All About Cats

When our our kitten Pixie/Gypsy  left one evening never to return, a year ago now, I was so, so incredibly sad for weeks (still am), that my mum suggested I adopted another kitten.
Woah there ! Bert had always said, if a pet died or disappeared there would be no replacement for a while.
I, however, thought it would be a good idea.
And, my mother said, if you get two, you'll be entertained all the time, because they will play with each other and they will have so much fun.  Bert protested, but was overruled by two to one.
Off we went, my mum, my friend Sophie and I visited the local cat rescue and came back home with two male, ginger and white kittens.

Meet Alfie & Louis, who came to live with us October 2017.

Mischief, always full of mischief.

Louis (left) & Alfie (right) - look at that scrunched up little face.

 Watcha doin' mister ?

Helping with the reupholstery !

Keeping Blackie company. Poor dog had his paws attacked many a time.

 There I was thinking, I'll make them a big christmas present to play with. Maybe they won't be eyeing up the tree.

I was wrong !

Granny time !

 Louis, clean as a whistle. Alfie, not so much.

 Taking turns.

Louis, who loves to crawl into his little den, but also loves a blanket to curl up under.

Here they are now, just over one year old and they have given us lots of laughs so far.

Louis is a real hunter and we'll often try to save his prey, not always successfully unfortunately.

Alfie goes more after small fry, like insects, a piece seaweed, a mussel shell or a clump of grass.

That's it for this post. One year in the life of the ginger twins.

Patricia xxx...x

When You Turn Your Back for Two Seconds...

A courgette (zucchini) will turn into a big fat marrow, or monster, to be precise.

This very large specimen is 60 cm in length and 16 cm diameter and weighs an astonishing 10 kg !
I prefer my courgettes petite, but I'm really, really, really loving this huge masterpiece. I guess courgette soup is on the menu for the coming months, at least.

Patricia xxx...x

A Lawn

Slowly emerging from the depths of building rubble and hardcore, we can finally say we have something resembling a 'manicured' lawn.
There is nothing there that hasn't popped up by itself, mainly wild grasses and 'weeds' and we are okay with that.

What I love about a manicured lawn is the contrast it gives to the wild and rugged landscape beyond.
We can now use a regular lawn mower for the first time instead of a strimmer.

Obviously in a few areas around the land we (the royal 'we) still use the latter.

Simon, our English volunteer, who helped us out for 2 weeks made short shrift of the long grass around the chicken and duck runs and also near the poly tunnel and around the soft fruit shrubs.

It always gives me a nervous breakdown if anyone else but Bert does the strimming, because you can be sure one or more plants or trees will be cut by accident.

At the moment we have Marcus, from Canada, here and I think if he wasn't getting hungry at the time,  he would have gone on well into the night, he enjoyed it that much.

When I was looking through some photos yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised with what we have done in the four years we've lived here. Obviously, with the help of volunteers and paid labour. 

Just to show you the difference from just moving in in April 2013 (that's my mum, btw) and now.

Third photo is from July 2013 and then yesterday.

It sometimes helps to look back and see the difference one has made, instead of always looking at what still needs to be done. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and the coming week.

Patricia xxx...x

Absence

I know. I've been absent for a few months.
My apologies for not notifying you about this break, but I wasn't planning on having one. It sometimes just happens. I opened the "new post" tab a few times, but it wasn't meant to be. I didn't know what to write about that might be of interest to anyone.

At this moment, I'm sitting here at the table, tapping away at the keyboard, with a cat curled up between me and the laptop.
A scrawny little thing, this kitten, which was sitting in the kitchen on Tuesday while I was pottering about. It had been spotted the day before in the chicken coop of all places, but ran away when I arrived with too much noise.

We fed her and checked her over, yes, it's a girl, with a snotty nose and some discharge from her eyes.
Afraid she is not and very friendly toward people and the dogs. She hisses at our other cats though.

Definitely not afraid of dogs

This photo was taken by our current volunteer, Simon.

On Wednesday, Bert took her to the vet to give her a once over and she has cat flu. Medication, food, water, rest and extra vitamin C seems to be doing the trick. She is 4 months old, or thereabouts. 

She is constantly hungry and even steals the biscuits from the dog's bowl. She gets food often but little  at a time.

