Pedicure Time.

It was a bright and sunny start to the day with a chilly bite in the air. My job for today was to paint the ceiling of the spare bedroom. Painting white on white it's hard to see which bits have been done. Looking at it now I can see a colour difference where I filled the crack so that'll need an extra coat tomorrow.

Painting done I sat down for a break at my pc only to notice that Squeaky's claw had grown around and into the pad. Normally I clip her nails when I notice them getting long, ie her claws get stuck in my clothing so that made me feel really guilty. She doesn't like having it done so I hadn't checked them for a while. I tried soaking her paw in warm salt water to see if I could ease the nail out of her pad but it was obviously painful. I'm wary of clipping too much and I couldn't see if I could avoid the nail bed. Nothing for it but to ring the vet for an appointment. The usual branch at Pilton was already closed for the day so I was put through to the one at Mullacot Cross which I thought would be easier to get to than cutting through town to Roundswell. An appointment was made for the afternoon and eventually Squeaky and I set out. I was expecting that she would need some pain relief and possibly antibiotics so expected a bill of around £40. Then I started to think that the vet would take one look at my decrepit old cat and say that she was suffering and perhaps it was time to decide to have her put to sleep. So it was with trepidation that I took Squeaky into the surgery. One look at the claw and vet got her nail clippers, cut the offending claw and eased it out of the pad. She then offered to cut the rest of the claws, much shorter than I normally would. I mentioned the teeth but also that I didn't think Squeaky would survive a general anaesthetic and the vet agreed. She said that her coat was good and weighed Squeaky for the record. At 3.08 kilos there's not much of her but she's doing okay. And when I went to pay the bill was only £12.75! No extra consultation fee, was that a mistake? but I'm not going to argue. All Squeaky needs now is to have the cut bathed with salt water several times a day until it heals.

Right now Peter has gone into town to pick up a Chinese take-away meal to celebrate that the paperwork has finally come through for his promotion up the skill levels at work. He did the required work back in September but shall we just say ..... circumstances put every hindrance in the way until Peter went and spoke to the most senior member of management in the factory. He's also had back pay from September which makes up for some of the hassle.

Driving back from the vets' there were pretty colours in the sky but my battery ran out after I took this photo of The Ariel where Romas used to record music.