According to the Oracle this, the fourth day of our heatwave, should be the penultimate. So the cats are going to have to stick it out at least one more day. Yesterday was hotter but today it feels like the calm before the storm, which it may very well be. Thunderstorms are predicted. Stuffy and still.
Dee Dee is looking a bit fed up, but it didn’t stop her from taking a prolonged walk yesterday morning.
Everyone else took a quick look round and decided indoors was better, but Dee Dee found herself a nice cool spot under a hedge from which to watch birds!
She finally gave herself away and got hauled back in. Maybe that’s why she’s sulking.
Willow lies flat in front of the nearest fan.
Washing and washing.
Though she doesn’t seem all that bothered.
The man from Africa, on the other hand, came home yesterday clutching two more fans. “Where shall I put them?” he asked.
But I was good and didn’t say a word.
The whole house seems to be vibrating.
The noise reminds me of being in an airport.
These cooling devices are not for his benefit, you understand. He spends all his time down in the cool basement.
These fans are for the cats.
Sikkim, with her thick fur may be feeling a bit warm but she is free to go downstairs, where she sleeps most nights.
So, I don’t get too worried about them.
Except when they go walking.
Lily is one of the “walkers”. She complains in the morning if we don’t get going soon enough.
Lily always seems to have a “plan”. First thing, she runs from one end of the house to the other, full tilt.
Then she’ll stare intently out of a window.
This morning she sat on the new piece of paper which was blowing away in the gale force winds Grant has created. Then she went to sit in the toy box.
See that look? I know what she was thinking “You’re not going to try to put that ointment on me again, are you?” I wasn’t, but last night I outwitted her and that is a rare and satisfying thing, because she is a mind reader. She always knows.
Last night, though, she was sitting with Toby and couldn’t see me get her medicine out. When I approached, I made a point of talking to Toby, then reached over and got her.
Such a fuss, over a smear of ointment in her ear. But then, I can’t forget that it’s the treatment Panther had for rodent ulcer, and in the end it made him diabetic, ruined his kidneys. Lily’s condition is not nearly as bad and she doesn’t get the ointment every day.
Panther’s condition is also called stomatitis or eosinophilic granuloma. In the end he was cured of it by having all his teeth removed, but sadly, it was too late to save his life.
Until recently I had no idea that this was something people could suffer from. I thought it was just another “weird” thing I had.
Then I discovered that Burning Mouth Syndrome is a recognized thing and has been since 1932, although it is of such a strange nature that it had been called many different names as symptoms and possible causes appear to vary widely.
When I learned that what I have is not just mine, I began concentrating on everything I do during the day, on all the products I use, on what I eat and on my habits, like touching my face or touching my teeth with my tongue. Everything. Everyone’s experience is different, apparently.
What I’ve been doing lately is brushing my teeth immediately after every meal and applying Anbesol which is a topical pain reliever used for dental problems and canker sores. It seems to help, so I thought it must mean it is something to do with teeth, which is why I thought of my poor Panther.
Hopefully no-one reading this suffers from this horrible affliction, but I thought I would mention it because there are probably more people who, like me, don’t realize that it really isn’t their imagination. It’s not nice to have at 73 years of age but my heart goes out to young people who suffer from it.
Hopefully one of the studies now under way will find the answer and a cure.