Tag Archives: white cat

Moved the Oldies

As some of you may be aware, the world news is terrifying me, so I thought I would try and read a sensible newspaper over breakfast to put things better into perspective.

My plans were duly thwarted.

I didn’t stand a chance really.  I don’t know why I bothered.

Pepper has been “funny” as in funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha, all day.  Her tummy rumbled and off she went to the garden.

I dragged her out for her walk (she wanted to stay near the house watching me do the dog walk with Ted) so I walked the track boundary and, while I was fixing fence wire, all the horses and ponies came up to talk and say they were hungry.  I looked at their field and decided they could all be moved to better grazing.

With open gates, they followed me up the hill to the main exit.  Then I put headcollars on Haakon and Iacs and told the rest to follow, which they all duly did with nobody going “off-piste”.

This is the nicest field now and it will hopefully do them all until the proper grass starts to come in.

I don’t think the old men (Haakon and Iacs) look that good – ie, a bit scrawny in the back end – so hopefully this was a wise move and, as the spring grass arrives, they will start putting more weight back on.

And so Pepper spent her afternoon shivering, making horrid noises and then a long sleep in front of my little shed fire, while I cried my way through “The Help” and made another sheep.  When Pepper woke up, she said she wanted her tea now, so we are back to the beginning again. *** sigh *** I am none the wiser with this little dog and her tummy.

Tricky

As W. C. Fields used to say “Never work with children or animals”. Well, he was right.

Today’s breakfast was tricky.

Monster was absolutely no help at all and I failed dismally on the Connections puzzle (Wordle 6).

But Pepper had an eating-day, so that was encouraging.

The sunshine was also most welcome by everyone.  Animals sprawled everywhere inside and out.

The sheep are coming along well. I just need someone to buy one, two, three….. have a whole flock.

And the real thing were hanging around too.

After their supper, I tried to get Monster to pose nicely with Pepper.

She tried her best.

It just wasn’t a very good best.

And Monster quickly left.

Oh well, Pepper is still cute (and still eating) – oof, that little face ❤️

Beds, Again

Continuing with the cat/dog bed saga…..

This is one of Monster’s many beds.  He loves it, except when he finds Ted enjoying it and then Monster has to hate it until he forgets.

It’s tough being Monster.  He spends many hours contemplating his misery and life choices.

And obviously I worry about him as he’s getting older and stiffer in his gait.  So I bought three of these “self-warming” pads – A safe, electricity-free solution to keeping pets warm and toasty; the bed mat is equipped with a layer of insulating fiber batting and mylar, which reflects body heat to create a warm sleep surface for pets to curl up in cozy comfort.” (their blurb)

I popped one in Monster’s “Fortress of Solitude” – it was an instant success.

Then I gave one to Ted too for “his” sofa.

Yup, he loved it.

And the last, well, I thought I would put it on the end of my bed for the time being to see if Pepper liked it.

Nope.

Even when I tenderly placed her on it saying this was a Lovely Thing…..

I don’t think that mat is ever going to be a success with Pepper.

No matter, I really bought it for Ted’s night-time bed that sits beside mine.  That would be the one Monster goes and sleeps in sometimes…..

Goodbye Flossie

We knew the weather would be very bad at 8.00 when we usually go out to feed everyone, so Floss and I got up an hour early (plus the clocks went forward last night) before it all revved up. We wanted to get everything done while it was safe to be outside.

Floss is going back to her home, having helped me enormously over a hard winter.  Later on, when there was lull in the weather, we went outside so she could say goodbye to everyone.

(we also put a hand under everyone’s rugs to find them totally dry and warm, which was good, as some quantity of rain had fallen).

 

And then Floss went to say goodbye to the sheep and we decided to have a sit in the sheep shed, mostly because it was dry.

This is one of my favourite past-times.

While the weather was raging outside, we were dry, calm and peaceful.

And ‘Bert was very cuddly – there was a brief minute when Flossie imagined taking ‘Bert back with her but he’s not great on a dog-lead so that would be the difficulty.

(I ❤️ this photo so much!)

However, Lambie is great on a dog-lead but not half as cuddly.

And then inside to try and put a few things on Ebay – the job that is always waiting for the rainy day.

It was not made easy but I achieved and put a few things on.  We’ll see what happens.  I feel quite inspired.

So farewell to Flossie. Both she and Daisy have been an immense help and support when I needed it most.  I think I can do this on my own now.  I just need a system.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Well, someone is feeling 100% better and would happily eat all the meals she missed on her day off.   I must admit I do try and feed her slightly more when she’s hungry because she’s already a skinny little dog.

But the happy light in her eyes has returned and she is back to bouncing like Tigger so I am relieved. I can worry about something else instead like Skippy, (my electric wheelbarrow) who died this morning – dammit.

You would think I would just get used to Pepper’s eating difficulties and learn how to harden my heart and wait it out but I find her visible suffering difficult to watch. I take it very personally and it reminds me of BeAnne’s slow demise which broke my heart.

Anyway, again, Monster’s medical skills obviously worked.

“The best thing we can do is go on with our daily routine”

Meanwhile, outside it goes from the sun shining to violent hail showers in seconds.  Floss and I were tidying the big shed when this arrived.  The noise was incredible and then as quickly as it arrived, it stopped.