Nigella …

Was that M Kaz crying into her bowl of frozen pineapple chunks this morning? Between her sniffles I think I made out the words ‘there aren’t any more … there aren’t any more’. It’s pretty sad. It’s only pineapple chunks for goodness sake. ‘No, not just pineapple chunks – frozen pineapple chunks!’ I heard M Kaz saying (read: weeping) a little while later. It seems that Aldi has stopped selling their ‘LIMITED TIME ONLY’ frozen pineapple chunks and it may be months before they start selling them again – if at all. M Kaz has tried them from other supermarkets, but they are just not the same.

To cheer M Kaz up this afternoon I let her take me to the vet so they could do my nails. It has been a while so M Kaz will be very relieved that her legs won’t have to endure so many lacerations when I am kissing and cuddling her. While we were there, the vet also checked that bare patch of skin under my neck and she wasn’t concerned about it. The good news is that whiIe I still do have my heart murmur, it doesn’t seem to have progressed past the level 3 it’s been sitting on since it was first diagnosed nearly five years ago.

The vet is concerned a little about my teeth and she have booked me in for a treatment later this month. They are also planning to have the Mummies sedate me before my appointment so they can finally get close enough to me to do those blood tests I have kicked and screamed about the last few times I’ve been there: the word ‘Spitfire’ had been mentioned.

That’s all changed now though (not the spitfire bit). Not long after we’d gotten home, M Kaz received a phone call from the vet saying that since I hadn’t had a blood test for a while, she wasn’t prepared to do my teeth until they can confirm was going on with my heart. No, a blood test won’t do. I have to see a cardiologist. So I no longer have an appointment to have my teeth done but M Kaz does have the name and number for Geoff so she can arrange for my ECG. I’m not that keen on going down that track so I’m going to ask M Kaz if she can ring Aunty Madeleine (she’s a vet too) and see what she says. Failing that, I think I am going to insist that those Mummies get a second (or third) opinion.

I thought M Kaz was trying to do a better job of keeping my blog up to date – but I was wrong. I know she means well and all but she just gets busy doing other stuff. Well, that’s what she tells me – and herself. But she’s doing it now so I’m not going to complain anymore

I’m just trotting off to my bedroom to have a nap so I’ve got lots of energy to go galloping around Jannie tonight after “lights out”. And then I’ll go and sleep on their legs again. Yes, I’ve been doing that this week again before the weather has turned cooler. It’s so much cooler than it used to be – cool enough that M Sooz isn’t putting the Vortex fan or the air conditioning on. And, yes, M Kaz is very excited about sleeping in a warmer room-especially when I’m on the bed with them. Not that I sleep with them all the time: I do have my own bed which I love too and which doesn’t have Mummies all over it. I think they think I take up a lot of room – but they take up so much more!

There’s no word yet of when Uncle Wayne is coming back to Jannie so there’s still time for those spray bottles to have a big rest. The one at the front door has disappeared and now if I get too close to the door when either of those Mummies is coming or going, M Kaz pretends she has the spray bottle by making a stupid squirting/squishing sound. She’s not very good at it.

A new series – to replace “Midsomer Murders” and “Call The Midwife” still eludes the Mummies. People down at the Broadwater, in the morning while M Kaz is there, have suggested shows they might like to watch, but naught has come of that yet. Those Mummies did watch half of “Little Women” last night and I’m looking forward to seeing the end of it tonight. Did I mention they got dinner from Noodle Box last night and there was loads left over so I know what they’ll be having tonight. Maybe – you know how they are sometimes about their food.

Despite M Kaz’s protestations – and that she did manage to get a photograph of the bare patch of skin under my neck, she still hasn’t managed to get me to the VET to have it checked out.  I don’t know if I should be concerned or not

I don’t know why the fan Outback came on by itself the other day – but I’m not one to look a gift fan in the mouth – and by the time M Kaz came out to investigate she found me at the very top of my tower – revelling in the gale-force wind blowing my hair … oops, I meant fur. We’re still not sure why it happened and why the fan came on at full force. M Kaz had to unplug it to get it to stop because the buttons on the far weren’t working, and the remote wasn’t working. I’m not sure when she’s planning to have the electrician in to have a look at it. There’s another couple of jobs she wants doing too – some she can’t do. Yes, M Kaz, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from getting the ladder out and changing that light bulb in the toilet – you just need a new bulb, sensible shoes, and the ladder.

It’s still raining most days here at Jannie, and I even managed to get out in it the other day. I think M Kaz was a bit surprised when I charged out there through the open front door – yes, she had left the door wide open while she was taking a photograph of something (not me for a change!). The last time I managed to get out in the rain, I came straight back in – this time I just stood there in the rain waiting for M Kaz to put the camera away so she could carry me inside. And then take some photos of me.

There have been heaps of photos of me, of course, and she’s even started making stickers of me to use on her phone.
She’s been spending some time on her phone using AI to make emojis, which she uses to tell Aunty Wendy her Wordle score. Well, she would if the AI could get it right. ‘Six ants sitting on a picnic rug’ she told it – and it gave her four ants on a picnic rug.   It’s amazing that it can do that – but also amazing that it doesn’t quite get it quite right.

M Sooz is still not well – and this is more than a week later. She’s been to the doctor twice now and is having some tests done.  Hopefully, they will find out what’s wrong with her, and she can be well again. It can’t be any fun for her.

Well, I think M Kaz was suitably impressed with my ‘watch cat’ abilities yesterday when the people collecting for the Fred Hollows Foundation came to the front door.  Yes, they did ring the doorbell but I knew who was there before M Kaz.  I wonder if they were expecting someone to pull back the blind and peek out – but if they were, I bet they weren’t expecting it to be a Nigey.  I’m not sure who started laughing first, M Kaz or the collectors.  “Do you do this all the time, Nigey?” M Kaz asked – well, maybe when you’re not here, M Kaz, otherwise you would have seen it before now. I may be working on other surprises for those Mummies too. 

We are in for some more wet, rainy weather according to those people at the BoM who make these things up on a fairly regular basis (according to M Kaz).  It is raining now though so they got that bit right.
M Kaz has been a bit irregular with my blog entries of late (late being the operative word)  so I am thinking of switching over to ChatGPT or some other service that will keep my blog up to date.  She isn’t going to like it when I tell her but, on the other hand, it might just remind her who’s the boss around here.  (Yes, yes, we all know she lets me think it’s me and sometimes I believe it – or is that what I want her to think?)

Those Mummies have finally finished watching “Call the Midwife” – all 14 seasons of it – and they’re now looking for something else to watch.  They did watch the Christmas special of “The Madam Blanc Mysteries” with Aunty M but the next episodes of that aren’t due out until the end of the year.  M Kaz read today that production has just started on the next season of their other favourite “Midsomer Murders” but there was no suggested date for when it would be ready to air.  So, what to watch after they’ve done their fall back series (with only 6 episodes) with comedian Sue Perkins travelling along the route of the Orient Express but in parallel – not actually on the train?