Coincidence or Psychic?

Around 10:20 this morning I thought "I should phone Tim to see if there is anything I can pick up before I go to Safe Haven this afternooon". Five minutes later he rang me to ask if I could come in early because the third vollie did not show up. I asked if he wanted anything on my way. He answered "No thanks." Soon after I arrived a family came to find a companion for their difficult cat. Irene, eventually, handed over Dobby who played beautifully with the young girl. They went away to think about it. It was a good thing they didn't put their noses into Dolly and Dobby's bed box. They were moved to below Mimi and Macey yesterday. In that time they managed to poo twice on their bed and saturate it with urine. That pretty, pink, fluffy bed is now in the rubbish. No way was it going into my washing machine! Shortly after the family, the woman who rang about Hera on Wednesday arrived with her daughter. They were going to come as soon as a parcel was delivered. It didn't come until 5pm. Hera was not very friendly until I offered her some crunchies. In the meantime the chatty couple met all the other cats available. They have been following the webpage closely and were pleased to meet Apricot's brother Marmelade.

Marmie, of course, is not interested in anybody but Tim. They loved Macey and Mimi because they are so pretty. The daughter especially spent lots of time playing tootsies with Macey. They, eventually, went away to "think about it". They know there are lots of kittens in the pipeline but want a more mature cat for the elderly mum who wants a companion who won't bolt out the door or get underfoot. And Lauren arrived with Miles to adopt one of the cats that she has been fostering. Miles was a great help keeping Mimi/RubyG's kittens inside their condo while I cleaned them.

Even the boy came back from the vet with a collar. (I put them in their carrier cage on Wed morning before being savaged by the littlest). ((My thumb is fine, thank you)). Eventually all the visitors left and I could continue to clean condos. A couple of boarders had play time in the play place. They are big cats so appreciated being able to stretch out.

I cleaned Rita and co. Only the little silver and white tabby is still poorly. The other three are full of beans. I made some towelling cloths to line their hammocks out of left overs from sewing some new hammocks. Being germy from cleaning them up, I left at my usual time.

Home alone

Mini/RubyG's day started early. She and her kittens were due to go to a vet in Manly Vale to be desexed. So that Tim could sleep in, I elected to get to Safe Haven early and drive them there. That went well. I was ready to pop them into a carry cage at 7:15am. But her smallest kitten had other ideas. S/he did not want to go. S/he refused. S/he bit and scratched me S/he ran me around the room. I dripped blood while the rest of the family sat happily in the carry cage. When s/he decided to hide behind Lucky's condo, I decided that we had both had enough. S/he won. I put some food beside this bolt hole. Gradually, I moved it towards Mini's condo. Eventually s/he followed her/his nose and I could close the door behind her/him. (Would it be OK to use "it" for a genderless preposition?) I got to Manly Vale in record time (thankyou lockdown) and they were in the dark. Yesterday's storm had knocked out their power. We decided to leave Mini and co there because the sparkies said that the power would be back by noon. I explained that they had one less kitten to desex today. Later in the morning the vet rang to say that the sparkies wouldn't be able to fix the power until 4pm. So Mini and co will stay overnight and get fixed tomorrow. . . . hopefully. Irene was scheduled to pick them up at 4:30. I emailed Peter to let Irene know but he "never reads his Safe email". So Irene arrived to be told the tale. Fortnately, she said, it was on her way home anyway. She will pick them up tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope the smallest grey kitten doesn't miss its family too much. And that my thumb stops swelling! Apart from that drama, it was the normal, frantically busy day. When Lily is home alone she shreds her corrigated couch.

I noticed that one of Rita's kittens has been playing with scissors. Half of its whiskers are short. The other half are long. How did that happen?

Robyn's news is that Isabella had five kittens on Sunday afternoon while she and hubby went out for a walk! She missed her chance at being midwife. She has changed Isabella's name to Belle because the cat is so loving it is easier to coo Belle to her. Robyn will make up lots of B names for the kittens who are very cute. She has taken at least 100 photos alreaady.

I put Mimi and Macey in the play place this afternoon. Soon thereafter a family arrived to find a kitten. We don't have any. Shadow and Elliot were adopted over the weekend. Everybody else available is bigger. But the family went into the play place and found that Mimi is much friendlier that Macey. Macey eventually learned how to play with them. They may be back, or might hang out for a younger kitten. My computer is 10 years old and suffering from age related obscelence. But I have managed to upload some photos. Would have uploaded more if I had had time to take them.

Door bell

Perhaps Santa will leave us a bell from his sleigh. This morning, I got to SH early because of no traffic. (One of the positive side effects of a COVID cluster in the Northern Beaches). Unfortunately, the garbage trucks benefited from the lack of traffic as well. I only got one trolly load of bags out to the curb before they came. And there was more space for the last few in SH. Bummer. So I got busy and as it was so early, I locked the front door so that I wouldn't have to worry about odd folks wandering. Sandy came early and banged on the door. I couldn't hear her from outback. She was drowned out by hungry cats telling me their sad tales of starvation rations. Panic ensued when she told Sue and Sue got Tim out of bed. My phone wasn't on (of course) and Sandy went home. Sue phoned Rod who arrived just a bit early, after I had remembered to unlock the front door. SO it was all sorted out and Sandy, herocially, came back from Mosman to slave away. She had to sterilize boarding condos because more cats came in than expected. And some went out, unexpectedly. Others came in unexpectedly early. . . it was a busy morning. There was an email asking for more photos of Patchy than what was on our website. She is so sweet.

I noticed that Suki has a short tail as well as an emaciated body.

And I took a photo of Sultan so that Liz can see how relaxed he is without her.

Joy took some photos that I will add. Cecily has the greenest of eyes. She doesn't act jealous. She is an absolute sweetie. We can't imagine how she was surrendered.

Star's kittens have been divided up to the three littles that stay with her and the two hunking fluffies that used to greedy all their food. For example:

Silky's kittens are getting to be just as demanding/loud as she is.

This morning I managed by some quick hand work to separate Rara, Mimi and Macey into separate areas to feed them. Macey took her time to eat every morsel. Rara is inclined to "help you finish that" in double quick time.

Family reunion

Now that we have a play place for our cats the logical player is Rara. He has got into the habit of reacting with frantic when food appears. But he has the reputation of being a softie. When I suggested that he go to the play place I asked Tim to carry him there because he reacts with frantic to me. But once he was there and I sat with him he was lovely. All about the pats. He ignored the few crunchies that I found on the ledge outside his condo. He was just concerned with cuddling up with me. So it seemed a good idea to introduce Mimi and Macey to the play place. I carried Mimi and Tim carried Macey who is not so used to being held. Macey immediately went up to Rara. They touched noses. He started to groom her. Awwwwwww. Then Mimi strolled by on her investigative survey of the play place. She and Rara touched noses. He started to groom her. Awwwww. We left them there. Rara and Macey hung out together.

And Mimi found a nice hidey hole.

They didn't explore much but were happy to be together or with a person (me while I ate my lunch). So we decided that they should condo together in the up/down Ingleside condo. Which meant that I had to clean their condos, move Ollie and Felix, clean their condos and then move in the M-family.

Other movements: Silky has gone into Rita's condo out back. Her kittens don't seem too pleased at the move.

And Silky is horrified.

The tiny kittens are being cared for overnight by Tim. . . he who never sleeps. They have their ups and downs.

Sue asked me to collect photos for next year's (2022) calendar. I am to save one photo a month. Please tell me which photos you like best.