Maximus Disruptus


Yes that is his full name.  And boy does he live up to his name.  Not a day goes by without Max not being up to mischief.


We had two cats living with us, Nina and one of her kittens Tyler, although Tyler is already 10 years old, he still is the baby. Or he was, until 12 January 2011, when a new house pet came into our lives.  I blame Bobby Bradshaw for that one.  He came to see us a week beforehand mentioning his colleague who had six kittens!!!!, and they all needed re-homing.  Bob showed us some pictures and we loved the long haired tuxedo kitten the most, so we said, okay, alright, we go and pick her up.  It was a she, you see.  We called her Tara.  A stunningly beautiful kitty who refused to listen to her name, was all over the placed and scared the hell out of Tyler and brought out terrific hissing from Nina.  


After Tara had been with us for a few weeks, she let me tickle her belly and it was then that I discovered that our Tara was not a Tara, but that "she" had some additional body parts, which turned her immediately into a boy cat.  When the man of the house came home I told him and he could not stop laughing.  We decided to call him Maximus Disruptus or Max for short.  Within hours, he listened to his name, and I have always wondered if he was telling me that he was a boy by not listening to the name Tara.

He is something else.  Always up to mischief, always playing, always sleeping in the weirdest positions, and going floppy when you pick him up.  He loves Emke, the youngest human in the family, and he puts up with being cuddled to bits and hanging upside down.  The other two always used to run when she came near, but they also are now taking to her and let themselves being cuddled.


He is kind of long haired so he needs brushing, and he is incredibly soft to touch.  Emke taught him to take a sweetie from between her lips without him touching her and he loves giving kisses, unlike the other two, who are so greedy when you give them a sweet.


He doesn't like noises though, a few weeks ago the council  was mowing the lawn with one of those electric mowers, and Max climbed so high in the curtains, that I had problems getting him down, he does not like it at all, very strange as he has never been afraid of fire works.


Max is a totally adorable cat and there is no way you could not like him, and although he will be two years old in October 2012, he is and will always be our baby

Life

I cannot believe that it is a year since I have written a blog.  It is very strange that I haven't, taking into consideration that I do love writing and mostly just rant on about all sort of nonsense.  The last blog was about my ankles.  Honestly how on earth can you write about the use of ankles.

Well since the ankle episode, life has flown by.  After going back to work last May to a job that was increasingly becoming stressful, I decided that I should be looking for another job, mind you in today's climate I wasn't very hopeful, so I did my job to a fully 100% and kept my eyes and ears open.  You never know do you.

I forgot to say that I suffer slightly from insomnia, not that it ever bothered me, because if it does, it only makes it worse, so I was happily lying in bed next to me beloved husband, who would be miles away in dreamland, watching television, and patiently waiting to fall asleep, which usually happened at two or three in the morning.  My day job required me to be in at seven, so not many hours were occupied by sleep, but.........it worked and I just got on with it.

In the mean time my child did her GCSEs, and did really well, so that was a worry less.  You do worry about them.  You give birth to them and you worry for the rest of your life, not fair realy, but that's life (as the heading refers to).


So anyway, I do have another job, and this one requires me to work nights and nights only.  It's a shift pattern and the shifts are long ones, and I am on my own, something I don't really mind, as I like my own company, it also means that there is a possibility that I do not see my husband for days on end, as he works ridiculous hours during the day and is often not home before I leave, so our relationship is somewhat changed and conversations between us are held more and more on our mobiles (thank heavens for appropriate mobile contracts), but when we do see one another, we enjoy our company much more so I suppose that is a real bonus after nearly 20 years together. It also means that we both have the whole king size bed to ourselves when we get in from work, and that is bonus number two.  Whilst I am writing this he is gently snoring for England.


I suppose I should go to bed too, so I wish you all a very good and restful night, until the next blog

Ankles

It's amazing what you realise ankles do, until you miss the use of one.  Last Sunday evening (16.01.11) I was at work, happily doing the things I was supposed to do when I managed to find the tiniest bit of water of a very shiny floor, and yes, I went flying.  I completely dislocated my right ankle and was in agony.  I managed to "click" the ankle back in place, it never occurred to me that it could have been broken, but there you go, I clicked it back in place.  I had a few X-Rays in A&E or ED as it is now apparently called (Emergency dept), and it turned out that nothing was broken, but that I had a really nasty sprain, in fact I've more than likely, according to the doctor, damaged my ligaments.  My foot resembled a blue football, and it hurted like there was no tomorrow.

I'm not a happy bunny.  I hobble around on one foot and a crutch, and was hoping that I would only be off for a week or so and go back to work next week.  However...............the swelling has not gone down much, the whole foot is a deep shade of indigo and walking is a real effort, add to that pain and considerable pain, you can understand that I am not a happy bunny (as already mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph)

So I have to go back to the ED department on Sunday to see the doctor again.  he did say last Sunday that he would be on duty this Sunday and if it was not getting a lot better I would have to come and see him, which will also be fun and games as the car needs to go to the car hospital next Tuesday as it's not feeling 100% either.  It's not been a good week.

Hopefully next week will be better

Snow

I love snow.

Basically I can't get enough of it.  I love the whiteness, the grey in the sky, the snow when it comes down, driving in it, cycling in it, although I don't really cycle in London, as too many car driver don't have a clue how to deal with cyclists, not to mention cyclists who haven't got a clue how to deal with car drivers.  I love to walk in the snow, and make snowmen.  I don't make snow women, just snowmen.  I love it when you walk in brand new snow and it crunches under your feet when you walk over it, basically it's fabulous!!!

