There is no entry for today as I was showing Nocello at the Bedford & District Cat Club show.

After I took photos of Liquorice this morning, the darn camera batteries died so they are currently on charge which means I've not been able to take photos of our Racers today. It's also not a particularly long entry as this is the start of a very manic weekend and Shergar and Sea Biscuit are both leaving on Sunday so I have spent a lot of today sorting out paperwork and kitten packs as I won't have time to do this tomorrow. Kingston Town gave me a huge scare last night which resulted in me removing the small scratch post from the upstairs hallway altogether. It was that time of night when all the litter trays had been done again, food and water bowls were done, and I was heading upstairs to bed with a glass of wine. I went into the bathroom to sort out the next day's washing and while this was going on, the Racers were tearing around upstairs having one of their mad moments. I don't even know what happened but I heard a baby screaming and I turned around and here was KT, half in the water dispenser, unable to move as the cord with the dangling toys on it that is attached to the small scratch post had somehow got wrapped around her leg. I panicked straight away because KT was wriggling, in agony, trying to get free and the more she wriggled, the tighter the cord became, and the more it was cutting off the circulation to her leg. It took me a good 3 minutes to actually get it off her, the whole time, she was screaming, and trying to bite me, Lucy was also trying to bite me because they were not aware that I was trying to free KT. By the time I managed to get her leg out, she was soaked, I was in tears, and it was just horrific. When I think what could have happened i.e. I might have been out, or asleep, I was just horrified. I grabbed a towel from the linen cupboard and dried her thoroughly, I then placed her in the bottom bunk bed to calm her down and examine her. Within 10 minutes of the accident occurring, she was fine and happily running around and playing. The scratch post was taken straight downstairs and put in the kitchen and I will never, ever, use one like that again. It is only a small one that we bought from Argos quite a long time ago and it has a platform at the top for the kittens to sit on, and has 3 things coming out from the pole, all with cords and toys attached. Having gone through what I went though last night with KT, I will never use one like this again. I then spent the next few hours checking on KT's leg every hour but she was fine, much more so than me I think as my nerves were totally shot to pieces at the thought of what might have happened. I have put a photo of the scratch post below to show you exactly which one it is!!!

Such a very sad day as my darling Dessie has left me now. Giving up these babies is always so incredibly difficult, and no matter how many of my children leave home, each time another one goes, it is just as sad as when the first ones went. My one consolation is that Dessie's new mum, Sarah, well, if I were a kitten leaving home, I couldn't choose a more perfect mummy than Sarah. It was really lovely to see Sarah and Tony today and I hope they have a safe journey back home. Dessie is going to be spoilt without a doubt and I'm already looking forward to the updates that I know Sarah will give me as to Dessie's progress. Sarah has chosen a lovely pet name for Dessie which is: Sukhothai............I think this is such a pretty name and suits her so very much. She looked so tiny in her carrier as she was leaving, but I think she will enjoy snuggling up to the teddy bear that Sarah had put in there and hopefully when she arrives home, it won't take her too long at all to settle in with her new family. Dessie is such a sweet child, the sort of girl that the whole world just falls in love with which is just how it should be :) I know that she will lack for nothing in her new home, and I will spend the next few days hoping and praying that the bonding process is working out exactly as it should. Sarah, thank you so very much for giving our darling girl such a fantastic home. I know you will treasure her and I know that we couldn't have asked for a better new home than the one she has gone to. The only photos in today's diary are of Desert Orchid as this is always the case on each of our babies' "special day" when they leave home. Of course I didn't count on Sea Biscuit who wanted her photo taken too so she climbed into bed with her sister. Or perhaps, she knew she wouldn't be seeing her again so she was saying her own special little goodbyes.

