Sunday. It started out as usual.
Cats pounding up and down the stairs.
Loud retching, which I’ve decided is all an act because every day I go looking for hairballs or piles of vomit and there is never a sign of anything. They just want us to get up and produce breakfast.
All of this starts at an early hour these days, as they get up with sunrise. I took a look out and saw another misty morning then, noticing it was only 6 am, went back to bed.
Blackie immediately jumped on me indicating that she wished to be under the blanket. So we lay listening to the continuing racket and finally I gave in.
.
But the little beggars had to wait while I took seed out to the feeders and cleaned some litter boxes.
They don’t get to totally push us around.
After breakfast is the morning walk.
Toby has taken to having long walks.
As in, he disappears. It’s all very well when there’s not much vegetation, but nowadays, it’s hard to spot a cat even with a bright red coat.
We were calling for him this morning and I was making disapproving noises to Grant, who agreed that in future Toby will have to go back on a lead when he goes out.
Whereupon the boy emerged from the undergrowth with a look that said “What? I was right here.”
Our feline visitor from the other night has not reappeared, so presumably he was just a travelling lad.
.
Perhaps because we were searching for Toby, my routine went south. Since I was outside, I dealt with another tatty yucca plant and had a go at a bramble bush. Then I thought it would be a good idea to pull up the knot weed before it’s roots get too deep..
I’d not seen it until last year. “Oh,” I said, “how pretty!” I began to see it everywhere. Then found out that it is seriously invasive.
This I could attest to at the end of last summer by which it was threatening to overwhelm the driveway. So I got out my Dutch hoe (yes, I know what that is!) and went to war.
After all that, I called it quits and made an attempt to go for a restorative shower.
Before I got there, I noticed birdseed on the carpet and decided to clean it up with my little handy Dyson V7 trigger.
Another blogger here mentioned “Sod’s Law”, aka “Murphy’s Law.” As I commented , I am a full believer and one ought to be exempt, therefore from the Universe’s efforts to convince us.
Apparently not.
Finishing lunch, yesterday, Grant reached to put his plate on the shelf that adjoins the kitchen, intending to finish his drink.
Except that his fork did a pirouette, glancing off the side of the glass which then stood on the table, squirting ginger ale from a curious v-shaped hole.
It was one of those freak things you could not recreate if you tried. I won’t as we seem to be down to one glass!
Back to my Dyson, which I like, by the way.
It seemed a little less than enthusiastic when I tried to clean up the birdseed, so I upended it and saw that the brush wasn’t going round.
No problem. I would just take it out and remove whatever was jamming it. Would I hell.
“Oh, it’s really jammed. Let me get out some tools…”
An hour later I was still struggling and had concluded what must have happened.
The other day I was using glue. Ah. And how did it get into the Dyson? A tiny bit of fluff with an eensy spot of glue somehow arrived on the carpet, I suppose. Sod’s law, remember?
After considerable huffing and puffing, I managed to get the brush to turn, sort of.
“I know. Oil. That’s the thing.”
Grant has all that stuff but he was out and I wasn’t going to rummage. Vitamin E oil would do. I got it years ago perhaps with some vain notion of dealing with wrinkles.
Now where was it? Couldn’t find it. Never mind! Massage oil. I used it on my shoulders once and felt greasy for a week. That will do fine!
Applicator? In the kitchen. Bugger going back there, I was done with the whole project. A Q tip served.
Now the brush was going round, manually, so I attached it to the Dyson and expectantly pushed the red button. Nothing.
It does help if put the attachment the right way up.
Presto!
The brush doesn’t come out, but I am calling it fixed.
.
By the time all that was done, I had gone off the idea of taking a shower, realized I still hadn’t brushed my teeth or opened my PC, never mind read email and damn, it was time for another cat meal.
But now I remember where the Vitamin E oil is…