Day 62 - March 20, 2006

To be totally honest, I am really lacking motivation for diary entries today, probably because I'm feeling quite tired, no doubt still recovering from the weekend. It's also going to be a hectic week as we are in and out quite a bit to say nothing of having work done on one of our stud houses as well so goodness knows what this week's entries will end up like! At the time of writing this entry I still haven't even taken any photos for it so chances are that there won't be too many photos. Everyone is doing quite well although Guinness weight has started to fluctuate again which means she is back to not gaining anywhere near as much as she should be. I'm beginning to wonder if she is simply being particularly fussy with the food because for the last 24 hours she has totally turned up her nose at any of the mince dishes provided, however she is eating the cooked chicken and the scrambled eggs. Yet when she has refused to eat the mince, I've opened a tin of Hills A/D for her which she gobbles up. I'm off to get more tins of Hi Life today as well because she definitely loves that so at this stage I'm happy to buy her whatever it is that takes her fancy just so long as she keeps eating. She and XXXX gave me a bit of a scare today because I was rounding up all the babies for their daily weighing session and I couldn't find either of them. The other 3 babies were playing games under Graham's desk. I eventually found them 10 minutes later, snuggled in underneath the throw on the office chair. They normally sleep on top of it but today they chose to bury themselves under it. Nothing at all has changed with Caffreys. He tears around like a lunatic and he is definitely going to be a big strong boy when he grows up.

Day 61 - March 19, 2006

As mentioned in the Bush Rangers diary, this isn't a long entry at all as I have so very much to do. There are however, quite a few photos so they will hopefully make up for the lack of text. To give you an idea, by 9am, the boys were opened up and sorted out, the mince had been cooked for the baby's meals, the chicken was in the stock pot (also for the babies), show photos had been downloaded, kitten diaries has been started, the first load of washing had been started (human washing) and I still haven't even unpacked the show suitcase yet, although I have hung up Cacao's rosettes with pride. It is nice to be back home with the Pints today and I did miss them yesterday while I was away from them all day. As I turn and look at them lying on the other office chair, Caffreys and XXXX are trying to sleep, while their sister Guinness, who is an absolutely minx, is chewing on whichever of their limbs happen to be closest to her, all in the hopes that one of them will wake up and play with her. What she wasn't counting on was Ned Kelly who then decided to wake up and wrestle with her . The more I look at Caffreys and XXXX, the more I am falling in love with them. They are such special babies because they are my first Chocolate Points and their colouring is simply superb. I always get such a shock when I look at them because I am so used to Seals and Blues which are lovely colours of course, but the Chocolates are just so incredibly pretty.

Day 60 - March 18, 2006

There isn't really a diary entry, nor any photos for today because yesterday I left the home at 7:41am and did not return unil approximately 6:20pm. I was at the Surrey and Sussex Cat Show in Woking all day. This meant that I fed the babies before I left, Graham then fed them later on before he left to go to football, then they had food left out for them until we all got back when they were then fed again. The babies, so it would appear, were extremely good during our absence as the back room was still in one piece upon our return. They were rather pleased to be let out though when we arrived home so they could all create havoc in the rest of the home. I had a wonderful day at the show and will be updating the web site with the results a bit later on today, however, to give you a sneak preview, Cacao who is the Bush Rangers grandmother, gained her 1st PC, her daughter Kyla, won Best of Breed, and Kidd, her grandson won his Open kitten class and also won Best of Breed. I am thoroughly over the moon with these results.

Day 59 - March 17, 2006

Before I say anything else, I must let you know that tomorrow's entry will not go online until Sunday as I am going to be frantically busy tomorrow so don't panic when you don't see an entry online.

Last night, I was putting the babies to bed for the evening with their mothers. This was not particularly easy because they were all tearing around through the lounge/dining area and underneath the dining table. I put the mum's in the back room and closed the doors, then started putting the babies in the back room. I'd put Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne in there and as I was carrying XXXX in there I could hear a baby crying, so XXXX was hastily put in the back room, the door was closed and I flew back out to the dining room to see what on earth was wrong. I was confronted with Guinness and Caffreys, both of whom were up on the dining table crying because they couldn't get down. I will add here that we always keep the chairs turned upside down on the dining table because if we don't, our adult cats pull the tablecloth off the table and put it on the floor every single day. So we decided to combat this by keeping the chairs on it so they couldn't pull it off. I was rather startled to see Guinness and Caffreys on there and all I can assume is that they jumped from the floor up to the tablecloth that hangs over the end of the table and they then climbed up the tablecloth. That was all well and good obviously until they then tried to get down and couldn't jump as it's quite high up. I scooped them both up and put them in the back room with everyone else and I then went back to the dining room and removed 2 of the chairs and put them under the table as per normal however I have pulled them out quite a bit so that if it happens again, the babies will be able to get down. The one thing about having kittens in the home, and even adults cats really for that matter, is that your are forever having to do things that you would normally not do just to ensure safety for the babies and to make your own life just that little bit easier. Both Caffreys and XXXX have now fully realised that if they climb up the work surface during the day now, they can sit on my lap and chair for cuddles and for a sleep which is really lovely. The only problem is however, that the babies, and their mum's have fully taken over the whole house, and they are firmly of the opinion that my office chairs are there solely for their purpose. For example, after I fed the babies their breakfast this morning, I went and did the usual things like open up the boys, bleach all the litter trays, put the washing on, put the chicken in to cook for the kittens, and then I came back to do some work at the computer and found I had nowhere to sit!! I had to sit on the spare office chair because curled up on my chair was Amaretto, Guinness, Caffreys and XXXX and they were all fast asleep and I didn't have the heart to disturb them or move them as they looked so incredibly peaceful so I just swapped the chairs around.

