Cat seeks New Humans

Our cat, the lovely Miss Emmy, unintentionally found herself the centre of drama last night.

She had appeared at the back door limping, with her front right leg held in the air and her paw at a strange angle. That was enough to send the household into a bit of a panic. Nobody knew what she'd done, but it didn't look good.

I was just finishing work when the Caveman rang to tell me, so I drove home and we organised a quick trip to the Veterinary Clinic (on a Sunday night. Thank goodness for our Vet's after hours service!). The poor cat yowled all the way in the car - she doesn't enjoy car travel at all.

The nice young vet, Anne, got Emmy out of the carrier cage and put her on the floor to see how she walked, but it was difficult to tell at that angle exactly what was wrong. So, she picked her up again and tried to set her down on the examination table. It was at this point that I noticed something strange. One of Emmy's claws was hooked up on her collar.  I didn't think anything of it, just leaned over to release it and said, 'Oh, poor thing, her claw's hooked."

It was as I unhooked it for her, and she sat it down perfectly neatly on the table, that it suddenly hit me ... that had been the problem the whole time.

Well, how embarrassing. We looked at each other rather sheepishly and then all burst out laughing - even Anne! It was such a relief to know that Emmy was okay, but we couldn't believe that was all the problem was. Luckily, Anne was fantastic about it. I think we lightened up her night somewhat (after all, a vet who has been called in to work Sunday evening is obviously not usually dealing with such a lighthearted situation). She checked Emmy over thoroughly for us afterwards, just to make sure she was okay after having her claw stuck in the collar for so long, then thanked us for the funny story and sent us on our way. No charge.

Our poor cat was grumpy with us for a while afterwards though ... and who can blame her? Fancy owning such dumb humans that they don't even realise when your claw is caught in your collar, then they take you for a car ride (which they know you hate), only to let a stranger look in your mouth, listen to your heart and stick a thermometer .... well, you know where.

I'm sure Emmy was glad to have her paw set free, but she did give us the 'silent treatment' for the rest of the night!

Taking The Plunge

We went to Aussie World the other day - a theme park on the Sunshine Coast - where I discovered I'm not as young as I used to be. I mean, it sounds obvious right? Of course we're all getting older. But some things (like roller coasters!) do rather bring the point home.

To be honest, we almost didn't go at all. The weather that morning looked like it was going to be awful. It was overcast and miserable, with regular heavy showers at our place. We talked with the kids about the possibility of leaving our excursion for another time, but they weren't keen, so we decided to take our chances and go anyway.

Then we were hit with heavy rain on the drive there. REALLY heavy. Like, 'can hardly see the car in front' heavy. There was much discussion in our car about whether it was worth continuing. In the end, we agreed to make the final decision once we were there and standing in the car park.

As it turned out, the car park was lovely. The skies were grey and threatening above, but there wasn't any actual rain falling. We spoke to a staff member, who assured us that rain wouldn't shut the whole place down - one attraction was closed due to the wet weather, but most of the others would stay open regardless. On this information. we decided it was worth spending our money and heading in...

Where we proceeded to have a great time! I haven't been to a theme park for decades and I love the whole fairground atmosphere. Sideshow alley, Dodgem Cars, a Ferris wheel, roller coasters, mini golf ... there really did seem to be something for everyone, The Cavegirl had been there before with friends, which was a bonus for her - she knew exactly what she wanted to do and loved showing the rest of us around. A lot of our enjoyment also came from watching the Littlest Caveman enjoy his first experience of a theme park. It turns out he's a bit like his Dad, not too keen on anything that makes his stomach 'feel funny'. The two of them particularly enjoyed the mini golf and Dodgem Cars.

Meanwhile I, remembering how much I loved roller coasters as a teenager (and completely ignoring all the times I threw up afterwards), laughed heartily at my husband for being a 'wuss' and agreed to go on more adventurous rides. Bad idea. This is what made me realise I'm getting older. It turns out any rides that make my stomach drop really don't agree with me anymore either. There was one I went on, with my girl, which left me feeling very green afterwards.

Probably the only adventurous ride I did enjoy was 'The Plunge'. It was still scary though, when it came to the big drop. See that picture above? That's the Caveman and me braving the ride together, although you can't see us for the splash. Luckily, you can't hear us either. I'd like to say I screamed all the way down, but what I actually did was let out one big swear word all the way down. The Cavegirl assures me the word is quite audible on the recording she took too, although I haven't watched it myself yet.

Despite this, I would go on The Plunge again. I could enjoy the big drop now that I've done it and know what to expect. I also enjoyed the Dodgem Cars and the mini golf (and I stopped laughing at my husband for avoiding the roller coasters).

And you know what? It didn't rain once!