the young (and the old)

Proof that time flies . . . the newest family member previously referred to on my blog as Baby Tattoo has now been promoted to Toddler Tattoo.  She took her first steps at 11 months of age, and here she is, with yours truly, visiting the hens over Easter weekend.

And again, shortly after her 1st birthday, playing with the tortoise game I made.

Tali in the lake

Toddler Tattoo isn’t the only one growing up.  Tali, who is only a black spot in the middle of the lake, is 18 months old now. She’s a picture of canine health and enjoys a good swim every day during our walks in the park regardless of how cold the water is.

Ziva

And another youngster I don’t mention much . . . Ziva. She’s our youngest cat. Came to us as a stray kitten in July 2022, she’s now almost 2 years old.  She usually prefers to be outdoors and isn’t what I’d call a cuddly cat. However, above, I caught her enjoying some quiet time indoors.  Quiet time which didn’t last long before she dashed outside again and her warm sleeping spot was taken over by Le Bleu.

 

Happy birthday Le Bleu!

Le Bleu – 16 years 

Today it’s Le Bleu’s 16th birthday – yay!

awwwww Mum’s lap is best

Last month Le Bleu had to go for an impromptu vet visit because of abces on his right cheek and general check-up.  Blood works all good but weight down, so I’ve been splashing out on lots of different brands of wetfood to help increase appetite, and avoid more weight loss.  It seems to be working.  Appetite has picked up and, Le Bleu is still very active for a cat his age. He enjoys sitting out in the garden, now the weather is warming up, or curling up on the sofa with Tali. But his favourite place, which hasn’t changed in the last 16 years, is curled up on my lap!

Of all our cats, Le Bleu is the one I’m closest to.  Some of my readers will have heard the story before.  He was given into my care, back in 2008, as a 3 week old foster kitten, along with three siblings.

I bottle fed, weaned, and handed the kittens over to be put up for adoption.  The three siblings were quickly adopted but no one was interested in the grey-blue one.

We already had 4 cats and a dog, at the time, when Le Bleu joined our family as a permanent member.  His name came about because . . . fostering kittens, I didn’t want to give them proper names so as not to grow attached to them. Called them “Le grand”, ‘la petite”, “le bleu” and “ruban” (identical twin to “le grand” who had a ribbon as a collar to identify him). “Le bleu” was therefore originally just a way of identifying the grey-blue kitten from his siblings. However . . . when we officially adopted him, the vet asked for a name to register him and we realised the name “Le Bleu” had stuck.  Also have to add . . . we’re huge NCSI fans.  In the French dubbed version, the newest member of the team is given the nickname “Le Bleu” (I believe in original soundtrack that’s something like “probie” or “rookie”?).  Anyhoot . . . back in 2008, Le Bleu was the newest member of the family, so it seemed doubly appropriate.

In 2009 Le Bleu had a very serious accident. Shattered femoral bone followed by dislocated knee joint, and it was touch and go whether the vet would be able to save either the leg or the cat.

 

Le Bleu has had a permanent limp ever since  but that hasn’t stopped him leading a very full life.  16 years on,  we still have the NCSI theme going with pet names.  There was Gibbs, our Flat-coated retriever who died in 2022.  And currently, we have (cats) Ducky, Abby and Ziva . . . as well as Tali (only true NCSI fans will know the inspiration for that one).  And how ironic that, the grey-blue kitten who was the little scrawny newbie is still answering to the name of Le Bleu when everyone knows he’s the top cat in the family and all the other animals show him the utmost respect.

 

 

a bit of this & that – March

I don’t seem to be getting much done in the crafting department because of other things getting in the way this month. One of the “other things” is Le Bleu.  We noticed he had a very swollen cheek on Saturday night (16th) but it was too late to get a vet consult. First thing Monday, I managed to get him an appointment. The vet said it was an abces, and she’d keep him in for surgery that afternoon.

after surgery

Here he is after surgery. Didn’t need a plastic cone. Just 4 days worth of antibiotics.  Le Bleu is quite a geriatric cat now – 16 years old next month.  He’s lost even more weight recently and barely tips the scales at 4.5kg these days (used to weigh 6.5kg in his prime) . . . we therefore also had blood works run, dental check-up etc done while he was at the vets for the op.  For a cat his age, blood works were surprisingly normal. No kidney failure on the horizon. Heart, teeth & gums are all healthy. Which is great news but doesn’t explain the general lack of appetite, resulting in weight loss.  Anyhoot . . . I’ve been splashing out on all the top of the range cat foods, trying to find something to tempt him.  He seems happy enough, and doesn’t have any trouble going up & down stairs, hopping on & off the bed etc . . . so I guess we just have to accept that he’s simply getting old, and do as much as we can to try and boost appetite to prevent more weight loss.