Day 58 - March 16, 2006

They are not long entries today, nor are there many photos as I have a lot to do today including a long dental appointment. You will also notice that one of the photos is of a computer screen and the reason for this, as odd as it seems, is that when Graham and I came downstairs this morning, we discovered that the babies must have had fun and games on my work surface last night because on the 2nd computer that sits on my desk they have managed to open a notepad and then type on it. This has happened for 2 days in a row now so I guess I really need to put the keyboards up out of the way overnight just to keep the computers safe.

Our PInts seem to be growing faster and more mischievous each day now. They all have excellent appetites, even Guinness, and I am pleased with their current weights. At the moment, their favourite meal is still the scrambled eggs, however they still all love the home cooked, mince type meals. But also, I have seen them eating the JW kitten biscuits more and more as well which I am pleased about. Caffreys and XXXX have now discovered the stairs in the home thanks to Joe Byrne's help so I guess from now onwards, we will be finding babies all over the home, both upstairs and down <sigh>. Guinness gained 30 grams today which I'm pleased about. She really is doing incredibly well and already she is filling out and looking really good.

Day 57 - March 15, 2006

Just a quick note to all diary readers to say please don't worry if entries are a bit late over the next 2 weeks because the Commonwealth Games have begun and today was the Opening Ceremony, held in my beautiful home country of Australia. I keep getting up from the desk to see what is happening at the games so I am away from the desk off and on.

Yet again another entry starts off about Guinness who nearly gave me a coronary this morning! I got up, did the usual cat/kitten things, sat down to answer a few emails and the babies were asleep behind me on their bed. I had turned around to glance at them and it occurred to me that Guinness was not with them, nor for that matter, was XXXX. I had an instant panic attack and I made Graham help me search the entire home, pulling out everything from underneath his work area in the hopes she would be hiding there. We searched upstairs and downstairs, even in the kitchen. Fifteen minutes later, still no Guinness and to be totally honest with you, I was thinking the worst. I came into the back room to search again for her, went to pull out the other office chair so I could see if she was behind the filing cabinet and as I pulled out the chair, lo and behold, sleeping on the chair was Guinness and XXXX. Now up to this point, I had never seen Guinness on the chair, I don't even know how she managed to get on it, but there was fast asleep and incredibly comfortable. I tell you that I just do not need the stress and worry that the babies gives me! Fortunately though, all babies are accounted for now, they have all just had their second meal of the day which was lamb mince and as I type this entry they are running around like lunatics yet again. XXXX has turned into a real little cuddle bunny during the last few days and she has exhibited this by spending some time each day on my lap as I sit at the computer. She just sits there, looking up at me and purrs away which is so wonderful. Of course this also means that it takes me twice as long to get anything done because I keep stopping to stroke her under the ears and have conversations with me. She is the first of our babies to sit on my lap and oddly enough, both the Pints and the Bush Rangers are actually the first litter we have had that have not become leg climbers for which I am extremely grateful.

Day 56 - March 14, 2006

Guinness has obviously come to the conclusion that I am not feeding her enough as I brought a new bag of JW kitten biscuits out of the garage to fill up the tub and I had sat it on the floor because my attention was caught elsewhere. I heard some rattling and turned around to find her chewing on the JW bag. How she knows her food is in there I do not know, but she knew that it was and she was determined she would open it of her own. At some point, she also called her brother and sister to help and next thing I knew, they had managed to push over the 5 kilo bag and Guinness nibbled at the top of the bag while Caffreys and XXXX took turns at jumping on top of it. When all 3 Pints get together, they really are trouble so it's just as well they will be separated when they go to their new homes or else their new families would have their hands full. Guinness, at long last, is over the 500 gram mark which is very small for a baby who has just turned 8 weeks of age, however she has been making good gains and eating well for the last few days so with a bit of luck and lots of prayer, she will continue along these lines and keep gaining every day. Caffreys and XXXX still have an extremely keen interest in my own work surface so I am trying to make sure that the desk is as clear as possible overnight.