We got a new kitten from the shelter; tiny scrap of ginger fur and purr, a stray found with her brothers and sisters. We've called her Peach, partly because of her color and partly as a nod to Tally and Mac since we buried them under the peach tree. She's incredibly affectionate and brave.

Willow is aghast, horrified, hissing, growling, running away, but we will let them get used to each other slowly.

See David's fitbit? It has gone all bulgy on the strap. They're sending him another which is nice since we can't find the receipt.

( Peach )

David bought a smoker today, very small and basic but he's wanted one for ages. I predict he uses it as often as the bread maker. The DUSTY BREAD MAKER.

The packaging involved much rustling paper and things to jump in.

Willow was adorable.

Not bad for three days acquaintance!

Thank you for all the lovely messages on the Willow post! I was determined to finish the Goodreads story so I didn't get the chance to reply to them individually. The story hit 16,000 words (not bad for a week) and it's now with the lovely wesleysgirl for beta reading. That much typing has made the ganglion on my wrist swell. Ow.

In other book news, 'Rock and a Hard Place' by Alexa and me, will be out from Loose Id on May 8th. That's the businessmen on a desert island one.

Eleanor and I have started watching The Big Bang Theory now we're all caught up on Modern Family. Heh. Loving it so far, but I was reeling when she said she'd never heard of Roseanne.

Willow has settled, but is still skittish.

Last night David got back around 12.45 p.m. from soccer. I'd already gone to bed; when he has a late game he sleeps in the spare room.

I heard chairs scraping, crashes, bangs, all sounding really loud at that time of night, then a howl. I got up, ran down, thinking Mac and Willow had finally taken it past hissing and Hard Stares, and found David emerging from the cats' room, his hands dripping blood.

Their room has a door into the garage. He'd come through it and then opened the door into the house. Willow dashed out and instead of letting her settle, he chased her.

When he caught her, he wished he hadn't.

This morning she was on her cushion looking demure, then as soon as she saw me, she wriggled behind the tumble dryer and stayed there for two hours. I gave up and edged it out so I could get behind it and grab her. The dryer tube got ripped. She let me pet her, then wanted to go down. I put her on her chair and she stayed there for a nanosecond then ran behind the computer.

And vanished.

Seriously.

Cannot find her. Pfft. Gone.

Thank God the basement door was shut, and all the outside ones, but the bedroom doors were all open (she hadn't ventured up there, so we got sloppy).

I keep searching and calling her name, but at the moment, she's in a pocket dimension of n-space or something.

ETA ETA OMG, as I wrote this I heard purring. She never left the computer desk! She wriggled inside it! I can see her little head poking out of an alcove behind the drawers, about an inch deep! How did she hide in there?

She won't come out though. I have food there to lure her, but she's warm and cosy on all the cables.

Back from the vets with a new pain patch and front paw rebandaged. Sue said she thought the infection had gone but the worry is that he's not eating. I just weighed him; 5.7 pounds. When all this started he was 8.2 :-(

She gave him an appetite enhancing pill. I gave it to him at 12.45 and wow! He's drunk water and ate a saucer of food I warmed in the microwave to get it smelling nice, some at 1.00, then he was trying to get it to it again at 1.30 so he had some more. Will keep feeding him every time he opens his eyes.

Fingers crossed!

Thank you for all the comments yesterday and the lovely v-gift jaekayelle. I will answer them later; yesterday I was just in too much of a fret to concentrate on anything.

Encouraging news today, post-op!

Sue just called and said he was eating well and came through the operation to remove some toes very well. She's such a sweetie to take him home with her last night (not that her own cat agrees ;-)). I can pick him up later this morning. I volunteer at L's school on Fridays, prepping breakfasts for the kids who come in hungry, so it'll be around 11.30, and she says I can call any time over the w/e if I'm worried.

His back paw is still tender, but not bleeding and she's going to leave it uncovered or with only a loose cover to protect it. Front paw bled a bit so he howled getting that bandage off.

He'll be on pain meds, more antibiotics.

Fingers and whiskers crossed.

They think it's just infection building up behind the stitches and it blew rather than him chewing at the stitches. The vet has removed the old sutures and got him on an IV and she's cleaned him up and is keeping him overnight to carry on the IV and monitoring. She's removed the infected claw on the front paw too, but not the toe. Using poultices to draw out the infection.

So we're in a bit of a holding pattern right now.

Going to call in on the way to get the girls from school to see him so he knows he's not been abandoned.

Thank you for all the good wishes ::hugs you all::

Here's my hammock and have a cat for free :-)

It's amazing how I get ANYTHING done around here. Get off the mouse cable, darn it!

Eleanor took these (she takes way better photos than I do). Totally unposed; she just saw Talisker asleep wrapped around one of Lauren's Webkinz and then Macallan decided he wasn't having Tally being cute and not him and got into the act with a slipper.

I thought of Indigo, jenlev!


( four cat pictures )