I am scared

I don’t know whether I should publish this, since it is probably controversial and definitely political – but I am scared. For the first time since Apartheid has been abolished – I am truly scared.

Yesterday the National Assembly voted in favour of the motion allowing expropriation of land WITHOUT compensation. This is the second major action taken by our new president to ‘solve’ the past failure of our government. First: the tax coffers were empty since all incoming funds leaked out through corruption. Instead of plugging the leaks, taking action against the cause of the problem – he increases VAT and the petrol price! He is increasing the flow of income into a leaking barrel! As a result, everyone currently struggling to make ends meet will no longer be able to survive! The cost of everything – bread, milk, rice, maize, everything – will go up.

Now, with this motion – which is deliberately vague – nobody is safe in any home anymore! The lazy thinker may assume that this motion applies only to farmland, and only to the land itself – in reality, however, it applies to ALL land! Residential, Industrial, Agricultural – all land. And many people will interpret it to mean they can now occupy any ‘land’ they desire and get it.

The constitution will be amended. It will become unjust. Again, rather than taking action against the problem, he simply removed ‘compensation’ from the process.

All he is doing is to ‘refill’ the state coffers for his administration to fill their pockets.

Plus, with this second action, he has surely regained the faith of the majority of ex-ANC voters, he will surely get an even higher majority vote in the next election – allowing the ANC to change laws on a whim. And, as I expected all along, Julius Malema has brought his party back to the ANC.

The impact on agriculture and therefore the economy are self-evident: The Rand has already weakened and will continue to fall. Even more agricultural land will be occupied by unskilled people – who either have no intention or no ability to grow even enough food to sustain themselves, let alone a surplus to sell. All this in the middle of a drought, when only the most skilled farmers even manage to survive. Most have had to take loans – with the land serving as collateral … with one stroke that debt is unpayable. Nobody will be able to use their land as collateral for a loan again – no business, no home-owner. Nobody.

And then, of course, sooner or later the country will run out of food.

Nobody wants to farm anymore. Everybody wants a white-collar high-income low-effort job. In South Africa, farming is already THE most dangerous way to make a living. It is hard work. Now, if everyone who has spent generations making land arable is set to loose all that work and input – with this motion passed, not one farmer will want to add any ‘value’ to existing land.

Simple example: my own little garden. I have spent hours and hours removing parasitic weeds and poured a ton of compost, fertilizer and good soil into my beds and the lawn. All of that is not considered compensable. It is considered part of the ‘natural land’ – to be expropriated at will.

And so: I am scared. I’ve had nightmares all night long, weird dreams about a stole thread showing the future, about cats returning to ancestral land, Shadow taking over Rose’s home … weirdly frightening scenarios.

But what to do? Leave South Africa? And go where? Europe is coming apart like everywhere else – although the worst impact will probably be stayed for another decade, perhaps two. America? Donald Trump – need I say more? A country, where a school child is receiving death threats for speaking his mind after surviving a school shooting? The mental and physical decay of our civilization is world-wide. Laws no longer relate to justice – money rules. Human lives no longer hold value. I would bet that most people would much rather hang an innocent man than risk a guilty one go free.

At least, that is my opinion. But I am only a simple secretary – I am neither politician, nor financier nor philosopher.

Sounds depressing, I know. I’m trying to find a positive note to lift this post – but right now, I can not.

Still not much to tell

I spent most of the weekend on housework. I moved the sandbox out of the bedroom into the bathroom and vacuumed the whole flat – on top of the normal chores.

Mewthos still does his twirly thing with an item of my clothing and the Mips now consider my paper waste bin their toy. I’ve had to move it to my left, so they don’t end up in my PC wiring when they topple it over to climb in and take every item out – one by one.

Whereas Rose used to come up to visit me, I now go down to visit her – and the Mips immediately extend their territory to include her flat! So much so that they feel entitled to growl at Rose’s cats, preventing them from coming into their own home! At one point Mewthos got quite prissy with me – making some threatening/unhappy noises indicating he considers it his right to keep Rose’s cats out.

They explored her kitchen, lounge and bathroom extensively, entertaining us with their antics. Mewthos has discovered how lovely and snug he can curl up on the side of Rose’s couch and Lady Jane likes to sit next to Rose’s chair, peeking over her ‘foot stool’.

I stopped by the vet’s on Monday for another can of flea spray for the floor and saw the funniest little cat toy: it’s one of those wobbly things with a round bottom and pink feathers sticking out the top. And when you switch it on, every touch makes it chirp like a little birdie! Both Mips are absolutely crazy about it – they love it! I let them play with it for some time, then pack it away again – I don’t want all the feathers stripped too soon.

I’ve noticed that they Mips have a rule when they play with any ‘catch’ thing – whether it’s on a wand or the birdie peep thing: If any ONE Mip has definite hold of the toy, it’s his/hers. No touching or interfering from the other. Neither ever attempts to take any ‘prey’ from the other. Lady Jane will run from one hidey hole to the other with her ‘prey’ but never growl. Mewthos, however, will sit down with it in a corner and growl. Whether any one is near him or whether he is left completely alone – he’ll growl. Lady Jane has never growled. Nor Earl. Only Mewthos and Quizzy Lizzy are growlers.

