Vigil

So peaceful here tonight, no Phill and no Emily.  She cracked it again yesterday and Phill and I had words about his opting out of parenting responsibilities, which resulted in him blaming me.  Again.  And then going in to talk to her and after she tried to slam his head in the door he thumped her.  They deserve each other I think.  She stayed in her room all day and night and most of this morning and finally came out dressed and went somewhere then texted me to ask if she could stay at Spittin' Kim's hovel.  Who cares.  I could live like this all the time, but Josh won't go and I won't go without him.

Harley was acting odd this morning, wanting to come in when she's been stand offish for weeks.  She decided she wanted in to Max's hut.  She approached it, he was inside and growled at her.  She wasn't deterred as she usually is when he does that.  She just sat and then edged, ever so slowly into the hut.  He squirmed further and further back up, still growling at her, but she wasn't giving up and kept on until she got in there and just settled down for a rest.  I went back inside and when I looked back saw that Max had got out and left her to it.  Then she came out and wanted to snuggle with Maxy and lick him, and when I sat down wanted to rub herself against my legs.  She is the most unaffectionate cat I've ever, ever had so this was weird.  I soon realised she was in labour and brought her inside to her nest.  I saw what looked like a little tail hanging out of her and knew it wasn't going to be good.  She delivered her last kitten of the previous litter breech but he was still in his caul and he was fine.  This little one came out without the membranes around it and didn't look right.  He was very small and seemed a bit deformed in the head but I was surprised that he was alive at all.  He meowed after a while and Harley licked him and bit the cord and ate the placenta and he tried to move up to her belly to suckle, but then he grew still and every so often would let out the most awful yowl like he was in pain.  I wasn't sure what to do.  But soon enough he was gone.  Harley and I both tried everything to stimulate him, I rubbed him with a towel and breathed on his tiny face but to no avail.  I left him there for while, but thinking she was ready to deliver the rest of the kittens I finally wrapped him a clean cloth and took him outside and buried him.  That was about 11.15 this morning.  It's now after 8pm and it seems like she's still labouring but nothing is happening.  Kittens are alive and well in there Josh and I can feel them moving about.  I am wondering whether they aren't really ready to be born and the little dead kitten came away because he was sick.  She is discharging but that could just be post birth stuff.  Looks like it's going to be a long night.
And we have no shower.  Little dude worked fast yesterday and ripped out the tiling to reveal that they'd just been stuck on with no waterproofing whatsoever.  No wonder the bloody thing leaked.  He's left the waterproofing to set and dry and hopefully will be back tomorrow to retile.  I ran a bath and washed my hair and myself and then stood up and tipped clean water over it all.  I love a nice hot bath but it's not the best thing to get clean in when you're kind of soaking eventually in your own..............well never mind.  I felt better when I got out.
I made a lovely tomato sauce for me and then made meatballs which Josh had on a sandwich and I had in my sauce.  Had the puree vegies in the meat mix so I was happy.  I sauteed onion in EVOO then cooked off some tomato paste before adding a tin of tomatoes, stock powder, some dry white wine, Italian herbs and a splash of worcestershire as I had no anchovies.  And about three cloves of fresh garlic and a LOT of black pepper.  What made it I think was that I added a bit more sugar than usual., not too much, but enough to make it taste better.

The cats have their Christmas stockings all ready for Santa Cat.  Sadly, Harley's was Lily's old one and Noah's was Nigel's.  Max is the pet we've managed to keep for the longest and he has a permanent stocking (touch wood).  Smokey, the budgie, will have a pretty organza "bottle bag" that doesn't fit a bottle for some reason.  He doesn't care.  He's a she and he doesn't let that bother him at all.

Josh had a rendezvous with the spa mat and some bubble bath last night.  He made a cave.

Please say a prayer for our little cat Harley Rose.