The Sheffield Cats Shelter

RUARI WRITES : Doesn’t it seem a long time since Christmas? I’m being allowed to start this  month (on a roll since our Christmas letter) as my Christmas and New Year were particularly busy. For part of the human holiday period, the families of Simba , Oscar and Saffi were away. This meant Sandra and Gill were looking after the three cats and they were making sure that we all knew they were there. We saw a LOT of Simba and Oscar particularly, sleeping over with us and sometimes having breakfast too. Mind you, I made sure I followed whoever was feeding them in their homes and , yes, sampled a bit too. There was a particularly  good New Year’s Eve party at Oscar and Saffi’s. All the humans wondered where the large stack of biscuits had gone. A no brainer really. One to remember.

We’ve agreed , reasonably amicably, to share our photos this month and give you two bonus shots. They form a sequence of us both , in unusually close proximity by the dining room fire , hemmed in by the consequences of decorating – a new word to me then but very clear now. Suzie will explain – she’s making it very clear that my time is up at the keyboard.

SUZIE WRITES: That’s my one generous act of the year from my (now distant) New Year’s resolution. As Ruari says, the minute the New Year came, we were plunged into a major experience of decorating. We had not experienced this before with Sandra and Gill. Their last major blitz on decorations was finished not long before we came to them over 3 years ago. I , of course,  had been decorated around before in my long life but it was completely new to Ruari.

Old or new, it is a very traumatic experience, affecting all the senses and being very disorienting. This was especially the case as the rooms being done were the kitchen and utility room (and the bathroom but that didn’t really count as we could avoid that one).The utility room is where we eat and I have my litter tray; the kitchen is where all the really interesting food comes from and where I sleep in front of the Aga during the day. Ruari is more mobile and can escape around the house or go to camp out with Simba, Oscar or Saffi but I was stuck.

Even the dining room was cluttered with things from the kitchen and utility room so we had small spaces left by the fire – from which the pictures come. Ruari was getting a bit close for comfort (and taking some of my heat, so I just let him know to keep his distance. Don’t you like the subtle stretch of my legs? He pretended to be nonchalant and didn’t budge, obviously ignoring me. This really got to me, thoroughly woke me up and I gave Ruari my really evil eye. He just covered his face – the cheek! I confess that I had to give up and just stretch out away from him. Then he added insult to injury by turning his back on me! Well! I couldn’t really strike out as Sandra was nearby so I sighed deeply and studiously closed my eyes – and eventually was just falling asleep when....Sandra turned the fire off! Not a relaxing time. It makes me wish I was young again and able to really wrestle with Ruari but I have to use more subtle tactics –that just sometimes fail to impress sufficiently. I’ll have to have a hard think about how to improve my success rate.

Meanwhile, I must say that Chris our decorator was very good. He left our plates and my tray in their usual places as much as possible. I only had to perform once in the dining room, with my bottom pressed down to make sure I did not ‘think outside the box’. So embarrassing – and not wholly successful but you don’t need to know the details.

And what do the rooms look like? I’ve not time to tell you right now. I’m being called to check on where we want our pictures hanging. We are rearranging the art in several rooms and I have to supervise the special cat ones. Ruari is much more relaxed but the detail is important, isn’t it? You just can’t leave it only to the humans.

Ruari and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a good start to the New Year. We both thought a lot about all the cats in the Shelter, waiting for adoptions to start again. We asked Gill and Sandra to add a cheque to our Christmas card to help with all the feeding and presents. Let’s hope that a lot of people will be resolving to share their lives with intelligent, affectionate , appreciative cats through 2012 and beyond.

Now doesn’t this picture just produce an “arrr” response and look like an illustration of how Christmas is a time for togetherness, friendship and families by the fire(just out of sight). Ruari and I warming nicely together between bursts of decorating house and tree, having a nap after lunch. Isn’t it a wonderful advert for adopting more than one cat? Well, I could lie but that would not be the spirit of Christmas either, would it?

