Scary story

This morning I did not feel at my best, so as I did not have to be anywhere, I stayed later in bed with my book. My husband was going to the allotment and was packing his stuff up to go and I carried on with my book.  Suddenly one of cats leapt on to my bed and plonked a rat on my lap. A live rat. It really made me jump! After freezing for a moment, I jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom bin which I emptied on the floor and ran back to the bed and clapped the bin upside down on top of the rat - and held it there while I phoned for reinforcements. Fortunately my husband had not got very far and he came back and helped to capture it and took it up the far end of the garden. Hopefully it will die peacefully there, unmolested by cats. I am not keen on rats, to put it mildly, but after a fright like that, it probably won't survive.

My cat is probably feeling aggrieved that I didn't appreciate my nice present quite as much as he had expected : )

Cats!

Cats! I've gone off them today.  Fred was careering round the bedroom chasing Barney when we were having our morning cuppa.  Fred knocked over my husband's untouched half pint mug of tea. It is amazing how far a half pint of tea will travel when knocked over by a cat at full speed. Lots of things got splashed but the real damage was done to a very expensive ( and now out-of-print grrr) book that my husband was reading. The paper soaked up the tea very readily and the book is not in very good condition now.

I've been trying to sort out a few more little corners in the house. My total of things that have left the house is creeping up very slowly. In fact I am about six weeks behind schedule already. Still, looking on the bright side, some things have already left so I'm still winning : )

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After Easter

Easter has been and we have enjoyed it.  The celebration is the highlight of the Christian calendar and can get rather busy. On the Wednesday before Easter, we had a shorter lunchtime service at church and lots of people came in for that including all the children from the nursery school. On Maundy Thursday, all the local churches in our group get together and have a service and we rotate whose church we all go to and which minister does what part of the service. On Good Friday all the churches in our area, of all denominations, get together and pack out our church for a service and then process about 150 yards up the road to the parish church where we have a short service in the village square before tea and hot cross buns in the parish church hall. We rotate which church is responsible for both the services and this year it was our turn. This meant that we had to be at church very early for a music rehearsal. We also have a service just for our church on Good Friday evening. Saturday is free but I had to do the shopping for the breakfast after the early morning communion service on Easter Sunday which my husband was leading. So we were down early to set up breakfast (boiled eggs to represent new life) , have the early service and serve breakfast. After eating a very rushed breakfast, there was a music rehearsal for the main service and then the service itself followed by tea and coffee. 

We were not quite free after that because all three of our kids and their families had rented together a large holiday home in Cornwall for the week and we were on cat duty. After a little tour of their houses, we went home for a rest and also a late lunch when we had recovered enough energy to get it. I have to admit that I am really pleased that all my kids and their families get on so well that they go out and do things together. They rented a house about five miles from Callington where my mother-in-law used to live and where my lot spent happy holidays for several years.

Easter is a week ago now and we spent the rest of the week pottering through various jobs.  We did a bit of work on the allotment and did a few jobs around the house. To be fair, it was me that did the pottering because my husband had a deadline to meet in his exam work and he only did a few jobs as a change from being glued to the computer.

I've let my two cats outside now that they are bigger.  After my last two cats were ill and crept downhill slowly to the end, there has not been a cat presence in our garden for around three years.  There are a lot of cats in our neighbourhood and they all think that our garden is now part of their territory. I knew my new cats would have a job on their hands to establish the garden as their territory and was worried about setting two young cats up against a large number of adult cats. So I waited until mine were a bit bigger before letting them out. When I have had young cats before, we always had an older cat with the garden as their established territory so I felt this was a very different situation. Well, the young cats are loving their freedom - now what a surprise : )

They have conquered the cat flap, both in and out and are spending their days exploring the wider world.  They both pop back in the house about every 10-15 minutes to check up on us and then sprint outside again. They only seem to have two speeds at the moment - full gallop or asleep in a heap, exhausted. They have met the rabbit and the hens and survived the shock and they are having fun : )

ps BT have finally got the internet working at church again. Hurray!

