Saturday, December 13, 2008

The End of the Year

I don't believe that the Year ends on the 31st of December. It makes no sense. Businesses close, schools close, clubs break up...all in the middle of December. So, here's to the end of MY year.
  • Caitie finished Year 5 in style, being sent up to the office twice for verbally fighting in class. She has now been told that the bully who has been driving her nuts all year is, from this point on, invisible. I told her to pretend this evil child does not exist, to ignore all things from her even if said in friendship. Here's to a Year 6 where I have asked that Caitie is not in the same class as her.
  • Aiden finished Year 3 with a report on his Report Card that his a dreamer with excellent imagination and literary skills. His handwriting is appalling (thanks Uncle Wayne LOL), his concentration is nil and he gets aggressive when he doesn't get his own way...(sigh).
  • Conor is gearing up for Prep next year and enjoyed going to see everyone in his new class. Bring it on!
  • Obedience broke up with a bit of a whimper. The break up night was too quiet and I felt a bit dismal this year. Oh well. Bring on 2009 with plans for instructing Class 4 only and a new puppy!
  • Agility broke up with a ton more fun. We had a pizza night with lots of laughter and joking. I look forward to going over the notes for the agility class and making it bigger and better next year.
  • Christmas tree is up, presents are bought....Chrimbo is all go and we are on a countdown to Sydney! Woohoooo.
  • I am working my tush off at the moment and the money is coming in awfully handy. I must say that Summer is fantastic weather for a dog groomer.
  • And lastly, here's to a year full of good news, healthy animals, happy kids and booming business!

Cin

Merry Elfmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Saturday, December 6, 2008

A Family First

I rarely have photographs with me in them as I hate having my photograph taken. However, we got a professional family photo taken through our day care center and I have to say that I am way chuffed with the resulting pic.

Its great to have a halfway decent photo of my insane kids and husband. We are always on the go so getting us all together, dressed nicely and without any major injuries visible is a plus. Mind you, the day before this pic, Caitie went swimming and came home the colour of a fresh young beetroot. Luckily it settled down over night.

I mentioned about the storms that hit us the other night. Well, here is a quick look at them through our camera. Today is particularly hot and humid so no doubt we will get some more weather through tonight.

Cheers,

Cin

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Too much...and a little bit of sanity returns

I was going to dwell on what has happened this year but enough is enough...so, in the spirit of the Season......MERRY CHRISTMAS! Santa is due in just over 20 sleeps and my little people couldn't care less! Well, its only because we will be flying down to visit my Mum and Other Dad on Christmas day. Typical kids. It has made it a little easier though, they aren't so focused on the Big Red dude. Here are the kiddos dressed up for their Carols night.

A few things to report. One that, looking back, is kinda funny depending on where you were sitting at the time. I mentioned earlier about Caitie's horrendous temper tantrums and how destructive physically, mentally and emotionally they are. Well, she got her comeuppance last week. Caitie had been horrid all week, tons of attitude, slyly being mean to her brothers, backchatting, tantrums, the works so I told her quite calmly she couldn't go to a friends house for a swim. That led to a complete meltdown with warnings from both of us for her to settle down. Eventually, her screaming tantrum got to Husband, who gave her a crack with a wooden spoon around the butt.

She then proceeded to stand in her bedroom and scream, at the top of her lungs, "Stop bashing me, I hate it when you bash me, you're always bashing me...." It took her a good half hour to settle down. I finally got her to settle and, as we were discussin her behaviour, I heard a car pull up...then a torch came through our front yard...then the knock on the door...

"Excuse me M'am, but we have had a report of a domestic disturbance, anything happening around here?" Nice young policeman he was. All I could do was be honest and tell him that my ten year old daughter had thrown a wobbly and was screaming at the top of her lungs. And do you know what the Nice Policeman did? He stuck his head around the corner and told Caitlin, "You're ten, do what your told!" I could have fainted. I then went on to explain that she had a meltdown as she had been horrid all week and I wouldn't let her go to a friends place. He was very kind and wished me a good evening...then said, quite loudly, "You're ten, you don't get to go anywhere!" I could have married him!

After they left, I burst into tears and hid in the bedroom as it was so overwhelming that one of the neighbours thought we were beating our child. After I came out, Caitie was standing there, dead white, eyes as big as saucers and whispered, "I'm so sorry Mummy." Finally she understood that screaming that out, which she does, will get her taken away from us. Eventually she asked me to stop crying cause I was scaring her. I think the lesson sunk in.

