Smiling...
Three things that make me smile, even if I'm tired or a bit grumpy : my cats, my dogs (when they are behaving), and my spring garden. Yeay!
A few words about those cats. Darling Buster! She's taken to sitting on the house patio table, enjoying the spring sunshine. Then I'll see her out of the corner of my eye, zooming over the lawn like a furry black flash.
Black Fred :- Black Fred weighed in at the vet : 6.2 kgs. Heavy!
Black Fred has a urinary infection which isn't bothering him in the slightest. Tricking him into eating food laced with antibiotics is bothering me a little! But I think I've found the magic formula - creamy puree ('feed by hand for a special moment' is the blurb on the rather expensive packet) mixed up with cat-treats called 'Temptations'. Yum!
Speckles the stray coming for his evening meal always makes me happy. But his food cannot be left out on the verandah anymore because one (or both?) of the Fred cats has taken to night-visiting the cottage. Then Minimus inside on the cottage bed growls - she doesn't like the Freds. I wake up, grab my torch, identify the cat as a Fred, and then have to open the door to shoo him away. This is not restful.
Speckles the Stray Cat Sitting With Me
Winnie the dog has suddenly turned into the best gardening companion. This week I've been weeding in different garden areas, and she's been sitting down in the grass nearby. Of course she could just be waiting for me to throw a stick, but I'd like to think that she enjoys my company. Dream on! And Pebbles has been behaving. Just yesterday there was something very dog-stinky in next door's paddock. She really wanted to check it out, but managed to resist the temptation and came back to me as I called her. Wow! Very unusual.
Pukeko :- Pukekos are New Zealand swamp hens - the silliest of birds. There are quite a few living in my paddocks.
The pukekos on the property have gone completely silly - a spring thing maybe? They've moved from the orchard onto the house lawns and are forever shrieking, chasing each other around (I blame the boys), and getting stuck in the Olearia hedge. My dogs find all this activity very exciting - so it's officially the chase-a-pukeko season, and pukekos (like the pheasants who live in the orchard) are rather slow to gain altitude. Oops.
The bees are busy (enjoying the later spring blossom and the flowering Pittosporums). So there's a lot of energy in the spring garden, and of course the beauty of the spring colours is just amazing. No wonder I'm smiling. Especially today, as I made myself clean up my mess and pick up all my tools after weeding the Stumpy Garden's edges. Yeay!