Today is panic stations! Dessie is leaving me tomorrow which means mountains of paperwork, and unless you have ever tried to compile a leaving kittens' paperwork while a litter is playing chase on your desk, on your lap, across your keyboard, and wrestling on your lap, then you have no idea just how difficult it can be! Remember in yesterday's entry where I said that the babies had finally fallen asleep and I had peace and quiet? Well do you know the furry little monsters woke up a mere 2 hours later! Just 2 hours sleep and that was it! So I thought okay, I'm gonna be sneaky here, I'm gonna take a plate of food upstairs, and send the babies up there to eat, which I did. The Racers were thrilled to bits at an extra meal, alas, within 15 minutes, they were back at the bottom of the stairs, bashing on the little kitten door waiting to come out and I tell you, I just sighed, muttered swear words to myself, groaned, and let them back out. They then promptly proceeded to create havoc like you've never seen before all the rest of that afternoon. At around 1550 I had definitely had enough, I went to Tesco, went to the vets to pay yesterday's vet bill, and enjoyed an hour of peace and quiet, in the supermarket and on my own in the car. How can such sweet looking babies have such a huge capacity for destruction? I honestly, truly, do love them, but flippin' heck, they are at that age where they are doing my head in! Still, very, very soon, they will be doing the same to their kitten families and when their new families contact me to tell me just how naughty their Schimmel babies are being, I will respond with the same thing I always have which is "well when they were here, they were little angels, so this is YOUR bad influence on them" :) Here at Schimmel, I do not claim ever, to breed "good" children, so if someone wants a well behaved, placid kitten, then for goodness sake, don't have a Schimmel, it is that simple. As you have probably noticed, I am now simply just rambling on, and the reason for that is that our Racers are soon leaving us which is very difficult for me, yet I've not really told you anything about the Racers themselves, so let me share just one thing with you that each of them has done today.........................Phar Lap, he has been in a feisty mood all day! I have had to rescue 3 of his littermates from him as he has wrestled with them, and being a boy, playing too rough, and making them squeal!, Dessie, well she has been out in the cat run, but whenever she comes in, she pauses to look first to see where the rest of the cat family is, she licks the window frame at the bottom, and then comes in (Go Figure!). Then Red Rum, well she is my little mate in the respect than when everyone else is asleep, she is on my lap hassling me until I stop what I'm doing to cuddle her. Sea Biscuit, well I'm sorry, but all that girl does is eat!! Every time I see her today, she has had her head stuck in a biscuit bowl, she's gonna cost Ian & Mary a fortune in biscuits :) Kingston Town, well, for her, all that matters is toy mice, and today I've lost count of the amount of toy mice she has carted off, and do you think I know where she puts them????????????? Shergar, well he's "da man", no other word to describe him. Even now, he is a mummy's boy, and would much rather be adored and stroked and chatted to, than anything else in the world. Graham adores him and calls Shergar his mate because Shergar always wants strokes from his dad. I don't have the heart to tell Graham that he could be King Kong and Shergar would still go up to him for cuddles and attention.

I think it's fairly safe to say that the vaccinations have had no effect on our Racers at all...................they have been little buggers all morning! You honestly would not believe the noise, mess, and havoc, that 6 tiny beings can create. I finished doing all the floors and litters trays in the house, 10 minutes later, I looked at the state of the floors and could have cried. Litter from one end of the room to the other, toys all over the place, you wouldn't have thought they were spotless just a few minutes ago. To top it off, Tia Lusso is calling, Amarula is calling, Ashanti is trying to bonk every girl in the house, including the baby Racers, so it's all go here this morning <sigh>. Arrangements have now been made by our kitten families for all of the Racers so we know when they will be leaving us. I just hope that their new families know what they are letting themselves in for! Well 3 of them will as they already have Schimmel babies in their home, but I reckon it will be an interesting experience for the other 3 new families :) As I type this entry, Kingston Town is curled up on my lap, Red Rum is sitting on the chair next to me, the other 4 Racers are all sound asleep in the cat bed on my desk, and at least, I have peace and quiet which means I'd best get up, put another load of washing in, make a coffee, and attempt to take a few photos for today's entry.

This is the first day that the Racers have actually spent the entire day downstairs. They didn't go upstairs once, instead, they chose to make themselves at home in the cat bed that resides at the end of my work surface. Also, despite the chilly and wet weather, they have been venturing out into the cat run as well. Of course the only problem with them being downstairs constantly is that it makes cleaning rather difficult and twice as long because the Racers do like to "help", and they also have increased the "mess" factor as you can imagine :) The Racers had their 2nd set of vaccinations today and all passed their health check with flying colours. Sadly, for me, this means that now I really do have to let them go, starting with my little poppet, Dessie, who will be leaving me on Thursday. I'm sure our new kitten families will be relieved to hear that the registration papers have come back now (after a few hitches!), and our Racers all now have their official names :)

Again, very small entry and no photos! The biggest event for the Racers today was being evicted from their kitten room which is something they coped with extremely well. As to the reason why they have been evicted, please click here for further details ;) Hopefully tomorrow, in between vet visits, cleaning out the now extinct stud house, (extinct because we no longer have any outside boys living in it, so it's being converted back to a shed), I will possibly manage a few photos at least!