I also got some Nibbles for them as treats, salmon flavoured … only: none of them like them! The catnip, however, is a great success! It works like a charm on Ziva! Yeah, that’s right: me, a sober alcoholic, resorting to drugging my cat! Well, not quite as badly as it sounds – I just rub it on one toy and let her play with it. I do that when she comes in after dark – because otherwise she insists on going out again and she is really, really, really annoying when she wants to go out.

Mewthos is learning that from Ziva! When he wants attention he mewls and makes as much of a nuisance of himself as his mommy! He and Lady Jane play very well together though, I’m happy to say. They are very different personalities, but they are family. She initiates the team activities, mostly, whether it’s play or cuddle or grooming. He tends to stick either to me or Ziva. It will be interesting to see how these relationships develop when they reach their adult size – Mewthos is promising to grow quite large, whereas Lady Jane is definitely a lot smaller. Mewthos is nearly the same size as Ziva, already! He will most likely grow larger than Ziva.

Oh, and Lady Jane is booked for her tummy-shave on Monday. They’ll be five months old on Sunday, and I definitely do NOT want to risk Lady Jane getting pregnant. So Monday she gets spayed! Her sister is booked for Tuesday, I’m told – the boys get an extra month before it’s their turn. If they’re done too soon, they could suffer problems later. I won’t go into the details – anyone can look it up for themselves. There’s a lot of controversial information out there regarding spaying / neutering, and at what age. Some people insist that a female should be allowed one pregnancy – but that’s anthropomorphizing them. They are NOT furry humans, they are cats. They have no emotional need to go through pregnancy, birth and rearing. Just read all I wrote about Ziva! The only good thing to come out of this entire pregnancy for her is the drive, early in her pregnancy, to find a safe home – mine. The whole rest of it was very stressful for her – she had no clue what to do with them, apart from the bare essentials. Only since the Mips no longer need her full-time attention has Ziva come into her own, picked up some weight, her fur has softened and she is more relaxed. You think I should put Lady Jane through that? And what about her kittens? Should I just let them grow to a certain age and then drown them? Or what? Remember how long it took to find a home for Earl? I got lucky! The lady who adopted him works with CatCare – she could just as easily have chosen one of the eleven kitties the CatCare lady was trying to find homes for at the same time. There are already way, way too many kittens out there needing good homes! Many find homes, some get lucky and find good homes – forever. Again, I got lucky. Both Earl and Lizzy have good homes where they’ll be happy for their whole lives! Neither are at even the slightest risk of being ‘discarded’ once they loose their ‘cute kitten’ looks. Or if they show an undesirable habit – like Ziva and her annoying ‘I want out, NOW’ meowing.

Anyway, even IF I had homes lined up for however many kitties Lady Jane were to have – what about me? I can NOT afford another litter. Neither financially nor emotionally! It has not been an easy road so far, and the road ahead will not be easy, either. It has been a lot of fun and also a tremendous amount of pleasure – hard earned, though. Sleepless nights, fears, worries, learning – and hours and hours of time and attention! Even now they are needy, needing cuddles, needing supervision – while typing this, I’ve had to take my kitchen towel away from Lady Jane three times! It’s mostly white, it’s dangling above her, it’s right behind their water fountain – and sometimes that is just too much temptation! It’s bad enough that they give in to the temptation to pull my laundry from the basket and spread it around the entire flat every now and then, or that they do the same to my waste paper bin. Every morning I get up and clean up something they dragged or spread around the flat. Every evening I come home – ditto. They mock me in the evenings by lying peacefully napping – then, when I go to bed they reactivate! Right now, Ziva and Lady Jane fake sleep on the blankie next to my chair, while Mewthos does the same on the chair next to me. But when I go to bed, right after posting this? Chaos games! Wanna bet?

Lady Jane wrapped in one of her favourite drag-about toys:
some shading I had intended to add to the scratcher
Here, her eyes are hazel again - but some times, they are the same
green with blue around the iris, as Earls

Not much to tell

Nothing noteworthy happened yesterday – until I went to bed. I put out Mewthos’ kneading shirt – and Lady Jane happily waddled off with with! She took it in her mouth and dashed off with it … well, it was a dash and a waddle, since she held it in her mouth, dragging it between her legs and the waddle avoided stepping on it. Mommy and Mewthos happily followed her. And left me to sleep alone.

Today it was unbelievably hot! It was already 35°C before nine in the morning! It got hotter every half hour – stepping outside was like stepping into an oven! And then, ten minutes before I get to leave? It started to rain! Just some large drops coming down slowly at first – but when I reached the car park? It came down in absolute buckets! And – strangely enough – at about 45° angle! It came from behind and my back got absolutely and thoroughly drenched! Through the back of my jacket, my top and the back of my pants as well. I was crouching behind a car trying to keep at least some rain off while I looked for my car. When I found it, the rain stopped.

On the drive home, just a few drops here and there. Nothing that could be called rain. Until I was nearing home – that’s when it threatened to rain again. I got lucky, though – it was just some drops coming down while I got home. Once inside it started pouring here. The Mips tried sitting on the stairs, but they didn’t like getting wet at all, so now they’re inside, sleeping. I have no idea where Ziva is.

