feel brighter tomorrow, maybe she didn't ingest as much of the stuff as little two ears. She is still sleeping in her little box and doesn't want to play but at least she is eating and I am holding on to that thought.

31^st July 2009

Well, Pandora has a foot double its normal size this morning... I have bathed it in disinfectant but I can't find anything wrong, so I think she does actually have a broken leg... so it looks like a trip to the vet... and to make matters worse, little Gremlin is now sick and curled into a ball in the box!! Good grief, I must be the worst person ever for looking after kitties, or something. 

1^st August 2009

We got up early and were on our way to Al Khobar by 6.40 a.m. this morning with the little Gremlin and Pandora. The vet looked at her leg and couldn't find a wound or an abscess but gave her some injections and I have anitbiotics for her, it isn't broken so at least that is good news. Little Gremlin had a temperature of 39.3 and obviously just has a fever but there is no underlying cause for it... it seems to be part and parcel of being a Saudi cat. So I have to do hourly drops of antibiotics for her too and keep her hydrated every hour with Babylite.

 its just sugar water and salt solution we had to buy at the chemist. We saw Two Ears while we were there, poor wee mannie, he does look very ill and I am not sure he is going to pull through this. The vet says he will keep him for a few more days and see if he progresses, but he isn't feeding on his own and he can only just stand but his balance and co-ordination are not there. He recognised my voice as soon as we went in and meowed at me and as soon as I got him out the cage and cuddled him he started purring.  Chris and I will leave it a few more days and then make the decision what to do as if he isn't fit and healthy he won't find a home and he certainly won't survive long against the males in the compound.

Gremlin and Pandora have both eaten solid food and are wandering about!! Yahooo! The first lot got upchucked but the last two lots have stayed down. They have both lost a lot of body weight so need to make it up again... it shocked me how quickly they get skinny when they get ill.

4^th August 2009

Two Ears is walking!! yahooooo! He can't come home till he is eating on his own, but that is such good news..

5^th August 2009

I got a call from the vet this afternoon to say Two Ears is now eating on his own and if he keeps improving he can come home in a few days. 
On the downside, something spooked mum and she has gone off with the kittens. I found her round the back of the house where she had them in the roof - and she won't come home.
In the end I catnapped Gremlin, she is too small and thin to spend the day without food and water. She is now indoors with us and doing fine. 
I have tried persuading mum to come back but she isn't having any of it. I did manage to capture One Ear and gave him some food, but Pandora is more feral and she wouldn't eat it.
I'm hoping Mum will come to her senses when she is hungry and thirsty, as she knows where the food and water is....
I swear these cats will make me grey....

OK... Mum and kittens are back in the porch, eaten everything in sight and now happily sleeping it all off. Mum is back to rubbing herself on my legs and purring at me... I really don't know what spooked her, but I think it may have been a tom prowling about last night. I have kept Gremlin indoors with us though, she is too little and frail to take all this being carted off and starved of food and water for an entire day. I found her sound asleep on Chris' chest after dinner... I knew he had a soft spot for her....

8^th August 2009

 Two Ears is home! I got up at 4.30 this morning and got to Khobar for 8 a.m. and collected him. I have introduced him to the 3 kittens and Gremlin doesn't mind him at all... the other two are a bit wary so I will introduce him to Mum gradually and hope some of Grem's smell will be on him and she accepts him back into the tribe!!

He is eating and drinking and running around... very skinny and is even smaller than Gremlin!! I'll have to feed him up and get him back to where he was 2 weeks ago... poor little guy.

9^th August 2009

I have to say, she is a really good Mum, she heard him crying through the door and answered him back straight away... so I let him out and he dived onto her and she washed him from head to tail... he's eating and drinking really well and running round like a whirling dervish!

10^th August 2009

I had no idea how time consuming looking after kittens was! I am up at 4.30 a.m., change the litter tray, sweep the porch, mop the porch, clean the food bowls, put new food down... then repeat this at lunchtime and tea time and check on them a hundred times... give cuddles and smooths so they stay handleable, go find them when Mum takes them off for a jaunt... bring them back, feed them.... good grief, its tiring!!