This week, she has been quite good. No complete meltdowns. A few minor squabbles, but nothing huge.

As I mentioned, we had the kids christmas carols last night. A great family night, which I thoroughly enjoy. Ok I had to drag Husband by the short and curlies but he enjoyed himself as we got to watch the latest summer storm roll in.

The storm hit soon after we got home. Caitie didn't get to sing as the storm was moving too fast and we all had to bolt. After we got home, we had the best light show. At one point, we heard the lightning sizzle through the air and then *CRACK* it hit only a few streets away.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=QFp_EYo4uL0 This is a link to some lightning footage I took last night. Some excellent strikes, especially at the 24 second mark and the 36 second mark, where a double strike is.
I hope everyone continues to be safe as we have yet another storm predicted for this afternoon. I don't mind the storms so much as the high humidity that proceeds them!!!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Love hurts.....

Today, we lost another friend. This year alone, as a family we have said goodbye to three of our much loved fur friends. Too much for one year, too much pain and far too many tears.

In February, our Granma Besa, head of the dogpack, suffered a stroke which left her dazed, confused and unable to either get up or go down our very high back steps. She had been diagnosed with massive tumours the previous December and we knew we were running on borrowed time. Unfortunately, time stops for no man and her time ran out. I'd like to say she went peacefully but Besa fought me the whole way. That was just the kind of dog she was.
On the 20th of August we lost Arthur Bean, the one-eyed Pirate Cat. This little fellow filled our house with love, laughter and naughtiness. He left a huge hole, a huge, deep, dark, scary hole that we didn't think could be filled.
Now it is November and our hearts are shredded again. Our darling Kai, the blonde of the household, my Chickendog has gone. Kai suffered horrendously from skin allergies her whole life and by the end she was mostly blind, deaf as a post and I believe had numerous outbreaks of cancer throughout her tired body. We chose to do the right think, knowing that with a heart as big as hers, she would not succumb but would continue to fight in her quiet, stoical way.
Rest easy, Princess. At Rainbow Bridge you will be whole and healed, you will be young and strong and Besa is waiting for you. Go bravely.
I can't make the pain go away, I can't stop the hurt but I can be there for when the night gets too quiet and a furrever friend is missing.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Please stay safe....

This past weekend has been huge. Nell and I competed in Obedience CCD on the weekend with Nell receiving a qualifying score, her CCD title and a 2nd place trophy! Well done to my Mighty Midget.
Sunday dawned bright and hot. It was so hot in the catshow hall that the kittens were overheating a blushing a deep hot pink. Devons only do this when they are seriously hot. The day went really well with the new kid Analise winning four devon kitten of breed placings and never being unplaced in the groups.
So, after a fantastic show, we headed home, only to be greeted outside by the most threatening sky we have ever seen. By the time we got to my fathers house to pick up the kids, the storm had dropped onto us with the sky being a deep aqua green. We barely had time to secure the house and the cars before the storm hit. We had vertical rain, wind gusts of up to 150km an hour. It lasted for a good half an hour and by the time it was done, it had almost wiped one of Brisbanes suburbs off the map. The Gap is in a hell of a state with trees and houses ripped apart. One photograph showed what looked to be a miniature tornado descending.

We thought we were in the clear until last night when another storm dropped onto us. It hit around 2am with all the subtlety of a freight train. Vertical rain, vertical trees.

Above is a screenshot of the storm as it came through Brisbane. The hotpink dot is where my family lives. And at last look, there are more storms building this afternoon...

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Saturday Snuggles are the BEST

We actually had a rare lie in this morning and after T got out of bed, I called everyone in for a mass smash on the bed. At one point I had Caitie beside me on the right, Aiden on the left and Little Bear Conor on my front. That kid is like a limpet, permanently stuck to some part of me. We had hugs and tickles and slappies and kicking off the bed. Only a few quibbles but they were soon nipped in the bud.





As I went to go to work this morning, Conor raced to the door and gave me a few kisses on the cheek. He is such a sweetie!