I love the gas fire. Instant heat, with lots of our toys on the rug in front of it. I like sitting looking at it , especially after lunch, so that Sandra and Gill get the message to turn it on. I then try to fill as much of the rug in front of it as I can so that Ruari can’t get a look in. Why am I so mean? To be honest, I’m not sure but I think it is survival instinct mixed with a less than pleasant dollop of jealousy. I don’t want to explore my psyche further right now.

Of course, I’m rumbled by Sandra, Gill and Ruari and am saved only by my great age and pathetically happy expression. Ruari tiptoes up to the edge of the rug, lies down at the edge looking really generous and respectful. He then edges towards me very slowly, all the time with his eyes apparently closed. When he is just within touching distance, he stretches nonchalantly and just happens to stretch his paw out and touches me. Then , if I’ve not moved over a bit, he just does it again. I know its coming and I know I will get shooed off if I retaliate so we end up rather like the picture here- with Sandra and Gill trying to stifle chuckles which certainly does not help me at least! I try to hang in there until Ruari gets bored of this ‘game’ and wants to go off and do other things. Then very often the fire gets turned off as the other three are leaving the room. So selfish of them, don’t you think?

I’m being reminded that this piece should refer to my experience of Christmas apart from the fire and the rug. Well, we both received some really lovely presents (catnip mice, a polartec blanket with our initials on to share –sigh -, biscuit s and balls in a stocking and  a selection box of treat biscuits  and an edible Father Christmas from our visiting d-o-g – which needed a ‘thank you’ card). I also very much enjoyed some cooked duck, lamb and rabbit which was lovely. Here’s Ruari to tell you more about the seasonal stuff.

RUARI WRITES : I’m sure you take most of what Suzie writes with a large pinch of catnip. She’s not quite a Scrooge-like as she appears. She does get a bit worried about the people who visit at such times but I love entertaining them and enjoying the real fire in the other room to the gas one. I take over a chair, try a lap or two and generally grace the company .First of course, we have to decorate. I’m particularly good with tinsel and the tree , as you can see from the pictures.

I love the tree, with its dangling, shiny objects and its lights. I often sit on the back of the chairs just looking at it. We have a great romp about while the decorations are going up and this year the stand for the tree provided a fantastic , new place for hide and seek with humans and with Simba. We also had a long tunnel of corrugated cardboard in the hall but that was a bit scary for me, if I’m honest.

We have seen a lot of Simba this holiday as his family were away. This has been good really as he’s calmed down a bit, sleeps more in the day as he too is out a lot at night but is still good for chase round the house. He is heavier than me but I’m really good at judo and hide and seek so I have the element of surprise on my side. That evens up the score somewhat. We gave Simba a present of some nice biscuits and he is being reasonably respectful of ours too. I think he’ll get there on some social skills at least. Oh oh , I hear his bell. Must go and hide. All the best for 2012 from me too

This year we are showing our relaxed side from our pictures of the year. This is more rare for Ruari than for Suzie but it has been a busy year for us both. We’ve looked back at our blogs for 2011 and it’s Ruari’s turn to begin( while Suzie is seeking reasons why this should not be so).

RUARI WRITES : My highlights for the year were –helping Simba as the new youngest cat on the block to climb trees and discover the great outdoors; sleeping in attics(our own and others’) with a view right up and down the road ; visiting adults in the colder months that have the open fire lit for them; continuing big cuddles with Gill in the morning, snuggling into her Polartec fleece while she reads in bed- and sometimes being allowed up at night too; discovering eating on the window ledge where Suzie can’t steal my food; real meat blood; our VIP insurance plan with the vet (see below!); getting our d-o-g visitor a cat biscuit ball and biscuits for Christmas.