Ye I can understand those who hate it, because it can be nasty and dangerous, and knowing what the councils are like gritting the roads and pavements, I can see why people are annoyed and don't want the snow, but what can be better than see the children on their sledges sliding down Parliament Hill or throwing snowballs at each other.  My daughter had to wait seven years before she experienced snow.  I couldn't get her indoors.  Every few hours she would come in, change her wet clothes for dry ones and straight back out again.  Absolutely wonderful.

As far as I am concerned, it can start snowing on Saturday until the cows come home.  It's lovely having a white Christmas.  There's nothing wrong with hoping.....................

Holiday

Another holiday has bitten the dust.  We came back in the early hours of 6 September 2010, and writing this a week later, it seems a life time ago that we've been away.

Friday 20 August we went very early to the Netherlands to pick up the rest of the family and after 40 winks, which seemed more like 400 winks, we left for the sunny beaches of the south of France.  My husband drove basically all the way which, I have to say I very much appreciated.  We had several p & p stops as well a coffee to stay awake, but my brother felt at one point he needed to half a sleep break, and so we all had a sleep break which turned to be a three hour sleep break, so the journey there took us 17 hours in all. Getting to the campsite was good and the keys were already waiting for us, so we could move straight into our booked mobile homes. 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was very hot.  Mind you I don't really mind the hot weather there,  as there is near enough no humidity, so 32 degrees C without any humidity is very well do-able compared to 29 degrees C with a 53% humidity at work, which makes you literally sick.

I have to say if I ever was to win the lottery I would move to the South of France permanently.  I love the way of living there, I love the attitude the whole lifestyle, and could oh so easily get used to that.  Saying that I would move to Laguna Beach in a flash too, as that is also one of my all time favourite places I have ever been.  Perhaps I need to win enough to be able to live in France AND Laguna Beach on an alternate basis.  That would be the best.

Going back to the holiday, basically, all we did was rest and go to the beach and eat lovely things with lots of garlic.  My brother made macaroni for all eight of us a few times, the boys put a BBQ a few times, and I made a curry for all of us. Hubby did English breakfast a few times for us, and everything was nice and relaxing.  No stress, no hassle, not anxiety, just a holiday we really needed.

We had the usual cats on the campsite getting rid of possible mice (never seen a mouse on that campsite for all the years we've been there) and the hedgehogs visited every evening.  It always made us laugh to hear them scuffle under the mobile home.

We went t the market  a few times, and I got a beautiful mirror for in the bathroom, belated birthday present from my brother and his family.  It still has to be hung up, so I wonder when that is going to happen, but it is a beautiful mirror.

The last day of our holiday, the waves were very high, in fact they were so high that several people lost their footing in the sea and were thrown all over the place, and yes that included me.  It was great though the and kids (and that included the two grown up males in our party) had a great time in the sea.  I made a bit of a video of it, and will have to upload that sometime to YouTube.

But to all good things comes an ed, and also this holiday finished.  It took us nearly 145 hours to get back the to Netherlands where we stayed the night, and at 4.00 pm the next day we left the family to go back to the UK.  We were on the 9.15 pm cross over from Bolougne to Dover, when we found out that we were on the last ever crossing of the shipping company, and that made me really sad, yet another company that could not make a enterprise profitable and so it was stopped. 

Coming home at 12.30 am, we had to unload the car.  Jeez, every year again I am absolutely astonished by the things we take and take back and how much washing I have to do before it all goes back where is is supposed to go.  Even now, a week later I am still trying to sort things out.

Our kitties were not happy when we first walked in but after about an hour, they came and cuddled up.

Roll on next year......................

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.



When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....


Author unknown...

Cats

I was looking at my cat Tyler earlier on today, and I just thought what a wonderful and adorable cat he is, and how much different he is from his mother Nina, who also resides in my home.  They are both very loving, but Tyler is a real sweetie, and loves nothing more than sitting beside you with one of his paws on your lap or leg. And if he does get the chance he'll sit o my right leg, but only when I'm lying down, it's very rare he sits on your lap.  Nina is even worse, she'll sit on your hip or leg when you are lying down, but does not like sitting on people's laps at all and runs if you try to get her on your lap.

Nina is very vocal and you can keep whole conversations with her, and she'll rely back over and over again.  It's so funny to see.  She'll be 11 years old this November and Tyler has turned 8 years old last April.  I've had a fair amount of cats in my lifetime, but my most favorite one was my Jordan, he came to live with me when he was 8 weeks old, on 3 July 1991, and I had to give him up when he was 18 years old also on 3 July in 2009.  He was a remarkable cat.  he saved another cat's life by being a blood donor, and he also brought people together from different continents.  I miss him so much. 

Last January we took in a lovely little kitten, we named her Holly, but six weeks later she collapsed and died.  We were heartbroken about it, and my husband still is very sad about it,  He and Holly were inseparable, wherever he was, she was.  She's buried right next to Jordan, so he can keep an eye on here, and play with her at the Rainbow Bridge, until we're ready to pick them up when we come to the end of our lives.  I'd like to think there is a Rainbow Bridge.  I think it gives comfort to know or to think hat one day, you'll see your pet again.

For now I love to look at NIna and Tyler and feel their unconditional love for me and vice versa, and that makes a rotten day, much nicer