R.I.P Spook.

It is with great sadness I must relate the passing of Spook this afternoon following a short period of illness. In the last month he had developed neurological complications which left him unable to control his back muscles, in addition to Type 1 Diabetes which he was being injected twice a day for. He was responding well to the insulin injections but his quality of life took a serious downturn this weekend and the difficult decision was made to lay him to rest. He will be sorely missed as he was an exceptional cat. As a rescue cat, he had, until recently, a good, healthy life and was nearly 14 this year. His memory will always be alive and he will be remembered with deep fondness and love.

It's snow joke!

Blimey is that the time! Yep, that's January for you, gone in the blink of an eye. Its a sort of non-month, if there is such a thing. You get past Yuletime and its back to work and the daily routine and then, vroom, the end of January comes whizzing up.

Anyway, not a lot to report, apart from some festie news for the new year in the shape of invites to Blissfields, Nozstock and Tiddesley Wood. All with FREE pitches, which shows we must be doing something right. After last years wet, but not wonderful, series of disasters it can only get better....we hope.

Tree and I have not been up to much otherwise. I am settling into the new job and looking to doing a coders course, which takes about 2 years, and gets way better pay.

The weekends have been spent going out and entertaining ourselves. Clayton and Lorraine stopped over a couple of weekends ago and we had a good laugh, including trying Clayt's homemade Ferrero Roche which are supposed to be fat free. They DID actually taste a bit like the real thing!!

We have also managed to see a lot more of Pip & Murali. We met up in town the other day and had a good lunch but sadly I gave in to chocolate cake with cream for afters. Enjoyed every mouthful an all!!! Can't complain though as I am only 7 pounds off my target weight now. On Tues night they came over and we cooked up Tacos with a veggie filling...Yum, Yum. Murali liked it a lot. He has promised a masterclass in Sri Lankan cooking next time. Can't wait.

Otherwise, I am hopeful of a little more snow, now its the weekend, because I don't have to worry about driving in it or getting to work. Instead I can enjoy Mother Nature when she wraps the Earth up in a white blanket and that beautiful silence that comes with it. See Y'all!!

Do cats pray?

I couldn't resist posting this photo of our Herbie. He has this delightul way of stopping dead in his tracks and burying his head in his paws. If you didn't know different, you'd swear he was praying apart from the fact he starts snoring pretty soon after!! What with his fetish for feet as well, he is quite a mixed up cat.

That Monday morning feeling

This morning I did indeed wake up with that Monday morning feeling.Tree and I didn't get out yesterday, as we hoped, mainly due to the weather being so horrid and I wasn't too well stomach wise. Instead I slouched on the sofa for most of the day, apart from the odd dash to the loo. However, the plus side of the day for me was that Herbie shocked us both by sitting on my lap. Now you might not think this strange but, if you knew him you'd know, he NEVER does that.He'd rather chew your face off. I have been working for months now trying to get closer to him and bit by bit he has warmed to the idea. Over the past couple of months he has sat between me and Tree, but never on our laps. He may be mellowing at last !! It's only taken 5 years!!!
Anyway, as i say, I wasn't feeling good this morning either and was 50/50 whether I should open the shop or stay at home. In the end I thought what the heck and came anyway. A good decision, as on the way we saw the Malvern Hills capped in snow from last night. We stopped to get a photo (which doesn't do them justice) and watched as everyone else rushed by with anxious expressions, oblivious to the beauty that lies all around them. Life is too short to get stressed to the extent that some do. This made me feel a lot better and I look forward to Beltane even more.

It's a hard life!

Unless your a cat!

Well, not much to report, apart from news about the shop and that can get a bit dull, as an observer. Tree and I are back on the healthy regime and aim to get in lots of walks and fresh air. I have managed to put on a stone in weight since leaving the bank! This is down to the fact I am not cycling to work every day. We hope to get along to one of the Critical mass meetings on a Friday. The only problem is that by the time we get home it's too late. Hopefully in the summer they will start later. Failing that, Tree and I will just go out for a ride anyway.

Two posts in one day, what's the world coming to?

I couldn't miss out on this one. I was just in the newsagents, getting a paper, when I overheard this snippet of conversation between an elderly lady and the owner.

Lady "Well he likes to stop and fuss a bit"

Owner "I don't know. He says I give him too much work on his round and yet he has time to play with your pussy everyday"

Get it while you can Grandma, I say.

You're in my face mate !

What is it with cats ? If they can't get your attention the easiest thing to do is stand so close to your face you can't see anything but fur. The particular culprit is Ziggy who cannot resist climbing all over me whenever I sit down. I thought it was cupboard love at first but Tree disagrees, as he normally does it having eaten. Can a cat be infatuated ? Bless !!

Et Tu Herbie.

Not to be out done, Herbie has managed to get into a scrap with the same cat as Ziggy. It would appear that, unbeknownst to us, Herbie had been hurt a few days ago , above his left eye, but it didn't show. The wound site then got a bit swollen and infected. Under pressure, as he scratched himself with his back leg, it exploded. The result was that I found Herbie covered in gunge and blood, all over his face. He was ever so good, as I cleaned him up, and he knew I was trying to help. From the photo you wouldn't think much had happened at all, but believe me, it was like he'd had his head dunked in tomato ketchup and bake beans when I started. So we now have two cats on antibiotics and another £40 has winged it's way to the vets !!! Oh well, as Tree agreed, they're cheaper than kids to keep.

Poorly puss.

Yep ! He's done it again ! Waking up early on Saturday morning, I noticed that Ziggy wasn't his usual, lively, self. On further inspection, we found he couldn't move without yelping, so a hurried visit to the vets was organised. The vets kept him until the afternoon, having found a big hole on his left shoulder and some puncture wounds under his arms, so they could sedate him and stitch him up. When we collected him he was high as a kite on sedative and just sat staring into space like some tripping hippy. You had to laugh, well you didn't ,but after £160 cost it was that or cry !! He's on the mend now and just pissed off because he can't go out and fight some more ! I think he only does it so he gets to sleep on the bed !! The photos of Ireland will appear soon, promise.