The lightning is unusual for PE, and it’s lightning a LOT! Fortunately the thunder is still far off, so it shouldn’t frighten any felines so much that they start running ‘blindly’. The Mips sit on the stairs, then nap inside, then get up and try outside again.

The rain stops, so the Mips go out … and Mewthos tries to stalk a pair of Hadeda’s! Seriously! Hadeda’s! They could turn him into kitty-kebab faster than he could run away!

And then I hear a worrying noise … sort of like a creak followed by a thud! First thought: Mip fell off the wall! No – both Mips are fine, so is Ziva. I take a walk around the place, through the garden – nothing. It sounded like a a branch tearing off, then thudding on the ground. Ah well, such mysteries have a way of revealing themselves sooner or later.

Tonight Ziva is taking the role of attention-whore – she sits at my feet waiting for my hand to reach to the floor so she can roll over to get her tummy rubbed! These cats are just too much!

Lazy Wednesday

As I try to go to sleep, first Mewthos does is strange kneading my clothes routine – I took a video of that.

This goes on for another minute and a half, and then they all start playing like crazy! Running around, zooming around, and bouncing off the walls. Sigh.

This morning Lady Jane came crawling under the covers with me. She’s becoming more and more like Earl. Even her eyes are turning from hazel to blue-green. At times I do wonder whether it was okay to separate the twins. I didn’t really have a choice, though – three cats are manageable, four were too much. Giving Mewthos away was never an option – he is way, way too attached to me. And I to him.

Although there are times when he is really, really too needy. Like right now, where he is around my feet, meowing, flopping down to get belly rubs and just really annoyingly needy.

I’ve been having the weirdest morning-dreams these last two days. Like, yesterday morning I snapped awake to the words “Xyz’s dead” shouting in my head. And this morning I was remembering how I found Hgj in his apartment and had to tell the family – which never happened! Some people might lean towards the paranormal and go down the ‘psychic’ road – I, however, know this is just my subconscious processing the worry over a friend in hospital which I’m not showing otherwise.

Well, I’ve let the cats out, and the Mips cuddle my ankles for attention then go to sleep. Probably because it’s overcast, and because their mommy has gone walk-about. Yet everytime I get up, they get up and cuddle my ankles. And chirp, squeak or meow at me for attention. The. Whole. Day. Long! Well, until about five when they go out and go far, far away – just to worry me! I took a peek when they were out and they were in Rose’s garden looking for ways to visit The Terror!

Eventually they come in, even Ziva finally shows up – and now they’re driving me insane zooming around, opening and closing the curtains, knocking everything over, you know – same as every night. I want to go back in time and shut them in the bedroom, so I can have some peace.

Tuesday

It’s funny how the cats all find some place to sleep for the night – but every morning they’re all crowded on the bed with me! Last night, although Lady Jane came for some cuddling, she left to go sleep with Ziva on the blanket behind my chair. This morning all three were, as always, on the bed.

At work the internet is back, so I have some catching up to do.

Back at home, I allow Lady Jane to sit behind me on the chair. Unbeknownst to me, she nibbles on my shirt! She chewed quite a bit off before I noticed – sigh, I guess it’s an ‘at home only’ top now.

 

That's supposed to be a straight line ... well, it was before Lady Jane nibbled on it

Next she decides to go run with the toilet-paper substitute I got her: a crepe bandage. She was very vary of it at first, almost scared of it, but now? She runs with it as happily as she ever re-decorated my flat with a roll of toilet paper!

Some time later, both Mips play in the bin while Ziva lies on the blanket, sulking – because I’m not letting her out again.

When Mewthos jumped in, Lady Jane became
curious and had to investigate

That's her sulky face

Awww, aren't they just too cute?

And that's Ziva in 'her' box. It's a milk box,
it's not even closed, so she's actually on the floor
with cardboard around her.

Treating myself

Quite a good night and I woke quite early, though I didn’t get up right away. Once up, I took a while to get going.

When I did get going, though, I did it in a big way – went out and got myself some lingerie, then went to buy the shoes. They’ve had them at the same shop only a few months ago, though they had gone up by 50%. Now, however, I’m told they are discontinued. I tried every shop along the way – gosh, I never knew how many shops sell tekkies!

I took a look around some clothes shops, hoping to maybe find either shoes or some leg-wear that goes past my hips! I thought I got lucky in one place, but that was one single pair – size 8! I don’t understand why no place has any decent leg-wear! Not everybody likes pants that fall off when you move! Ah, well, I decided to treat myself to a special breakfast, so I got eggs Benedict with salmon at Mugg & Bean.

Then I got some groceries before going home. Back at home, the gardener has done a great job cleaning the beds around the Bromeliads by the fence. He’s also weeded the beds and the path again. A whole host of cosmos are sprouting up in the middle of the path! Once they’re big enough, we’ll have to move them to the bed.

Lady Jane went exploring in the rockery and suddenly came shooting past, up the stairs and inside! Something has sprayed her – her one cheek is all wet and something got in her eye. So I clean it out with some water and cotton – which she does not enjoy! But after a while her cheek is dry and her eye is open again, but she’s quite wary of exploring again.

