Goodbye 2009...

In less than an hour, 2009 will be behind us.  As I take time to recollect my "hits and misses" in the year, and consolidate my key areas of learning... 

Work-wise, the load has been more manageable.  I'm grateful for each of my projects, I was able to meet my targets - even when there were times it seemed 'mission impossible'.  The words of a blogger struck a chord with me, that there is no point "killing" oneself at work and the importance of keeping one's priorities in check (other than work).  No one is indispensable.  I've found it effective to at times, stop, walk away and refocus.

On the home front, I'm blessed with a wonderful husband and my three lovelies.  They are my constant source of joy and support.  Skoda continues to amaze and amuse us with her antics.  Her latest urinalysis on Mon, 28 Dec didn't turn out too well - will have to repeat the test in two weeks' time.  Braun is better now (she is not hiding away as much) but at times, she gets jittery and keep at licking away, dashing around.  We're keeping an eye on whether the Other Two are bringing on stress in any way onto her.  Mikki is doing alright.  She still follows me around like a puppy :)  I think it can get quite lonely for her at times because she doesn't seem to 'click' with the Other Two.  We give her special and extra attention whenever she seeks that (this girl responds to us on her own terms), and Grimlock brings out her favourite toy during play time.

The numbers at Site X have more or less stabilised.  The appearances of the last spotted newbies have been irregular (all unsterilised) so I've yet been able to plan the next round of trapping.  The latest addition is a kitten of a charcoal-coloured coat.  Some idiot has tied a bell on a string around her neck (we didn't see this on her the first time we spotted her).  The sound of the bell puts her on an disadvantage against the old timers and the string can be hazardous for her (say she gets chased and she runs up a tree).  If the person likes her so much to want to stake such a claim, give her a home lah!  Reminder to self: bring scissors on next trip. 

Sometimes I do wonder if the dumping at Site X will ever stop.  The answer I do know well, therefore I can only pray the kitties here will be safe and for their tummies to be filled (by people who care enough).      

See the masthead photo?  That is my girls flashing their dainty toes (oops, Mikki's look like she could do with some pedicure).  I thank God that through His grace, strength, wisdom and faithfulness, I made it through 2009. Through the ups and the downs, I say it again: God is good.  I too will put my best foot forward in the new year :)

Finally, heartiest wishes from all at the Cove for an abundant 2010, loads of laughter and cheers to good health!!    

It's a "Tree"!

Christmas came early, in fact, for the girls.  We picked up their Christmas present - a cat tree on last Sat, 19 Dec at Pet Safari, Eastpont Mall.  I've wanted to get a cat tree for them for some time but I didn't want more clutter and the cat trees sold here are expensive and not quite of the height I've in mind.  Braun's recent neurotic "outburst" got Grimlock and I to seriously think of getting one, in a bid to provide her with more space - in a vertical sense.

Initially I looked up US websites for the 'dream' tree.  Wow, the tall, practical ones are really expensive and then there is the shipment cost and some of these websites do not ship outside of US.  I subsequently came across a cat tree on a local blogger's website.  She bought hers from Pet Safari in Eastpoint Mall.  We reckoned too it would make sense to go to the bigger pet supplies shops which would have the space to stock up on bigger cat trees.   

Our trip was a fruitful one.  The cat tree is about 1.5m, comes with five tiers and an "igloo" enclosure which can be fitted with one of the tiers.  The staff dismantled the tree in the shop and Grimlock assembled the parts again back home.  After the tree was up, we used catnip spray on it and we've been keeping a keen eye on whether the girls would take to the tree.  We've placed the tree in the living room, next to the windows.  So far, Skoda has kept to using the scratching post on tier 2 and Braun has been taking naps in the igloo, while Mikki has yet to get onto the tree. 

I don't think Mikki has figured out yet she could do more with the tree.  For her size, she stands to benefit most from it.  It just boils down to whether she would cross her mental threshold.  For Braun, seeing her use the igloo is good enough for us.  I'd expect Skoda to be more adventurous but she has yet to venture beyond tier 3.  Maybe the tree is nowhere near a match to her definition of 'challenge' :)   

Festive Feasting :)

Grimlock cooked up a storm again this Christmas Eve - we had these for dinner:

Mushroom soup:

Deep fried chicken:

And french fries on the side:

And Grimlock cooked Hainese chicken rice and pork ribs lotus root soup for our lunch on Christmas Day:

And then we had milk butter crab and claypot crab beehoon for dinner-cum-supper, hohoho...  We ate for the first time at this joint, which we would pass on our way to Site X.  The food turned out to be quite good - we'll return for more.

