hello 2018 - you're an odd fish, aren't you?

[keiliss]

I have not yet answered comments on my Yule fic, nor read and commented to the other writers, nor caught up with anyone or anything online this week and my Snowflakes are on hold. This may be another of those nights. Here's my 'going into the New Year' week so far, a bit more personal than my usual post.

New Year's day was quiet. Next day we had a lot of running around to do and it was hot and very busy. We're moving end of the month, so it is pure chaos in this house too! Some very hot, irritable people.

Then.

The cat that half lived in our front garden and that Ray sometimes fed was coming for food more and more often and then on Wednesday we found out why - she had a litter of four kittens hidden in the bushes under the olive tree. Which she decided to move into the house as it was a safer place and there was food. Brought them in, showed them where to get food, looked for nice secluded spots for them to sleep, the lot. It was gorgeous and touching to watch - I mean, she picked us! - and it's a lovely compliment, but we are out of here end of the month and they would be going over the front wall and getting crushed in a week or two anyhow, plus the next tenants have a large dog. I had already been thinking about rehoming mamma cat.

Ray's niece V supports a no kill shelter and said to phone them, but the woman who runs it was clear they were full - that tone that says go away person, I have more than enough work going on here. However, V then took over and half an hour later they were happy to take mamma cat and all four babies - she is that good, yes.

V and her husband, both committed cat people, came out next day with carriers and a cat trap to collect the family, caught mamma and three kittens -- fourth kitten vanished into thin air. We knew it was somewhere in the house, tore the house apart, couldn't find it. Only next day Ray and I worked out it had been hiding in a tiny gap behind the washer, but there is a hole in the wall for the outlet pipe that our useless landlord never plastered up properly, so it panicked when it felt cornered and next thing it was hiding IN the wall!! Could not get to it, had visions of it getting stuck and starving to death in there.

Finally enticed it down with food, trapped it in the bedroom and herded it back to the kitchen. It went straight back to the hole in the wall, almost walked up the bare wall and started pulling the newspaper out that Ray had blocked its hiding place off with, and while it was busy, he grabbed it. It nearly took his face off. Terrified Demon Kitten -- V has nicknamed it Rosemary's Baby. I shut the carrier in the bathroom overnight because I had visions of it chewing its way through the plastic.

V's husband came to get it today and took it to the person who is fostering mamma cat and the family and trying to socialise them as the kittens are pure feral right now, so there was a happy reunion and I am happy as they will all get good, inspected homes - would have loved to keep one but that just won't be possible for us right now. However V might take mamma once they've had her spayed, which would be great.



And then two hours later, not even lunchtime, Ray came to me in AGONY, literally screaming in pain. I thought he was having a heart attack. My son-in-law took us to the ER where we stayed for many (MANY) hours while they did ultrasound and x-rays and ECGs and took blood, Finally the surgeon on call showed up and said it's probably gallstones again and that gall bladder has to come out. So Ray is now in hospital -- pain control for the weekend, MRI Monday, stones dealt with Tuesday and then gallbladder removed next month once we've finished moving.

I am exhausted. There were many hours of sitting on a hard bench, which is all they have for the sole permitted family member in those little emergency cubicles, plus the porter who took him along for the ultrasound seemed to be in training for some Olympic event and I had to jog to keep up and not lose them!

Came home after almost eight hours of hospital - surgeon wanted him transferred to the other hospital in the group, it's where he prefers working, so there was all the paperwork there too - made myself food, coffee, took a pain killer for all the myriad aches, and am beyond tired.... while he got to sleep with a morphine drip and was very cheerful when the pain suddenly stopped (stone probably shifted).

And lord, this year isn't even a full week old yet!!!!!

Comments

[ysilme]

You poor thing, that's really not a funny beginning of the new year! All the best to Ray, and the furry lot, lots of nerves and energy and soon for poor you, and my most heartfelt wishes of a much more laid-back continuation of the year! *hugs*

[keiliss]

I'm really hoping we got all the rough stuff at the beginning of the year and that it settles down after this because it's all been pretty exhausting, lol. Thank you for the wishes, my dear *hugs*

[ysilme]

Hereabouts, we all seem to be caught in a series of small or tiny accidents. None of them bad or serious, but all more or less annoying... a close friend fell through a glass door and cut up her hand and arm (not bad but most awkwardly), and two days later fell again and sprained the other wrist. Another friend's one cat managed to bang up his jaw so much he knocked out one tooth and needed to have taken out the other, not so easy with a half-feral... and a week later, another of their males fell down somewhere and badly sprained both hind legs. We have various broken things thanks to the cats, a broken chair thanks to yours truly, and both an unusual amount of bruises due to awkward bumping somewhere, and I managed to cut three finger pads individually with the kind of tiny, non-painful cuts that are too small for plasters but bleed every time you put pressure on them. So I'm leaving tiny smears of blood here and there, and particularly on my keyboard.
About the only thing that nothing happened to was the Christmas tree, of all things. Probably because we expected something to happen. *lol*
But I count myself lucky if it's just things like these.

[independence1776]

*HUGS*

[keiliss]

Thank you :D *hugs back*

[hhimring]

Oh, I'm glad the pain stopped and hope the operation goes well! And the move, also.
Crossing fingers that the rest of 2018 continues with less drama!

[keiliss]

Thank you! Lord, I really thought he was having a heart attack. Very scary. I feel we've had our share of drama for a while, be nice to be boring for a bit! I was telling a friend about it a few days back and felt quite exhausted just repeating all the details, lol.