Mewthos, on the other hand, has developed a fascination with the swing bin, which I’ve emptied today. He keeps climbing into it and walking around inside.

Lady Jane insists on another intensive cuddle session – the only problem is, that she also insists on walking on my shoulders, etc. And as she cuddles against my cheek she slips – so I have a few more scratches on my shoulder.

Ziva comes in, also wanting either intensive scritching session or go out again. They can be just so clingy! I do hope that sort of settles when the Mips get a bit older. I’m a little worried about Lady Jane’s eye, it’s not 100% ok, she keeps squinting. I’ll see how it looks tomorrow.

Hot Sunday turning gale-windy

Quite a good night with a fairly early morning. I decided to conduct an experiment: If I open the door early, what will the Mips do? If – like Ziva – they just go for a quick cavort, and come back fairly soon, I can let them go for a run before work. Alas, only Mewthos comes back. Lady Jane goes off as far as the wall, led by Ziva! So, that’s a ‘No’ on the morning runs. They only come in for their noon siesta!

I finished my bookkeeping – and it’s very depressing. The amount of money these felines have cost me … sigh. No, I don’t regret any of it. I could have opted for cheaper food for the mommies, when they were nursing the babies. I could have opted to not take them for the booster shots – since they were being adopted anyway. I could have taken better care of my finances at the expense of their health. Yeah, like that’s how I work, eh? I’m not starving, I’m not completely broke – and all the really big expenses are behind me. Now it’s just food and litter, and that’s affordable.

There are some more expenses coming up, though. I need to a new pair of shoes, for example. And I still need to build some furniture for the cats, starting with stabilizing the scratcher.

The weather has turned, it was blue skies and hot all morning, now it’s overcast with a promise of rain. Last night Mewthos pulled the throw off the shelf and placed it comfortably on the floor right behind me – he kneaded it, then took a corner in his mouth and moved it till it was all just right. He held his Siesta on it, but this afternoon, when the weather turned, he climbed into a flower pot instead. Lady Jane, however, took to the blanket. Some time later, Ziva joined her. And now all three of them are snoozing happily in their new little nest right by my side.

Accounting

Reasonably good night, though I did struggle to get to sleep. Got up, had my coffee, went grocery shopping.

I took a little time for myself and strolled through the centre, looked around a few shops. There’s a pet supply shop there, and they had a variety of cat furniture. I’d been thinking of ordering some online, because I’m just so bad at carpentry – but the one’s I checked out at the store changed my mind: those things are really not very stable! They’re light-weight and more for dainty climbing rather than the work-out my kitties need. So I better keep working on my carpentry skills! I did get another wand toy, though. One with a thick, fluffy tail – the Mips love it!

Then I checked out the Crazy store. They didn’t have the poopy bags I wanted, but I got a silly pink rubber ball, with a light-gadget inside and silly green plastic hairs! It just looked so silly, I couldn’t resist. I also got something called a grass head. It’s some sort of soil with seeds stuffed into nylon-stocking material and then tied and formed into a hippo. You gotta soak it for a day, then keep the feet in water and grass should grow out of the head like hair. Should be fun!

It’s cold and overcast, so I’m staying nice and snug inside for the rest of the day. I spent most of it catching up with my bookkeeping. I get like this every now and again, completely obsessive with some project or other.

It’s been too cold for me to sit downstairs, so the Mips have been zooming around the flat for some time – then demanding cuddles. And they love the new wand toy! Instead of holding it up in the air, I drag it along the floor – that gets even Ziva interested!

And that’s all for today, folks!

The Mips explore Rose's garden - extensively!

Another reasonably good night. Some trouble getting to sleep – partially due to coughing when I lie flat, but mostly because my mind keeps trying to solve one particular issue. The Mips came to join me on the bed ... but where is Ziva? She’s developed a fondness for the folding basket I usually keep in my boot. It’s currently in the kitchen, and she sort of curls up to sleep inside it. I carried it – with her in it – through to the bedroom, which she didn’t appreciate. I finally find her curled up in one of my little box-like shelves! It would seem she’s into small, enclosed spaces again – nest-like places. Ai, ai!

Since Ziva shows no interest in coming inside, I let her spend the day outside. I’m glad to say the Mips accept my ‘No!’ and don’t attempt to dash outside between my legs, as I go to work.

At work, still no internet. We’ve eliminated several possibilities, and it’s down to a problem with the account. Only ... nobody knows the account details, so they can’t work on it, if they don’t know which account! It was suggested we connect a standard phone to the line, dial a cellphone to get the number ... I detected a flaw in that, so, rather than going to the helpful planner to collect the phone, I accepted his offer to come here with the phone. As I thought, there is no dial tone = no means of dialing any number! The guys then connected my PC to the router and faffed around to get the account info off the router. Don’t ask – I don’t understand any of that!

Since I didn’t get time to download my statements last night, I couldn’t reconcile last year’s accounting – so I designed the new sheet instead. And captured this year’s receipts. And the sum total I’ve spent on the felines this year already is ... freaky! At this rate, they cost me as much as my monthly rent! And that’s a third of my monthly income!