It's back to home-cooked food for dinner today (by Grimlock) - Japanese pork chop rice:  

WWAAHHH, looking at what and how much we've been eating since Christmas Eve, are we on a festive eating binge or what ??!!

Festive Greetings!!

An eCard from us all@mcc to spread the festive cheer:

Make a Smilebox greeting

'Emo' Braun

For the past two weeks, Braun has not been her usual self.  She hides away in the bomb shelter most of the time.  She only surfaces when Grimlock or I step into the bomb shelter - this is when she'll come out and eat and then immediately go back into hiding again.  She has been more jittery (she is timid by nature) than usual and acts warily.  She seems to be twitching quite a bit too (her lower back), and she has been flicking her paw and licking her back quite a bit (the area near her shoulder blade).  And when she is out of hiding, she makes short dashes around the house.  Fortunately, she still is eating well and her poo looks normal. 

In between the two weeks, there were short durations where she resumed back to her 'normal' usual self but soon after, she snapped back into this neurotic state (don't know how else to describe what is wrong with her) again.  Previously, Braun had displayed such behaviour but never for such a duration, and so we brought her to Dr K yesterday, 12 Dec.

For the past two weeks, Braun could only be found in the bomb shelter...

Dr K checked her vital signs and he said all these were normal.  We gave him a detailed description of her behaviour.  And he asked us a couple of questions.  He also felt her body all over and observed her walking.  We did not make changes of any kind at home and there has not been any renovation at our neighbour's.  It was Bath Day two Sundays ago but Braun takes to bathing very well and the session went well as usual for her so we'd think it was coincidence her strange behaviour came on after that.  I also learnt from Dr K the twitching is a form of epilepsy (all along I thought it was an emotional display rather than a condition).  We discussed the options, namely, run a blood test and CT scan on her, try out Bach flower essence remedy and/or put her on medication to treat epilepsy.  Options #1 and #3 might bring on more stress given her present state so we agreed to try out the Bach remedy first at this juncture.    

We're to drop three drops of the Bach remedy into food or water 2-4 times daily for two weeks.  Alternatively, we can apply the remedy behind the ears, on the temples or on the throat.  I was amused to read of the description on the bottle: "... Helps you cope in balancing life's up and downs.  Assists the return to a more positive outlook when you need comfort and reassurance.  Provides support at times of emotional demand,..."  The ingredients are: 5x dilution of flower extracts of Rock Rose, Impatiens, Clematis, Star of Bethlehem, Cherry Plum in a grape alcohol solution. 

We started Braun on the Bach remedy yesterday by adding it into her dinner; gave her Fussie cat tuna so as to mask the remedy (it smells like cough syrup to me).  She has been her usual self so far.  She is back to ordering her human slave aka Mousie around.  I really hope she is not going through a swing and she'll be alright soon.

Braun snoozing away on my beanie seat after we got back from the vet's.  Glad to see her coming out of her shell...

Roving Eye@mcc : 我行我素

We go to this coffeeshop once a week for dinner.  This girl (already tipped) hangs out at the carpark near to the coffeeshop.

"Hey girl, do you know you could get into trouble for getting onto the car for a bit of warmth?"

Here's an article I read some time ago on Dawn's former blog, titled Cars and Cats Again.

1,000 (Green) Origami Cranes (XVIII)

End of last month, we brought Skoda to the vet for her urinalysis review. Once again, we're elated the review turned out to be alright:

No presence of crystals in Skoda's urine and the other indicators are within the acceptable range, except that her urine is still concentrated (this girl needs to drink up!).

Dr K gave Skoda a general health check; he felt her abdominal area and checked her teeth, ears and eyes, and discreetly peeped at her rear area (whew, good thing we did our due diligence before bringing her down). When he lifted her upper body up to take a look at the under area (with her hind legs resting on his consultation table), I noticed the "abundance" around Skoda's girth and commented she is fat (I know me bad but I really couldn't help myself lah...). Almost instantaneously, Dr K said she is just chubby - I was very comforted :) and I remember I was grinning away silly (well, chubby sounds good).

Skoda's urinalysis results this far:

Skoda's next review is in two months' time, and we need not bring her down to the clinic for the urine extraction to be done (we can revert to self-collecting a sample). If she clears this review with good results as well, then the frequency will be changed to once in six months.

"YES, I find bringing down the kitchen tea cloths SO MUCH fun!!! It's part of my regular exercise regime. You got a problem with that?!?!?

