Lily and Bro

Hi Natty!  How are you today?  I hope you are cozy and happy and healthy.  I want you to know that I love you with all of my heart.  I'm doing OK over here.  I like Ramadan.  Ramadan is a month of plenty as far as I have observed.  One is more likely to get bloated instead of lose weight during the fasting month.  I try to keep my meals on an even keel as the non-fasting months, so everything is about the same food wise.  Dinner is ramen- I love ramen!  I have fresh mangoes, some traditional sweets, and a bottle of Coca Cola.  Alhamdulillah.

My new kittens Lily and Bro are becoming comfortable in their new home.  I took those kittens indoors just in time.  If I had left them out, they would have gotten pneumonia the next day.  Pneumonia is a death sentence for a cat.  I've never known a cat that recovered from pneumonia.  Lily is the grey and white kitten, Bro is white with black patches.  They are "kampung" (village) kittens, they were most likely born and weaned outdoors, and I'm guessing the father is a white ugly tomcat.  They have such dirty faces, unlike Lookie who has spent her entire life inside the house.  Lookie has a bright, shining face.  Kind of like yours, Honey.  Lily and Bro wouldn't sit still for their snapshots.  As you can see, I had to hold them by the scruff of their necks.  The kittens have ear mites and fleas that I'm still treating, and it looks like Bro has feline fungus.  I hate male cats.  They're cute and fun as kittens, but when they become sexually aware they are impossible to control.  It's either go outdoors or be neutered.  A male cat with feline fungus would sever a limb just to get rid of an infected area.  I've seen that happen.  It's a good thing I have plenty of medicine for that, and it's a good thing Bro is a tiny kitten living inside the house.  Imagine trying to doctor an outdoors cat.  First you have to catch it, then you have to hold it down.  Definitely not a one person job.

Happy Anniversary, Natty

Hi Natty

How are you today?  Yes Honey, I listened to your latest podcast.  It's cool over here right now, and I'm feeling so relaxed and drowsy.  I just peeled some mangoes, I would love to start eating them but I have to wait another 45 minutes.  I managed to get a little bit of yard work in.  There's always so much to do in the yard, and there's so much to do online as well.  2 gardens to tend to.  Today I finally got around to whacking off those creepers on my front fence, only to reveal a second maze of creepers underneath which I will need a saw to cut through.  Lily and Bro seem to be settling in, and the snarls, hisses and growls from the other two seem to have lessened.  There's less tension in my home, only to be replaced with a somewhat formal atmosphere.  The kittens did not immediately take to eating raw chicken breast.  They are village kittens and are conditioned to eating rice, so I had to mix in some rice with the chopped chicken breast.  And I need tho make the chunks smaller for baby mouths.  I want to phase out the rice though.  Now I have 4 cats indoors, and raw chicken meat generates very little feces.  All the less labor for me.  **yawn**  I'm so comfortable right now.

Meow

Hi Natty!  Oh, you have more photos from the WSJ mag.  Quality business attire, nonetheless.  You look absolutely sparkling, my love.  I never thought that a tube top would be office wear though. 

I got a couple of new kittens today.  I found them huddled up together at my mother's house this morning.  They don't smell feral, I think somebody must have dumped them there.  They have ear mites and some fleas, so I took care of that and gave them a bath.  A brother and sister, both very much attached to each other.  So I brought them inside since I'm such a sucker for cats and as you would guess, Floofy and Lookie didn't like it one bit.  The female, the grey and white one, has the same markings as one of Floofy's kittens that died 4 years ago from pneumonia.  So I named her Lily 2.  I haven't thought of a name for her brother yet, just Lily's brother.  Of course the first thing Floofy did to Lily is punch her on the left eye.  It swelled up a little, but I think she's going to be OK inshaAllah.  So now there is high tension in my house, but the kittens seem to be comfortable.

Qur'an 20200429

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

46.  Say, "I do admonish you on one point: that you do stand up before Allah, in pairs or alone, and reflect.  Your companion is not possessed: he is no less than a warner to you, in face of a terrible penalty."

47.  Say, "No reward do I ask of you: it is in your interest.  My reward is only due from Allah, and God is Witness to all things."

48.  Say, "Verily my Lord does cast the Truth.  God that has full knowledge of what is hidden."

49.  Say, "The Truth has arrived, and falsehood neither creates anything new, nor restores anything."

50.  Say, "If I am astray, I only stray to the loss of my own soul.  But if I receive guidance, it is because of the inspiration of my Lord to me.  It is God Who hears all things, and is near."

Sheba  34:46-50

Too lazy to make dough

Hi Natty!  How's life up there in the mountains?  I hope you are healthy, and enjoying yourself.  It's nearly summer, I supposed you are enjoying the warmth of the sun more.  Have some of mine!  It's actually cooler today than it has been: I was able to enjoy a nice nap in the afternoon on the floor, instead of settling for a short meditation on the chair.  I like sleeping on the floor.  It's one of the beneficial pleasures I acquired from being broke all these years, is that sleeping on the floor works wonders on your back.  I was never all that greedy, and this "nickel and dime" life has made me value things in terms of labor instead of cash.  I was too lazy to make dough today, so I bought a loaf of bread.  One kilo of flour is RM2.20 which makes 12 dough balls (one or two dough balls for a filling meal), while a loaf of bread is RM3.20.  Besides the price of a buck, I didn't have to put in the time and labor to make dough.  That's probably just today, though.  Sigh.  I'll go back to making dough again after this loaf of bread is gone probably.  There's the labor of having to go out and buy bread to take account of.

Please make sure you rake up those dry leaves and do composting or controlled burning!  Help prevent forest fires!

Qur'an 20200428

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

34.  Never did We send a Warner to a population but the wealthy ones among them said, "We believe not in that with which you have been sent."

35.  They said,"We have more in wealth and in sons, and we cannot be punished."

36.  Say, "Verily my Lord enlarges and restricts the provision to whom God pleases, but most men understand not."

37.  It is not your wealth nor your sons that will bring you nearer to Us in degree, but only those who believe and work righteousness.  These are the ones for whom there is a multiplied reward for their deeds, while secure they are in dwellings on high.

38.  Those who strive against Our Signs, to frustrate them, will be given over into Punishment.

39.  Say, "Verily my Lord enlarges and restricts the sustenance to such of God's servants as God pleases, and nothing do you spend in the least but God replaces it, for God is the Best of those who grant sustenance."

40.  One Day God will gather them all together, and say to the angels, "Was it you that these men used to worship?"

Sheba 34:34-40