But the good news is, that they won’t continue costing at this rate, since a large chunk of that was once-off and/or experimental. With experimental, I mean the trial and error to find out which food is best, which litter sand – and most expensively: flea control! Plus, of course, at the beginning of the year I still had five cats – now I’m settling down to my three. The food will still take a while to stabilise, since the Mips are still growing, but I can start getting cans and sachets once a month now at bulk discount (at Makro). And I’ve currently got about two months worth of food in stock!

The bad news, however, is, that I still have quite a long way to go until I can keep them truly indoors. I still need to come up with some means for them to climb indoors, a more stable means to scratch their claws off (the one I built is kind of wobbly now), and I definitely need something for the windows. Am I being unrealistic? It would be so much easier, if I could stop moving around like a gypsy. I want to go and visit Earl, see how they’ve done it there – they’ve build an entire camp in the garden just for their cats!

Back at home, I don’t get any time to myself – Mips insist I come downstairs so they can play in the garden! Since Rose has a visitor, I take a book. The Mips stay right by my side at first, but then Lady Jane hops onto the table and from there onto the post – peeking around the corner up Rose’s stairs! Mewthos also hops onto the table, but they both come back down. I quickly go upstairs, when I come back I find Mewthos exploring Rose’s garden! He comes to the fence and I pick him up and lift him back where he belongs.

Rose comes out – her visitor also comments on how beautiful the kittens are! I find it strange, everybody from the vet to every visitor always comments how extraordinarily beautiful these kittens are. They’re kittens, healthy, happy kittens – but I don’t see how they are any more beautiful than any other cats or kittens? And isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Shouldn’t I be the one finding them all special and beautiful? Ah well – I don’t do normal, do I?

Well, today Ziva has decided the Mips will explore Rose’s garden! She first lures Lady Jane into Rose’s garden, and Mewthos soon follows! They spend literally hours running around, playing, chasing each other! At one point, Mewthos decides to walk down the path towards the road … fortunately at that moment a car drives past giving him such a fright he runs all the way back to the fence, jumps over and runs up the stairs with Lady Jane right behind him – only: she doesn’t jump over the fence. I’m not sure whether she can, yet.

Alas, they have not had enough, yet. Soon they are back over the fence – now both have found the corner by the wall, where they can get over easily – and back to exploring Rose’s garden. They explore all the way to where The Terror lives, but fortunately don’t go there. There are dogs there, too!

At one point, all the cats want to come back to my garden – I can’t remember the reason, now – but the funny thing is, they each come sit on the wall corner. One by one. Sit there, look at me, expecting me to pick them up and lift them over! First Lady Jane, then Mewthos – and the funniest one was Ziva! She can easily jump over, and she doesn’t like to be picked up, yet she sits there looking up at me with her beautiful green eyes! So I pick her up, lift her over, give her the welcome-home cuddle like I did the Mips.

The Mips are still not done exploring Rose’s garden – at least Mewthos isn’t. He’s back over the corner and back exploring! Only: The Terror has arrived! I could chase her off – but I prefer to teach Mewthos a little life-lesson. He needs to understand that I can’t always be there to save him – there is no way I can get over the fence and through the gate fast enough! So: Terror attacks Mewthos, Ziva jumps screaming up at the fence (she also can’t get over at that point) Mewthos runs towards Rose and comes face to face with Rose’s tom! Who isn’t doing anything, but they’re not friends, so Mewthos turns back, but The Terror is in that direction, so now he’s really scared! Rose manages to grab him and hand him to me and I manage to grab him and put him down – we both got lucky that neither of us got scratched, since Mewthos is so scared his claws are out!

Since The Terror stays in sight, all my cats retreat up stairs – looking down from the top of the wall! So I take advantage and get smart: It’s near six anyway, so I go up, inside, lock the gate and shut the door – while all three cats are occupied with food!

Lady Jane is in intensive need of attention – again! She just cannot get enough, so eventually I plop her next to Ziva. Ziva also wants lots of attention – she sits up in ‘her’ basket in the kitchen looking up at me with those soulful green eyes! After Ziva, Lady Jane needs intensive cuddling – yet again! Only Mewthos isn’t demanding attention today. I know he wants some, too, but he’s not demanding – for now.

I’ve had dinner, now I want to take a bath and then I can spend more time intensive cuddling whoever needs it. They really are so much like teenagers! They don’t listen when I call wanting to be all grown-up, but wanting love and cuddles like babies! Add to that a mommy who isn’t a mature adult, yet, either – and you’re getting and idea how hard this ‘instant family’ can be! And let’s not forget – I can’t reason with them in any language I speak. I have to figure out ways to ‘explain’ my reasons in a way that cats can not only understand, but will also accept! It helps a lot that we have a bond of trust and love – even Ziva trusts and loves me. And we’re all doing our very best to work together, help each other, understand each other.

Back to work - without internet

I slept quite well, again, albeit alone. Not one single feline in the bedroom and I woke up with one heck of a headache – most likely due to the flea-spray.  I’ve done the best I could to air the room afterwards, which wasn’t much.

