Cat tale #3 (or where's my mouse)

Facebook threw up this memory from two years ago

26 April at 10:01 ·

Felix the cat's favourite sitting spot when anyone is in the office is on a keyboard, preferably Fester's laptop. Fester uses a pc for work and the laptop for tv and radio, either live or iPlayer. If we're both in the office I expend a deal of effort in persuading Felix to walk around the back of the laptop.  It's not unusual for Fester to doze off whilst working.

We were in the office the other evening and Felix creeps, un-noticed, onto the laptop and settles down comfortably. Eventually Fester wakes up, shoos Felix away and discovers the laptop screen has been turned through ninety degrees. Instead of being landscape it is portrait. And he thinks the mouse isn't working because he's shifting it so vigorously he can't actually focus on it.

So there are cries off "Me bloody cursor's gone"

and me replying "It's there, stop moving the mouse"

"The mouse isn't bloody working, it's all over the place"

"Then stop moving it".

Of course Fester had no idea how to return the screen to normal.

I had a vague idea about the control panel but with the mouse 'not working' even when we can get in there's no obvious screen orientation menu.

I suggest we ask Ferretfingers as he once turned his VDU's screen upside down in school (the technician had to close down and reboot the whole school system to get it back).  

However the atmosphere was so fraught communication was impossible.

Then 

"Thunderthighs come down here a minute"

Thunderthighs looks at the problem, laughs, says "hang on a minute", thunders back to the loft and down again, presses 3 keys and - hey presto - it's back as it should be.

"What did you do? Show me what you did!"

"Control, alt and an arrow key."

"Which arrow key?"

"Any arrow key."

Thunderthighs trundles off and peace, for a while, returns.

(One friend asked for tickets for next week’s performance)

Sample Communication

As I mentioned in a previous blog the GP recalled Ferretfingers after his annual medical because his blood test showed he was slightly anaemic.  This is worrying in a young man as it could be indicative of coeliac disease (Fester’s mother was coeliac) or other nasties we do not wish to think about.

As well as another blood test the doctor asked for urine and stool samples.

Ferretfingers allowed her to take blood.  He was far braver than I am when it comes to bloodletting. 

I was brave too as I held his hand and tried very hard not to look at the syringe filling with my son’s life fluid.

Dr GP gave us white capped and blue capped (with an integral spoon) for the urine and stool samples.

How do you get a stool sample from someone with a communication disorder?

Especially one it took until the age of 12 to completely toilet train.

Explaining it verbally resulted in nothing but strange looks, upset and refusal.

So yesterday I decided the only way was to write him a note.

This evening Mrs Leftfoot dropped in on her way home from work for a quick catch up.

No sooner had she entered the living room than Ferretfingers announced “I’m doing a poo” and shot off into the downstairs loo.  He put the bowl in the bowl and followed my instruction not to flush.

I congratulated Mrs Leftfoot on her laxative effect, but left off putting the sample in the tube until she’d gone home:  there’s only so much a guest can expect to be witness.

That done I handed him the white tube and asked him to fill it with wee. 

Which he did. 

Without spilling a drop or dribbling any down the side.

Fortunately our GP’s surgery is a five minute walk away so I trotted up and handed the tubes into the receptionist whilst they were still warm.

Everyone's a critic

This popped up on my facebook memories today and made me smile

Sunday 24 April 2016 at 20:23

Both boys came down to the Quayside Market today.

We got off the bus at St Dominic's and walked down the hill to Sandgate, then along the Quayside through the Market to the Guildhall.

Stopped for brunch at the burger van. We're known now.

"Get sat down quick before your seat goes" says the proprietor's dad.

Crossed the Swing Bridge, walked up the ramp to and through the Sage. 

As we reached the top of the stairs down to the Baltic the sounds of a highland pipe and drum band practising outside HMS Caliope wafted up to us.

"Will you put a sock in it" shouts Ferretfingers,

swiftly followed by

"Go back to Scotland" from Thunderthighs.

Fyi I like bagpipes

A woman of many hats

I have just returned from the vets with Teddy the ginger git cat who is allergic to fleas.

He gets great bloody scabs which fall off leaving baldy bits until the fur grows back in – and untended they spread.  We’ve been back and forth to the vets for a couple of months as he has to have steroids to cure it and we are now in the weaning off stage.

Today the vet also checked his teeth for tartar and his ears for wax and mites.

The upshot is I now have to:-

give him half a steroid tablet every other day for a week, then a quarter tablet

put drops in his ears twice a day for the next ten days

clean his teeth twice a week using either a finger brush or a soft baby toothbrush and 

hugely expensive poultry flavoured toothpast.

Our firstborn Ferretfingers had his annual medical last month.

His tummy was tender on the bottom right hand side so the doctor asked about poo and constipation and Ferretfingers said ‘yess’ to a question about blood.

(He has had a crack in the past and I got the joy of putting ointment on his ring).

So now I’m in charge of giving him a laxative drink every other night and keeping a poo diary.

How many poos today?

Hard/soft/runny?

Fast/slow?

Did it hurt?

Was there blood?

I shall be typing the results up on a grid shortly.

Ferretfingers also has a build-up of plaque inside his front teeth but cannot stand the dentists cold water pick.  So each month we attend a special clinic where the lovely nurse pick bits of with a metal hooky thing that he’s fine with.  But in between I have to brush his upper and lower front teeth and gums using a special soft brush and non-foaming toothpaste (thankfully free).

He had a blood test at the medical which indicated mild anaemia so we’ve got another appointment to review that.

Both Ferretfingers' and Thunderthighs' weight means they have been referred on an obesity clinic.  Guess who’s going to organise and take them to those sessions. 

And try and ensure they comply.

And nag their father into feeding them a more suitable diet.

Currently the Felix cat and father Fester seem to have no ailments or bodily needs that require my attention.

But it’s only a matter of time.