The cat came back...
Where's the food?
There's an old comic song : 'the cat came back, the very next day. Thought he was a goner but the cat came back'. Hello, Speckles the stray, missing for ten days. Welcome back...
In the middle of the night I was woken by Minimus the cottage cat. Opened the door to let her outside. Oh. She ran past Speckles the stray, camped on the doormat. Speckles! Risen from the dead, where I had firmly placed you.
Not ten-days skinnier...
So on the eleventh day he reappears, chirping 'Where's my food?'. Small observation : he didn't look ten-days skinnier. Small thought : maybe he's been playing me for a silly billy all along, and is being fed elsewhere. Hmm...
First thing this morning, looked up the definition of 'sheepish' : 'embarrassed or bashful, through looking foolish or being in the wrong.' Well, I certainly feel foolish, and I was wrong. Speckles wasn't dead. He'd simply wandered off for ten days.
Thank you Minimus...
Returned to the cottage with my cup of tea and sat on the verandah with Minimus. I stroked her soft grey fur. I apologised for giving so much of my precious mind energy to a vagabond cat who came and went as he pleased and was only interested in food.
Minimus on the Cottage Verandah
I thanked Minimus for her loyalty and friendship. Snug on my lap, she purred her forgiveness.
Later Saturday...
Having fun in the water race, but so far I've worked for ages and only cleared the smallest section. Am up against the weed mat I foolishly laid on the muddy water-side path years and years ago. It's awful stuff - am trying to cut it and rip it out. The weeds love growing underneath it.
Waterside Path
Thought weed mat was such a good idea back in 2006. Laid it and covered it with little stones - the perfect weed suppressant. Oh yeah? Was starting to have a bad feeling about it by 2010. I know this because I've checked back in my gardening journals (what a nerd). Weed mat leaves behind a rather nasty legacy.