Ziva went for a tour outside, but came back quite soon – since everything is wet outside, I guess. Managed to keep them all inside while I went to work.

At work I have no internet – which means I can do absolutely nothing. I can’t even print. I suppose that’s an opening to start philosophizing about how dependent we’ve become on the internet, only: I’ve got better things to do with my time.

I’ve spent the morning catching up on my bookkeeping. I’d been letting it slide (collecting slips) since March last year, apparently. But now I need to know just how much the cats are costing me – or rather, have cost me so far. Why? Well, I’m down half my savings, and I haven’t been extravagant – except for the cats.

It’s just after one and I’m feeling dizzy again, same as Tuesday afternoon. Again, not really faint, just ... well, there’s a surreal edge to things. Unless you’ve experienced it, it’s kind of hard to describe: some objects just seem surreal. Not quite real, as if there’s something wrong but I can’t put my finger on it. It feels a bit light-headed – but I can’t think from what? I’m not taking medication (well, GrandPa powders for the headache – two in total). I’ve eaten – good dinner last night, two big rolls with a thick layer of cheddar today. I’m drinking real coffee – rather than instant. Higher caffeine levels? I’m not coughing a lot, and I’m smoking far less than last week. Even less than I smoked on Tuesday. Uitenhage is higher above sea level than PE – could I simply be more sensitive due to my cold?

Well, I’ve caught up with my bookkeeping – yeah, I don’t spend money very often, so it’s not really as big a task as it would be for most people. I mean to re-design the spreadsheet from this year onward. I want to simplify it, while at the same time getting more details out of it. In the past, I’d scan in every receipt – so if I want to look up a detail, I just check the receipt, but the storage space is starting to add up ... plus: I’m lazy. I started that system when I didn’t have a life, when I had time to fill up with something meaningful. As in: when I was newly sober, unemployed and broke – so I needed to turn every single penny two or three times before spending it.

My life has changed completely since then. I’m also a decade older – and my energy levels are lower. Five, six years ago, I’d get my second wind when I got home – shedding the dreariness of work, enjoying puttering around at home; cleaning, cooking, or whatever. Nowadays, after a standard work day (8-5) I just cook, fix my lunch and bath. Right now, I’m only working till three, though, so I have time to chat with Rose, play with the Mips, tend to Ziva, clean the litter box, prepare their treat – on top of the dinner, lunch and bath. So, I don’t want to be ‘wasting’ my quality time with admin!

How I’ll cope when the next project starts again, and I may be working 7:30-18:00 again, at first? I do not know! So, I want to set up time-savers where I can. This constant change of life-style, going from full time, long hours to part time, short hours; from all new start up to standard, mostly routine; from high-concentration to relaxed.

And always, always between projects the moving! Packing up my whole life, finding a new place, then unpacking everything and settling in to a new life, new routines. Finding out in a new town where to get which groceries. Since March 2011, when I started this job, I’ve moved three times – four times, if you count the move in Feb 2011. And I’ll be moving again this year. And I have no idea just how on earth I’ll move the three cats! Never mind how I’ll do the actual moving, the carrying everything out of the flat to load on the truck – with the cats! And I’ve gotten more stuff since I’ve moved in: not so much in the flat itself, there I only got the Induction Plate, the Oven and the Vacuum – but all the garden stuff? And all the cat stuff? Ai, ai, THAT adds up to a crap load! Oh gosh, and I forgot the desk & chairs I got from work!

Okay, if I don’t stop fretting about all that now, I’ll go nuts! See how I can go from a pimple to a funeral in four seconds flat?

Keep the focus on right here, right now. And that’s simplifying my bookkeeping. I’ll have to download my statements tonight, then I can reconcile last year’s records – though, since I’ve kept an eye on that, there shouldn’t be any surprises. And then I can set up a new spreadsheet tomorrow. And record my 2018 receipts. With that, I’ll then have what I need to set up a realistic budget.

Still no internet at work, but at least someone’s been to have a look. He reckons it’s a Hellkom issue (aka Telkom). My colleague, however, reckons the cable was damaged – probably by a forklift. Hence all this time to write down every step of the tangent I went off on!

Back at home, the Mips are not happy to go out alone – so off I go, plonk myself in the garden and do some weeding. Both Mips are fascinated by my activity and watch my every move. Well, for a while, at least. When Rose comes home, I sit at the bottom of the stairs, she brings a chair across the fence and her crocheting. While we sit and chat, the Mips are on the stairs.

At one point, first Shadow then Ziva stalk some pigeons in Rose’s garden … and the next minute: There’s Lady Jane! Right behind Ziva! In Rose’s garden, right by the gate which is right by the road! I have no idea how she got past the fence – probably under – but she doesn’t yet know how to get back! After Ziva chased the the pigeons away, Lady Jane comes contritely back to the fence … but not within reach, so poor Rose has to crawl behind the bush to pick her up and hand her to me! She nearly stumbled and fell backwards! Ziva climbs up on the post … and pretends to be stuck there, so I can come and ‘rescue’ her. Awww, sweet! Well, it would be, if she hadn’t first lured Lady Jane outside her safety territory!

