Panic stricken when Lulu goes missing

 

Butter wouldn't melt would it?  This was madam this morning, happy to be an Indoor Kitten and Play with her Sister.  I was in a bit of a state - stress was rearing its ugly head and my BP was a damn sight higher than it is meant to be.  I spent the morning doing the jobs which had to be done (including stripping and making Keith's bed - with a little help from the kittens of course!

This could be her giving me a kitten V-sign!

As you can see, they were being Very Helpful and having a real battle.

It had been going on through several bed-making stages . . .

    Anyway, I took myself off for a couple of hours, to have a good brisk walk (on the flat) beside the reservoir in the Elan Valley, then went back to the car and got my box and went blackberrying.  Just enough to stew up with apples this week and probably make Chocolate Blackberry Brownies too. I still have some in the freezer from last year, which will make jam now.

    When I got back, I let the kittens out - they had been in snoozing whilst I was out.  I was busy peeling potatoes, sorting out the evening meal etc, and then realized I hadn't seen Lulu for well over an hour - though Pippi was about. I called and rattled tins and a box with some cat biscuits in.  Everyone came running - but not Lulu. She never goes far - rarely out of sight even. I then spent half an hour in a blind panic, searching in the grounds of the big house (twice), the lane down past us to the farm, the house (every nook and cranny, getting more and more worried every minute.  Finally, having decided I would never see her again because a fox had got her or she had gone down a rabbit hole and couldn't turn round, I came back in the house and there was Lulu - who promptly had a poo in the litter box, blue eyes almost crossed with concentration.  She looked up at me sweetly - did you miss me?

    Now Pippi is out in the long grass somewhere or in the Rhododendron thicket, where I cannot ever find them if they disappear along their little cat trail.  She does come back though.  If Lulu hadn't been back when I went to bed, the front door would have had to have been left open as she hasn't discovered how to use the cat flap yet and when I tried showing her she panicked!  Mind you, I wouldn't have gotten a wink of sleep anyway . . .

    Keith has making very slow improvements.  He is now walking round with his stick - and when he gets tired, his walking frame on the other side of him.  That is MUCH better than having to use the wheelchair.  I am praying that the higher dose of Thyroxine may just be starting to make a slight difference. His blood pressure is still very low though, despite medication to raise it.

UPDATE:  I spoke too soon. Keith went up for a shower, but when I went to check on him, he could barely stand upright.  He wanted his BP taken whilst still standing - it was 81/61 with a pulse of 69.  Hopelessly low. We managed to get him to bed and he had a snack type tea (not the lamb leg steaks I had put in the slow cooker all afternoon).  Let's hope he's better tomorrow . . .

 A final photo of the miscreant . . .  Better not take my blood pressure for a while . . .