My lowlights for the year were – Simba growing up very fast to become bigger than me, with hormones kicking in and insatiable appetite and mastering our cat flap in November; Simba being able to get onto the window ledge and steal my food; being reminded that cats are not pack animals and that it is a competitive world out there; raids from the black cat; Oscar hardly ever coming now to play and Saffi not even bothering to come in to steal my food; not being able to work both day and night shifts without a big sleep in between; any holiday that Sandra and Gill take; Culpeper, as the source of our special catnip mice, closing down; trying twice to get the micro-chipped cat flap to work, twice being re-chipped, and it still not registering for me; getting a triple puncture in my shoulder that needed draining and dosing (very sore); our neighbours selling my favourite soft top Audi – as in the picture above - and moving to Australia.

SUZIE WRITES : My highlights for the year were – still being alive; discovering the resurrection power of steroids; reaching 17 years old and having sea bass fillets for tea; having another , new, designer velvet collar with diamond trim [yes they are real Ruari, I tell you every year];discovering pre-breakfast head rubbing with Gill nestling against her Polartec fleece; being introduced to a grooming glove for my morning massage and coat conditioning –wonderfully stimulating; writing my monthly blog for the Sheffield Cat Shelter website; having the Shelter’s Patron, Marina Lewycka, visit me in the summer to discuss our respective writings; having (managed) visitors coming to pay their respects to me by the well-heated Aga; sitting in the garden border in warm sunshine; any meal with real meat or fish.

My lowlights for the year were – sneezing blood in the summer and thinking I wasn’t going to be coming back from the vet; having eye drops put in (but it gets a bit easier with time and practice); being no longer able to reach my hind quarters to groom ,being combed at the vet when I had got my coat rather matted and biting Sandra when I panicked; being introduced to a grooming glove – much nicer than a comb; like Ruari, any time Sandra and Gill go away even when our care is so good; not wanting to get up the stairs each day for my morning massage; the cleaning lady’s vacuum cleaner (but I like the results); Simba growling at me – but I’m learning to growl back too and he’s getting a bit more civilised and a bit less avid for my food; not persuading Sandra and Gill to have the dining room gas fire on every lunch time, let alone all day.

In summary, it has been an educational and sobering year for both of us : each  getting older, discovering new challenges that that brings  and needing to adapt accordingly ourselves and with others around us. However, we look forward positively to another Christmas in our own special home and wish you all the very best for 2012.

Ruari and Suzie and Suzie and Ruari

Yes, I celebrated another birthday last month. When I came to live with Gill and Sandra we celebrated the day of my adoption, 18 October, as my ‘official‘  birthday (just like the Queen). Then they discovered that on my medical papers my birth date is given as 21 October. What we do now is have the celebrations on the nearest weekend to both dates and that seems to work just fine for us all.

This is Gill helping me to blow out my candles. We have graduated this year from a cup cake to a passion fruit dessert. This is the choice of Gill and Sandra as I spurn the base of the candles in favour of a special meal – this year sea bass fillets in (not too much) herb butter sauce. I generously shared the sea bass with Gill and Sandra as they kindly cooked and served it for me. Fortunately Ruari has never acquired the taste for ‘real’ food so that means all the more for the rest of us, especially me. We buy enough for 4 and that works out perfectly serving 3 of us!

The candles were in rather short supply, you will see. I have actually reached 17 this year. When we tell other people, they either reel back in amazement or tell tales of cats much older that they – or someone else– have known. I’m not very keen on the last group. Not enough awe and wonder, especially taking account of what I have been through just in the last three years and particularly this last summer. When in July I was sneezing blood everywhere and feeling really down, we all thought this was the end. Wonderfully, my clever vet helped me discover the wonders of steroids and I have been subscribing ever since. I have an injection or two each month (with some antibiotic too for my damaged right eyelid) and I seem back to normal.

I loved my card. Gill has always said that I have the hips of a gym mistress (slim, well shaped). Working out in the picture with a falling cup cake was a nice touch.(What do you mean the rest of my figure doesn’t look like that I work out in the gym?? How good would you look at 119 in human terms?)

I also had some nice presents. You can’t see my new black velvet collar with the diamond trim – just right for the winter season and very comfortable. You can see the bags of special senior biscuits that are very small for those of us without many teeth but who still love biscuits. Mind you, Ruari’s biscuits always taste much better – as does his soft food and milk and....oh, oh, here he comes.

