White stuff

The garden is covered in white stuff...not very cat friendly white stuff. It is as deep as our legs are long and we don't like it.

We are very bored after a few days of staying in, but find that sitting on the humans' desks and computers and knocking things off shelves gets their attention quite well.

At least there is a coal fire - we'll stay in front of that until the white stuff goes away.

Happy Christmas!

It is cold, very cold, and very wet. Not cat weather at all. And the mice seem to have gone away for the winter. Or maybe they have been drowned?

We go out sometimes, but usually come home wet through. Then we shout and the humans dry us with cloths and we don't like that. We do prefer the summer.

We like this cat website -

www.simonscat.com

- which is obviously written by a human who understands cats.

Meow.

A Cat View of the Weather

There is lots of rain around, and lots of poor people have been flooded out of their homes this week, esp. in Cumbria.

Cats hate rain, but they also hate being confined to the house. Sometimes E & C go out anyway, get wet, and then come home and shout at the humans about How Wet they are and How it Needs to Stop Raining. They don't like being dried with a cloth, and would rather lie down to dry off on the humans' bed.

Last year, when there was floodwater all around The Vicarage (see picture), they watched from the window for a while, and then they went to bed and stayed there for the rest of the day. Now there's a good idea...

Humans and other animals

The humans have been away recently, and E & C spent a week in The Cattery. They are usually Not Impressed; the staff are good, but there are Other Cats Who Have to be Sworn at, which takes a lot of C's energy.

Then the humans were going to go away again , but Alex was ill & stayed home. He says he has 'viral bronchitis', but E & C think he is turning into a dog, because he keeps barking. They have learned to ignore the noise, and no longer jump every time he does it. However, they are keeping a close watch to see if his nose is wet and if he has any fur on his face...

An Anti Time Travel Cat

Cuthbert is feeling better and has decided that the
humans' game of
'Changing the Clocks Twice a Year'
needs Sorting Out.


He is therefore ignoring it, and demanding breakfast at The Proper Time - which the humans think is too early. They are going by the clock but he knows - because his tummy tells him - when it is breakfast time.



It worked last time...the humans used to put food down at 6pm. Cuthbert got this moved to 5pm after the last clock change, and it has stayed as such. Now he is working on moving it to 4pm - a civilised afternoon tea slot.



And, if he can train them to do this, then he is just thinking that there might be space for a 3rd meal in the day.



Emily can't count or do time, but is happy to shout for food when Cuthbert tells him to. They managed to convince Caroline to give them a second dinner one evening last week. Alex had gone out and their bowls were empty, and they said that they Had Definitely Not Been Fed and Were Very Hungry - so they got food - and had 2 dinners that day.

Poor Cuthbert has a Crisis

Last week, Cuthbert came into the house and threw up in the hall; this happens sometimes when he eats mice and other garden takeaways. This time it all went horribly wrong and something got stuck. He sat on the bed and coughed and spluttered all day until Alex took him to the v.e.t. (He hates going there - he bit her once).

The v.e.t. thought he would be OK - as he had thrown up more in the travelling box on the way there - and sent him home. Poor Cuthbert continued to cough and retch pathetically all day and all night. He spent most of the time under the bed, and came out to lie on Alex and purr gently in the middle of the night. (Caroline managed to be away that week).

The next morning, Cuthbert could not eat or drink, so Alex rang the v.e.t. again, and they invited Cuthbert to come back in the afternoon. He was feeling a bit horrid by now, so went - and they kept him in hospital!

Cuthbert says:

'add my Operation to the blog. Tell the story of How I Went Under The Knife, and how the vet Sifted Through My Intestines to find the Foreign Body that was making me Very Ill. How I Nearly Died but have now made a Full Recovery.'

In the interests of balanced journalism, the v.e.t.'s comment was, 'he sicked grass up his nose and we had to get it out'.

Poor Cuthbert - anyway, he is OK now. And Emily barely noticed anything different going on.

Admiring the view from the Vicarage gatepost

Emily doesn't really like having his photo taken, & here are some odd things about him:

He has a cloth that he chews, whilst padding and purring....probably because he was taken away from his mother a bit young

He once swallowed a fishing hook, and had to be rushed to the vet, who got it out without any lasting damage to Emily (life 1)

He will not sit on human laps and objects loudly to being picked up by any human

He likes other cats: he will make friends with them and sit next to them and purr

He sometimes disappears for a long time, and then - after the humans have gone frantic looking for him - saunters home for dinner (lives 2, 3 & 4)

He once fell in a water butt and came home soaked to the skin and half drowned (life 5)

He has had quite an adventurous life for a cat who spends most of his time asleep

Cuthbert likes to sleep in the warm compost heap.

Cuthbert taking time with the Sunday papers.

Cuthbert - in the fruit bowl.

Emily is on the left and Cuthbert on the right, on the gatepost lookout at the Vicarage.

We like to sit here in the mornings to watch the dogs-on-pieces-of-string go for walks with their humans. As we are six feet above contradiction, we can say what we like; usually we just stare and then laugh when they make a lot of noise.

We look alike, but you can tell us apart, because Cuthbert has white hair in his ears and Emily has black hair in his ears.

Yes, 'his' ears...Emily is a boy, there was just a bit of a mix up when he was small...actually, he was named by a 3 year old, after an imaginary friend....and then the vet laughed a lot when he went for his first visit.