16^th August 2009

well, they all had their booster jabs and rabies injections except Two Ears, he has lost weight and isn't strong enough to have them. The vet is keeping him and seeing if he can get him right. He doesn't eat enough on his own to compensate for what he is losing through diahrea (sp) and even with me feeding three times a day with an eye dropper he hasn't really improved in the last week. We will have to see what he is like before I leave for my holiday and make a decision, if he has improved then the vet will keep for me until I get back and not... well, I will have failed miserably with him, even though I have tried everything, but quality of life also has to come into the equation. I can't home perfectly healthy kittens, I wouldn't stand a chance on homing a sick one.
Pandora went into Tasmanian Devil mode, and ripped the vets arm open after biting me a couple of times so we have no idea why she is biting the fur off her paw. I will monitor it and see if she will let me have a look - but she is a real little witch and more than partly feral now.

17^th August 2009

One Ear moved out and into his new home this afternoon... he has gone to the Deputy Principle and his teacher wife and their three little children.
So how come I stood and howled when I got home from taking him there?

Mum will still come by for food and a cool breeze under the front door, I am sure. She knows she will always get food and a smooth here but she has her own routine, disappears somewhere for the majority of the day. It is just her and Pandora outside now, they have been looking for One Ear and Mum thinks I have him stashed away indoors somewhere, I am sure. Gremlin is feeling poorly after her jabs yesterday so she is in the house with me, tucked up on her blankie in the bathroom. Parting with her day after tomorrow is going to be even harder.
Good news is that a lady from the local horseriding stables loves cats and may take one... so I am torn, Pandora would be brilliant in a stables, hunting for mice and being part Tasmanian Devil when she wants.... but this lady is a real cat lover and might be perfect for our Special Needs case of Two Ears.... so I 

don't know which to persuade her to have!! I would find it hard placing Pandora in a family with kids... and Two Ears might not make it and I would lose a home for Pandora.... what a quandary!

18^th August 2009 Two Ears RIP

Sadly, we had to have Two Ears put to sleep this afternoon, the vet said he couldn't do any more for him. 

Gremlin got collected this afternoon and went off to her new home so its just Pandora left now.

Poor little guy couldn't fight anymore and I know it was the right thing to do... but I am doubly heartbroken because Grem went off this afternoon too and she had found a spot in both our hearts... but the girl who collected her was so taken with her, (she had only seen photos) you could tell she was going to be loved to bits.

They all found a little spot in my heart, it’s impossible not to, Two Ears was my purr baby, he was the first to learn how to purr and as soon as I touched him, his little engine would start up even when he was really sick and couldn't walk. Mum is looking for her babies, she has been in my house and inspected every room and cupboard for where I am hiding them, she sits on my doorstep and cries for them... I feel really mean... this evening she even went up on the roof where she had them originally to see if she had left them there...  I'm hoping she will be fine in a few days and she still has Pandora out there with her.

19^th August 2009

Well, on a more cheerful note, I got news that One Ear is now Ringo (Star) and sleeps on the bottom bunk cuddled up with the little boy of the family and is very happy and this afternoon I saw Gremlin's owner's car pull up and when the family got out I asked how she was settling in... and the Mum got out of the car with Grem wrapped in a little blankie... they had been out visiting friends for the day and taken Grem with them 'because their baby couldn't be left at home on her own' - and she was one happy little fur baby!!

25^th August 2009

 just been to see Gremlin and she is very ill, don't think she is going to last the morning. I'm heartbroken, that little kitty had a huge chunk of my heart as she was the runt of the litter and I had to spend so much time getting her back on track when she got sick. Her new owners are doing everything they can for her but I don't think it will be enough. Sorry to have to upset everyone again. 