After six I go upstairs – Mips follow. Mewthos naps on the other chair, Lady Jane under my chair, so after a while, I figure it’s best to go and shut the gate. Yeah. No! I lock the gate and the Mips go out! By the time it’s getting dark, they are still out – and not in the least interested in coming inside! So I have to go and carry them back inside. Again! And they do not like it one bit! They wriggle and fight me – but they don’t use claws. So, in future, I better lock up when I get the chance – not wait until it’s getting dark.

Ziva comes in soon after as well, but wants back out. I’m thinking that is not a good idea. The Mips are getting to an age, where they don’t like to be ‘babies’ any more, they don’t like to be treated different from Ziva anymore. At the same time, I can’t exactly start treating Ziva like a baby, either! So I have to start bribing Ziva. First with full-body scritches – she loves that, but not always. Then with food. She ALWAYS loves food! But not all types of food – she’s especially selective with wet food, lately! But at least she always likes fishy sachets – whether in jelly or gravy!

And now Mewthos demands my attention, so I better spend some time with him!

Finally some rain!

Best night in what feels like ages! I actually slept most of the night. Did have a few episodes where I woke up struggling to breathe, coughing so badly the cats ran off!

Up at a reasonable time, did the needed shopping. And then I vacuumed the bedroom and sprayed the whole place with the flea treatment. I’ll need two more cans.

The Mips are completely flea-free! Lady Jane may not be happy with her collar, but it’s definitely working! There is not a single flea bothering her nor Mewthos! The Mips are relaxed – not fighting fleas non-stop! Mewthos is playing more as well – last night those two went zooming around the flat like pin balls again! Both of them, not just Lady Jane. But he’s still holding his paw crooked, and he still limps at times. Right now he’s in the flower pot and Lady Jane under my chair.

Lady Jane is a bit upset, because she slipped off my shoulder last night and tore quite a long scratch into my shoulder. It took a while to get it to stop bleeding, too. Lady Jane just watched with that sad look on her face – I picked her up, snuggled her and let her know I know it was an accident.

The weather today is so humid – it’s overcast, promising to rain but not one drop comes down. I sat outside so the Mips would burn off some energy – and Lady Jane went and sat by the gate! Mewthos was nearby watching. When I went and carried them back, both start struggling to be let down. Well, by seven I’m so tired, I could just lie down and sleep through the night. I’m upstairs now, waiting for the Mips to come in so I can shut the door – it’s dark outside and I’m not happy with them being out.

Strangely enough it’s Mewthos I’m having trouble to get inside. I actually have to chase him, pick him up and carry him upstairs! Soon after I get them all inside it starts raining. Serious rain! As in ‘coming down by the bucket load’ serious. And yet, it stays hot. Too hot to be pleasant. I’ve made tomorrows lunch, now I’m just going to fry a steak for dinner and then I’ll sleep. Sleep through the night, hopefully!

Work Tuesday

I had a very, very bad night with hardly any sleep at all. I could not get comfortable and had a lot of trouble breathing. Sometimes I could breathe best flat on my back, other times I had to sit up. Eventually I bunched up the duvet – being careful to leave the corner Ziva occupied. Mewthos cuddled up to Ziva early on, grooming each other, while Lady Jane was probably in the lounge. Later on Mewthos snuggled in my arms, Ziva curled up on a corner of my duvet and Lady Jane stretched along the side of the bed.

I woke up reasonably early, though I was not at work on time. Some work had piled up, and our electrician needed something specific. No problem. By noon I finished the box of tissues I keep at work. Now I’m using hard paper towels – I must remember to bring a box on Thursday. I’m feeling kind of dizzy – without the actual faintness. Just kind of wonky, I suppose.

Back at home the Mips require intensive care. They’re okay to amuse themselves for a while, but not the whole evening. Lady Jane goes out with Ziva while Mewthos stays mostly with me.

Around seven I shut them in, they look a bit droopy so I decide to spend some time playing with them – like we used to when there were four of them. As I walk to the toy drawer, they follow, when I open it they get so excited! I take out the fish wand toy and play with them for quite some time!  Since I don’t want Mewthos to jump and risk injuring his poor leg further, so I sort of drag the fish around the floor mostly. They’re both ecstatically happy to play! After the fish wand, I take out the mouse with the bell – Lady Jane loves it! When I finally give up, since I’m done, Lady Jane comes for an intensive cuddle session. Mewthos settles himself on the table to watch.

Eventually I just have to get up and run my bath. So now Mewthos really, really wants to investigate this bath thing I do! He keeps jumping into the bath and back out as his paws get wet. So I shut them out.

Ziva finally came in just before I bathed, as well. Afterwards she’s sitting by the door indicating a desire … so I bribe her with food! I give them all their ‘treat’, and give Mewthos his medicine.
Now Mewthos is sleeping on one of the chairs and Lady Jane under my chair. Ziva is somewhere in the bedroom. Time for me to follow their example.

Vet Monday

It’s been a … delicate night. Coughing and running stomach are NOT a good combination. ‘Nuff said.