This is a typical Conor photo, those big blue eyes and that even bigger cheeky grin. He is so funny. Today he took me by the hand and we went into the boys bedroom. After leading me into their room he said, "Ta daaaa," with a flourish with his hand. "I made my bed!" Yes you did little man. Just don't do it again cause you are growing up tooooo fast.

He starts Prep next year, Aussie version of preschool, the year before grade 1. He still looks at me and says, "but sewiously Mummy," and I melt. He rarely chucks a tantie and when he does they blow over relatively quickly. Denying him my "friendship" works to clear the blues away and I usually get a "sowwy Mummy." Damn I am going to miss those w's when he gets his speech right.


Thursday, November 13, 2008

The End of the Season



This year has flown past with the speed of chickens in line for a free meal. This weekend we will be having our very last cat show for the season. And the most exciting thing is that the newest bunch of babies will be entered in their first show! The adorable baby below is Tony's new stud boy, Leetamy Just Jameson. He is a sweetheart with a deep love for nose bumping.





We are also entering his equally edible sister, Allabout Analise, the very pretty Pearl, head of the fun Police Titch and Super Muu. A very exciting show is planned thats for sure.


This weekend Noodle and I will attempt, once more, to gain her CCD title. Last trial she entered the ring with the enthusiasm of a toddler for the dentist, dragging her toes. Sod of a dog!

On a plus side, she has managed to teach herself how to enter the weave poles on the off side using an "Around" command followed by a weave command. Very impressive. Fingers crossed!



Sunday, November 9, 2008

Froggles are HERE!

We have a gorgeous pond out the front of our home. Australia has a huge problem with vanishing frog species so we put in a pond to help the little critters along. The frogs have been laying many frothy egg nests and we brought one upstairs to show the kids the frog process.

After two days our eggs have hatched and we now have lots of tadpoles swimming in a beautiful big glass jar.

Those little upright splots on the glass are the teeny taddies. I'll post some more piccies when they get bigger.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

PMT and Growing Up Sane.

I'm pretty much convinced that my ten year old daughter Caitie has started PMT. As yet there is no obvious sign of the M but batten down the hatches folks cause the T is in full effect. And frankly, the screaming sessions, the abuse, the throwing of objects and slamming of doors is wearing me down. And wearing her father down. And traumatising the boys. And she just...doesn't...care!

There has to be a better way than this ever growing cycle of anger? We had a doozy of a fight the other day which ended in my totally losing it. I found myself screaming right back at her, angry spittle being flung from my lips. And in that one moment of crystal clear insanity, I knew that I hated her.

Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter with all my heart and soul. I can't wait to see her grow into the person I know she is capable of. Her empathy toward other children is deeper than the ocean. She is a calming influence on the smaller children at Vacation care. She cares deeply for her littlest brother Conor. But, in those moments when she has lost all ability to listen to reason, has switched off and has gotten on the "Its-not-fair" carousel, I can't deal with her.

The whole episode left me exhausted, her emotionally shattered and my husband and I completely overwhelmed. As parents, it is our job to bring our kids up safely. Bit hard to do that when you just want them to stop screaming abuse at you. She actually ran through the house screaming, "You hate me, you've always hated me!" (sigh) So, together, T and I sat down and decided how we are going to handle these meltdowns. It came down to one simple fact. We are the parents and she is the child. At ten she is on the cusp of young womanhood but she is still a child and needs structure and direction. The rule is simple but it is ever so hard to enforce. What we say, goes and no arguments will change that.

We had the perfect opportunity to try it the next day when the arguments started from the topic of the previous day. She had to wear her brothers formal shoes as hers were too small. With six weeks left of school, I flatly refused to purchase a new pair when her brothers were the perfect size and almost brand new. "I want my SNEAKERS", began the familiar whine. I faced her and said in my calmest voice,"No, Caitlin." And the arguments began to heat up. She sat outside my door whining in her most annoying pitch. T went to argue with her and I stopped him. "No means No and you don't need to say anything else." It took half an hour but this time there was no throwing and no screaming. Just an acceptance. She gave up because we remained a united front. In that moment I was proud of myself, my husband and, strangely enough, my little spitfire. It may be a small victory but its a start.

Peace reigned for a small period of time...Hallelujah.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Aiden...my Nut child

Aiden is eight. I swear this boy should have come with a humour warning. He cracks me up in so many ways. So, I figured I'd add a few Aiden-isms today, just to share how freakin funny he is....