Happy (Belated) 3rd Anniversary to ME!

Dear Agony Aunt,

How does one nurse a broken heart?

It was my yearly anniversary at the Cove on last Friday, 13 November. My beans vanished with two boxes in hand on Saturday, 7 November and did not return till Sunday, 15 November in the wee hours. No bean to fuss over me on my special day; no special treat for me; and the other two didn't even think of it. And when my beans got back, the Other Two were all over them and they were busy with catching up at work. Boo hoo hoo, I'm feeling so neglected...

For the past one week, I've been singing the blues and knocking on my beans' bedroom door at unearthly hours. Do you think I may be affected with what beans term as depression?

The Bossy One continues to take me as some pesky 'kid sister' and pulls her weight over me ever so often. I think I may stand a better chance at seizing the Number 2 position. When Mousie is not looking, I give The Wimp a taste of my powerful right hooks. I shall stand undeterred in my quest.

Bid, tell me, what can I do to get more attention from my beans and show the Other Two I may be the youngest but I've got my rights? Can one ever get over a broken heart?

I'm feeling the blues all over again...


Just Me,
Mighty Mikki

Skoda, Happy 4th Anniversary!

Times flies. Today, 29 October marks Skoda's annual anniversary at the Cove. This girl has got both beauty and brains, to-die-for curves (yup, some 6.5kg of them) and loads of character :)

Four years on, Skoda still plays her cards well in holding the strings to Grimlock's heart. She responds so tenderly to his calling of her name (she is not as responsive when I'm the one calling her name :( leh...).

Her intelligence never fail to amaze us. She pulls down my kitchen tea cloths at least twice everyday, without fail. And before doing so, she would meow away - just so we must know she has done it again. And at times after getting the cloth off the handle (usually when we're around), she would hold it in her mouth and drop it off at the kitchen entrance (where we can see her).

Skoda has a place where she keeps away her personal "favourites", ie small objects which she had stuffed into the waterhole in the kitchen. Her stash to-date includes at least three fridge magnets and one small box of dental floss. We suspect the two small mouse toys that had mysteriously vanished, are in there as well. Now, we keep things that can fit into the waterhole away from her reach.

Skoda loves our bedroom very much. Recently she has developed a liking for sleeping on my chest or stomach. Well, she is not light but the feeling of her resting on me is almost magical; she feels nicely warm and I can feel her purring away and the rhythm of her breathing. And oh yes, before she settles down on me, she'll knead away and then pucker up to me for a kiss or two, aawwww... Of the three, she is the only one who is spontaneous to exchanging kisses. At times when the mood is so right, Skoda will want to give me a taste of her grooming, ie lick my face and nib at my hair. Her tongue feels quite rough and ticklish which gets me breaking out in giggles and then I'll try to dodge her advances (hahaha). She doesn't do any of these to Grimlock (Yes! hee hee)

It definitely didn't take her long to register that one needs to turn the door knob in order to get into a room when the door is closed. When she desperately wants in, she'll leap upwards and have a go at turning the door knob.

I can go on and on about Skoda; her ways, charms, her seeking of attention and wanting of human touch/contact...well, she is altogether lovely. I'll leave these other tales for some other time.

I thought yesterday was 29 October so for dinner yesterday, I gave Skoda Fussie Cat tuna as a special treat - she doesn't mind this wet food (and of course Braun and Mikki had their share too). And she alone got to snuggle up to us in bed yesterday. I've no idea how I could get the day of the week wrong when I had marked 29 October down prominently on my calendar.

Finally, to my Skoda love: Rock on, babe!

I think I published this collage some time back. It is one of my favourite visuals which captures a multi-faceted Skoda. As I've said so a few times, gratification comes just by looking at her.

The Science of Cooking

I quite enjoy cooking because it is like carrying out a science experiment; following through a recipe step-by-step, bringing all the ingredients together and then wait-and-see what you get. At times, even though you follow the recipe as instructed, the end result may not turn out to be as expected OR sometimes, you choose to follow your gut-feel and the result turns out to be not too bad afterall. Cooking can be therapatic as such, but I've to say the washing-up part is a killer.

Now and then when Grimlock has certain cravings, he would search the Internet for recipes and try them out. Here are some stuff that we each recently whipped up...

