Search This Blog

Saturday, 29 December 2018

Day 66 of 100, Friday 28th December


Last night I just could not get to sleep – my mind suddenly went into panic mode and I just could not calm it down. A string of ‘What if’s assaulted my poor brain and just would not quit! You’d think that having been up and about for 17 hours I’d have no trouble sleeping.

As a result I had trouble waking up, woke with a headache, to a late start trapping mippies and carting them off to the vet. Romeo didn’t help, either, insisting on his breakfast – then strolling under my feet and investigating mippies in their carriers! Lady Jane and Ziva got out of their carrier and I had to quickly shut the door before they got away; that meant that Romeo was shut inside as well! There was no time for coffee, and half-way to the vet they called to ask where I was!

Mewthos was mewling pitifully until I grabbed his head in both my hands and kissed his face – that calmed him down and he made no more trouble. Would you believe that bugger weighs 6kg! And he isn’t fat, not really – but very, very big!

Ziva was no problem, she let the vet take her temperature, took her injections and walked back into the carrier – she weighs 4.8kg.

Lady Jane was … difficult. They took her out of the carrier but weren’t ready for her, I had to try and keep her quiety by holding her in my arms, while the vet got all the paperwork and ampules ready – she wriggled in my arms, clearly not happy about this whole experience. She weighs a mere 4.6kg.

Back at home, I let the mippies out at the bottom, just by the courtyard – Lady Jane and Mewthos immediately ran to ‘safety’; but found the door shut! When I came up with the carrier, Lady Jane decided ‘no way!’ and ran off! I opened up, Mewthos and Romeo went inside, Ziva came along in her own time – but Lady Jane was nowhere to be seen! She had us quite worried! I went upstairs and fetched the ball with the bell inside – my secret weapon to calling Lady Jane! It worked! She came strolling along!

They’re somewhat unsettled, I can only tell by their need for reassurance from me throughout the day. I, on the other hand, feel utterly drained! It worries me that this ‘little’ exercise – of carrying 15kg of squirming kitties – drains me so utterly, how on earth will I cope with the whole move?!? Let alone that 2-day drive ending with the horror of Jo’burg traffic!?! Then right away the rush of getting groceries (first finding out where the shops are!) and setting up enough of my ‘home’ to keep things going while I deal with traumatized kitties – urgh, I don’t know how I will cope!

The vet had no idea what could be causing those fat lips on my mippies. She also suggested I keep them shut inside for at least two weeks! Two weeks! Ziva? And Lady Jane? Shut in for two whole weeks? They’ll drive me absolutely insane – let alone their own state of mind!

I went for a walk through the garden with Rose, we had two cherry tomatoes each and transplanted the cabbage plant, which seemed to be dying on the rockery – though it had roots, and they were moist so it’s still alive. The Snapdragons don’t seem to survive transplanting, and a lot of the carnations didn’t survive it either. I can’t say why, because some are doing well.

Lady Jane got herself into a fix, she finally summoned the courage to follow Ziva off the stair-wall onto the courtyard wall – but couldn’t get down from there! She couldn’t jump back up and the jump down was too far for her! She kept walking along mipping in confusion! She was too high for me to reach and pick her off, I bent forward offering her to jump on my back but she wouldn’t. Eventually I went into the courtyard and stacked about two or three chairs next to the wall – that finally seemed manageable to her and she jumped down!

I’ve decided to try and take all the spekboom I had planted along the path; I’ll put them into one or two of the larger flower pots with simply earth from my beds – after all, I’ve added loads of potting soil and compost to those beds over the years! I’ll just have to sift through it carefully to make sure I’m not taking any weeds along.

I’ve packed another couple of boxes with kitchen all sorts. Rose warned me there’s another heat wave next week, so I had better pack while it’s cool. It should get warm tomorrow as well, but still windy so overall I hope it won’t get too bad tomorrow – and I can do some more packing.

I’ve already packed such a lot and everything looks bare – but I’m really good at space optimisation, so ‘looking bare’ doesn’t exactly mean the same as ‘just another box or two’. It’s partly frightening just how much I’ve packed into the space here – and frustrating to get it all into boxes, now!

It’s even worse living with everything packed! The more I pack, the fewer options I have for dinner! In the end it’ll come down to just the steamer and a frying pan! Well, not exactly – I just remembered that the Induction Plate came with a set of pots, all of which goes back into its original box right at the end. But that still leaves the kettle, the flask and the water filter; cups, a plate, cutlery, the cutting board, etc. etc. Which, in turn, means that I still have to pack everything else – like the pizza board & tray, the measuring cup, the slow cooker, the juicer, the orange juicer, the blender, etc. etc.

It doesn’t end! I also still have to pack a lot from the room divider, my art stuff, the 7” singles, the record player and all the lever arch files. Then there’s still some more I can now pack in the bedroom and let’s not forget the bathroom, like the scale, the shower store hangers … and there’s the shower curtain!

And when all that is done, I need to test-pack everything that’s left – make sure I have boxes where it will fit; and when that is done there are still all those books to be packed!

Actually, since I can actually list all that still needs to be done – it means that the end is in sight! Tomorrow I’ll get the boxes for the juicer and such from the garage and start packing everything into their original boxes – except for the vacuum cleaner! That’ll have to stay out a while longer and the box is quite large.

Another heartbreaking moment: when I called in my mippies, Romeo came along at top speed with the same exuberant eagerness as Mewthos! It’s almost as if he thinks of my place as home – just not quite in the conventional sense. It’s a place to rest safe, to get lovies and attention, as well as food and nippies (catnip). I gave him his treat outside …

No comments:

Post a Comment