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| When Calypso is not available Artemis makes a fine cushion as well .... |
It was Artemis and Caleb as the Manager
and Trainee Manager in the shop on Sunday, and the results were as you might
expect – they both immediately seized the Manager’s chair and I got to
stand. It’s easy to evict one moggie
back to their spot on the desk, but two just don’t comfortably fit on the spot
so I relented. Again. I know, I’m a sucker. And they know it too. And I know they know. And now we all know.
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| .... she really is quite comfortable .... |
Mischka was Thursday Manager, as usual,
and she was much admired, as usual. She
expects everyone will want to meet her, and naturally will love her, and she is
always right. She does make
photographing stock for the website a challenge, though, because when she’s
awake she insists on being in the middle of everything. So the trick is to run around while she’s
asleep and move things quietly so she doesn’t wake up and come to ‘help’.
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| I love Artemis. |
It’s Calypso and Caleb in the shop today,
which is a big deal because on Fridays it’s somewhat more than a two hour shift
so I needed to have them both in a cooperative mood. Kim from Catwalk Bengals (where they were
both born) came by to give Caleb his next lot of vaccinations, and I want
her to see Calypso too. Surely you can
rely on a couple of ratbags who are 11 months and 3 months old respectively to
cooperate and behave, right? No
wrestling in the shop. No playing chasey
in the shop. No ambushing each other in
the shop. And no wriggling about for
optimum bodging position while on my lap in the shop. Yeah, right.
So that’s gone about as well as you would expect, and I’m hanging out
for closing time and madly writing this while they are both momentarily
asleep. If only I could type more
quietly, because I really don’t want to wake them up.
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| Mischka inserting herself into a photo shoot for stock on the website  It's hard work causing mayhem, so time for a snooze ....  Still snoozing .... |
A young woman came up to my desk and
looked at Calypso (snoozing) and said Ha,
that doesn’t even look real. She was
dissing my stuffed toy cat. But then my stuffed
toy cat moved, which made her jump backwards and go bright red, because Ha, it is
real, lady. I said I think you need to reconsider your concept of reality, to which
she said Wot? Your idea of what’s real and not real, I
said. She frowned and said nothing,
though of course by then we were getting way too existential when all she wanted to do
was insult my stuffed toy cat. Include a
bit of intellect with your insults when you visit me, everyone! Dazzle me with your biting wit! Bring it on!
I promise you I’ll fight back and what fun we’ll have.
We had a scare with Calypso this
week. I knew she was off-colour and not
improving so we took her to the vet. You
know how you just know when there’s
something wrong with your pets, even when it’s not apparent what it is? It turned out that she had a high temperature
for no observable reason, so he admitted her because he wanted to take blood to
run every conceivable test plus check her throat and mouth. I didn’t expect her to be admitted – I
thought she’d get some antibiotics and then I’d have the fun of giving her
tablets for a few days - so I was very anxious and upset to be leaving her
behind.
And then, fancy this - the vet rang later
in the day and said Do you want the good news or the bad news? I immediately felt ill and my
stomach dropped – it was a real physical reaction. The good news was that she
is in excellent condition and he could find nothing wrong with her, except we
knew something was wrong due to her spike in temperature. The bad news was that
he had nothing to report because he could find nothing wrong with her. Ha, ha, I was not amused at his little joke. So she had an antibiotics injection – so much
better than the Hold the Big and Objecting
Bengal Down to Shove a Tablet Down Her Throat fun and games I was expecting
– and the vet thinks it’s a low level virus that she will get over soon. And already she seems better than she was, so
I expect this was the correct diagnosis.
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| .... ahh, waking up refreshed and ready to start again. |
When she came home Calypso was still
wobbly on her feet and smelt bad – like a vet’s hospital. Everyone hissed at her and ran away, and she
hissed right back at them and didn’t want to know anyone. I quarantined her in the bathroom with lots
of bedding and food and water, and left her to recover for a few hours.
But she wasn’t quarantined enough, as far
as Mischka was concerned, and she had a total hissy-fit-melt-down over
Calypso’s new smell - her reaction was really was quite ridiculous. Mischka hates, hates, HATES all change, and not
only did Calypso smell different and horrible (change 1) she then had a good
wash and went back to smelling like herself again (change 2). Change and change-back was just too much to
deal with for Mischka. A great deal of
growling and snarling and grumbling went on, and that was just her talking to
herself as she walked through the lounge-room without another cat in sight! She really went ballistic when she spotted
another cat, so everyone kept clear of her and even Caleb had enough sense to
get swiped at only once. She’s a funny
thing, and is going to make a magnificent grumpy old lady one day. But then she got over herself and went back
to schmoozy and purry and happy to cuddle with everyone again, so we’re back to
being a happy family again.
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| Token picture of stock I, seeing how this is meant to be a blog about antiques |
So yes, I’ve been fixated on the antics of
the moggies this week – our very own apolitical, unRussian and non-prosecutable
Pussy Riot - but I have still been doing a bit of work for the shop. Kind of.
It’s three and a half weeks until we head off on the next buying trip,
and I don’t think I’ve ever been so disorganized before a trip. But I have the Play Days in Bangkok , France England
Doug reminds me that as I am
(supposed to be) a professional shopper, I should be able to find plenty of
good things on a shoestring budget. And
I always do, but I just don’t like the pressure of having no choice but to find
utter bargains. Lucky I have so much
practice by now it shouldn’t be a problem so I’m not sweating it. Yet.
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| Token picture of stock II - some rare and very beautiful extra large cobalt blue poison bottles |
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