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MEWSLETTER 80 DECEMBER 2010 Hi there and we, here, at the Daily Mews Mansion, would like to offer you all a very warm welcome to the last Mewsletter of 2010. At the beginning of December we woke up on the Thursday morning to a thick carpet of snow, and it just continued to snow throughout the day without stopping. Billy, Sam and Ollie kept going to the cat flap and looking out wondering where all this white stuff came from. I opened the door and hoped they would venture out but they looked at me in disgust as if in some way I was responsible for this uninvited intrusion on their Catdom.
Although the snow looks very pretty, the UK just grinds to a halt at the slightest deviation from our normal weather. Schools close, supermarket shelves empty because distributors can’t deliver goods, and work places close because staff can’t get into work. Perhaps I should say that Britain is closed right now; we’ll see you after the snow melts!!! We had a good response to the posers in the last Mewsletter and I’ll go into more details about those in the next issue. Unfortunately, Lawrence had emergency surgery last Friday and I spent the entire day at the hospital with him, until at 10 pm when they told him that he was going to have to stay in overnight so that they could monitor him. While in the hospital waiting room I got a raging sore throat which then became tonsillitis again – that’s twice in under two months – and this time the doctor ordered complete bed rest or I would have to be hospitalised myself – and knowing what happened the last time I went into hospital with a ‘simple’ virus in my blood, I took him at his word and confined myself to barracks. This isn’t easy to do for me at any time of the year, but being right on top of Christmas has made it much more difficult for me. So with abject apologies – especially to all the New Subscribers who have yet to enjoy a full Mewsletter – and to my Old Stalwarts who know what to expect – please forgive this truncated version. I promise more content in the next issue which I hope to get out in the first week or so of January. I did manage to put a couple of bits on before my throat closed up and I’ve pulled a couple of ‘old faithful’s from out of the bag for the season. Anyway, let’s get on with the Mewsletter. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A hilarious and addictive game for you to play!!!! http://upchucky.com/games/hairball-bowling.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* BOOK QUIZ: The last Book Quiz answers are as follows: Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates by Gary Kurtz White Chin by Marilyn Edwards 101 Reasons why a cat is better than a man by Allia Zobel. Josephine Lane from the UK was the first person to write in with all three correct. Well done Josephine and when I’ve got your address, I will send a prize off to you in the New Year. Well done to Jared Kline from Belgium and Amanda Keat from the UK who also got all three right. Now for this month’s BOOK QUIZ: I want the authors to the book titles below and if you have a website you can nominate it, or you can nominate a favourite site. A modest prize will be given for the first respondent so hurry up and don’t miss out! Who wrote the following: 1. The Secret Life of Your Cat 2. Bumble, the Brave Kitten 3. Serendipity’s Secret Send your answers to p.dewberry@ntlworld.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* CAPTION COMPETITION Here’s the latest caption competition. See how inventive you can be – remember – only 5 entries per person please. http://www.thedailymews.com/KittyBits/caption_competition_16.htm The winner to the last caption competition was Rob Falconer (chosen by Carol Turner who submitted the photo used in the competition). Rob’s prize will be forwarded to him after Christmas when hopefully the country will have returned to ‘normal.’ ARTICLES: Last year Marjorie Dorfman wrote this article which I just know you’ll find not only amusing, but helpful also. http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/Christmas_chaos.htm I wasn’t going to bring this story out again, but for the Newbies they might enjoy it and some of the ‘Old Stalwarts’ might like a second (or third) read again!!!! http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/ohchristmastree.htm KITTY BITS: The Cats Protection sent me a piece on keeping cats safe in the snow; most of it is common sense but here it is for you to read and inwardly digest so that no tragedies happen because we weren’t careful enough: http://www.thedailymews.com/KittyBits/10_top_tips_safe_in_snow.htm They also let me use a picture from their Cats Protection Library – so many thanks to them. I would also add that it’s vital to be vigilant about anti-freeze. Here’s another article on the website that I urge you to read pronto: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/antifreeze_warning.htm MEWSERS’ MEWSINGS FLASH: Flash was another of the Felines of Fallon House to write his story for the Mewsers’ Mewsings but sadly, since he wrote this piece in early November, his health deteriorated and his distraught Mum, Sue, had to make yet another trip to the vets where Flash was quietly and gently put to sleep. http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/Flash.htm Sue is one of those rare human beings who takes on elder or senior cats, many with health problems, that would have languished either in rescue centres or been euthanized because space was needed. But in giving them her all in terms of a loving home, all their needs met and every consideration given to their highest comfort, Sue’s heart has been broken several times in the last few months as one after the other a number of them have succumbed to old age and age-related illnesses. Our hearts and love go out to you, Sue. Jimmy, the Daily Mews Feline Correspondent, has written another very good – thought-provoking – piece which cats everywhere will relate to and it may just tweak a few human consciences in the reading. http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/Christmas_is_coming.htm Well, I’m going to leave it here if you’ll forgive me and after the Christmas festivities, I hope to put out another Mewsletter and add in all the articles I omitted this time around. The Daily Mewsers, Billy, Sam and Ollie, join me in wishing you all wherever you live in the world, a very happy Christmas and abundant blessings throughout the year to come. And thank you to all those who sent me Christmas cards, and to those who sent me e-greetings Christmas cards – thank you all very much for your love and support throughout this past year. We look forward to seeing you all again very soon. In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas and keep healthy and warm. With love to you all Pauline, Billy, Sam and Ollie xxxxxx
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To
ease matters for them I installed an ‘en suite’ (the litter tray) under the
dining room table once again but it remained unused until in desperation Sam
couldn’t hold out any longer. He is the only one still using it and although
there is still a lot of snow lying around, Billy and Ollie are going outside to
do their ‘business.’ Looking out of the back door which became increasingly
difficult to open because of the snow lying behind it, there was evidence of paw
prints in the snow. I could only hope that they had found somewhere private to
‘go’ before a frantic rush back through the cat flat treading in the same paw
prints to avoid getting their feet any wetter than they already were. 