This Used to be My Chair

Alfie actually had the nerve to look quite indignant and stare at me in the hope that I'd stop Dumpling from sitting on him. He doesn't seem to understand whose chair it is.

Poor Sam has had his third fit in two days this evening. He's has different types and today was the type that leaves him out of it for a couple of hours. Hopefully this will be the last one for a while.

True to form...

Four days before visitors arrive and the car's in the garage because the fan is not working and we have shut the windows for the first time since the spring because of rain!

Unfortunately, little Dumpling is not used to the shut windows and, given that she launches herself full power out of the window, the last day has been a punctuated by the noise of Dumpling sliding down the shut windows. Wilbs is big enough that his nose tells him the window is shut, and Pirata and Roland don't launch themselves with quite so much gusto so don't go flying through the air quite so much. Poor Dumpling, hopefully she'll soon get the hang of it!

Anubis's Tail

Ian has said for a few weeks now that Anubis's tail looks like it isn't growing and I think that this is becoming increasingly apparent. She is now getting quite big, so her little curly tail looks like a little piggy tail - or a question mark. I don't think she can move her tail, but she doesn't seem bothered by it and she's turning into a healthy and pretty young cat.

What Does She Think That She's Doing?

Dumpling has been impressing us with her ability to climb onto my chair. Alfie, however, has been decidedly unimpressed. This is his 'I am not happy, what are you going to do about it?' face.

Bible

Ian had a review at the hospital to receive the analysis of his lump. It was a ganglion, which was rather annoying as we could have avoided all this fuss by me just hitting him on the chin with a bible, which I believe is now a sadly outdated way of treating ganglions. I had made this offer to Ian several times, which is declined, preferring instead the new-fangled surgery route.

We had suspected that this would be the outcome, as if it had been something to worry about they would have seen him a lot sooner, however it is nice to have it confirmed.

Ciabatta

I'm trying to make ciabatta bread for the first time. This is it 4 and a half hours into it's first six hour rising. This had better be good.

So far, so good. It looks as if it could actually be a couple of loaves of ciabatta that emerge from the oven in an hour's time.

Well, they look like ciabatta.

Autumn Classes

Yesterday heralded the start of my new year of classes. I leave it for a couple of weeks after school starts before I start classes after the summer to give them a chance to settle in. This year I've cut right back as last year it was a bit of a chore, particularly not finishing till 9.30 on a Friday and then having classes again on the Saturday. So I'm not taking any new students and I managed to get round saying  no to some teenagers and not others by saying that I was giving priority to those who came during the holidays. Even so, I think I've got around 18 hours booked, but with just one on Saturday and none on Monday so that's not too bad.

We took Dumpling to the vet last week as we had to change her ID from the refuge to our name, and the vet checked her eye and confirmed that she is blind. Just as well, as I can't think what other reason there would be for her bumping into things. He said that her retina is completely detached from her eye. He seemed to like her though, and didn't just tap her with his toe, which is obviously a good sign.

Today is flying ant day, Rosie is busy hoovering them up outside, which means she will be vomiting piles of ant debris. Great!