She seems to be more lively today and started playing with fluff bunnies and whatnot. Took an interest in a stranded bee. 

She ain't planning to go anywhere. She's here to stay. (*)

Her name is Gypsy.

Hope you are all well.

Have a good weekend.

Patricia xxx...x

(*) Unless someone has lost this kitten which they love very, very much. But if you love this kitten so very much, why is it skin over bone and why is there no lost sign up anywhere in the village ?

And So 2017 Has Arrived

It's been a while since I've come onto the blog - too long, so without further ado let me wish you a very sound, healthy and happy new year !

The festivities all come and gone and it is time to take stock of what's been happening.

Obviously, after the windows had been fitted, the sitting room needed a few coats of paint, which we did, and finished just in the nick of time for the Christmas decorations to go up.

Nevermind the messy sofas. It's their default state of being.

The tree and other decorations went up just in the nick of time (again) before the arrival of my mother, Irma.

She obviously didn't arrive by rollator.

My mum has one at home, in Belgium, and we decided to get her one for when she visits. My gosh, she's fast, when she's not sitting down.

On Christmas day we had dinner at our friends, Sophie and Rudy. It was so lovely. The food, company and atmosphere were fantastic.

We hosted a dinner party on the 28th and that was also a success. I didn't take photos this year, I forgot ! Ah, but the memories are there.  

I did take photo before the party however. We we were setting the tables, Fergus was delighted with the little nest we laid as a centerpiece.

In other news, one of the female ducks flew off and came back, flew off and came back... A few times until she decided to stay away for good.  Then Cyril, the drake left. He didn't come back and was being spotted at the friends/neighbours, where he originally came from. 

It took almost two weeks before the rascal could be caught. He's now back since Thursday and one of his wings has been clipped. We did the same with the 2 other female ducks and all is well.

The fox has visited a few times, maiming one chicken, who eventually died a week later. Most probably internal injuries which we didn't notice. We kept her inside and treated her broken skin to no avail. Next time we'll have to take a more drastic measure quicker. We live and learn.

He must have come back a few days later and took our beautiful new cockerel. It breaks my heart.

We now have 4 sensors with ultrasonic deterrent, strategically placed. Fingers crossed, so far so good.

But we also ordered and received battery operated electric fence to place on the outside of the chicken and duck pens. Soon to be installed.

Two of our piggies went to the butcher's this Tuesday, so it'll be a lot of work in the coming week. I already got the heads back and I've turned these into brawn.

Last Friday the other windows were fitted, bar one. It is only 20 cm to tall ! 😭 Can you believe it ?

Oh well, the window company promised to send someone this week to check it out.

Since I also have a new window in the craft room, I decided it was time to reorganise the whole lot again. I've been busy with that all weekend and it'll need a good few more days, I expect.

That is all for now. 

It's good to be back.

Patricia xxx...x

Finally !

The windows fitted, some of the walls re-plastered, ceiling and all walls painted.

And the Christmas tree is up and bedecked. 

It took us longer than expected to get here and that's why I have been missing from the blogosphere  for a while.

I have a lot of catching up to do with reading all your blogs. I'll get to it shortly.

Patricia xxx....x

Good Morning !

It is pretty seldom that I crawl out of bed before sunrise, but it often pays off when I do.

The air is crisp and clear, the grasses are frostbitten and the highest mountains covered in their winter attire.

Just lovely.

Patricia xxx...x

The Window Saga

It's okay. The work started yesterday morning. 

It is a very slow process and lots of dust, but our motley crew of  very skilled craftsmen/builders are doing a fantastic job. They are from the village and we know them well.

Not a destroyed window in sight. So far so good. 

You just gotta love this picture. Ha ha !

You've got to wonder how on earth the window company were going to fit in the new windows without chiseling away plaster and rendering. 

A bit of rubble and a lot of dust.

The old windows were fitted abysmally. The damp course membrane underneath the windows were lying flat underneath the indoor sill. No wonder we had water seeping in with the wind driving the rain through. Our team will fix this. 

This is a gap around the old windows. No insulation like expanding foam. Just simply plastered straight up against the window frames.

It won't be so draughty anymore when the new ones are in.

Thank goodness we put our foot down last week as all of us are certain we would have ended up with quite a bodge job from the window company.

Patricia xxx...x