Category Archives: home

cat scratch fever

21 Thursday May 2020

Posted by in animals & pets, casa azahar, cats, home

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WTF. I bought this cat scratch tower thingy last September and now look at it. Eight months later and it’s been totally ripped to shreds (mostly by Luna; Loki still prefers the back of the sofa and Morcilla has all but destroyed my office chair). But as you can see, it’s only the posts that have been shredded. The rest of the stand still stands and is in more or less good condition. I wish these companies would sell replacement posts for these things because they’re not cheap to replace. It’s a shame to throw this whole thing away, and in any case I can’t afford to replace it. But posts at, say 10€ each, would be a reasonable option and would also mean less waste.

Probably the only one who will miss it would be Luna, so it’s not exactly “essencial”, but Luna has so few things she loves (she’s such a weirdo) that I will leave it here until she actually destroys the cardboard posts themselves (which she did with the previous tower) and the whole thing collapses. But at least the previous one lasted a year and a half. Cats, eh?

 

lockdown day 66

18 Monday May 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, home, lockdown, lockdown sevilla

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People keep asking me how I am holding up during lockdown, am I bored, going stir crazy, am I making plans, making sourdough etc etc.

To be honest I think for the first month I was in a bit of a daze. I didn’t know what was going on and neither did anybody else. And that part actually hasn’t changed. But what has changed, at least for me, is that I feel less of a need to try and do anything about, well, anything. Instead I am observing. Watching and waiting. Because honestly, why waste my energy?

Meanwhile, I do seriously wonder how the hell I ever held down a full time job. Especially as, being freelance, my job was actually 7 days a week. Yeah, not every day all day, but I was pretty much always working, or at least “on call”. And yet I always found time to work, get all the chores done, see friends, do the shopping, keep up with an exercise routine.

But now? It takes me half the day to organise taking out the rubbish and maybe slipping in a quick supermarket run (and this only happens about every ten days or so). And when I am expecting a delivery, that also seems to take up half my day. Can I do a rooftop walk? What if I miss them? Should I time that with hanging up my laundry? I am suddenly overwhelmed.

For example today. I can’t believe it’s already 16.00. ALL I did today was get up, have coffee and breakfast, then did some cleaning up, changed the cat sand. After that my rooftop walk (approx 1 hour). Then I hung up some laundry (big evening activity coming up – changing the bed sheets!)

Meanwhile I will eat my late lunch soon (my one meal of the day), while watching something on Netflix, then possibly have a short accidental siesta in my chair. In between now and bedtime there will be some Instagramming and chatting with friends on Whatsapp, maybe a snack. Then suddenly it will be 23.00 and I’ll wonder where the hell the day went.

Have to say that all during this lockdown time I’ve been frustrated, sad, scared, worried, and have also had times of enjoyment and optimism, meanwhile not sleeping much…  but I haven’t once felt bored. How about you?

caturday may 16 2020

16 Saturday May 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, caturday, home

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This is my dude. I wake up to this big guy stretched out next to me with his head on my pillow, like he owns the bed. The other two come and visit me while I’m in bed, but Loki is the only one who spends the entire night. It’s his time to get in ALL the cuddles.

When I had the first trio of cats they all slept with me, in my single bed, which I have to admit was a bit challenging. I’d often wake up in some sort of pretzel position with cats filling in the gaps. Then I moved and got a bigger bed, and so that was a bit more comfortable.

But there was a definite heirarchy. Lua got to sleep on my head, her son Sunny slept at my feet, and Azar would curl up along my side. When Lua died Azar wasted no time taking over the coveted pillow position, and Sunny moved up to the middle of the bed. But after Sunny left us and I found Loki as a companion for Azar… well, Azar was having none of that. I was his human, that was HIS pillow, and his bed.

So Loki never had a chance to sleep in my bed. Until Azar passed away. By that time Luna had also joined the family, but of course Azar totally ruled the bed by then, so the other two had to find somewhere else to sleep. But as soon as Loki realised Azar was gone, this was his chance. He started visiting during the night, the visits started lasting longer… finally he was IN.

Luna has always been a bit of a weirdo loner, but she does like bed visits. On her terms, when she wants them. But she has never spent the whole night with me. And Morcilla? It kills me but that this little girl, my heart of hearts, refuses to sleep in my bed. I blame Loki. I reckon if it was just me and Morcilla she’d be cuddling up with me every night. Especially as she spends every night curled up on either my comfy chair or my office chair, you know, the ones that are mine and smell like me. And she’s very possessive about me during the day. I think she is biding her time. She doesn’t like to share.

So yes, there is a whole other Sharing The Human routine for daytime, but we can talk about that another time.