I gave myself a bit of retail therapy on-line. I know my resolution is to work my way through my yarn stash and avoid adding any new supplies to my overflowing drawers, but . . . I’ve still got a bee in my bonnet about making some miniature amigurumi and I saw that Scheepjes has just brought out a new line of fine crochet thread:  it’s called Candy Floss and is the equivalent of a n° 10 thread.  I already had 3 balls of Scheepjes Maxi Sugar Rush in my stash (which is the equivalent of a n° 8 thread) .

Scheepjes haul

Above is photo of my new Scheepjes stash.  The 3 balls on their sides, with label showing, are 50g balls I already had.  As you can see, I ordered in a further 14 in that weight, including skin tones and hair tones, with a view to doll making.  The smaller balls are the 20g balls of Candy Floss.  Bought 15 balls of those in total, again with a view to crocheting some dolls.  I’ve started work on a project with the Maxi Sugar Rush thread, on a 1mm hook . . . hoping to work my way to the finer, Candy Floss, thread afterwards, for which I’ll be using a 0.75mm hook, maybe finer.

I also made some headway with my diamond painting project. Which has gone from this

to this

 

So . . . a bit of this and that!  Another project in progress is a second family of crocheted tortoise, making a second memory game . . . but not far enough along to have taken any photos yet.

 

 

happy 1st birthday Tali !!!

no milk teeth there!

Today, Tali, our lovely Flat-coated retriever turned 1 year old.  In the 10 months she’s been with us, she’s grown from this

an 8 week old bundle of fluff and needle sharp teeth, weighing only 4 kilos to

28 kilos of muscle and shiney coat.

She still like to use her teeth (see the holes chewed on her bed cover) and always needs a toy to chew on, but we’ve come a long way in the past 10 months.

I still haven’t been able to break Tali of her retrieving everything & anything habit when out for her late night walks . . . but we’re trying to embrace her retrieving, collecting instincts now, rather than argue with her all the time. As a result, thanks to Tali, we have a good supply of kindling to start the fire in the chimney this winter.

and that’s only part of it!

And her pebble/stone/larger rock collection has become something of a feature, since the husband has begun painting some of her  offering in gold lol.

Tali’s treasures

Only a few, mind you, because he’s now run out of gold paint. The most recent mineral offering are being put in a flower pot in the garden, for use in the rockery.

 

a walk in the park

I realise I haven’t shared photos of Tali on my blog in several months.  She’s almost 1 year old (time flies) and has probably reached her adult size & weight by now.  Anyway . . . August it was really too hot here to take her out for proper walks in the park, but as soon as September arrived, we renewed our subs for the dog park, and have been taking her every day.  Here are photos of some of the fun she had today.

The 25m hurdles and the hoop.

Up and down the ramp (I measure 1.74m to give you an idea of height).

and a game of fetch the stick in the lake.

While in the lake, we spotted another walker with dog (a young female Malinois) on the far side.  So the walk ended with a fun game of chase, and the two dogs burning off more excess energy.

 

like a Flat-coated retriever to water

I haven’t done a Tali update in a while.  Here she is, looking like a true Flat-coated retriever, sopping wet and with a stick in her mouth.  She turned 7 months old on 17th May, and has done lots of growing since she came to live with us as a 4kg, 8 week old pup.  Now, she tips the scales at 20kg.

Flat-coats love swimming, and Tali is no exception.  On our daily walks to the (private) dog park with agility course,  where we have a subscription, she now systemmatically goes for a swim in the lake before we head around the park towards the agility circuit.

Sadly, there will be no swimming for her over the coming days.  We took her to be spayed on Friday and she’s wearing a very fetching body-suit while stitches are in.  Stitches come out on 6th June, so in the meantime, she’s having to make do with gentle walks on the leash.