RUARI WRITES: Suzie is such a pain in the build up to her birthday, on the day and for quite a while afterwards. We all know she is a great age, a great survivor despite all her medical conditions....and she keeps insisting that her collar has real diamonds. I had serious health problems too as a kitten and nearly died but do I go on about it now? I’m going to try very hard not to be like her when I get old – if I survive long enough from Simba’s growth pangs!

My picture this month is me spotting Simba over the wall while enjoying a little autumn sunshine. There is about to be action! With the days getting cooler, we don’t have the kitchen door open much and Simba hasn’t yet mastered our cat flap. This is strange but very welcome as I can see him outside and visit his house but he can’t return the ‘favour’. Sometimes Sandra takes pity on him and lets him in and then we have the usual romp all round the house, up and down the stairs. We both need recovery time then and he heads out – sometimes with a bit of help! So far I’ve managed to protect my shoulder and other parts of my anatomy but it’s hard work.

Yes, this looks like just another picture of me in repose but in fact two important things have just happened. I’ve just got back from the vet after having my annual booster injections but the thing that my picture captures this month is the result of a very thorough grooming. I am sleek and un-matted, having had a lot of work done on my hind quarters particularly by a nurse at the practice. When you are at my advanced age, even reaching your hind quarters is quite an achievement! I manage to keep my bottom meticulously clean, of course, but it is hard – not least with only two teeth – to get the right amount of sustained pressure on my coat to stop it getting matted. I’m told that I don’t help myself because I don’t like being brushed or combed, despite lots of sweet talking by Sandra and Gill. I’m quite delicate around the base of my tail and on my flanks and don’t like the points or bristles. Hence the matting.

The nurse came at me with two implements like the ones I’m told people groom horses with. There was no escape. Sandra held me and the nurse got to work. She was good and careful but every now and again I’d get a yank that hurt a bit. I tried biting (with my two teeth ) on the cuff of Sandra’s jumper but when it got just a bit too much, I tried her wrist. I wanted to signal, not hurt her and I was a bit frightened to be honest as I was not in control. She was very understanding – and then it was all over. I have to admit that I was glowing under my newly smooth coat and it now looked as good at the back a sit does at the front where I can reach. And it was completely free of charge! I think that is because I am a media star and the vet is thrilled to have me on their table but it might just be that they were being nice? Anyway, telling the d-o-g we know was fun as her carers have to pay huge amounts of money to have her groomed. Dogs are not so god at D-I-Y are they?

So the grooming itself was the first important thing behind the picture. The second was the vet’s idea of me having a special grooming glove to keep my rear coat really smooth. Grooming gloves were a new idea to us but I now have a pair of my very own. Sandra wears one in the morning when we have our massage session. The gloves have lots of little plastic bobbles on both sides – and they are wonderful! They are so stimulating, make me tingle all over and are the first form of grooming that I don’t dislike but even enjoy! No more chasing me with brush and comb. I look forward to stretching out and  being rubbed all over with the glove (but not my tummy – no way). I purr mightily, present one side and then the other and am set up for the day. I do recommend this experience if you or your carers have not discovered the gloves yet.

Ruari’s waiting to get at the keyboard, looking superior as he does all his own grooming at the moment but I tell him that if he lives as long as me he too will need help. As it is he has had to be shaved again – he’ll tell you more himself. I’m going off to admire my coat in the shiny front of the Aga, do a twirl – and lie down again.

RUARI WRITES:

Well, I’ve grasped my tail-piece back from Simba this month. I’ve got the window ledge back too – in tasteful Dutch style dappled light. Not without difficulty. He is indeed about as big as me now, somewhat heavier and not well versed in negotiating! He still likes to come in and wrestle with me. I try to sidestep, use judo techniques and generally avoid physical contact where I can – certainly no claws out. I think sometimes he gets a bit carried away and forgets to pull his claws in. A little while ago he caught me on my right shoulder with 3 sharp claws.