It’s been a sunny, albeit overcast day – but the wind? Unpleasant. I took Mewthos to the vet. She said the lump is most likely from the vaccinations – it’ll go away in a while. The limp is possibly an injured ligament from his fall, which will also heal in time. He should stay still for a while – which he is doing. A lot! And she gave me some meds to help. For the fleas she suggested a spray for the carpets & bed and collars for the kittens. I can’t see Ziva keeping a collar on, and she’s not as bad as the Mips, so she’s just getting another back-of-the-neck treatment. Advantage this time, which Rose endorses. Her daughter also says it’s the best. She put the collar on Mewthos there and then.

Back at home I dosed Ziva – she’s highly upset with me! Then I put the collar on Lady Jane – who is equally indignant. Mewthos doesn’t particularly like it, but he’s accepted the collar without a fight. It’s supposed to be good for eight months – so for their first birthday, they can get new ones. They’re supposedly odorless, I wouldn’t be able to tell, though.

So, on Wednesday I had better thoroughly vacuum the entire flat and spray that stuff everywhere. That’s gonna be fun!

Rose is also taking Shadow to the vet tonight. She’s got these spots on her nose, and they’re only getting worse. I hope her diagnosis is as much a relief as Mewthos’ has been for me.

Well, they’re hoping it’s just an infection and gave Rose some antibiotics. She should know by Monday, if it hasn’t cleared up by then, they’ll have to do more tests. Oh, and they’ve never seen any breed of cat like her, they have no clue what got involved in her mix. 

Chore Sunday

Nothing worth writing about. Did chores, Mips played outside, napped half the day, now Lady Jane is outside again while Mewthos is stretched on the floor. Too windy to go out, so it’s been a blank kind of day.

Sick, Sick, Better

Thursday: Sick. Mostly in bed, went through nearly an entire box of tissues. Thursday night: Up most of the night, coughing. Friday: Sick. Mostly in bed, barking so loud even the cats are scared of me. Thursday I was too sick to go outside, and the cats drove me up the wall that night. Ziva was meowing non-stop, I eventually threw the lot of them out of my bedroom and shut the door! So Friday, I sat downstairs for a while – Mewthos got so excited at the thought of playing outside, he toppled the chive-flower box. On top of himself! Later I felt a lump on his back. I’m hoping the two are connected. Friday night they were quiet, at least. Though that could be out of fear – I was coughing quite badly most of the night.

Late morning, since I didn’t get much sleep. Took quite some time to work up the get-up-and-go needed to get going.

I needed to go to DisChem. Last. Time. Ever! No trolleys. No merchandise. I mean standard stuff: No Cleanser – well, only one single brand and that’s in an awkward bottle. No bath milk/oil – well, again, only one single brand: The ultra expensive Fenjal. Only one fragrance bath salts. For hand-wash, I can choose herbs or fruit – not one single floral fragrance. I’m old school – Sage, Peach, Strawberry, etc is stuff that goes into the kitchen, not the bathroom! And at the check-out? They tried to take that roller-basket thing I had to use instead of a trolley, away from me! Hello? You think I’ll carry 10 kg cat litter plus everything else on my head or something? Oh, and inside the store? The only words staff spoke to me were “Excuse me” – not the polite, “Oh, could you excuse me, please? I’d like to pass, if you don’t mind.” But the “Get out of my way!” type. Do you know why I had to ‘get out of the way’ so many time? Because all the aisle were obstructed with boxes in front of shelves – you had to slalom through the entire store!

I used to love meandering through DisChem, selecting the odd treat for myself here and there, while I could get my preferred brand of toiletries at a lower price than anywhere else. Today? Of the 13 items on my list I got 4 ½! That’s right, a third! Not worth the trip, the inconvenience, the rudeness! Not. Worth. It.

Back at home, I think I must have the clumsiest Mips ever! Yesterday Mewthos toppled the flower pot on top of himself. Today Lady Jane tried to jump on the wall, missed and fell onto the stairs the other side! Fortunately she’s fine – no injury. Injuries are a goofy Mewthos thing. He’s still not fully walking on his left leg, he won’t climb into the tree – I don’t know: should I take him to the vet again?

I mean, I lifted him into the tree and he just turned around and jumped down again. That sounds more psychological than physical, doesn’t it? But the lump and the limp – those are physical. Ai, ai, my poor little Mewly.

He keeps going over to the pot he toppled over yesterday, gives it the once-over, then wanders away all sad.

Well, I spent some time outside so the Mips could play – it’s now getting dark and they’ve gone out again. I’m still not well, but a lot better! Especially since I got some cough mixture – alcohol and sugar free. That was one of the 4 ½.

Mewthos came in quite happily for attention when it got dark, Lady Jane? I had to go out and carry her all the way from the garage! And she started fighting me half-way up the stairs! And now she’s curled up with her Ouboet on the scratcher.

Twenty to nine Ziva is outside the door, meowing. I open the door, she sits on the mat, meowing. Mips are stirring, interested in the open door – so I grab Ziva and drag her in. She comes, goes to the food bowl, now sits down, cleans herself and meows to go out, continues cleaning – N U T S! She drives me nuts! So I let her out. She missed treat time last night as well. I can’t deal with her psychosis. I have enough on my hands worrying about Mewthos.