When Aiden was five, we went to the beach. His sister and I were happily paddling when he came running up to me screaming. The conversation went something like this.

Me- Whats wrong?
A- A jellyfish stung me...
Me- Where?
A- On the face
Me- Why did it sting you on the face?
A- Because I was sniffing it
Me- (somewhat baffled) Why were you sniffing it?
A- Because I thought it smelt like people!!

Huh? Smelt like people?? Just what do people smell like??? Cold towel was applied and the swelling went down. My mirth, on the other hand, didn't.

The other night he came racing up to tell us, in an hysterical voice that there was a meteor that was going to hit the trampoline and kill us all. So we went outside to see this meteor.

Me- (looking upwards) Where?
A- THERE, THERE!!!
Me- Aiden...thats a star...
A- But it was coming closer and moving away and coming closer and moving away...
Me- Aiden... (deep sigh)... get off the trampoline....

He amuses me, amazes me and baffles me. Because one minute he can be acting so darn silly and the next he will spout information as to how cyclones are formed...or he can be cutting a chunk out of his hair cause he had a lolly stuck in it. Needless to say, he now has a #2 haircut....(sigh)...

Happy Parenting!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Too Busy!

Well, when they say kittening season is busy, they are not wrong. BUT when you add in running your own business, designing websites on the side AND starting a new part time job as well as being a wife and mother, lets just say I've been too busy to fill in the blanks.

So, updates- Of the thirteen kittens we have, three are needing homes, the rest are either moving on or staying with us. We have three new additions to our house. Muu is a chocolate tabby bicolour, Eva is a silver tabby and Jamieson is a chocolate tabby. Very cute the lot of them.

Aiden has his dental spacer in and is having it made bigger every day, poor mite.

I have started work as a dog groomer, a position I thoroughly enjoy.

And everything else is just going really well at the moment!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

A few months ago, the kids and I discovered Mushabellies. These cute little toys are round and furry and they make weird noises when squeezed. After buying a couple as presents, we decided that these toys would be the perfect reward for the kids behaviour chart. If they got ten good marks, they would get a mushabelly.

The first one was Caitie. Because she was at school, I had to choose hers for her and she adopted a cute, fuzzy lilac elephant called Farron, who trumpets and makes a raspberry blowing sound. The kittens love it and constantly try to beat it up.

Just this week, Aiden earnt his points so we went off to the toystore. Now Aidie is a funny kid, he has a wicked sense of humour, loves to make sound effects and has the quickest death fall I have ever seen. Pretend to shoot him and he literally drops to the deck *BAM*, gone, all over red rover. The kids entered a talent contest last year and they performed an air guitar solo of Dueling Banjos. Caitie had the serious guitar riffs and Aiden had the more playful banjo. I told him that all he had to do was make Caitie laugh while she had to stay serious. Well, he did ballet moves, high kicks, wiggles, bobbed up and down, the audience was in hysterics and I laughed so hard I snorted! They won the Judges Choice award. I knew that finding a toy to suit his personality would be a hard task.

And it took forever....the frog, NO,the bear, NO, the beetle, NO, the dog, NO, the horse, NO, the duck, NO, the monkey, NO, the birdie, NO, the sheep, NO...things were looking bleak. Until Caitie climbed up the shelves (thats my girl). Admittedly the staff refused to lend us a ladder to look at the top shelf so she improvised. Caitie was elbow deep in stuffed toys when she suddenly yelled, "Hey, there's alien Mushabellies up here!"

Down came the blue one, the pink one and then *BINGO* the red, three eyed, four limbed, purple tongued monster. It made a stupid sound, like gobbledygook and soundled exactly like Aiden! We had a winner...and Blapso joined our family...




Now thats two down and one to go, hopefully Conor will try to be more gooder in future (grin).

Cin.


p.s. I couldn't help myself and bought the kitty!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Exercise is Supposed to Be Healthy...Right?

After having my usual Friday quiet day; no kids, no husband, just me and the computer tasks I needed to complete, I felt like I just had to go and do something a touch healthy. I rounded up the lil Peeps, yep all three of them, and we took our ten year old Stafford Teak and our three year old stafford Nellie Noodle on a walk.

Ten year old Caitie took ten year old Teakaboo. Yes, I was pregnant with my first child when we had that litter of pups. The day I went into labour was the day the last puppy went. Talk about planned parenthood!

