Cobwebby Morning

It's getting light at 5.30am at the moment so the thought of Daylight Saving Time beginning tomorrow is welcome. Since all the trees on the eastern side of the driveway have been chopped down the sun has begun shining in the back yard and this morning when I glanced out the back door there were 15 perfectly round cobwebs suspended between fence wires or amongst the undergrowth. The spiders have also been busy building all round my windows but may be in for a nasty surprise as I am about to wash the outsides of these this weekend.

It's been an interesting week. A few days ago coming home from an appointment in Napier I saw a couple of wire cages sitting on the grass verge at the side of the road. Called in at the nearest cottage but no one was home so drove across the paddock to the house next door which still owns all the land. Met a very nice guy called Olly who said he used to keep angoras twenty years ago. He had nine banks (each with three cages) and also took us to his old rabbit shed where he had a roll of brand new floor mesh as well. Named a price and my brother paid straight away (I just have to pay him back now).

Last Thursday friend John arrived out with his ute and trailer piled high with the cages and mesh. A couple of banks have no bottoms and a couple had slight rust but the rest being perfectly preserved even after all these years in the open. He piled them down the back of the property so we can get to them when we start to replace my old ones.

It has been an interesting few months as angoras suddenly seem to becoming popular again. I have had quite a few enquiries about buying stock with a shocked response when I say that I no longer sell my animals. Firstly you get people thinking they're going into breeding angoras and are going to make a fortune with their fibre. I am very open with them as to the fact that the market is tiny and ever decreasing since alpaca has become so popular. So many rabbit farms went down in the 80s and 90s after China flooded the market with inferior fibre and the market will never return. Unfortunately people think I'm deliberately withholding information from them, that I'm making a fortune on the quiet and just don't want to share my spoils. In 19 years of keeping angoras I have yet to make my feed bill!

The other kind are the people who say they only want an angora as a pet. I and other breeders find these are the ones that say the same thing to a couple of breeders so they can get a pair which they then burn out breeding for the pet market. The offspring of these are then sold on to pet shops and after the new owners discover how difficult angoras are to keep the poor animals end up in the RSPCA or at vets. I have had several come through here in a bad way. Sometimes they have such severe blockages from wool they expire within a short time. Angoras are not a pet for the faint hearted and I applaud the breeders who vet prospective owners as to their intentions although many of us have still been conned. The bunny mill breeders are one of the lowest forms of life and have no regard for their animals- only the money they can make from the unsuspecting public.

Cats Feeling The Joys Of Spring

Kind brother spent a long time Wednesday trying to get the TV amplifier repaired. Finally succeeded by completely taking it apart and redoing all the wiring. Turns out the booster part is actually up on the aerial and the box down here is just a power pack. Anyway he got my TV reception back after 11 days.

Yesterday Demelza turned up with a baby rat. Fortunately it was dead but despite this she still wanted to bring it inside to "share". My cats never take on rats so the only explanation for this aberration is that Melz thought it was a very over grown mouse. I am amazed she even killed it as she usually plays with her prey till she loses them. She spends most of her time looking bewildered wondering where they've gone while (I assume) they sit under a tuft of grass giving her the proverbial finger.

Piper has done a disappearing act this morning. She was lying asleep by the back door last night when next door's cat attacked her so I brought her in. However she proved so restless that at 10pm I let her out again as I had given her her heart medication. Looking at her you'd never think there was anything wrong with her at all as she seems so fit and well.

The phone went out again yesterday morning. Told Telecom I didn't want to be without it for seven days like last time so they actually had it repaired within six hours. When you live in an isolated position the phone takes on mythic importance as it is your sole contact with the outside world.

Suddenly the weather is warming up. It was 25oC yesterday and the temperatures are set to be as high today. All Winters mud has dried up which is wonderful.

I Hate Technology

I am seriously beginning to think there is a great god of technology sitting up in the sky periodically deciding to dump his issues on this household. So far this year my computer monitor has caught fire, the washing machine and vacuum cleaner died, the stereo plug caught fire, my car failed its warrant needing new brakes (plus it needed another battery and requires four new tyres before its warrant in December), then it was vandalized in July. Eleven days ago the TV signal amplifier died so no TV ever since then and yesterday my three year old video lost its picture. Ringing my brother he informed me that it "sounded really bad news" and that it would probably be cheaper to buy a new machine rather than get it repaired. Like a good brother he is lending me one of his videos as he knows I can't afford to buy another at the moment (what with the $300 vet bill and four new tyres thing).

Demelza is continuing to improve. All the oedema disappeared last week and now she is ravenous to the point she tries to steal food. Hopefully she'll soon put more weight on. Angel is still AWOL after six weeks.

It took a week but I cleaned my way round all the windows inside the cottage. Trying to get to the outsides but the Spring Equinox has hit here with gale force winds so not bothering to clean anything out in the elements as it's a waste of time.

