DINNER
Baked Aubergine, Potato and Red Pepper Casserole in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Erm....Bits and bobs to make up a Salad, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Onion and Olives. (Can't be arsed to go out to the greenhouse to get a lettuce...)

MOrrisons Walnut and Maple Syrup Ice Cream - I guess I can't really buy another sort till this has all gone, but it's nowhere near as good as the ol' Walnut Dream. I'll keep trying till I find another one I like.

Yesterday a few of us formed an A team in operation 'Fell that dangerous tree.' With Mr A chainsawing the offending trunk, Dave operating the winch, and 4 of us diverting traffic.
There were only 3 cars coming from our direction as the road isn't that busy. One of the drivers carried driving on past us.
I didn't know that he was going to reverse into a side road and yelled 'STOP!' in a very loud voice. It was so loud that Mr A heard me, 50 yards away and over the noise of the chainsaw.....As I've been singing for years, I can project my voice quite loudly. Very handy for singing in noisy places, not ideal for emotional ballads, but there you go!

Made an appointment yesterday to take Minnie cat to the vets. It's like going to the doctors, saving up the ailments till there's a little list.
1. She's defnitely pregnant, how soon will she be birthing kittens?
2. She's had a cough for a few weeks now.
3. Hard little knobs, looking like ticks on her front paws. Mr A spotted these and thought they were ticks at first and put white spirit on them prior to pulling them out. He then discovered they weren't ticks, but built in. He thought they might be warts. I thought they were just part of her paw. The vet said that they were part of her paw pad and normal.

After listening in to her chest and heart, the vet said that she had a slight heart murmer which was making her cough. Because she's pregnant, it's making her heart work harder with all the extra fluid being pumped around her body. It may resolve itself after she gives birth, but they'll check it out on her next visit.
She behaved very well with the vet, minimum fuss made by her and she started purring when I stroked her to calm her when she was put on the examination table.
She may give birth in a week! Her nipples are quite pronounced, so she's nearly due.
I got some medicine for fleas and worms for her. The bill was £37.50. I think £7.50 was probably for the medicine and £30 for the consultation. Well worth it, but I could have bought the medicine in a supermarket for a fraction of the cost. I'll do that in future....probably.

I put her in a box to take her to the vets and put it in the boot of my car, making small airholes. As I set off to drive I turned the radio on. There was a frantic sound of scrabbling from the back so I turned it off, as I thought it might be freaking her out.
When I stopped at the shops before going to the vets I checked on her, to see that she was ok.
She'd got out of the box! That scrabbling sound when we first set off must have been her getting out of it, she'd been sitting on the floor of the boot quietly for about half an hour.
She has to stay in the house after giving birth as she could get pregnant again quickly. As we want her spayed after this litter, I'll take her as soon as I can. I've put the litter tray back in the lean to, where it was when she first came here as a kitten. From the start she used it, never did any toilet in the house, (not like Gwen.) So I'm going to try and keep here in till she has the kittens, as she could have them outside somewhere and I might not be able to keep track of her. She does come in regularly though for food. She's been eating loads, and often eats Gwen's food too.

Yesterday, Gwen was spotting blood, a sign that she's on heat, so she's had to stay either in the house or tied up. Can't risk her getting pregant! I put a white sheet down on the chairs that she lies on. The amount of dirt, grit and blood spots on it showed me just how much filth she deposits on the furniture. So, I've moved her bed into the front room so she can sit in that of an evening then move it back into the kitchen where she'll sleep in it. I'm going try to stop her sitting on the chairs, something I should have done from the start instead of just letting her sit where she likes. The chairs and sofa are made of leather, and it's now quite dirty from where she's sat on it, so she'll have to be trained to the new regime of not sitting on the furniture.
At some point in the day, usually early evening, Gwen wants to play tug of war. She still plays with 'Doggy,' which was given to her as a soft stuffed toy. It is now a scrap of material, which is the bottom half of the toy, consisting of 2 legs. It's quite touching how she's hung on to that toy and treated it as her favourite plaything, even though it's on its last legs, (literally!)

Mr A has gone away to work, back monday, maybe tuesday. I texted him with Minnie's update from the vets. He had a shite drive to Manchester and was late for a meeting. He was knackered from yesterday, hauling a heavy winch up the stairs and lugging lots of stuff around.