A Northern Journal

So I sit here with only a day or so before I go back to work (Uggg!). We have had a fortnight of snow, well I hesitate to call it snow, as it has been frozen solid for much of that time and the drive and road is glass-like.

Christmas was spent quietly with parents visiting but we were ice bound for much of the time and I had a nasty cough. M & B managed to get out for a handful of walks, but not as many as they would have liked - and I had big plans to get out walking too.

Eventually I felt well enough to venture out properly and the four of us piled into the Trooper and hubby carefully drove us up to the wind turbine where we went for a short walk crunching through the icy crust on the snow. I had hoped to walk further into the hill track but the going was too tough and potentially soggy under the ice. M & B decided to walk home (about 2-3 miles) and I decided to join them. Hubby went off with the car to go to the shop. It was nice to be out and about after being confined to the house but boy it was cold! We stopped in briefly to visit Gem and her pal Murphy. I promptly managed to frighten her by taking a photo with a flash. It was a good walk, but I did hitch a lift the last half mile with hubby returning from the shops as I was puggled!

Parents safely got back to the West Coast and hubby and I plodded along doing very little expect eating leftovers. The road into ours and another four houses had only seen a gritter once. My wee car hasn’t moved for nearly two weeks now… but at least it is in the shed.

The ponies are doing incredibly well with very thick fluffy coats but with the frozen snow can’t get to much grass (not that there is much left on the field) so they get some hay ouside. They both, despite being natives like coming into the stable at night.

Today I was sitting idly browsing the net and being bored when I saw a gritter come up the road and back down again… yet again it didn’t come in by us. Doesn’t our council tax pay for this service? An angry Facebook comment later, and I found the OIC roads dept number and gave them a ring. I got an answer and whilst I was on the line the person at the other end radioed the gritter which only 5 mins before had missed us. Low and behold, it returned and did our road. Now that is service for you!

So, it is 2010 - it has a nice sound to it. What will it bring? I don’t know but I’ll just take it as it comes.

… one member of our menagerie spent most of the icy season asleep…

Christmas presents unwrapped, paper all over the floor and Malfoy finds somewhere to go to sleep. Stretched out on a piece of wrapping paper felt to him, a very good idea but he was rudely awoken by an interloper into the household. “Pss Psss Pss”, I says to him and he blinks his eyes open to be faced with a papier maché cat. He blinks again not sure on what he has seen.

Out stretches a paw to give the newcomer a tentative blat, then shock and horror, it moves. Malfoy was very very unhappy as shown by his racoon like tail!

Well, you would throw a cat treat in here!!!

Gimmee gimmee gimmeeeeeeaow!

Why do cats always find the smallest or weirdest places to sleep? Interesting, tho’ that it is the tabbies who appear to be caught in odd places more often, especially Merlin, the white chested one.

Merliln found sleeping in the plant pot 6:30am on 12th November

Malfoy in the newspaper recycling box on a high shelf

Perdi

A typical Merlin sleeping place - anywhere that he is too big for!

Looks cute, but Snitch is very aloof!

The latest venue for Merlin

Merlin lifts the lid to get in and hide

Glove and hat rack. Merlin somehow shifts the wood which is meant to stop him sleeping up there!

Malfoy likes bags

Malfoy also likes small places

I'm stilll not sure how Merl got into this one

Folders are fair game

Warm radiator (admittedly he had help :-))

Malf in another bag

An empty box is fair game

A young Malf

Both tabs on the shelf, not a common sight to see them together like this

Kitchen bin

Malf on Gem

Malf on radiator of his own accord

Merlin - not exactly cosy

Snitch & Merlin in a laundry basket. Snitch isn't too happy about sharing tho'.

I am surprised the cats continue to find the odd places to sleep. They surely must be getting fed up of having a camera (which I usually always have to hand) pointed at them.

Why is it that cats beg for food, even when they have been fed. Three out of our four cats manage to try to con one of us into feeding them again… even if the other has already fed them. The pure tabby (the one in the blog header), Malfoy is an utter thief. He is just over a year old. Got him to replace a fading Perdi(ta) last winter but Perdi (the calico cat) rallied and is still with us. Malf is a downright scavenger. A rescue kitten from Westray he seems to have kept some of the feral scavenging gene. The other day, whilst I was running a Dungeons & Dragons game he stole a piece of Christmas cake and yesterday he opened a pizza waiting to be cooked. He has learnt how to get in the flip top waste bin and has also raided the compost / green cone kitchen bin. Heaven knows what will happen when the beef is cooked for Xmas lunch tomorrow! Merlin, the tabby and white, is also quite good at trying to find food in the kitchen but at least he has the sense to look guilty when he is caught!