I had my favourite, an Oreo cheesecake for my birthday (by Grimlock):


A three-course dinner for Grimlock's birthday (by Mousie); fish chowder, angel hair with mushrooms and bacon strips and lychee sorbet:


The goodness from a recipe on chicken rice that was "plucked off" the Internet (by Grimlock):


A friend of ours came over to our place so we had for tea, a chocolate brownie cake topped with Haagen-Daz ice cream (by Mousie - her maiden baking exploit).

The brownie cake is also Grimlock's favourite. The recipe is idiot proof (you can click on the link for the recipe). I forgot to add in the snickers bar (which might have made the cake too sweet if I had added these). Instead of peanuts, I used cashew nuts (prefer this over peanuts).

Let's see what we'll dish out next from our kitchen...

"Got to Pull Em' Down!"

Skoda has a fettish with pulling down cloths and getting certain ones out of her way. One evening when I got home from work, I saw a trail of cloths on the floor which I knew instantly was of her doing...

We see here the defendent going on a walk-through of the trail of evidence with Detective Mousie. Item no. 1 is the kitchen tea cloth (you've got to give it to Skoda for pulling down the tea cloth and then bringing it all the way here). Item no. 2 is a small rug (with drawings of cats on it) that is placed on the printer/scanner (Mousie's idea of making that popular sun-tanning spot more cosy). Item no. 3 is the cushion for the Chrysantheum Throne.

Mighty Mikki comes along to check out the commotion. More of Skoda's doing coming up...

Defendent Skoda had also relocated the Chrysantheum Throne from its usual corner (right at the corner of the wall, ie where arrow is pointing to) to the edge of the study table. She also 'decided' the cloth for the Throne cushion was better off on the floor.

Defendent Skoda emerged guilty as charged! It is only she who has such a habit...

Mousie cannot grasp what it is about removing cloths from their original locations that so intrigues Skoda, for her to keep at doing this. Maybe it is like a game to Skoda. The fun part for her is not getting caught yet in the act on film (to this, Mousie swears perseverance) and having Mousie pick up after her. Woe to the beans for having a cat who doesn't think she ought to be one...

From my cat calendar:
"I have noticed that what cats most appreciate in a human being is not the ability to produce food, which they take for granted - but his or her entertainment value." - Geoffrey Household

Project S (XII)

I scheduled my 7th round of trapping on 8 Sept - was targeting two newbies and one female white/grey. The newbies, ie one all-black (male) and one cream-coloured (female), were spotted a week before that. I estimate them both to be about a year-old. They are semi-long haired (I think they are Siamese mixed) and in good physical condition. The black one is very cautious; we had to stay away a good distance from the food before he would touch it. The cream-coloured one is slightly less cautious and very pretty. The white/grey has been around for some time - lovely girl she is; after eating, she would bump herself against our legs and do her circles of '8' around our legs. We only managed to round up the white/grey for spaying on 8 Sept - by then, she was in a somewhat advanced stage of pregnancy. The black and cream-coloured cats were nowhere to be seen.

Boarded her for a few more days with V so that she could duly recover. After her release, she seemed a little disoriented initially but she didn't run off. We gave her some wet food and it was good to see her eating away heartily. She still was friendly to us (no hard feelings :) ).

After releasing the white/grey (14 Sept), we were getting ready to make a move and then we spotted a target - a female tabby who was on heat. We saw her too during the last trip with a tom hot on her heels and we were unsuccessful in trapping them then. I also think she was the one who got away during one of the previous trapping rounds so she remembers the trap. This time, V used a net and managed to haul her in. She put up a big fight. She was still howling away after her spaying so V had to put up with the noise while she was boarded at his place.

The Noisy One (round #8). She made so much noise, right up to her release. With her, the tally now stands at 23 cats being sterilised (16 females and seven males).

Some of the kitties who hang out at Site X - top (left) clockwise: Tux Boy, 'Orh-Choo-Bee' (black glutinous rice) or Ah Bee in short, Moo-Moo Cow (named after the unique patchwork-pattern on her back) and one of the white-grey's. Moo-Moo will run to us while Ah Bee can be heard yowling away from a distance when they see us ("Yay, the food source is here!"). At times, Ah Bee will walk with us for a short distance after she had her fill. She has a very lovely face (black around the nose area) and shiny, expressive eyes.

More photos... The one in the centre is one of the latest additions, a kitten about 5-6 months old. She is the only kitten we see of late at Site X so I think she should be a dumping case. Will wait for her to grow a little bigger in size.

Spotted the cream-coloured cat during our last visit. And two newbies - one whitish (with grey streaks) cat who didn't look too well, and one white/grey cat - both unsterilised. There are several brown tabbies at Site X so I can't tell most of them apart. Now for sure, I'm confused over how many white/greys there are.