We're still getting a few frosts. I finished my nicotinic acid tablets last week and so yesterday right on cue painful chilblains reappeared on my right hand. Will buy some more pills when I next go to town and take them right through to summer. I know I should take the attitude that life is giving me the opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons but honestly when a run of bad luck lasts so long you just feel like a sour old piece of fruit!

First Egg and Demelza Is Back

Well my little chick who hatched in April has done the deed and laid her first tiny egg. Strangely (since she's a brown hen) she's laid a white egg with pale speckles. Have a couple more bantys broody at the moment. You can tell this by the screams if you approach anywhere near where they're nesting since they prefer to hide their nests under bushes and amongst grass. Always a sound that can get your heart rate up though not in a good way!

I have cut Demelza's Homeobotanicals down to three drops twice a day. All the oedema has dispersed so now I can see how thin this unexplained illness has made her. However her old personality is back, she even ran forward to greet me yesterday. I don't think we'll ever know what was really wrong with her (although I think she has had a toxic reaction to something) but I feel confident that she's over the worst. Just a matter of feeding her back up now. Just over a week ago I would have guaranteed that I was going to lose her.

Also been doing a little spinning each day. Did a skein of merino over the weekend which I posted on Trademe. It sold the next day so frantically trying to finish some more. Have also finished up some left over angora blend and plied it 50/50 with merino. Only got about 30 grams out of it but posted these for sale on Trademe as well. More a novelty yarn though.

The signal booster on the TV has finally died so I have no reception at all now. Watching old videos while trying to save up for a new booster as they're around $61. Has given me more time for my spring cleaning. At the moment slowly working my way around the cottage cleaning the inside of all the windows. A very boring job but always satisfying when you find you can see outside again.

Back To The Vet

My fortnightly trip down to town yesterday so had quite a few chores to do including dropping Demelza into the vet's for a check up. Originally she was going back for another blood test to see what her protein levels are now but since receiving a $258.20 vet bill on Monday (of which $120 was for the bloods) I have been in shock so have been cutting down on expenses so I can pay it.

Doug kept her in for the morning and when I returned at 11am told me that Demelza is a weird cat. Her backside is still full of fluid but only one side of her body is now swollen. This makes no sense whatsoever. He has prescribed anabolic steroids to try and get her appetite up (with a promise that she won't end up a muscle cat) and we'll see how we go from there. The receptionist said there are probably only about ten clients in their practice who really love their animals and would do anything for them and I would be one (the vet agreed with her) but I think this was to soften me up for another bill. I did mention giving herbs to her but Doug just grinned as he's used to this. He did ask if one was a diuretic which I confirmed and he seemed happy.

When I was chatting to the receptionist while Doug dispensed the steroids she said what an unusually marked cat Demelza is. She should have seen her when she was a kitten! What a little sweetheart she was.

Shedding The Thermals

The warm weather has finally arrived. Must have as I got rid of the thermal vest and two jerseys on Thursday! My plum tree by the garage is in full blossom now and absolutely stunning to look at, especially when you gaze up at the sky through the branches.

Trying to spend at least an hour and a half per day working outside catching up with rabbit work and doing a wee bit of gardening. Not easy as I'm still recovering from the head cold I caught a week ago.

Demelza is holding her own after having a particularly bad week. My usual vet was away when I rang last Monday to report that she was slightly off her food. The Locum felt it was constipation and recommended CatLax which a friend collected for me the following day. This is a brown paste which you squeeze like toothpaste onto the cat's front paw so that they lick it off. Well it did the trick and the following day two dried up little offerings were left displayed in all their glory in the litter tray. Two more doses helped Dem get back into the rhythm of things.

However on Friday her feet had swollen to twice their size. She slept all day and whenever I looked at her she was shivering. When she woke late afternoon she could barely walk and I was concerned that she might not last the night. Rang the vets' and the receptionist was very cranky and berated me for leaving my call till so late in the day as the locum had left early and I would have to leave my enquiry till after hours when she switched the phone over to the vet's mobile or else come in the next morning. I came off the phone very tearful. That sort of attitude is the last thing you need when you're already upset about your pet. Then I got angry as I've poured alot of money into that practice over the past 15 years.

Anyway hauled out my Homeobotanical Remedies which are so past their use by date it's not funny. Cut some of Demelza's fur and dowsed over it a selection of remedies until I found a decent combination. Showed up she needed diuretic herbs as well as some for blood, bowel and allergies of all things. Hardly had any herbal water left but mixed up a potion, succussed it and just squirted it down the cat's throat. That night she cuddled up to me and everytime I touched her began purring. The next morning Demelza was very interested in her food for the first time in a week.

Yesterday Dem's face was very swollen but she wandered outside and sat in the sun for a couple of hours. I noticed when I carried her in that her feet weren't so swollen and by this morning they had gone back to normal. I have her on ten drops of HbtBDQU twice a day and will keep her on this till all the fluid has disappeared from her system. Just goes to confirm my belief that natural remedies can be extremely effective in helping conditions that have conventional vets scratching their heads.