Monday, December 20, 2010

Not Angels, Angles

We had a rather disappointing dive yesterday, off a very small boat in very rough sea and murky water no size crays - we desperately need some for Christmas.
On our way back we saw not 1 but 3 blonde echidnas

It was the Pageant in the evening.

With B doing a beautiful poem reading, and James being Joseph and me being the Archangel Gabriel, and being kept from trumpets.

Today we gave cats and dogs worm pills. B has a hole right through her thumb-nail and I have a similarly injured index finger. And no, it wasn't the dogs - it was Robin (the littlest cat.) James eventually crushed it (not the cat, the pill, Peter) into powder, mixed it with condensed milk and put it on her nose. (well he got her to lick some).

16 comments:

  1. We've had some success with putting the tablets inside sardines, or in a dob of vegemite or peanut butter, or cheese, for both cats and dogs.

    We never use the same trick twice in a row ;)

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  2. Even if you use butter sauce, I do not recommend echidna as a substitute for crayfish. Even if you do the baked hedgehog in clay trick, you still have to deal with all that formic acid.

    Actually I can see you as the Archangel Gabriel. Particularly in the French film My Life Is Hell (or Ma vie est un enfer to give it its proper title). [I believe he was played by Michael Lonsdale.]

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  3. There were three blond echidnas walking down the street and the first blond says.....

    Dave makes a very Old Testament looking Gabriel.

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  4. How to give a pill to a cat: Get a large towel, wrap the cat so that its front legs are fastened down by the towel. Have one person open the mouth, and the other get the pill (which has been coated in something slippery like a little butter or olive oil) and place it near the back of the throat. Close the cat's mouth, stroke it's throat until it swallows and 'voila'. Never fails. And it stopped me ending up like you and B with holes in bits I didn't want holes in.

    Of course, things have changed now and the vet gave us a great little device that actually shoots the pill down the cat's throat. Still need the towel though because she recognises the shooty thing and freaks as soon as she sees it :)

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  5. Oh, and PS: Barbs looks much better in a dress than you! (but you both looked great :))

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  6. We had the cat in a towel. We had one person holding her front, one holding her back, and one opening the mouth and putting in the pill. We still got bitten. Having said that, we did the other 2 cats first with barely a scratch!

    I did not realise he had a photo of me reading! Still I suppose it was the one evening the whole family were wearing skirts.

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  7. Have you checked Robin for rabies ;-)

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  8. Doesn't "Angles we have heard on high" mean that you've got a Saxon war party charging down the hill towards your gatehouse?

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  9. heh, Blonde echidna are nearly spiny enough to be crayfish...

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  10. Quilly, funny, the new parish priest (there hasn't been one here for some years) said he hadn't seen a bearded Gabriel - which considering the Greek influence on the early church (the Eastern Roman Empire was run by eunuchs, ruled by a nobility whose titles included the term 'bearded one') gives me a 'unique' idea of the status of Angels in art. Might put certain people off heaven.

    Blonde Echidnas look ambulatory gelled mullets (the hairstyle, not the fish) :-)

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  11. Cheryl, the Australian authorities want me to have a licence for a shooty thing ;-)... (yes, must get one, before next time. And hopefully no-one will shoot my kitties.

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  12. And I really don't have the legs for a dress :-)

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  13. Peter, yes, she had a 7 month long check for it...

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  14. Basara549 - could also mean they've gone beserker after eating fly agaric

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  15. Are your cats smart enough to find the pill hiding in a dish of food, or cheese envelope? Most of my moms cats could be suckered with one of those tricks.

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  16. Yes, they are soo good at chewing their food really small, just to check there is nothing hiding in it!

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