Soggy Bottom Boy

Back in the office after an unexpectedly long weekend; essentially we woke up yesterday and decided that we fancied an extra day. All sorted after a quick email to the respective bosses and then back to bed for a lie in. It was a good weekend, but a tiring one, despite me spending a chunk of Saturday afternoon snoozing on the bed. I was supposed to be reading, but I ended up asleep after a couple of pages. Clearly I was rather more tired than I thought.

Sunday morning and early afternoon was designated blitz the cleaning, since we had invited smokingboot, larians and colonel_maxim around for dinner. Sadly larians couldn’t make it, but we will arrange a further dinner for a more convenient time.

As part of the preparatory clean up, we decided that a certain cat needed a cleaning. A proper cleaning. He is not quite as particular as he might be in placing his feet sometimes and he occasionally leaves suspicious paw prints on things, which since he is an indoors cat, leaves us with dark suspicions. Anyway, that is all cleaned and shiny, but the fact of smelly cat himself remained.

Suffice it to say that he is now clean, too. For a while on Sunday he smelt faintly of strawberries, but it was a while before we were in a position to appreciate this.

Sometime after the triage in fact.

Although Young Jasper is quite accommodating when we use damp Q-Tips on his paws and around his eyes, and though he is quite amenable to having his chin, neck and belly (and sometimes his ears) wiped with damp cotton wool, being dumped arse first into warm soapy water is an entirely different affair. Happily amidst the blood, gore and flailing limbs his hind paws pedalled through the water with enough frenzy to come out very clean indeed. And once we had disentangled our skin from his claws, we managed to calm him down enough to complete the wipe down.

The late afternoon and evening went very well after he had calmed down and our guests had arrived. The dinner went, I think, very well and there was much chatting and wine and good company. I think our boy even made a good impression, being by that time, quite well-behaved.

Yesterday we bought a new DVD player, something that will play MPEG-4 format as well as standard DVDs and CDs. For the time being there is no point in wasting cash on a Blu-Ray player since we do not have and cannot afford for some time, an HD TV.

Out four-year old Samsung has had a habit of freezing momentarily for a couple of years. Recently it has taken to grinding to a halt during the final third of a DVD. It may be serviceable again after a good clean, but I’m not sure. The spare DVD player worked perfectly for two days and then gave up the ghost with horrible grinding sounds.

I am not sure that both machines do not have the imprint of a cat’s bum on them. We have placed the new one so it cannot be sat on by anything bigger than a gerbil.

I suspect that we have been victims of a little cattish revenge.

Soggy Bottom Boy

Back in the office after an unexpectedly long weekend; essentially we woke up yesterday and decided that we fancied an extra day. All sorted after a quick email to the respective bosses and then back to bed for a lie in. It was a good weekend, but a tiring one, despite me spending a chunk of Saturday afternoon snoozing on the bed. I was supposed to be reading, but I ended up asleep after a couple of pages. Clearly I was rather more tired than I thought.

Sunday morning and early afternoon was designated blitz the cleaning, since we had invited smokingboot, larians and colonel_maxim around for dinner. Sadly larians couldn’t make it, but we will arrange a further dinner for a more convenient time.

As part of the preparatory clean up, we decided that a certain cat needed a cleaning. A proper cleaning. He is not quite as particular as he might be in placing his feet sometimes and he occasionally leaves suspicious paw prints on things, which since he is an indoors cat, leaves us with dark suspicions. Anyway, that is all cleaned and shiny, but the fact of smelly cat himself remained.

Suffice it to say that he is now clean, too. For a while on Sunday he smelt faintly of strawberries, but it was a while before we were in a position to appreciate this.

Sometime after the triage in fact.

Although Young Jasper is quite accommodating when we use damp Q-Tips on his paws and around his eyes, and though he is quite amenable to having his chin, neck and belly (and sometimes his ears) wiped with damp cotton wool, being dumped arse first into warm soapy water is an entirely different affair. Happily amidst the blood, gore and flailing limbs his hind paws pedalled through the water with enough frenzy to come out very clean indeed. And once we had disentangled our skin from his claws, we managed to calm him down enough to complete the wipe down.

The late afternoon and evening went very well after he had calmed down and our guests had arrived. The dinner went, I think, very well and there was much chatting and wine and good company. I think our boy even made a good impression, being by that time, quite well-behaved.

Yesterday we bought a new DVD player, something that will play MPEG-4 format as well as standard DVDs and CDs. For the time being there is no point in wasting cash on a Blu-Ray player since we do not have and cannot afford for some time, an HD TV.

Out four-year old Samsung has had a habit of freezing momentarily for a couple of years. Recently it has taken to grinding to a halt during the final third of a DVD. It may be serviceable again after a good clean, but I’m not sure. The spare DVD player worked perfectly for two days and then gave up the ghost with horrible grinding sounds.

I am not sure that both machines do not have the imprint of a cat’s bum on them. We have placed the new one so it cannot be sat on by anything bigger than a gerbil.

I suspect that we have been victims of a little cattish revenge.

"waisting" away

When I got dressed this morning, I realised that my belt had gone quite naturally to a notch that I have never used before, except for when I wanted to crush myself. I noticed over the weekend that my jeans felt looser and that I had to hoik them up a couple of times as they rode a little lower than I was comfortable with.

Of course, it’s more noticeable in my office trollies because the material is thinner, so I reckon that in actual fact I am probably between notches – ie one setting is a little too tight, the next one a little too loose. But if it levels off at the point where I am permanently using the new belt hole with my work trousers and am able to move to it comfortably in my jeans, I shall have lost between 21/2” and 3” from my waist since we moved last June. I shall have a clearer idea as the week progresses.

But if it sticks at that notch, it may be that I can achieve the next notch in by the time we hit the anniversary of the move, making at least 31/2” lost in a year. That can’t be bad.

Alternatively, as a colleague pointed out when I remarked upon it, ‘maybe the belt has stretched.’

"waisting" away

When I got dressed this morning, I realised that my belt had gone quite naturally to a notch that I have never used before, except for when I wanted to crush myself. I noticed over the weekend that my jeans felt looser and that I had to hoik them up a couple of times as they rode a little lower than I was comfortable with.

Of course, it’s more noticeable in my office trollies because the material is thinner, so I reckon that in actual fact I am probably between notches – ie one setting is a little too tight, the next one a little too loose. But if it levels off at the point where I am permanently using the new belt hole with my work trousers and am able to move to it comfortably in my jeans, I shall have lost between 21/2” and 3” from my waist since we moved last June. I shall have a clearer idea as the week progresses.

But if it sticks at that notch, it may be that I can achieve the next notch in by the time we hit the anniversary of the move, making at least 31/2” lost in a year. That can’t be bad.

Alternatively, as a colleague pointed out when I remarked upon it, ‘maybe the belt has stretched.’