Well, despite an exciting early week of power failures and dirty laundry, Disaster Cat managed to find time to go to Dublin and have the deep wart on her foot taken care of. It was not fun, and the traffic going home had husband going nuts before it was all over. Still, it was not as bad as I expected (they have made great strides in numbing sensitive body parts before sticking needles in them) and was over pretty quickly. The trip took most of the day though, and when I got back I was supposed to rest and keep off my feet as much as I could. Again, things have improved, the same operation when I was a kid kept me off my feet for several weeks. This time, I can hobble about the house for a few days, before life should get back to what passes for normal around here.
Normal, of course means that, you guessed it: The Heating System Has Broken AGAIN! Which means we are now back to no hot water or house heat, unless someone keeps the turf stove lit (we do have electric heaters in some rooms as back up). This person is not going to be me for a few days. Its amazing how fast family members have started trying to contact the plumber! Who, of course, not answering his mobile phone.....So, along with no electricity scheduled for Monday, you could really say that things are back to normal here. Except that Disaster Cat is mostly either in bed with her little furry friends, or stretched out in front of the TV. Husband did consent to getting the turf stove started this morning and The Lizard kept the upstairs stove going last night. The upstairs stove only heats the large drawing room, but does make it a very nice place to sit and read. The turf stove sort-of heats up a few house-hold radiators, so it does more than just heat the kitchen. Provided that somebody keeps feeding it turf. Since I have an electric heater in both of my upstairs rooms (workroom and the bedroom) I've decided not to worry about it.
Meanwhile, there is the subject of dinner...in my current hobbling condition, I could probably cook but announced that I would prefer not to for a couple of days. The Lizard has already made a trip to the store (usually trips to the store are few and far between) for the items needed by males made temporary cookless...i.e....Frozen Pizza, sausages, blocks of cheese, sandwich ham and frozen lobster. This last one may be unique to this household, but its because I'm deathly allergic to shell fish, so its a great treat for the men if I am out of the kitchen. I should say at the this point that while my house mate aka The Lizard can barely scramble and egg, my husband is, in fact, a very good cook. But he is a cook of the sort that gets out the gourmet cookbook five hours before dinner and needs to use every pan in the kitchen before its finished. Clean up is not considered part of the cooking process in anyway, nor is the supplying of anything to eat beyond the main dish. This has resulted in such legendary family meals as: Duck served with Duck, and Duck and More Duck.....so The Lizard has gone out for extra frozen Pizza's and I have made sure to have leftover homemade soup in the fridge.
Tomorrow, when I should be allowed a bit more stand up time, The Lizard plans to try broiling some chicken legs (while I supervise) and then I'll put them in the crock-pot to try out a new recipe. I got this idea from the Rival Crock Pot site and am willing to give it a try. Since, in the past, Crock-Pot chicken at our house has been less than wonderful, since it tends to fall apart and get soggy. I'm hoping this pre-cooking will change things. But then, I have one of the only Crock-Pots that I know of in Ireland. The others are also owned by Ex-Patriot North American's who brought them over and use them with electrical converters. They do have "slow-cookers" here, but they are expensive and made out of metal. And, they just don't work as well. Mine is the largest one here, that I know of. My mother brought it as most of her suitcase a few years ago. An American friend living in Dublin just brought back another one herself...you'd think that someone would get the idea and start selling them this side of the water, but so far no luck.
Anyway, dinner taken care of, I've been spending a certain amount of time trying to read in bed. Which is otherwise known as: Pet The Cats NOW! time. One of my little darlings has discovered that he can get Mommies attention by taking a bite out of her book. At least this time its my own paperback. Last time I was down for a few days I got to explain the tooth marks to the local librarian. This is the same cat, Thor, of Elizabethan collar fame. Now, completely recovered, except for a permanently floppy ear, he is back to running back and forth across the room in search of mice, bugs and book pages. Not always in the that order. His much older friend (but now matching bookend with his opposite ear flopping) is getting lazy and fat these days. But manages to use his bulk to try and push the book out of my hands. Each has their own preferred side of a book to work on. Thor on the right, The Great Pumpkin (aka Folkhari) on the left. I can pet one at and still hold the book, but not the other one at the same time. The solution from the cats is: REMOVE THE BOOK.
Now Norwegian Forest Cats in the wild are said to hunt cooperatively, going after larger game like baby roe deer. I've seen my guys hunt flies and mice this way. Each one slinking up from opposite directions to go in for the kill. Very cute and very funny when its a doomed moth, not nearly so cute or funny when the heroine is tied to the railroad tracks on page 98, and what they are hunting is page 99! The are not highly creative strategists though. Each assault is pretty much the same. Each one starts on his chosen side of the bed. Together they creep up sideways, as if Mommy is holding a big, juicy bird. Thor is especially fond of bird, his lips may chatter in anticipation. Then, suddenly, the pounce from both sides, each head butting the book with full force. The Pumpkin will try and shove my hand from one side, while Thor tries to take a bite out of the opposing page. Push back with one hand, and the page is toast. Push back with the other and book falls down on chest. Both cats then sit on book....Cats fly off bed, propelled by human hands. Both cats them jump up on the side of bed, resume their places and begin creeping up the bed again. After four or five assaults, they mostly decide to burrow down beside the book and sleep....until...Oh NO! I have to get up and go to the Bathroom....Which has woken up the cats...who now begin the game all over again.
Which may explain why I am now sitting at the computer instead of finishing my 1300 page novel. I should mention there is a third cat, Thor's mom, in the room. But she doesn't bother with books. She just waits until the human is asleep and sits on them. In her mind, the only book worth sleeping on is the one piled on the dresser. Closed and easy to knock off with a crash if the cat wishes to make a point about something. Such as "CLEAN THE LITTER BOX- NOW!" or "MY FOOD DISH IS EMPTY!" Trolla (which means Troll) knows what she wants and expects it right then. But then she is Daddy's Little Princess.
Anyway, its sort of been a day off for me, and I hope to have another one tomorrow. If the Cat's let me....
More later,
Disaster Cat