Drinking Fountain - the Proper Way to Cleaning It

The girls have got two drinking fountains. About a month ago, water was not flowing out over the dome of one of them, even after we re-fitted the parts and adjusted the position of the fountain a few times. The fountain is not cheap so I was very reluctant to put it into "retirement". I thought of getting a replacement pump so I googled online to look for the supplier but I couldn't find the particular model. I then looked up the Hagen website (manufacturer of the DogIt/CatIt drinking fountain) and almost wanted to send in an enquiry on getting a replacement pump until I came across the user's guide. Under the FAQ section in the guide, the troubleshooting method to getting the fountain to work again is to dismantle the outer section of the pump and do a thorough cleaning to remove the build-up of minerals that have accumulated over time. I followed the instructions and viola, the dome was working again. I also cleaned up the other fountain and the water flow was better than before. Such thorough cleaning should be done once every two weeks.

When I pulled out 'A' from 'B' and looked inside 'B', there were some bits of gunk in 'B' which I cleaned out with a toothbrush.

This is the side of the pump with the wire. Only the cover can be removed so you can give the surface a good scrub with the toothbrush.

This is the other side of the pump. Previously, our cleaning ended with scrubbing this side and the corners with the toothbrush.

From the user's guide, I discovered the cover can actually be removed. I was taken aback by the amount of gunk that have accumulated both on the pump (photo on the left - this is the view after the cover has been removed) and the inner of the cover (photo on the right). It was quite disgusting :(

The centre part of the pump (circled in red in photo on left) can be pulled out, ie the bullet-looking thing in the photo on right (circled in red). There was also gunk on it. The guide says to gently wash it (I rinsed it under a running tap).

So the trick in getting the pump to be working optimally again is to clean these three parts:

I'm glad the domes are working optimally again. I can't find the user's guide that came with the fountain when we bought it. I felt quite bad on the neglience on our/my part. I shuddered at the thought of the amount of gunk. I've taken and posted detailed photos here so if you've got a similar drinking fountain/dome, I'd strongly recommend that you do the same thorough cleaning (once every two weeks).

Where's the Girl? (IX)

"Basket, I like too! Box, Bin and Basket. And my name is Braun. 'B' has got to be my favourite alphapet!!"

P/S: I like the photo on the lower left-hand very much. It presents a soulful side of Braun.

Where is the Girl? (VIII)

"The bin or the box? I like them both..."

1,000 (Green) Origami Cranes (XVII)

Skoda had a review done on Sat, 15 Aug where her urinalysis report fared quite badly, with high levels of protein and Leukocytes, as well as crystals in her urine. It wasn't a surprise because then she was wearing an Elizabethan collar while waiting for her claw to heal. The collar kept getting in the way so she was not eating and drinking much.

In view of her report results, Dr K requested for us to bring Skoda back for a urine culture test. We brought her in to the veterinary clinic yesterday, 12 Sept. Her urinalysis results turned out to be the best so far, even better than the one in June. Dr K also remarked on her medical record it was a good urine report :) There were no traces of protein, a low level of Leukocytes and nil crystals in her urine. Yay, hurray!!! There was nothing different nor extra that we did, except that Grimlock played laser pointer with Skoda for the whole week prior to the test date for the past 2-3 urinalyses. It seems the exercising may be of help. Skoda's next urinalysis will be in a month's time.

Skoda's urinalysis results to-date:

This is OUT Too

When C came to catsit for us in July, I found out from her Waltham Urinary S/O wet food (pouch) is available at the James Tan Veterinary Centre. Wet food is made up of 70% water so I've been trying to get her to take more of this (her urine level is concentrated). I enquired with our regular veterinary clinic, Mount Pleasant Springside and found out they have the Waltham Urinary S/O wet food too but the order has to be one carton. Now, Skoda is a dry food junkie so I wasn't keen to get so many pouches at one go. Fortunately the clinic could help to get us two pouches for sampling (yah, only two pouches since these are free-of-charged). And we ended up waiting for close to one month before the supplier finally dropped off the samples at the clinic.

The packaging:


The contents:

Alas, Her Royal Highness wouldn't take to the food at all. So, end of story. I still have one unopened pouch.

