Annette Rand's Blog, page 8

Santa Rat is coming!

I’ve been preparing a photo set ready for a Christmas photoshoot at the show. Wrapping lots of wooden building bricks to make presents for Santarat’s sleigh! :) http://www.midlandsratclub.org/shows/2014/12ratby/showinfo.shtml

Today’s the day!

Today’s the day that ‘The Rat’s Whiskers’ begins its Countdown��special offer at 99 cents or 99 pence, depending where you are.��http://mybook.to/whiskers-kindle

The Rat’s Whiskers

The Rat’s Whiskers will be on Kindle Countdown Offer from this Friday, 28th November, starting at 99 pence or 99 cents.��http://mybook.to/whiskers-kindle

Slow improvement

I’m still learning to use my new graphics tablet, willingly aided by a stream of people asking me to draw their pets. Some improvement is being made, but I think I have a way to go before I can use it to illustrate my next book.

A Speedy Breakfast

The ratties had their usual cooked Sunday breakfast today. A yummy mixture of chicken carcase, left over spag bol and an unwanted cheese salad sandwich, all boiled up in a pan. The boys were enjoying theirs so much that I felt the need to video them, so here they are enjoying their treat. It looks even funnier at four times the normal speed.

Adeline IS innocent!

Adeline’s photo has been moved from the offending news article posted about yesterday, to be replaced by a photo of a little wildie who is probably equally innocent. Spoilsports, hehe!

ADELINE IS INNOCENT

Adeline wishes to make it clear that despite the use of her photograph in the recent article published on the Rugby Advertiser website she has no connection with the sighting of a rat in the University Hospital, Coventry, and that she was in fact at home with her family at the time of the alleged sighting.

Adeline has leapt to celebrity status following her starring role in the recently published book, ���The Rat���s Whiskers���, and is pictured here (far left) relaxing at home with her sisters and cousins.

A close escape

I had a shock the other evening. The middle aged girls were out playing when I noticed a boy amongst them. I must have left one of the boys out when I put the group home.

Then I looked more closely and realised that it was little Verity with a very convincing set of furry cushions down there. She had a large tumour just below��her tail, slightly to the left. We trotted up to see the vet, with me expecting to be told they couldn’t remove it because of its position. But no, the vet said it should be possible to remove it, but it felt very lumpy and was probably a fairly nasty tumour. We decided that they would start a removal operation, but phone me if it didn’t look as if they would be able to remove it all.

I spent the morning waiting for a call that I hoped wouldn’t come, and thankfully it didn’t. My walk home from work was spent on a high, as she had obviously come through the operation well and would be with us for a while more yet. I stopped off at the vets’, paid a hideous amount of money for an��operation which had been very successful but taken much longer than expected, and waited to collect her.

The nurse came out and said, “I’m afraid Verity is going to have to stay a little longer. I went to bring her out and she’s removed all her stitches. We’ll phone you later to let you know when��you can collect her.” My guess is that the Metacam painkiller injection that she had during the op had worn off.

The call finally came��at seven o’clock, so I��drove up to pick Verity up and then spent the evening trying to distract her from the stitches. I tried wrapping her to stop her bending round to chew, but I couldn’t get the bandage round tight enough��on my own��and there was no-one around at home to help. I finally went against the vet’s advice and gave her some Meloxidyl (the oral form of Metacam), with the thought that it was probably safer to give her too much painkiller than for her to go under anaesthetic again. Thankfully that did the trick and she spent the rest of the night in the hospital cage with a heat pad under one corner. She loved that!

Come the morning and Verity’s stitches are un-chewed. Hurrah. She now has some company and��seems almost back to her normal self. We’ll keep her on a small dose of��Meloxidyl for a while though.

Under close supervision

I obviously can’t be trusted to clean out the old ladies’ cage without close supervision.

Feeling valued

I bought myself a graphics pad��last week. It’s not here yet, but I’ve been in anticipation mode ever since I clicked the order button. I’ve not had much chance to draw at all recently, since my daughter lost her job and moved home into the dining room where I used to sit and draw. It’s got the best natural light in the house.

At the weekend I downloaded a free version of the Sketchbook software to see how it works. It ran, as my husband put it, like a dog with no legs. My PC is just not up to it. Very disappointed. I said, “Never mind, there’s still time to cancel the order.” But no, my wonderful man spend half of Sunday designing and ordering a new PC for me. This is about to become the most expensive fifty quid graphics pad ever. But I tell you, it��feels so good to be taken seriously. Thank you Mark.��x