So, farewell then, Schoko

Gaa again!

Crocheted to death

Pooey! There I was, happily crocheting along, when the hook broke. I tried to glue it, but it's no workin'. Gaa!

Also, speaking of death, there's sad news on Schoko. Her health has taken a turn for the worse today, and, well, it doesn't look like she's going to make it over the weekend. Mike took her to the emergency vet's, and she got some antibiotics and painkillers, but she's just lying in the cage looking miserable. I spent the whole afternoon bawling like an idiot. I wonder how Vanilla is going to take it. At the moment she's just turned into a schizophrenic bullyfriend, one minute stealing food out of Schoko's mouth, and the next cuddling up to her and grooming her.

There is a very slim chance of Schoko getting better, of course, but I've not got big hopes. Gaa again!

Mr Reinecke

Last night it was once again too hot to sleep, and so when I heard a noise in the street, I looked down and there was a fox!

The pictures I took are pretty rubbish, because I really don't know how to use Mike's camera beyond the most obvious point and click and hope for the best, but oh well.

I got quite excited about seeing a fox, though it looked quite scruffy and made an enormous mess.

There seems to be somebody around here (might not always be the same person, but there appears to be a pattern) who for some reason puts their bin bags *next to* the bins. It annoys the hell out of me, because it usually ends with seagulls waking me up at 4 in the morning being stupid about it. I know that there are quite a few people in Edinburgh who hate and boycott bins, and I don't understand them, but fine. Go ahead. You've got the same right to stupidity as I.

What really gets me about it, though, is that they want it both ways; not only do they not want bins, they also don't stick to the rules for areas that don't have them, i.e. don't leave them out over night, but rather put them out before 7 on the day they're going to be picked up. If you really don't want to have 'ugly' bins in front of your house, show that you're responsible enough to deal without them.

Raa. I've been vaguely tempted to contact the Council about it, as they always say they can find out where rubbish comes from, but I feel that would just be the final lunge into adult-poker-up-my-ass-sadness. It's only a bit of rubbish, woman. Get a life.

Plus, even though the fox made a mess and the gulls made it worse *and* woke me up, there's no evidence left now as already the valiant men of the Edinburgh litter squad have done their work.

I like the double shadows in this one.

Piglet squid

Go look at this picture of a Piglet Squid, photographed by Alan Kinnear off the coast of Nigeria, and chortle.

It's like a swimming moomintroll!

Chickens!

I got inspired by Enid Collins the other day, and as I'd been thinking about doing some bespoke arty farty stuff for the baby's room, this is what I came up with. I'm rather pleased.

I hadn't done any drawing for ages, and it was good to get back into it. Should do more.

Weird

I just somehow got sucked into Mixmaster Mike's flickr account and found this picture of last year's Finland holiday, and just *could not* believe the utter lack of belly I'm displaying here.

It seems like I've been pregnant now for about 3 1/2 years, and at the same time everything just seems to pass so quickly. It's taken so long to grow it, how weird will it be for it to suddenly be gone?

These thoughts are messing with my head. Time for some chocolate, methinks.

Felted rats

Schoko didn't seem to well recently, not being able to hold food and staying mostly on the bottom level of the cage. She also kept falling over a lot for no apparent reason, and I got a bit worried that she was on her way to university, as they say.

Initially, with the helpful hand of the internet, I suspected hind limb degeneration, which apparently is quite common (in older male rats, something I missed whilst panic-reading). When I took her to the vet, it turned out though that it's probably neurological, something which is more common in older female rats. So, looks like she's on her way to developing a non-operable tumor in her pituitary gland. The good news is, that she's not in any pain, and, with the help of steroid injections, will probably live another few months.

We'd always hoped that the rats would live long enough for the baby to get to know them. Doesn't look too likely now, as by the time the kid's old enough to remember them, they'll probably both have gone. It's kinda sad to have to deal with pet deaths before they even happen.

Och well, I suppose there's no point in crying over pick-axes on the wall :^).

In the meantime, I made some needlefelt ratties. It's quite good fun, and certainly does a lot for getting rid of surplus aggession (something completely alien to this household, of course...)

Pregnancy woes

I just had the radgest midwife ever round my house. She started off by telling me that I should really get some more pain relief than just gas and air. I told her about the hypnobirthing course we did and she just gave me a look she obviously usually reserves for people with mild dementia.

Then she kind of complained about the fact that the area we've vaguely set aside for the birth is basically on the floor, as this could be quite hard on everybody's back.

And then she rounded it all off by trying to get my mum to tell me how horrendously painful it's going to be. Thankfully my mum refused to.

What *IS* the point in scaring the living daylight out of people?? I've had to hear this 'Oh well, you've got to be realistic', meaning 'Face it, you're never going to make it without drugs' argument so often now, I'm really quite sick of it. Surely midwives are here to support you? If I wanted somebody to tell me what position to have the baby in, I'd go to hospital!

Anyways. All the more reason to do it our way. I've started making a list of things I'm going to do once the baby's here:

1. I'm going to lie on my tummy for ages.
2. I'm going to dye my hair (This might have to wait a while, I know)
3. And finally (for now), if I can be arsed, I'm going to spend a considerable amount of time sitting down on and getting up from various chairs and sofas *like a normal person*. Wahey!

Well, that's it for now. I'm off to walk up the stairs sideways.