One Claw Less - S Version

One morning last month (Fri, 7 Aug), I stepped into the kitchen to see the top door of the refrigerator ajar. Skoda and Braun were nearby. A couple of minutes later, I was going to leave for work so I went into the kitchen again to do a final check. This time, I saw some blood on the counter-top. Braun was the only one at the 'crime scene'. I scooped her into my lap and did a thorough inspection of her but didn't find any injury on her.

I went looking for Skoda and saw some blood droplets on the floor outside the girls' room. Skoda ran off when she saw me. I managed to catch hold of her and saw a claw that was half coming off on her right paw. She refused to let me attend to it so I couldn't treat the wound on my own. I took half-day urgent leave, shoved Skoda into the pet carrier (this girl put up a big fight) and off we went to the vet's clinic. I found the claw on the floor and took it along with me.

The clinic was crowded so we waited for quite a while. Dr K's slots were fully taken up so Dr D attended to Skoda instead. She showed me the wound which looked quite deep (with the whole claw missing). She cleaned up the wound and applied some potassium medication (blackish stuff) on it to stop the bleeding and gave her an injection. I requested for her not to bandage the paw because I doubted Skoda would tolerate it. Grimlock was at work so I wouldn't be able to remove the bandage on my own if Skoda struggled with it. Dr D put an Elizabethan collar on her and to wear it for at least a day. By the time we got home, it was already 12noon. I took leave for the other half-day as well. She kept knocking into things and experienced difficulty in eating and drinking. The immobility did not damper her spirits though.

We took the cone off on Mon, 10 Aug night. We were afraid Skoda might keep licking her paw. Tried to put on a mitten for her but she shoke it off. On Wed, 12 Aug morning - again when I was getting ready to leave for work, I saw a small trail of blood on the floor. Skoda's wound was bleeding a little. This time round, I couldn't take leave. Grimlock took leave in the afternoon and brought her to the vet. She had to put on the E-collar again. Dr K prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication for her. We tried to put on a baby bootie on her paw but she wouldn't stand for this as well. When we brought her back to the vet's clinic on Sat, 15 Aug for her urinalysis, Dr K told us her wound was healing well. We could remove the E-collar but to stop her from licking her paw. The latter proved to be a feat - she couldn't understand why we stopped her from doing so and on our part, it was difficult to keep an eye on her, so we kind of let nature to take its own course.

During this time, Braun and Mikki were not much of a friend to Skoda. Braun, for whatever reason, was fearful of Skoda with 'that thing' around her head; she steered clear of her path. Mikki was fearful too but expressed it through aggression; she scrowled at her whenever their paths crossed. Maybe there is a price to pay for being the Alpha :p

Back to Basics

I'm finally done with putting together a new addition to my travel blogs. This one titled Idyllic Lombok is about a vacation Grimlock and I went on, a month ago, in Lombok which is located in the western part of Indonesia. A local staff from Grimlock's client in Indonesia recommended the place to him and this turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Enjoy the read, photos and video clips!

Where is the Girl? (VII)

I went around the Cove looking for Braun one day. Initially she was nowhere to be found. Guess where I found her finally? This girl was having her beauty nap in the box of Fussie Cat cans (these are for the cats at Site X). She doesn't seem to run out of creative places to snooze in.

The Chrysantaneum Throne

The girls used to have their Cosy Corner in the space behind the desktop on the study table. After we disposed of the desktop, there was quite a bit of space. The Cosy Corner was one of the girls' favourite snuggling spots so I wanted to reinstate the space.

I bought a storage box from Ikea and threw in a cushion - none of them used it. Two months ago, I was running an errand at Raffles City and saw the pets' bed on sale at the Anthropology store. They were of the fabric that I was looking for; a light nylon fabric instead of the cotton ones which can be hard to wash and a long while to sun dry. The colour is nice, the size is just right and the 30% discount was hard to resist. I bought the small-sized one (it comes with a name "GOD"). The store has some other nice stuff too for the home.

I've nicknamed the pet bed as "The Chrysantaneum Throne" (after its colour). Well, it is a throne of some sort :) which this time, has won the trio's paw of approval. The Chrysanthemum Throne is the common name given to the Imperial throne of Japan, the oldest monarchy in the world.

Anyone with a Home to Offer?

I'm putting this post up to help a colleague find an adopter for a 6-month old black kitten. This female kitten is of local breed; litter-trained; is on dry food; and has a long tail. Colleague is willing to sponsor her sterilisation. Urgent adoption because colleague can't keep her for any much longer (strong family objection). If you've a permanent home to offer this kitten, please email me at: mycatscove@gmail.com, or help me to spread the word around (thanks!).