My first handspun!

This weekend, I’ve been relatively productive. I finished my first handspun yarn on Sunday. It started as a big wad of roving in a bag,

was spun into singles,

then plied to form this masterpiece:

I looked at other handspun yarns on the internet, and with all humility, I think I have some talent here. This is my first entire skein of handspun and it looks like things other people have for sale. I could get into this. A new world just opened up to me now that I can make my own yarn that looks any way I want it to look!

In kitten news, Merry’s abscess came back right after he was revaccinated. I had the vet lance it again today, and now I think I am comfortable doing it on my own. Basically, you get a sterile scalpel blade and pop it. After, you can flush it with iodine to make sure it’s clean. I’ll have to keep it open for a few days to let all the bacteria out by putting warm compresses on his wound. It’s nasty for sure, but the kitten feels so much better afterward.

The big cats never cease to amuse me. Carisa gave us a catsitter dvd for Christmas a few years ago, and my cats just love it. It’s a great way to keep them occupied when I am doing something they like to “help” with. Buttercup is the best – she watches the gerbil show while licking her lips. I should point out that Butters has never eaten anything that didn’t come from a can or a bag, so I’m not really sure what she thinks she’d do if these gerbils got out of the TV. It’s good to see that she has ambition.

Once the kittens started rolling in, I barely had time to manage the garden. I preplanned for this by doing all the work over the winter and early spring. I still get veggies and the like, but I don’t have to work quite so hard right now. Yesterday, we harvested our first onion and garlic! It took forever, but I’m proud of our work!

 

 

 

Poor Buttercup

Yesterday, my poor Buttercup had to get her teeth cleaned. She had these really thick scales around her teeth, and since she already has a congenital kidney defect, I prefer to get her teeth cleaned before there is a problem. Look at the poor thing:

She walked around the entire evening yesterday with that surly/doped up look on her face. She spent a lot of time just sitting in front of the fireplace, which is where I feed the cats. I only let her eat a little bit at a time. The problem is that she was starving, and she already has a tendency to eat so fast that she throws up when she’s not fresh from surgery. I let her eat for a few minutes, then put the food out of her reach. I felt so bad about it, but that’s part of being a parent: sometimes you have do things that upset the kids, but it’s for their own good.

I had a small scare yesterday. After Michael dropped her off at the vet’s office, but before he got home, the vet called me. Apparently Butters lost about a pound and a half since November. We have been watching her weight, but just to be on the safe side I authorized the vet to do a blood test to rule out kidney trouble and thyroid dysfunction.

Wesley had a vet visit, too. He has been breathing badly, probably because of allergies. The vet said he needs his teeth cleaned, too (his appointment is in a few weeks), but she wanted to do blood tests first. He, by the way, gained a half pound.

I did manage to get some work done in the garden on Sunday. I am going out to finish the rest of the planting this morning, but here is the stuff that I already had in the garden. It’s just so pretty!

One last thing – I had an email this morning saying that there is a mom and kittens available for foster. I spoke to the foster coordinator, and she said that I could have them when they are no longer on hold (the shelter has a 5-day hold in case someone lost the animal that was surrendered), but there is a condition: I have to willing to trade them in to another foster parent when the bottle feeders come in. DEAL! I just want any kittens right now, but my heart is with the tiny orphans. Maybe this will give me the motivation I need to finish the manual (which is coming along).