Anyway, I digress. Eight year old Aiden was on his bike as was four year old Conor. We had a pleasant walk, up to the end of our road where there is a clear area of Council land. It was here that I made the fatal mistake...I let the dogs offlead.

Now that in itself is not a problem. Nell is a trained dog, one qualification short of her first Obedience title and Teak will come when I give the "Get your furry butts back here" whistle. The problem was that as we walked, there became a rather pungent odour floating on the breeze. Being that its spring, I figured that someone had been a little too liberal with the Dynamic Lifter, an organic chook poo based fertilizer. Its just that the further we walked, the worse the smell became.

Eventually it was even too much for me, old Iron Guts. So, we left.......except the smell followed us. Hey, I figured it was because the breeze was blowing behind us. We leashed the dogs up and turned into a road that created a wind barrier.........and the smell got worse.

That was when Caitie started darting glances at the dogs and wrinkling her nose. It dawned on me that perhaps it wasn't fertilizer. I'm really not known for my lightning fast observations and stupidity seems to come natural to me, so I bent down and smelt Nell....and almost passed out. Yup, she had found some dead thing to roll in, so rotten that it had imbibed her with a wonderful perfume. SHE thought she smelt fantastic. I could tell by the saucy sway of the little minx's hips!

As luck would have it, I remembered to bring my mobile phone with me and called ahead so that husband could run a bath prior to us getting home. He was laughing when I walked in the house but soon started gagging when the stench assaulted his nostrils.

Having myself and two panting, hot, steamy, stinky dogs in a bathroom is no picnic....and to top it off, Nellie got the muck on her new Pretty In Pink collar....not happy Jan!

Cheers
Cin

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Stitches and Witches and Bitches OH MY!

Firstly- the stitches. Two baby Devons, Jigsaw and Peggy went to the vet today to ensure that they do not accidently increase the devon gene pool. Keeping two kittens quiet is a nightmare, especially when they have their sister to rev them up. I swear when Peggy came home that she was on speed. Her eyeballs were huge and she zipped and singed and finally crashed out! Jigs was a little more sedate and preferred to sleep and then sleep, did Imention sleeping?

Witches- Evil girl cats that keep on coming into call when their babies are mere weeks old. Other evil girl cats who insist on hiding their one and only child, driving us to distraction looking for him and then insist that he needs to sleep with us in the bed at 4am!


And the bitches- Well, one lil bitch, Nell Noodle the Staffy and I have entered another agility and jumpers trial on the weekend, fingers crossed that we do well.

And finally, a note about our boy Wombat... When I go down of a morning and hang out the washing, it has become my custom to let Waddy, the stud boy, out to wander around our contained backyard. He has a bit of a sniff and a roll, sprays a tree or two, chats to himself, stalks the grass and pretends to climb trees. I will pop him into the low branches of our biggest tree and he will follow me as I walk under the branch. He then gets to explore the flowering Wisteria and get a good view of the neighbourhood.Yesterday he came flying up the yard, which caused two of my dogs to prick their ears for a second. He then launched himself into a tree and quite proudly meowed as he clung to the branches, "look at me, I can CLIMB." It was a foot off the ground and caused me to chuckle, silly boy. Today he discovered the joys of dancing through the sugarcane mulch, pouncing on wind fairies. It inspired me to pick up a spare length of rope and race it along the ground. There followed a mad dash as he tried to catch it. At one stage he had one end in his mouth and was growling at me, playing tug of war. What was funnier was when my young Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Nell, grabbed the rope and legged it, with the end trailing along the ground and a smoky streak following. Then I had one cat and one dog having a tentative game of tug, until Nell got intimidated and let Waddy win.His final burst of silliness happened at the afternoons romp, when one of my huge chickens escaped and was scratching through the yard.Big brave boy decided to stalk and subsequently pounce on a chook that is effectively big enough to eat him! Again, silly boy.It makes for a more settled stud though and he thoroughly enjoys his out time.
Cheers,
Cin

Saturday, September 13, 2008

3 Fish and a Wee Kitten

Quick update.

Last Monday I had an absolute ball going out with a friend and his Dad to celebrate Fathers Day. We went deep sea fishing where I can proudly say that I threw up as many times as the fish I caught...I caught three! I generally don't get seasick but the waves were a little higher than usual and the world kept right on rocking. I'm sure that I produced the burley which made the fish come on in and get caught (hehehe).