She can still be quite a handful, and we’ve had two incidents of naughtiness:  Tali has stolen and eaten a kitchen sponge (the ones for doing the washing up) TWICE.  We’re having to make sure the kitchen door is shut when we’re not in there, because she’s tall enough, when standing on her hind legs) to steal anything she likes from the kitchen table or counters.  On a happier note, she’s learning to leave the cats alone.

Speaking of which . . . a photo taken by Mr Lindashee, when they came to visit early May, of Abby (and Le Bleu enjoying some down-time) looking totally chilled out.

 

“Midnight Rendez-Vous” finished off

Another hats off an big thank you to my daughter, aka Lindashee.  Not only did she have the patience to finish stitching “Victorian Charm”, which I showed you the other day, but she also volunteered to stitch on black aida for me.  I’d fallen in love with a design called “Midnight Rendez-Vous”, a kit by Bucilla. Clicked & bought.  Then realised it was black aida, and my eyesight just wasn’t up to it.  I didn’t even try and start this design, but gladly handed it over to my daughter when she offered to stitch it for me. That was back in 2020.

I’m on a bit of a mission to finish off some of those beautiful cross stitched pieces in my drawer, and this design called out “cushion cover” . . . so that’s what it became.

Apologies for the few stray wisps of white cotton on the black. Each time I thought I’d cleaned them all off, another one floated about.  Anyway, you get the idea!  A simple orange dotty border, so as not to detract from the lovely design.

Funny how much this cat looks like Ziva, our youngest!

updating my blog photo

I was out in the garden earlier today taking a few snaps of Tali, who is growing up, and will be 6 months old on 17th April.  After transferring photos to my computer, I couldn’t help looking at photos of Gibbs (Sept 2016 – Oct 2022) at the same age.  Obviously one Flat-coated retriever looks very much like another Flat-coated retriever, although Tali seems to have more wavey fur on her ears.   Gibbs was a male, and rather a large specimen at that, so he definitely already looked quite large at 6 months . . . Tali is on the petite size but has most definitely lost her puppy looks.  Anyway, I’ve also changed the photo on the top of my home page, removing this lovely photo of Gibbs

and replacing it with one of Tali.

Another one of Gibbs, looking incredibly adult for a 6 month old pup

and one of Tali’s profile.

A last one of Gibbs (oh my, he was a beautiful boy and I really miss him!)

and last one (for today) of Tali.

Tali – treasures & teeth

Not a very good photo- just a quick snap of Tali who is 5 months old today.  5 months old and 15 kilos . . . a lot of growing (and learning) still to come, but we’re getting there!

Tali is still prone to want to chew on hands/shoes/trouser bottoms/sleeve cuffs, but that’s because she’s still teething.  Adult incisors are all through. Molars are through too.  Baby premolars are falling out so she’s a bit gappy in places.

And still waiting patiently for those needle-like baby canines to be replaced.

In true Flat-coated retriever style, Tali needs to have something in her mouth most of the time.  At home, indoors, it’s a soft toy.  On walks she keeps her eyes open for all sorts of  “treasures”.  Sometimes it’s a stick, but she also seems to have started a pebble/stone collection.  I don’t let her keep her bounty – she gets a doggie treat in exchange for her sticks & stones,

The above represent just 2 and a half days of Tali’s treasures.

I never thought she’d get this larger stone home, but Flats can be very stubborn once their mind is set.  332g . . . she dropped it several times on the way, but bring it home she did!

Lastly . . . I know I’d said I wasn’t going to compare Tali to (our late) Gibbs, but I couldn’t help looking through my archives and found this: posted on Gibbs’ 5 month birthday.

scraphappy # March

Linking up with a lovely group of inspirational Scrapsters

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Edith
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Debbierose, Nóilin, Viv, Karrin,
Amo and Alissa

who post together on 15th of the month to share scrappy projects.

Last month I was sewing with chopped off legs of old jeans, making dog bed covers thus

For this month, I used up two back pockets, and some more leftover leg.

I made a little zippy pouch back for the Husband to sling over his shoulder when we go to the park every day with Tali.  Dog treats in the inside pouch, and doggy poop bags in one of the pockets.  It’s a bit rough & ready, but it does the job.

And last photo of the bag (well back view of the strap) the puppy and the Husband at the park.