The annual vet visit. Just the words strike dismay into my heart.
We have 3 cats, and the two siblings go to the same vet. (I got Grace when Brenda died; Grace was her cat, and had an established vet history elsewhere.) In the past the two kittens fit into a single carrier. I bought a second carrier for Nora this year, a nice soft comfy one made out of fabric that zips shut.
She tore through that thing like it was tissue paper before I had gone half a mile. But since she seemed settled on the back seat, I kept going.
Nicky, in the old carrier, was calm and seemingly serene about the whole thing. So on we rode, a half hour drive to the vet, with a good bit of otherworldly caterwauling from the back seat by a furry demon who lay flattened out, all four legs splayed, wild eyed and with mouth open, panting desperately.
On her way to the back seat, Nora had left a trail of liquid droplets between the front floor and the back. I few sniffs later, I was assured they were not drool, but some other liquid. And for only a few drops, they certainly held a powerful aroma. A couple of miles later, another odor filled the compartment. Nora had moved to the other side of the car, and the vacated seat held its little prize of kitty poop. How endearing. Daddy's little angel, indeed. I couldn't really stop right then, so I just pressed on to the vet and cleaned the mess up before going inside. I had managed to squish Nora back into the cloth case where she stayed quietly enough now that the car had stopped moving.
We got inside and Nora had her checkup. She is disgustingly healthy. Then we pulled Nicky out of his carrier, a nice hard plastic one. Roomy. Did you know, this carrier can hold not only one large, long-haired, 11.1 pound cat, but also about 12 gallons of cat pee? Mm-Hmmm. And did you further know, that a cat's long hair is more absorbent than the Ultra-Best-Bounty paper towels? Uh-huh. The vet and I toweled him off as best we could, and they washed and dried his carrier, but Nicky himself smelled quite heavenly all the way home. He is also, however, disgustingly healthy. They are both outside at the moment, and I'm thinking, good. Stay there.
Knitting news: I've been pretty busy and haven't had time to knit anything for about a week, but I did block the second Kaleidoscope square. The third square is blocking right now, so I'll pull the whole thing together soon.
We got a great new yarn called Renaissance, from Classic Elite. It's simply a basic worsted weight 100% wool, excellent for arans and texture, and comes in pretty colors. I am working up an aran sweater for the knitting cruise. I also am in the early stages of designing a hat & mitten/glove set incorporating a braided cable and an anchor motif, also for the knitting cruise, probably knit from guernsey wool, which I love.
Book news: just finished reading Harry Potter (short review in my Books list on the right). I also am reading a book that Lynne from my knitting group lent me: "Sadie Shapiro's Knitting Book" by Robert Kimmel Smith. I love it! It's a novel about an "old lady" who publishes a book of knitting patterns; as she becomes more popular and famous, she changes the lives of those who meet her. An entirely wonderful read! Ididn't put it in the Book List on the right because it isn't in print anymore; it was printed in the 1970's, so Amazon doesn't have much info on it. I wish it would be reissued. It's a hoot. If you ever run across a copy of it in a used book store or at a yard sale, definitely pick it up, it's worth reading!