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Guess what I've got!

A friend had these two and they needed a home.  I wanted to have a bit more of a gap since losing my little Sally but these two needed a home and I had a home to offer.  It is more than 18 years since I had kittens and I had forgotten just how energetic they are  : )

 

 

They are nearly five months old and just love the woodburner.  They are very alike and it took me several days to work out the differences from the rear view.  It is easy from the front because one has a smudge on his nose.

 

 

 

 

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A week away

This last week we went to stay at the farm in Wales where we have been before.  Our eldest granddaughter wanted us to take her and it was booked about six months ago before any cat issues arose.  If I hadn't gone, then my husband would not have gone and then my granddaughter would not have been able to go either.  So I bullied my son into agreeing to see to the hens and the rabbit and calling in three times a day to see to my poor old cat.

The week away was absolutely lovely.  Yes we had a bit of rain but we did choose to go to Wales : ) We also had a lot of dry weather in between the wet bits so we were still able to go out and about.  We like to go on to the moors with our boots and have a nice walk, chat to the sheep and then go back to the car for a cuppa and a read with lots of looking at hills.  My granddaughter was helping on the farm each afternoon so we were free after lunch to go out on our own.

Since we had gone to a rural area, I went to lots of shops and feed merchants looking for a new pair of wellies.  I want a pair of slightly shorter ones but couldn't find anything apart from Dunlop green up-to-the-knee ones and Hunters at £70.  Looks like I'll have to put up with my really old ones for a bit yet.

The rabbit and the hens survived us being away and so did my cat but she has faded so much this week that I took her to the vet this morning and she is now buried in the garden beside her friend, my other cat.  Both of them developed cancer of the mouth which is a dreadful way to go. The poor thing was just skin and bone as she could no longer eat very well.  I cooked a chicken breast for her breakfast and chopped it almost into powder so she could lick it up. The vet was so nice and understanding.  I took him back the tablets that we had not got through as he uses them for any strays that are ill and brought in to him.  It is better than just putting them in the bin.  My house is so empty this afternoon. 

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Trouble with moths

We're having a lot of trouble with moths at the moment.  Anyone else suffering with moths? Every evening we "do" for about 20 or so clothes moths in the bedroom.  I got my summer trousers out the other day.  They are knitted cotton and too lightweight for the rest of the year.  This year, they are decorated by a series of little holes all down one leg where some moth or moths had dinner.  Grr. The last couple of days, we have had fewer of the clothes moths and more of a slightly smaller and darker coloured moth.  I don't know whether or not they eat clothes too but I'm not taking any chances.

Last week, I opened a cupboard door in the kitchen and some pantry moths flew out. So we had to reorganise the job list and sort the cupboards out.   There was a huge number of eggs laid everywhere and moths in every packet.  The packet (new and unopened) of coriander seeds was absolutely full of moths trying to get out.  Just about every packet was either full of eggs or contained some moths.  Yeuk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so cross that so much food was wasted although the hens were happy to help dispose of quite a number of the packets.  It is not that long since I sorted and washed the kitchen cupboards but I admit to being totally horrified at the state of my food. I did discover that the packets containing any form of ginger were totally untouched so that is one thing the moths don't like.  In future, everything that comes in a packet will be going into a glass jar before going into the cupboard!

I've lost two hens this week.  One died of old age although I'd expected her to live on another couple of years as all my other bantams have been very long lived.  I could see that she was going so it wasn't a big shock.  She was one of the first two hens that we hatched at school and she lived with the other one who was much larger.  A bantam living with a Buff Orpington (a particularly large breed of hen) - they were a real comedy double act.  Do you remember Little and Large on the tv many years ago?