I tried very hard not to show that I was hurt but it did sting. I was not amused and told him so. I think he was a bit shocked too and went back home. I did lots of licking but the wounds got infected so yet again – like last year – I was off to the vet to have the wounds shaved, drained , cleaned and me pumped with antibiotics. I’m on the mend now but I’m more wary of Simba not being able to lose well. Kittens grow up fast don’t they and yet again I’m reminded that cats are not pack animals but walk , and fight, by themselves. It makes me quite sad as I want to play and be friendly with the neighbours but once those hormones kick in......

This month you have a bonus of two pictures from me – in an action sequence. I am anticipating some sceptical remarks that my poses this month look very similar to the one in last month’s photograph. They are, of course, completely different : I am on a different part of the dining room carpet; I have my eyes open; my front paws are in a different configuration – and so on. It is also a different time of day .I have my morning massage mat (i.e. Sandra’s swimming costume) in the rear of this month’s shots. Last month’s picture was taken in the afternoon. I would not dream of short changing my much valued readers by recycling shots.

I have given you two shots as in the first I am trying so hard to concentrate on what Sandra is telling me about her big birthday (she was 60 last month). You can see my head falling slightly, my eyes becoming glazed and then it happened – a big, unstoppable yawn. I did feel rather bad about it as it was her big day. We had been opening cards and presents- including some very nice ones from Ruari and me- but I’d had a good breakfast, completed my massage and you know what it’s like when someone is talking about their things that don’t really engage you? Well, I succumbed and yawned. Sandra was very good about it and laughed – and snapped me. So on the basis that al publicity is good publicity, you have me caught in the act!

Sandra did realise that , after all, being 60 in human terms is only a half way staging post when you are edging towards 17 in cat years or almost 120 equivalent in human equivalent years. I’ve been there, done that and can really hardly remember what it felt like. Even when Granny and Grandma were still alive, I was still the eldest in the family and I am very much so now. Helped by steroids and antibiotics, my eyes and nose are fairly stable and Ruari and I both had positive reports from our 6-monthly check up recently. The worst thing was having to swallow that nasty worming pill – ugh.

Here’s Ruari...oh no, he’s being pushed away from the keyboard by Simba!

SIMBA WRITES : Hello everyone – I’m Simba.I live two doors up the road from Suzie and Ruari and Ruari has ‘allowed’ me to write in his place this month. I know you will have been longing to meet me after Ruari has mentioned me in his blog. Well, here I am- slightly blurry because I can’t keep still for any length of time. Here I’m sitting where Ruari likes to eat, protesting my innocence about who has eaten the rest of his food – what me? Of course not!

I’ve spent quite a lot more time with Ruari in the last month as my family (all 6 of them) have been on holiday and Sandra and Gill have been looking after me. I can’t understand why Ruari is so sleepy all the time – especially when I want to wrestle with him. He keeps saying he is out most of the night stalking and patrolling but he needs to keep some energy for me too. He is, in fact, pretty good about playing with me and even misses me (so I’m told) when I’m not around. For some reason, Suzie hisses at me when I try to take her food. She’s awesome – I’ve never seen a cat so old. She can certainly defend herself – I keep a safe , respectful distance. Ruari is more gentle and generous but I am now almost as big as he is, which helps.Wow! Oh-oh – he’s looking very angry now though and Suzie’s with him. Gotta  go – bye.

After our strange month in June, this last month has been relatively typical of summer for us without holidays for our humans. (I have heard the word “rebooked” being whispered but I don’t want to think about that until I have to).

My picture this month does –again , do I hear you say? – look soporific but it comes just after lots of activity , adulation and meetings between famous authors. No wonder I was taking a few minutes rest in the sun under the table! Even there Sandra poked a camera under my nose saying I owed it to my public. Sigh – the price of fame. Mind you being a widely read author does have compensations. Every summer, Sandra and Gill give a party of Pimms and nibbles (human variety) for our neighbours. In fact, all the cats who can stay well away , including Ruari, as the garden is full of adults and children, talking and playing games.

