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“No! Fidget can’t play with my ball! I don’t care that I’m asleep, he can’t have it! He’s got his stupid bell if he wants something to play with. This is MINE!”

It’s to go with the baby hare he’s currently chomping down on! Yes, the cat who would lick a mouse to death seems to have taken quite a liking to hare. Which is good! So I’m letting him chow down a bit more before trying to come up with somewhere to dispose of the corpse that he won’t find in 10 minutes.

It’s the second one he’s munched on now. We thought last time that the driveway man must have killed it with his digger or something. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe between them the cats did catch it. I hope so!

If past experience is anything to go by though, the problem with letting him eat hare is that his little tummy gurgles and gurgles all day, and I’m not to recall what his little bottom does. Let’s just say I don’t think he’ll be sleeping on my lap this afternoon!

I decided this post doesn’t need a photo…

Q: What’s worse than kitty breath?
A: A kitty with garlic breath!

And the main reason that’s bad is because Fidget got that breath from chewing on the leaves of our garlic plants in the garden. To the point where one clove was dragged right out, and some others were looking in danger of having no green bits left! And telling him “no, don’t do that!” every time he went back for another mouthful had about as much impact as yelling at an avalanche. So a bit of quick thinking later we rigged up a few little cages out of chicken-wire to hopefully protect them and some of the other seedlings from kitty love.

To be fair to Fidget, Pinot can be just as destructive in the garden, but she just walks over things, or in the case of the glass cloches, right through them. Sometimes chasing a mouse. But the cages seem to be working so far. At least until a kitty decides that sitting right on top of one looks like a good place to catch some rays.

In other garden news, spring is definitely here now. The daffs installed for us while we were away have started to flower again. And this time we’re here to enjoy them every time we go check the mail. Good job I knocked back that bit of grass with the weed-eater a couple of months ago so we can see them!

Tulips have poked up too in the hospital bed we made for them. Peas have sprouted and are slowly growing higher. Broad beans are reaching upward faster and faster. We have quite a collection of chilli, capsicum, tomato and eggplant seedlings taking over the kitchen table (anyone want a spare one or two?) which we’re trying to keep in some sort of order so we can work out just what’s what…

I’ll not bore you with the full current planting list. I’ll save some for later!

It’s been all go here today! Plasterer and painter, as well as the wardrobe guys installing a straight wardrobe, along with the continued driveway and lawn works. My main contribution to things was to keep the cups of tea flowing and to stir the simmering Pinto beans. (The beans were for us for tea, nothing to do with all the troops). And to keep the kitties settled. As much as I could with so much going on. They found it all a bit much and spent most of the day sitting on chairs under the dining table.

But stage one of the driveway project was completed about 3:30pm. The whole drive had been dug out, and all the piles of dirt transported to the “lawn”, which looked like it had been visited by some sort of giant mole or something!

Then the hideous eyesore of the back area got a quick clean-up, and is now looking almost flat and quite presentable. I need to get out and do some shovel work tomorrow to clean up the bits close to the house, but I’m quite happy to do that small chore when I’ve seen how fast all the other stuff gets carted around and evened out. The thought of trying to do that with shovel and wheelbarrow isn’t a good one!

By 6pm a large number of molehills had been flattened out and spread around, and a level area was appearing in the courtyard area. It’s made a huge difference already not to have the ground sloping away from the house.

Assuming it doesn’t rain tomorrow I wonder what progress will be made then!

…we lost count of how many mice Pinot had caught. I think we’re averaging well over one a day now. But luckily none of them have made it inside. Yet!

Notice I said “Pinot had caught”. I think the only one that Fidget has managed to score for himself was the one that Bec saw in the short grass and called him over and pointed him right at it! And then she felt bad for a bit.

Not that he has any problem stealing them off Pinot to play with. Which seems to be OK ish. She seems to enjoy the hunt, while he just wants to be friends with them and play all afternoon. Although there does seem to be a bit of good natured growling from the one that currently “controls” the mouse.

His favourite game seems to be taking them to the sole tree in the middle of the “lawn” and chasing it around and around the pot it’s in, changing direction now and then, just like kids do. It’s really fun to watch. He can go for hours! At least as long as the poor mouse lasts. Then he looks so sad when the poor mouse can’t play any more. And then he tries half heartedly tossing it around to see if it’ll play any more. But of course it doesn’t.

