A click diary

I was digging around some files on my laptop today, and run into this. I didn't quite remember at first that I had written this; indeed I intended to keep a clicker training diary, but then I never made it beyond that first entry. It's hilarious, so I decided to post it here for your entertainment!

Is this a test?

Tomorrow starts the first longer work trip since G left and I'm alone with the cats. So far so good: house/cat sitter has been found and checked (the furry crew thought she was OK too, though I'm still not sure what she'll make of Brixton downtown), frozen meat packets have been stacked, raw dinner stains removed...
And then the boiler died. Frantic efforts today for a same day repair came to nothing in the end - by 7pm there was yet another part missing. Never mind the heating, but I just can't ask a house sitter to spend a week without a shower. So now I have the choice of either abandoning my cats, or abandoning my musicians. The decision is obvious: no way I can travel tomorrow. But feeling very frustrated for being forced to look unprofessional. Is this a test??

Island kittens

These are the orphaned feral kittens I clicker 'tamed' at my family's summer house on a Greek island. Scrawny and scaredy at first, they turned into adorable and affectionate beauties within 2 weeks. Aw!
But as autumn proceeds, and they grow dearer every day, the big question looms larger every day: who's going to take them in over the winter...?

Lily, Princess of the Garden

One year of cats...

• happy cats: 4
• happy human: 1
• days of smiling: 365
• lives changed: 5
• catflaps installed: 2
• clickers acquired: 7
• tricks learned: 10 (and 1/2)
• kgs of raw meat eaten: 153
• number of quail plucked: 162
• bites: 0
• fear scratches: 1
• play scratches: 14
• accidents: 3
• illnesses: 1
• vet visits: 16
• hospital days: 2
• flea bites (on me): 10
• ticks (on Oscar): 1
• critters caught (sorry!)
• mice: 11
• rats: 2
• birds: 9
• earth worms: 37
• flies/moths/bugs: countless