The other one was a shock as the hen managed to get out and a fox had it and all that I found was a little pile of feathers.  The flap of wood that covers the join between the house and the run had been broken either by the hen forcing herself out or maybe the fox helped.  I don't know and probably never will but the result is that I have lost one of my two youngest hens and a very reliable egg layer and I don't like thinking about her horrible end.

And my old cat is hanging on by a thread.  She is noticeably weaker but not showing many signs of pain.  She still obviously takes pleasure in some things but the day of reckoning is drawing nearer and I'm dreading it even if I know that it is the final kindness that I can do for her.

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Lunch

Yesterday we had a street party in connection with The Big Lunch.  A big section of the road was closed off and there was a bouncy castle and go carts and lots of people sitting and chatting as everybody had brought chairs out of their houses.  We know so few of our neighbours these days that it was good to actually spend some time talking to the people that live around us. The weather was wonderful and that contributed a lot because it would have been miserable in the rain.

I've seen the grandchildren several times over the last couple of weeks, which has been good.  The little one has started crawling which means nothing is safe anymore : ) She has been crawling for a couple of weeks but only in reverse gear.  Now she has worked out how to go forwards and is off and away. She can walk quite steadily if you hold her hands and I was beginning to wonder if she would be one of those babies who would bypass the crawling stage and just get up and walk.

We've been picking some bits and pieces at the allotment.  We have quite a lot of asparagus kale.  It is a heirloom veg. We were given some seeds a few years ago and if a couple of plants are left to go to seed, it just keeps coming back every year. I love it and at the moment, there are flowers coming at every branch like sprouting broccoli.  I keep picking the sprouts to eat as broccoli and pick the flower heads off the rest.  The hens regard the flower stems as a great treat and the green leaves help to make the yolks a good rich yellow.  The plant leaves develop the odd hole but as a rule, they are not greatly prized among the insect fraternity - which I do appreciate. Tasty, easy to prepare and cook, loved by me, the hens (but not the rabbit) and easy to grow and free - a wonderful plant that I thoroughly recommend if you have the chance of some seeds.

My little cat is still hanging on.  She doesn't give me the impression of being in great pain yet but the growth is growing at a phenomenal rate and it won't be very long until I am forced to make a decision. She still enjoys doing some of the things a cat likes doing, such as cooking in a patch of sunshine, and while there is still some quality to her life, I'm not taking that away.

More trouble...

They say that troubles never come singly and in this case, they (whoever "they" are) are right.

Firstly, my beautiful little rabbit died at the beginning of the month.  He was a little rabbit that I rescued.  He had not been well looked after in his first home and he never quite got over that.  He was a chestnutty colour with apricot eyeliner and was extremely handsome. He had become pretty deaf and almost blind of late but could still show a great deal of pleasure when given a dandelion leaf or a piece of apple : )

Then some horrible thing killed my four new little bantam crosses last Wednesday just when they were at the point of starting to lay - see 2 posts back.  And the same day my favourite old hen died of old age.

My husband has been at home recently recovering from a very nasty chest infection that has upset his asthma dreadfully. Last Friday afternoon, he got a phone call from our vet asking about our cat.  She had been home the usual length of time, asleep in front of our new woodburner which she absolutely loves. Then she popped out into the garden and decided to go for a walk. The vet said that a local lady had picked up our cat (she is chipped) and taken her to the vet saying that she had found a stray!  So my husband had to get to the vet and bring home our cat. The vet told her that this cat lived locally, had an owner and that she had no right to do anything with my cat and that she must not feed her.

Can you believe it?  Well, it gets better!

The cat spent most of Saturday curled up on top of or beside me, purring away contentedly.  Then, when it was getting near teatime, she popped out into the garden again - and I haven't seen her since.  I lost count of the number of times that I was out calling for her.  This morning my husband went back to the vet and asked if they would contact the lady again to see if she had my cat.  Well she had - and said that my cat was ill, that we were not taking care of it because it was round at her house asking for fresh chicken again.  Since we were not taking proper care of this ill cat, she was going to take it to the PDSA!!!  We reckon that the vet must have put this lady straight on a few things because my husband was allowed to go and collect her at lunchtime.

