Harmony...
Black Fred
2019 has started, touch wood, with wonderful house animal harmony. Woof, woof, woof, sniff, a couple of squeaks, and a miaow from the adult cats, two new identical kittens (both called Fred), and three dogs (Escher the big brown dog is staying). Most of us seem to like each other.
Buster my black cat came walking with the three dogs this morning. She danced and pranced around Escher, and licked and smooched his nose. Escher's dog-lips quivered, and he blew little bubbles of joy. Buster then rearranged herself gently and he managed a sneaky cat-bottom sniff. Even more exciting!
Buster and the kittens...
Alas - Buster is still sulking about the Fred kittens. She's not being at all nasty, she's just peeved.
In the kitchen, I am busy trying out a variety of tasty little treats to find the Freds' favourites. This is a very serious, ongoing experiment. I originally thought that Red Fred preferred fishy tastes, while Black Fred chose chicken, but not so. Now I think texture might be the key. And anything with beef in it? Maybe. Tiger gets the left-overs from my taste testing. Escher licks the tins clean.
Brown Dog Stretch
I can report that both kittens adore Fancy Feast 'Classic Salmon Pate'. So, naturally, I sent Non-Gardening Partner off to the store this morning to buy four more cans. OK, men readers. See if you can spot the difference : Fancy Feast 'Classic Salmon Pate', Fancy Feast 'Salmon Morsels in Gravy'. Hmm...
It's been a hot day, but I am on top of things. So far today I've bucketed water twice on all the new roses in The Hump (they are all extremely happy, I must add, see the photographs). I've weeded and mulched lots more. The mulch mountain is decreasing noticeably. And this is a good thing. Mulch needs to be on a garden.
Pebbles and Escher
A funny moment with Escher. There we were earlier, standing in the water race (I was weeding the bank) when something decidedly dodgy came into view, bobbing along the water towards us. Oops. It looked - shall we say - organic. Quick - a distraction! Desperately I rattled the flax leaves - Escher! Where's the bunny? Into the greenery went his nose, just as a very large and very dead hare floated past. Phew! That was too close! But hey! I didn't lie to him...
Non-Gardening Partner with Escher and Buster
So now the House 'Rose-Ay' is swirling down rather nicely, the evening meal is cooking, the kittens (tummies full of Dine 'Morsels in Jelly with Beef') are in their baskets, and all the dogs are snoozing on their couches, waiting for dinner.
Escher and the Fred Kittens
I'm proud that I did so much weeding and mulching, since these are both repetitive, physical activities which can easily cause sore hands and knees. It may only be one day, but it's a great start to the year.