I had all the kittens given their booster flu and rabies vaccination and I'm told that the rabies causes lots of problems and makes them very ill. Little Grem was too small to have it, she didn't have the body fat to combat the resulting diahrea. I thought I was doing the right thing for them, but obviously I was wrong. The others had the upset tummies but were strong enough to fight it off and seem all to doing fine now, just little Gremlin losing the battle.

Gremlin RIP 10.11 a.m.

---

Little Gremlin didn't make it.

Little Grem would have been 3 months exactly tomorrow. Not much of a life was it?  I am heart broken.  

26^th August 2009

Well, Pandora completely blotted her copy book today... Grem's owners said that they would take Pandora as their house was now bereft and quiet.... and I did explain that she was not anything like her sister!! In fact, opposite ends of the poles would be more alike and I popped her in a box and took her around and explained that they would need to treat this one like a normal new kitty - give her some time to adjust and finally come out from behind the sofa and then slowly build up the trust.... and I left and went to lunch and on my return the phone was ringing and the lady asked me to go and get her, that it wasn't going to work out.... When I turned up at the house she opened the door and had band aids all over her hands, big scratches down her arms and a couple of bites as well.... oops! She had decided that the best thing was to cuddle her and hold her tight and try and get her to sleep in a basket....(when I told Chris he raised his eyebrows and said she was a brave woman as he sure wouldn't do it) so when I finally managed to catch her I brought her home again and she is now with Mum who has spent the afternoon teaching her to catch pigeons.... so she will be a compound cat after all. I'll catch her when I get back from vacation and take her to be neutored and she and Mum will always find breakfast and dinner at my house, it isn't what I wanted for her but there isn't really anything else I can do. Ping is going to feed them for me while I am away.

27^th August 2009

It's a shame, because at this moment she is indoors with me and quite happy sleeping on her blankie on the sofa... she lets me smooth her when I walk by but that's it... she doesn't want loads of attention and smothering - it just panics her. She will certainly hold her own against all comers outside though, so I don't have to worry about that and her Mum still spends evening and all night with her, so she has her protection.

28^th August 2009

Pandora and Mum are still together and they hang around the house for their food. Pandora sometimes gets left behind when Mum goes walkabout and then she sits on my doorstep and I let her in to sleep the morning away on the sofa. She is getting quite used to me smoothing her now. 

I had a call last week from someone looking for a kitten but they lived an hours drive away so I put them off... I couldn't take the chance that if she wasn't friendly they might just put her out the door instead of bringing her back to me!! So Pandora is here to stay and her and Mum are quite a team and good company for each other.

29^th August 2009

they are both fine... and eating me out of house and home!  Everyone loves the name Pandora... and being that she has this mercurial type temper I think she is aptly named after Pandora's Box rather than a pretty bracelet!!

Why don’t we keep them?

Because when we finish here she/they would have to do 6 months in quarantine to get back to the UK... and we would probably already be on assignment somewhere else, which would mean they had then to go into quarantine where we were going and still have to do it again when we went back to the UK... its a bit cruel expecting an animal to spend the majority of its life in a small cage with strangers when what they want is to be at home with their owners. I have the additional torture of knowing that Pandora won't settle with anyone else but me.... a few weeks before we went on leave she started biting the fur off of her back leg.... and I couldn't find anything wrong with it, when I took her to the vet he explained it was psychological, she wanted my attention and when she was 'sick' she got it... so I brought her indoors with me and sat her on her blankie on the sofa and she stopped biting the fur... she had what she wanted.  So we have an agreement, she comes indoors when it’s just me at home (she won't come in when Chris has a day off) for a couple of hours a day, she sleeps on the sofa and will let me smooth her and tickle her ears... then when she has had enough... she goes back outside with her Mum. See... she is well named!!

30^th August 2009

Of course... sometimes Mum comes back from her wanderings and shouts at my door that I have stolen her baby.... and Pandora being Pandora doesn't see why she should move off a comfy sofa and go out in the heat just because her Mum is yelling for her..... so.....

