Although Alfie's abscess has been draining, he is clearly sore from it and it wasn't draining as well as I liked, so down the vet's we went. He had to be dragged out of the cat carrier, even when it was up on end!, but was good once out and has had painkillers and antibiotics. I have ongoing painkillers to give him. I needed to get wormers and flea treatments for them all, as they got missed with Keith's demise. As they hadn't seen L. Whale, they couldn't give him a combo as presumably, they didn't know his weight, even though I said that Alfie had just been weighed and he was heavier than him. But he had to have a separate wormer and flea treatment and the flea treatment only came in packs of 3 (really?!). So of course, I had to go down that route as it must be cheaper than taking him in, having him checked/weighed in order to get the Combo. The bill, oh yes, the bill - I nearly swooned. £144 please! For Alf's check over and meds and the wormers/flea stuff. Yeesh. It is just as well I am a resourceful cook as I shall have to make sixpence do the work of a shilling THIS month. I shall be emptying the freezer and at least then I can refill the top half of the fridge-freezer with the contents of the table-top one and Tam can have that back to sell for me - as it will sell better in Aberystwyth than our backwater here. That will be less electricity being used in future anyway. I dare say the fridge freezer (which is in its teens now) will promptly then give up the ghost!
Anyway, I have got a local company coming out to see about unblocking the drains tomorrow, and have emailed the Handyman for a Quote on replacing two roof tiles (bearing in mind he wants danger money to use a ladder . . .) and a copy of Keith's Will is ready for collection when I go to see the Bank in Brecon later in the week. I have paid yesterday's cheque into my savings account, so that's a positive.
Christmas will be very frugal, but I can still make nice edibles and Danny's present to everyone is a very good bottle of wine to go with the meal.
Rosie is now sitting up and Tam sent a lovely photo of her sitting up and playing with an interactive toy. I have bought her the book Tam asked for as a gift for her (for the future), which is a book in Welsh about Celtic legends, and championing the strength and bravery of the female characters (Dros y Mor a'r Mynyddoedd: Straeon Merched Dewwr y Celtiaid.) Rosie will of course be bilingual from the start as Tam uses her Welsh language skills at work all the time.
Right, 2nd half of last night's prawn stir fry now, and then I will set to and bake a Chocolate Apple Cake to be able to offer to new neighbour's friend who is coming round for a cuppa tomorrow and a chat tomorrow. I feel sorry for him as he has been roughing it out in the cottage, which has no heating and is a cold, damp and miserable building site really. He's off back home for the winter, and who can blame him?
