Scar face

It’s been a bit of a worrying time for me this weekend. Dodo went missing for over 48 hours. He missed 4 meals!! Hugo is known to wander, not for any length of time though. But Dodo rarely does. So it was very out of character for him.

I’d been out looking for him. But as I hadn’t been at home the whole weekend, I’d hoped I’d just missed him. But when he didn’t return for dinner last night, I started to fear the worst.

I was woken at 3:40am by a very little voice on the bed. He was very timid, tired and thin. Goodness knows where he’d been. After giving him some food (Hugo was rather happy about extra food), we all headed back to bed.

I woke up feeling rather rubbish. Pounding headache and thick head. So back to bed I went. Dodo joined me for more cuddles. Trust me to be ill when the builders are in next door. Lots of sawing and banging. Still I think we both needed the sleep.

Poor Dodo has a big gash on his face. I’m guessing he got into a fight and either ran or was chased off. He might have gotten himself stuck somewhere too. Who knows?! I’m so relieved he’s home. He’s very happy to be home too.

He’s barely left my side all day. My little purr monster is returning. Let’s hope normal service is returning for me too. Early night for us both me thinks.

Sheltering

The kittens have abandoned the conservatory recently. Well except on the hottest days. Cause that’s where you need to be when it’s hot, a ridiculously hot place!

Today, they barely left it. Choosing to spend the day asleep instead. Cats are so funny. They definitely go through phases. One minute they have a special place. The next, they refuse to use it. It seems the chair is back in vogue. Let’s see how long it lasts…

1 tog

The weather has warmed up considerably over the past few days. That’s resulted in a few broken nights’ sleep as I’ve been overheating. Even with the summer duvet.

I’m not a fan of sleeping uncovered. Last summer I found I was getting cold under an empty duvet cover (call me Goldilocks). So a new lightweight duvet was needed. Just the one tog!

Watch the temperatures plummet and a new ice age decent on the UK. I apologise now…

Sleepy heads

This is what the kittens think of things. They have clearly decided to sleep through it. Can’t blame them. I wish I could. I felt rather tired when I work up this morning. Guess a day trip to Birmingham will do that to you.

Still I had a super productive admin day. Finally ticked a few things off the list that have been hanging around for a while. Very satisfying.

Less satisfying was the fact that having been dry all day, the heavens opened as I headed to the yard. Good job I’m not a fair-weather equestrian!! Picked the wrong country for that.

One good thing about the rain is that it makes weeding easier. Cleared a big patch of weeds on my driveway when I got back. Trouble is this wet / warm weather is perfect growing weather. Let’s hope they don’t come back too soon. I’ve still got a lot of weeds to tackle!!and more undergrowth to cull.

Bear hug

Hugo has decided that my legs are the best place to sleep. He’s perfectly balanced on them. And is embracing them in a lovely bear hug.

My feet are lovely and warm. Which makes a change as I’ve had very cold feet all day.

Trouble is that my right foot has now gone to sleep too. I’m slightly scared to move right now. He’s too cute!

Swing low

Dodo has decided that this is his new favourite place to sleep. Technically it’s a magazine holder, but he loves it in there.

Hugo used to sleep in there when he was a tiny kitten. They’re both a bit bigger now though. He kinda fits still.

He crawled in while I was listening to a podcast in the conservatory. It’s becoming a lovely Saturday afternoon habit now. A nice way to relax after a busy day running errands and at the yard. I even managed to pop Buddy over a few jumps – in the sun!!

My meditation wasn’t quite as successful as the kittens decided to have a play fight during it. Bit hard to relax when you’ve got squeaking and wailing going on. Can’t win them all…

Sunshine

Still feeling a tad crappy when I woke up. So stayed in bed and got more sleep. When I’m ill, sleep really is the best thing for me.

It was a lovely sunny day, so I once I’d gotten up, I sat in the conservatory soaking it up and recharging my batteries. It was still rather chilly so I broke out the blankets too. It does make me giggle as I feel like a 90 year old wrapped in a blanket with my cats. Still I was warm and the kittens appreciated it.

Being forced to slowdown has given me a chance to reflect on things. 2023 was a challenging year for me, but a successful one nonetheless. I haven’t really thought much about 2024 and what I want to achieve. So today I did just that. I’m starting to create my vision for the next year and beyond.

But mostly, I enjoyed the sunshine.

Snoring symphony

This is one of my doggie charges, Flip. She’s snoring in my arms. The other doggie charge, Bailey, is snoring in the corner. I’m being treated to quite the snoring symphony! It always amazes me how much dogs actually sleep.

I’d say they’ve been supportive team mates as I worked this afternoon, but they’ve been sleeping on the job. It’s just like being at home. Except louder.

Funny how an animal snoring is cute whereas a person snoring is murder inducing. Though I have been told I have a cute snore, so make of that what you will.

Horse stuff

What is it with cats and horse stuff?! Hugo has decided all of Buddy’s stinky stuff is his favourite new sleep place. He spent most of the day there!

He was most disgruntled when I moved him to start washing it. Till he saw the pile of clean stuff and curled up on that instead.

The camp clean up is getting there. As is the inbox wrangling I did today. All 5 of them! The joys of multiple clients.

I also got some surprise visitors when Martine and her sister popped round with some flowers to say thank you for everything I did for the fundraising and show. The mark of her as a person that even though she’s poorly, she still goes out of her way to recognise people. What a woman!

Wailing wall

I’m not surprised these two are tired. We all had a broken night’s sleep.

I was woken up at 1am by a cat fight on the roof. I thought they were going to come through the roof! Hugo was wailing so loudly. Woke me up with such a start.

Got up to see what was going on. Found Hugo was hiding on the conservatory roof. And Dodo was on the garage roof. Both looked very shaky.

Cue me on some steps checking them. Thankfully they were both OK.

Saw there was another stray cat in the garden. This one only had one ear! Guessing it was involved in the wailing.

The kittens spent most of the day asleep. Needless to say, I didn’t. But I am all packed ready for the start of Big Camp tomorrow.