7^th October 2009

Guess what? I was standing in the porch this evening and this little tiny kitty comes round the side of the house and into the porch and promptly finished off the dinner that Pandora had left!! She is one of those three coloured cats... ginger, grey and darkish... with the eyeliner on one eye like Pandy!! Judging by her size I would say she is about 6 weeks and I have no idea where she came from and there was no Mum anywhere about... I tried to pick her up but she did that exploding kitten thing so she is feral and then she tootled off after feeding her face... Chris just looked at me and didn't say a word....

8^th October 2009

Well, when I fed the cats at 4.30 a.m. this morning I found the little kitten sitting a foot away from Pandora on the concrete cover for the dustbin! Mummy cat doesn't like it and 

Pandora is just fascinated but not over friendly but its weird, neither of them will hurt her.... its like they know she is a baby and a bit lost.... so when I put the food down she ventures into the porch and promptly starting eating out of Pandy's tray!!  I waited for WWIII to break out but Pandy just backed off and let her eat.....

I swear there is a hidden sign post saying 'soft twit lives here' near my house that only cats can read....

16^th October 2009

Aaaaaw, poor Pandy, she has been spayed... but she is doing fine really. Went into her carrier as good as gold and is enjoying her confined stay indoors on my best chinelle throw!!   Rather than leave her at the vets for the five days we have her indoors with us at home.

18^th October 2009

Little Tortie tootled off to her new home this afternoon!!  She and Pandora had spent the day playing nicely and having cuddles on my throw and I got a call from Karen asking if she had a home yet.... so she came over and collected her. Chris was most upset when he got home from work to find she had gone... he liked her!! She was so like little Gremlin in her ways.  Tortie is now named Layla.

22nd October 2009

22nd October 2009

This photograph of Pandy represents the change from future compound kitty

 to belonging to me kitty... poor Pandy was just recovering from being spayed

and had spent a few days indoors with me when she heard her Mum outside

the front door and wanted to go out and join her.  Mummy Cat was having

none of it, hissed and spat at her adorable little daughter, claws out, batted

her hard around the head a few times and made it completely plain that she

was out of favour.  Pandy was mystified, couldn’t understand why her Mum

didn’t love her anymore and attempted to move in closer and was batted

hard and hissed at again.  Once more, in my need to protect the kittens, I had

made the situation worse, the scent of the vets, the days indoors with me

letting her recover meant that the bond between Mother and daughter was

broken.  Pandy was traumatised and came back in the house and hid behind

the sofa... I found her there a while later and discovered that she had sat and

pulled her stitches out and her side was now an open wound.  Another 3 hour

round trip to the vets to get her sorted and put into a body stocking to stop

her doing any more damage.  Mummy Cat never changed her attitude....

Pandora always looked at her longingly but learned that it was best to keep

her distance.  Pandy was now mine, I couldn’t put her outside to be a

compound cat without the protection of her Mum. 

9^th March 2010

All Growed Up!!

Anyone remember my babies? Thought you might like to see how they turned out now they are grown up - well, teenagers at least!!
 Maisie who has a home with a friend of mine, Trudie.

 One Ear AKA Ringo who has a home with some teachers.  Pandora

Pandora never did find a home... so she is still with me.She now has a step-brother, TomTom                             who turned up one day and decided he was going to live in my porch... so he is also an indoor housecat!!
We are now making arrangements to ship them out with us when we leave here in a couple of months. 

26 April 2010

Have left Pandora and TomTom at Jeddah Vets in Al Khobar.  They will stay there for 6 weeks while we go home to Scotland and sort shipments out and then they will fly straight to Canada and join us in Calgary as soon as we have somewhere to live.

11 July 2010

Collected Pandora and TomTom from Calgary airport this afternoon and have brought them home.  It is lovely to have them back. TomTom is looking a bit worse for wear because he hates to be confined to a carrier and mashes his nose against the wire of the door and Pandora is so happy to be back with me... she is glued to my side and wedges her body against mine when I go to sleep at night.