Things I learned in the last weeks.

Thing I learned in the last weeks: Our little cat seems to have interesting things to do outside, and possibly some territorial/territory time-sharing related issues. At least she spends a lot of time outside, sometimes including the night, and can be too busy to eat even if she declared enormous hunger just minutes ago.

Also, cortisone really (and quite strongly) changes fur colour in cats, giving the fur a reddish tinge. When we adopted her, she had dark fur all over. After getting first a depot shot, and later cortisone pills, the fur on her shoulders and upper back turned really reddish - like a sort of saddle. Now that she's on inhaled meds, it has re-darkened almost completely. Instead, she now has reddish spots at the front paws, where she licks her paws to wash. I had read about this, but it's really fascinating to see for oneself.

I have also found out that it is a bad idea to only have one contact possibility for a given person, at least if it may become crucial to contact that person within a given timespan. This is linked to email etiquette, the very basic level: If the only contact information you hand out to somebody is your email address, you should make sure that a) that person's emails will reach you, b) actually read your email, and c) answer it.

In cases of unpleasantness springing from such problems, even a combination of liberally applied chocolate, coffee and tea (the go-to methods for alleviating life's little itches and pains, at least here)  will not help much. Or, after a certain while, at all.

If you are going for the chocolate therapy, here's a chocolate you might want to try out: Die Gute Schokolade. This is chocolate which has been produced under fair trade standards, and trees were planted to make its production, packaging and transport carbon neutral. Behind this thing is a children's initiative called Plant-for-the-Planet. It's a light milk chocolate, and I really like it. Plus it's absolutely affordable for a fair trade chocolate, and comes without the bad conscience that much of the other choc has attached to it. If you are in Germany, give it a try!