Cats, Mice and Clocks...
Tiddles Paws
Clever Percy (my ginger hunter-cat) has brought yet another live mouse into the house. As custodian of the outbuildings, that's his job done. Black Buster has given it a languid poke and then wandered off to fight my 2000 piece jigsaw (much more fun). Aargh!
Help me, Tiddles the polydactyl tabby, you are my only hope (with apologies to Star Wars). Wrap those extra toes and fingers of yours around that mouse and - ahem - deal with it.
Later...
Sorry about that! This is a family-friendly gardening journal, where rodent cruelty is completely unacceptable. So I rescued the mouse, still alive, and tipped it (gently) into a faraway Lavender shrub. A happy ending.
Well Done You Dahlias
Then I weeded and trimmed for an hour in the house gardens. The dahlias are over, though they haven't yet been hit by the first frost. Still it's the right time to trim them, and I'll lift any whose location is too exposed to frost damage. I've loved the dahlias this last summer. Well done, you dahlias.
Favourite Dahlias
But it's been another horribly noisy big-wind day, and I kept planning my escape route should anything from the Big Gum tree crack and crash towards me. Not pleasant. So I took my rather moochy mood (blame the wind) back into the house. What to do? I even thought about taking the dogs back to the dog-park for a second session. Decided to wash my hair instead. And promised that tomorrow, no matter how noisy the wind is, I will be undaunted.
The Mystery of the Cat Clock...
A mystery solved. Ha! I have a cat clock in the kitchen which is always showing the wrong time. My friends don't believe me when I'm consequently late for things, or an hour early.
Buster the Cat is Busted
I've just seen Buster the black cat sitting underneath it watching the seconds hand tick by. Out goes a black cat paw... OK, Miss Buster. Perhaps you should have concentrated more on that mouse!
Thursday 14th May
Groovy. No wind, nearly five hours of gardening, dogs zooming around barking at nothing, Buster the black cat spying on me, Tiddles the tabby and big Fluff-Fluff getting in the way pouncing on my hands. Young Minimus watching me trim more dahlias by the house, well-hidden underneath a rose. You can see I have not been alone today!
Weeping Maiden Camellia
I've also found a couple of cheerful and unexpected flowering things. I have a new 'first Camellia', Weeping Maiden, a scruffy female, somewhat shy. Mind you, she isn't very mature yet.
Late Daylily
Some little yellow daylilies are flowering again in the warm late-autumn sun. The actual autumn colours in my garden are nearly over now, and soon it will be mid-winter. Eek.
Friday 15th May
It's been raining since mid-morning, so the furry family has spent a lot of time inside staying dry and warm. Miss Buster, blackest of cats, is bored. Chewing left-over jigsaw pieces (don't worry, I've given up on my 2000 piece German mountain scene) is obviously too repetitive for her sharp cat-brain.
So she's moved back to my cat clock, and is now doing her very best to bite off the second hand. Aargh! Buster! This makes Winnie the dog's demolition of biros and pencils seem rather benign...
No gardening today, I'm sorry, just a forest walk with the dogs in the drizzle, some Brahms on the piano, and a spot more TV-Couch Cycling in Turkey, land of amazing amphitheatres.
The Dogs are Bored
And no more unfortunate rodents in the house - for now...