 Meanwhile, I give audiences to the smaller visitors who – of course – want to see me. With Gill or Sandra managing the queue, and my exposure time, I get stroked (the nice variety) by very attractive young girls who make all sorts of nice remarks about me. They don’t see my trimmed ears, weepy eyes and scabbed nose. They see my inner soul shining through and say I’m beautiful, soft, cute and so on. I am , of course, all these things and more and they are so perceptive, aren’t they? It makes it all worthwhile to be so appreciated. The only thing better is eating!

I also this year had a great bonus on the literary front. The Patron of the Cat Shelter, Marina Lewycka, came to the party and naturally also sought me out. Marina is a neighbour of ours when she is in this part of the world – which is rarely with all the demands on her time. She is a lovely person and writes so well about animals (even d-o-g-s).She loves cats and it was really good to see her again, talk about her travels and her new book and compare writers’ anecdotes. Of course, our styles are very different but she is very encouraging – and a reader of my stories. Who could ask for more?

No wonder I was tired – and that was just one afternoon. I’ve also had some photo calls from young prize-winning photographers. They seemed to think there was some urgency in taking their shots of me. I know I’m a great age, and have had some health scares, but they don’t need to make it so obvious! I’m pleased to tell you- and them -  that I’ve just had my latest ‘magic jabs’ at the vet and a complete pedicure and I intend to live a bit longer to appreciate the investment! No where’s the next sunny patch to sleep in...

RUARI WRITES: Suzie is so good at fronting parties – not least because she can’t move fast enough to avoid them! I do appear to see people off the premises and remind them how handsome I am but I stay distant and mysterious to the young. Suzie could not stand too much competition anyway – delicate ego.

I am taking every opportunity I can to nap – as here, by my pile of recreational catnip. An herbal pillow and a half, eh? This big bunch eventually went to friends to dry and try to stuff into home-made catnip mice now that Culpeper has closed down.

The double shifts I mentioned last month are to try to have adult time at night, stalking, hunting, defending, encountering and now play time during the day for young Simba who lives with Joel and his family. He just loves to come in to our house and garden and wrestle me. He is a handsome silver tabby, not quite a year old yet and came from a farm so his manners – and knowledge of the rules - are a little suspect but I’m working on those alongside the physical challenge. I have nifty turn of the hips that sidesteps some of his lunges but we do grapple at close quarters, so far both remembering that this is play and training for the real thing. I remember very well doing just the same thing with Oscar when I was Simba’s age and it is good to be able to now help another young cat learn the ropes. It’s just that he never knows when to stop – and he’s putting on weight....hmmmmm.

We are back on the garden this month, remembering all the Bank Holidays and the wonderful sunshine. Did you watch the royal wedding? I thought about it but it came at the height of my morning sleep time – after my third (or was it fourth?) go at breakfast/brunch and the effort of staying awake was just too great. Even with Sandra doing some quick ironing before the main action started my eyes drooped, the sunshine came over my bed through the window and I was away. I woke up with a start to hear the champagne cork pop once the ceremony was over and there had been ‘the kiss on the balcony’. I had to watch the replays later, with Ruari who assures us all that the Celtic roots of his name don’t make him a republican but he too was in mid-morning sleep mode. Mercifully , we were spared the Union Flag bowties that poor Lary at No.10 had to endure. Hard work being the Prime Minister’s cat .  

I have not needed (very much ) encouragement to be outside in this dry, warm weather, as  long as there is an escort to at least start out with. The photo this month shows my carer Gill presenting me with a bouquet that includes home- grown catnip. You have to admit that that has got style. It’s just my size too.

