Lovely garden things...

Nature is my best lift when I am down.
Here are some highlights from my last week....

This is Tiger.
He lives about 6 doors down from my Mum, but is trying to move in with her. A typical story: a family that gets pet after pet- as soon as the novelty wears off one they get another. Now they have several dogs. Tiger is voting with his paws.
Here he is, asleep in Mum's back garden. Unfortunately she can't adopt him fully, can't encourage him indoors: Fluffy and Scooter are disturbed by him. Scooter has FiV so we can't risk him passing that on. We encourage a diplomatic distance between them. Like here, it was warm and sunny, and all three cats lay belly up in the sun, too comfy to be bothered.

Here is our hawthorn tree, in full blossom. Also called a May tree, so this May Flower, of the ship fame, I suppose :)
It has been windy these last few days and the blossom is blowing like confetti across the garden:

We have a song thrush!They are so rare now, so I am delighted to have one regularly popping in to our garden. Here s/he is, eating sultanas (raisins or currants would serve just as well...)

Here's a pair of love birds. Well, wood pigeon, to be precise :)
I think we are going to have some baby pigeons :)

I also took pic's of all the flowers in the garden, but these are on the other computer. I'll post them another time.

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Other snips of news:

Re the washing machine:

The engineer came to fix the machine yesterday. Despite my reading that the most probable cause of smoke billowing out of it is a problem with the bearings, he said it was the rubber seal round the door. Isn't it amazing how a man with a white van can tell what's wrong with a machine just by looking at it, not examining or touching it in any way? Wow! Magic! So anyway he changed the seal.

He said, "Yeah, you've had bits of rubber in your washing, aint yer?"
"Er, no." I replied.
"Yeah well you would av."

Fair enough. I gave up! I'll do some washing and see what happens. If I need to call again I'll ask them not to send the guy with the rubber seal obsession.

Re the cats:

Please keep things crossed for Scooter, as he has a dose of cat flu at the moment. With his FiV it is difficult to fight it but he is on anti-biotics. I hope he is ok again soon....

A New Look At Cats

Watch this.
Just do.
Watch it.
I don't care if it's 6 minutes long.
It'll be one of your best 6 minutes, I promise.
Oh, and watch out for the yodelling.

She's ok!

Hoorray! Fluffy got the all-clear! The lumps were just 'fatty lumps'. We have to keep an eye on whether they come back bigger or strangely shaped, but otherwise, it's all OK!! We're sooooooooo relieved and happy.

The poor thing had all these staples in her wound: No surprise then, that once they were removed she was singing and running about all over!

She is also getting very cheeky- this is her brother's bed, made from an old computer packing box and lined with an old quilt. We made it for him because he is so enormous we couldn't find a good one in the shops for him..... Fluffu decided that a visit to the vet gave her squatter's rights:
Never mind. Another old cover on a bench in the garden, and Scooter found a nice alternative in the sun:

I'm very happy that my little rogues have survived to purr another day!

Toe Tabby

This postcard came from a friend in Rome.

I love the way cats have no respect for things that we hold in any kind of esteem: the hard-worked flowerbed, the basket of clean washing, the best chair, the hand-embroidered bed cover that's been passed down through the family. To them it's all just a place to relax.

And here. Geography? History? Art? Nahhh..... this toe just fits my shape perfectly, thanks, and the stone makes a cool spot for my afternoon nap. Why? Was there something else?

OK, don't rub it in!

I've had a week of sleepness nights and groggy days, thanks to a heavy cold. To make things worse, I have to try to sleep sitting up when I have a cold, or at least propped up, so that it has minimal impact on my asthma. Hence, I've not had much sleep lately, as I just can't sleep like that!

So it's sort of rubbing my face in it, to turn over my cat-a-day calendar and find this cheeky wee fella!

Don't you wish you could sleep anywhere, anytime, anyhow? -Like Mr Ginger, here? LOL!