On a kittlie note~ Our last litter for this kitten season has arrived. Pudd, our reluctant mother, suddenly turned into the Mother from Hell and tried to steal the nine week old babies into her nest. Because she wasn't showing, apart from some ginormous teats, we assumed that she was going through a phantom. Not so! On the morning of the tenth, Pudd went into labour, grunted her way through an hour of contractions and then turned just right so that I could watch her baby enter the world. The kitten took a little to come out so I got to see the little face come through the passage, poke a purple tongue at me and then, with a screech and a yowl, Leetamy Baron Von Mewsn entered the world, all 70g of red tabbiness.

The little man is struggling at the moment as he is a single kitten. He is really finding it hard to put on weight but we do have high hopes. Onelings, as we call them, spend so much of their energy trying to keep warm or find something soft to cuddle up with that it takes them so much longer to put the weight on. We have him on a heat pad with a teddy bear and just pray that he will come good.

Here's hoping,

Cin

Saturday, September 6, 2008

On a happier note...

The weather is still glorious, the kids are still feral, the husband is still um...there and I'm still going quietly crazy.

A. went to the dentist on Tuesday to get his seperator bands put in so that it will make room for his dental spacer. Fang (hehe)has a pretty impressive crossbite which will be improved by this outlandishly medieval looking device. It gently (?) pushes the still developing top jaw apart by the application of a screw turning thingo. I can see me losing a finger or two to that boy! Well, the bands lasted until Thursday where we discovered he had lost one. Turns out he probably ate it but that was ok since that means those teeth are already seperated. Go figure!

We attended Smallish Bear's disco last night, complete with smoke machine and bubble blower. Much fun, especially doing the Hokey Pokey where "you put your daddy in, you put your daddy out, your put your daddy in and you shake him all about". It was in celebration of Fathers day tomorrow and raised funds for research into Prostate Cancer, a very worthy cause.

We followed this up with C and A's disco. Dropped two off, took one home. Smallish Bear was whingeing that he couldn't go to older siblings dance, suddenly stopped and said, "I'm gonna stop 'plaining now cause next year I can go to MY big school dance too!" Two seconds later, "See, I've stopped whining now." LOL, gotta love a kid who self corrects himself.

As time goes by...


Its been a fortnight since our family lost our Heart cat. For those who don't know what a heart animal is, its a one of a kind friend, who may own four legs and a furry coat but they also own your heart. Our Heart Cat was a little Tabby devon rex boy who went by the auspicious name of Arthur Bean The One Eyed Pirate Cat. He was a huge cat in personality and love. He was also only 5 months old.

Arthur was struck down by a fast acting illness whose cause has us bemused. Suffice to say, he died in my arms on the 23rd of August. We buried him that night, in a warm spot in the garden. Daughter C still grieves for her boy. We all do.

Time is the great healer, we know that, but some wounds take a little longer to begin to heal. This afternoon I will spend a gorgeous spring day tidying up around his grave, clearing away weeds and speaking softly to our boy... We miss you Bean. The house seems too quiet, Titch is lost without you and our bed is just a little bit colder.






Monday, September 1, 2008













Spring Glorious Spring! As my brother used to say, "Spring has sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where all the bunnies is!"I love spring, it is a chance to welcome new life to the fold, the garden is glorious in all its profusion of colours, the grevileas are still flowering their fool heads off and the breeze blowing off the coast is now warm instead of bone chilling cold.Of course we love spring because it is kittening season too and we have started a wee bit early this year. Three of four expectant litters are on the ground and we are just in love with them all. Jigsaw, Peggy and Moo are all 7 weeks old now, running around causing havoc and threatening to break hearts left and right. Mouses wee tabbies have opened their eyes and will soon start to develop personalities all of their own. At the moment they are still too young to adopt pet names but that will come. Muddy blessed us with a litter of five beautiful babies yesterday morning. And being that she started at 3am, I am pleased to announce that the lack of sleep affected my naming judgement and we have... Darling Dimity, Bruce the Bold, Allabout Analise, Fergus the Brave and finally Little John. Told you I was barely lucid!



So a happy spring to everyone, I hope the season is well and summer comes in gently rather than blasting us off the planet!

Cin