My cat is 15, has always been slimline and has a permanent tummy condition which the vet is aware of and she needs suitable food little and often to prevent nasty smelly happenings from both ends.  She just needs careful looking after to keep her as healthy as is possible for as long as possible.  I probably mentioned in my blog last summer about spending over £500 on this cat at this vet's surgery...

I can't tell you how annoyed I am with this lady.  How dare she interfere with my cat.  At least I know now why my cat's tummy problem has flared up again this week!

Sad, sad

I had to take my old cat to the vet yesterday evening to be put to sleep and today I feel bereft.  I wrote about her in a post a little while back.  Of all the cats I've had, she had the sweetest nature and I'm really, really going to miss her.

It turns out that she had developed a tumour in her throat which explains why she was getting so very thin but she was only having problems eating this last week. She didn't seem to be in much pain, so I'm thankful for that.  I didn't want to lose her but at least I could make sure that she didn't reach the point where she was suffering greatly and I'm thankful for that too.

Oh dear...

One of my pair of the oldest hens is starting to look very old suddenly - much older than her friend who is still laying the occasional egg.  She wasn't even interested in the slice of bread I had for them yesterday let alone the corn.  She just stood and watched her friend gobble it up.  At this rate I'm going to have lots of henhouses/runs with just one hen in.  At least I know that she is just old and not poorly.

I have an elderly cat who is going very thin.  She is 17 now and just not getting the benefit from her food any more.  She is happy and has the same appetite as always although she drinks more than she used to.  She is my cat and I am her person and I'm really, really going to miss her when she goes.  She is such a nice natured cat.  She was a rescued cat that had obviously been used to being kicked.  Why do people do that to animals?  All these years with us gradually taught her that some humans were to be trusted but it took over two years before she asked to come on a lap.  And she always checked and asked before jumping up.  She used to sit on my bed but always on the very corner so that she could slip off quickly and get down the stairs out of harm's way.  Now she plonks herself in the middle and I have to pick her up and move her if needs be : )

My other cat is turned 14 and is being a bit expensive at the moment.  She developed a little patch on her back with a scratchy looking rash and the fur coming out around it.  So we took her to the vet who said that they had no idea what might be causing the problem.  They gave her a steroid injection and treated her for mites to see if that might help.  We took her back for a checkup a week later as requested and they said that there was no evidence of mites (phew!!). The funny patch was the size of my palm by now and was obviously bothering her.  The vet was still no wiser as to the problem let alone the cure so they had her back to do a biopsy.  They also did some blood tests.  So we've had the results now and they still have no idea what the problem is although they can say definitely some things that the problem is not. The bald and rashy patch is now the size of my hand and other smaller areas are now affected. And we've just paid £260 for them to not know any answers. 

So we're not really much further forward and don't know what to do to help my cat.  And if I wasn't such a skinflint, we would not have the £260 sitting there ready to pay the vet's bill.  But I'm not happy!

We went to do the shopping on Saturday at Aldi and Sainsburys.  They are close together so it does not cost extra in petrol to do both.  Just a couple of shops up from Aldi is Halfords and my husband needed some car paint.  Having got that, I wanted to look next door in Wilkinsons in case they had an offer on certain things.  They didn't but they had reduced some of their catfood to half price to clear the shelves to make way for some new stock or so the shop assistant told me.  Being a helpful kind of person, I helped them clear the shelves and came home with a big smile on my face : )

I hadn't seen the school chicks for 3 days since Friday morning. Boy, have they grown over the weekend!  They can jump on to things and their wing feathers have grown lots and their tail feathers are beginning to grow.  And they are so much taller and fatter.  And in just 3 days.  The rate of growth is phenomenal. 

Sally Cat has caught a young rat.  Second one this week.  Only this time she did not kill it before she brought it home and she has let it go.... : (