And then it’s over to me to add it to the stack of used playthings. That stack is getting pretty big now! Three on the shovel is the record so far. They are pretty cute though. Although not quite so cute with rigor mortis and covered in kitty slobber!

It’s been pretty quiet around here really. Nothing too exciting to report for the last few days except a few onion seeds in seed trays popping up. Not really worth an entry, that!

But today saw the construction of… A door!

Yes, that’s right. All the timber that we had lying around to make a chicken run went on a door for a, um, chicken run! Which we don’t, as yet, have. But at least when we do get one we’ll have a door for it!

After hearing some stories from the local neighbourhood about dogs and chickens, and given we’ve had a few visits from roaming dogs I thought it was a good idea that we have a fairly high and strong run to protect the birds when we finally get them.

And it’s quite a substantial door that should do the job. 2 layers of wood sandwiching the mesh and everything.

Worked out quite well in the end. Pretty happy with the day’s efforts. Now we just need some pretty substantial hinges for it, and of course the poles to hang it on.

Yes, it had to happen sometime. Some of the local wildlife have succumbed to the hunting prowess of Pinot. (Fidget still prefers playing with tall weeds.)

On Friday she caught her first mouse, but didn’t really seem to know what to do with it, so Fidget took over and played with it. Like he does whenever she gets hold of any toy.

But on Saturday she caught another mouse, and this time she wasn’t going to let him anywhere near it until she’s finished with it. I.e. it was dead. At that point she thought she may as well go find another live one. Which she did.

So that’s three. So far. That we know of, anyway. Luckily they’ve all stayed outside so far, and haven’t been dug up again once I’ve buried them either. I wonder which animal or bird will be next. She certainly eyes up the magpies that come wandering around like they own the place, but I really hope she just leaves them alone until she’s got just a bit more weight behind her!

Another post for Beth. And us!

The kitties are sometimes just so cute, and we probably don’t take enough pics of them to use to remind us just how cute they were once they’ve all grown up. A lot of cute kitty things seem to revolve around shoes. It’s amazing what you can do with shoes when you’re a kitten. Including wedge your whole upper body into a ug-boot, which is never boring to watch. But then there’s the other games, like putting your little toy into a shoe, fishing it out, putting it in another shoe, fishing it out, putting it… You get the idea!

But some of the cutest bits are sleeping in/on/by shoes, and they’re the easiest to take pics of. There seem to me to be an infinite number of more comfortable places to sleep around the house, but apparently shoes make good pillows. Or something.

Yes, Pinot is indeed asleep, but with her head wedged upright. Guess she thinks it makes her look awake and alert, or something. Makes more sense than one of her other regular sleeping positions where she holds onto a table leg with both front paws. Go figure.

And of course those shoes are not all sitting in the entrance way, they are indeed in the wardrobe!

Now, if I can just capture the growly sounds Fidget makes playing with his bell…

Another stunning day, another slog outside. This afternoon (after the ground had unfrozen from the frost) we managed to refill the first plot back up to its original level! What an achievement!

Put like that it seems simple, but the grind of sieving seemingly endless barrow loads of dirt was starting to take its toll by the end.

But its done. Compost folded in. More dirt in. Stomped down. Watered in a bit.

Watching the kitties discover a sprinkler for the first time was quite amusing. Fidget in particular had lots of fun putting paws and head in the streams. And then playing in the mud. Getting very dirty. Again!

Now we should really put the plot to bed properly for winter with a bit of mulch or something, but I’d probably have to get keen with the weed-eater for that, so it can wait. We’ll see how much this lot settles first. Although we do have a batch of tulip bulbs with no place to go, so maybe one end might end up a tulip patch temporarily…

Now. Just two more to go. For now. But it sounds like we’ll have a deck day tomorrow, so we’ll use a few different muscles for a bit, and let the sore ones rest. Hopefully!

That’s right. Fidget seems to think he’s a puppy!

He’s always been one for playing with toys (and I’ve always been a sucker for buying him toys), but he/we seem to have discovered a new game. We throw the toy somewhere, he brings it back to us, rinse, repeat…

Sound familiar?!

But at least playing this game with his toys he doesn’t growl. Much! If he has his bell he growls all the time. (Except when I have the mic beside him trying to capture the growl for all to hear. I’ll keep working on that!) That’s why we limit “bell time” to a half hour session or so every couple of days.

And yes, Pinot is just as cute, but she’s happier outside thinking about chasing birds. And eating bugs.