Sunny Wednesday...

Ah, there is justice on Earth. Sometimes :)
After days, weeks, what - over two months? of rain (really, I think we haven't had more than 10 days in total of real hot summer days - and I can't even remember now when it started raining.... what a summer!!), Wednesday was gorgeous. I checked and checked the weather forecast and it still showed full sun for today, so we drove 1 h west of Oslo for a full day out... wonderful! I'll post pictures tomorrow. Our feet are tired, but the trip was fantastic :)

Today, I'll just post pictures of the HOE Christmas in July exchange I sent out... haven't heard from my partner, but I checked with Jill so I know it was received last week, so I can post it. I wanted to stitch this chart since long, so when the occasion presented itself...

The Starry Wreath
designer: Bent Creek
from JCS 1999 Christmas ornaments magazine
- my choice of overdyes and Mill Hill gold beads

And this little bird flew to one of my best friends for her birthday tomorrow... Hopefully it will arrive in time.

See, I had to give him a little silk ribbon scarf for the trip, winds can be cold and tricky...The last time I saw it, it was ready to spread wings and fly to its new owner...


Meanwhile, in the cat world...




Here's them with Toska at the top level of her tolerance, but she has to be sleepy to let them be that close to her. Always a paw ready to slap the curious intruders... No maternal instincts :) Well, at least she doesn't chase them. They're really the first cats she lets live, my aunt can witness to that :)

That said, I'm really happy that they have the unrenovated part of the house to play in, they really have curious ideas!! Also, they are quite active at night, they start exactly when we go to bed, so we have to close the door so we can sleep. They were scratching the door at 5-6 am each day to enter and play again (playing means lots of running and making all sorts of things fall to the floor) and always woke up poor H. who couldn't fall asleep again, so a solution had to be found, a spray to keep cats off strategic points. After they bit off cables and unmounted the Internet socket by hanging on its cable, these and more spots had to be sprayed as well. Seems to work fine so far! Now we only hear thumping sounds like if it were a group of elephants running and not two kittens, but that doesn't disturb us from sleeping sound.
We were to a new vet yesterday, one that charges 50% for the 2nd cat, for any treatment - and that is a big economy. They got their second general vaccine, now it will be rabies in two weeks. They also got their claws shortened. Huggy (always ready for new adventures!) didn't seem to mind, but Felinek cried and cried like a small baby and it made our hearts melt.... He's a real softie, always a step behind gray brother, always careful...
This vet has her office in her own house and her prices are really competitive. AND the good news is - she seems to be really smart. When we mentioned Poland, she immediately told us that the long veterinary procedure is not needed [Poland has rabies, Norway hasn't] so 21 days after the rabies, they can go! Now, we haven't made our plans yet... and it also means that the decision about keeping Felinek or keeping both has to be made much earlier than December... will keep you updated. I still need to check with the Polish vet. authorities but after reading EU legislation docs for many hours, it seems she is right! If so, this means we only need to fork out 1/3 of the costs we feared and we would have been enraged to find out *afterwards* that all this wasn't needed! One more point in favor of the new vet.
We were thinking of driving the whole zoo by car to Poland, a first for us, we always take the plane, but it seems that this would require the long vet. procedure and much more hassle.... Indeed, while Poland is classified in Part B Section 1, Norway in Part B Section 2, Sweden in Part A of Attachement 2 of Resolution 98/2003......yada yada yada, and Danmark and Germany same as Poland, with different requirements and rules, we'll give up and most probably H. and I will fly on different days to transport our menagerie to my homecountry for the coming winter. Norwegian (the airlines) can only carry 2 pets on board of their aircrafts.
Needless to say, it was and is a big relief to find a home for one or both of them with my aunt..... she has a heart of gold.
Now, how did we end with 4 pets, 4 tails and 16 little feet you say? :)