Gill is cultivating me at the moment. He thought she’d lost me and/or I’d gone out in the garden under a bush to die. She looked everywhere, she said, while I was quite oblivious , sound asleep in my usual sheepskin bed by the Aga – just camouflaged not showing my tabby bits. On the second sweep of the house she spotted me, greatly relieved. It;s nice to be reminded that you are so important to someone. She had already started giving me big cuddles and head rubbing in the morning before breakfast. I don’t really like my feet off the ground for too long as any cat is completely helpless in that position but she means well and I reward her rubbing my head with her chin by purring deeply. It is actually quite nice and certainly better than having an eye drop put in which is often why Gill or Sandra pick me up in the morning .Sometimes I get both!

 I tend to focus on Sandra as my ‘mother cat ‘figure and Ruari focuses on Gill similarly. Gill is therefore a peer/sibling  to me and Sandra a peer/sibling  to Ruari. I think we at least can cope with only one mother or parent -figure at a time. The other one is for chasing/wrestling/feeding – in Ruari’s case. For me it is substitute rubbing/massage/ feeding – but mainly feeding, and if and when Sandra comes back in, repeat feeding. Gill is at home a little more now she has retired from one voluntary job at the cathedral so we are seeing quite a bit more of each other, which is nice for us both. I’m particularly glad to have her, as well as Sandra , in the garden with me at the moment as we have two new cats on the block. Ruari will tell you about one this month and the other next time. Here he is...

RUARI WRITES : At long last Symba , from two doors up the road , has had his operation, been micro-chipped and allowed to leave his own garden. He lives with Joel, our carer when Gill and Sandra are away, Joel’s brother , two sisters and their parents so quite a house full to keep him amused. I have been visiting him since his arrival at his house, communicating with him through the conservatory windows and , yes I admit it , teasing him a bit from the great outdoors. I was impressed to hear that he had climbed out of the upstairs fanlight onto the roof of the house a few weeks back. That was a BIG statement about wanting to get out and his family got the message very clearly!

You can see that he is a sort-of grey tabby version of me but with white paws. I have had my work cut out trying to take care of him, teach him the ropes, re-introduce him to Sandra and Gill (as they have looked after Symba too at his house) and Oscar and Saffi who have also visited him through the conservatory windows. Symba has been fearless climbing trees and I have had to go up and check he can get down too. Oscar and I taught (well dared ) each other at that stage and it is good to be able to help Symba without taking away his achievement. I am no longer the youngest cat on our block, which feels good, and I enjoy playing with Symba as part of his education. It would have been good to have had an older cat to help me get used to the big outdoors but Oscar and I survived –just! Symba is growing fast  and I can already sense that he could be quite a rival in due course. However, for now we are enjoying ourselves – and I’m sleeping very soundly when I get the chance as there is a night shift I’m working too. More next month.

Here is another picture of me in the garden, checking on messages left by others, enjoying the sunshine and trying hard not to smile for the camera as I had hoped to be off duty. When Sandra or Gill are at home around lunch time they take a lot of time and much vocalising to encourage me to take a ‘walk on the wild side’.  Well, only the bottom is even slightly ‘wild’, in a suburban way, but the outdoors can be quite scary without an escort.  The hellebores (like the one I am sitting behind) have been wonderful this year, flowering now for over 3 months, back and front.

 
Yes, I do venture out in the front garden too, but more rarely and usually early in the morning when there is less traffic- again with escort- or when gardening is in progress and the side way is open for an escape route.  I even squeezed through the railings (just slightly tight around the waist- hips were fine) and visited next door on one occasion.  That’s our nice neighbours that let Ruari sit on top of their BMW convertible – it beats our Renault Modus for ‘cool’.

Mentioning visiting reminds me that we’ve had quite a few visitors recently – sure signs of spring!  We had the small d-o-g, Poppy, again with her carers.  Usually they bring very nice weather with them but this time the sunshine must have been needed badly elsewhere as it poured down.  They all bravely held to plan of walking for miles in the woods – while Ruari and I stayed warm and dry and quiet.  On the return, I was ‘persuaded’ to ‘lend’ Poppy a towel and one of my litter trays as a ‘bath’ – ugh, as if she was not wet enough already!  She slept well after all that exercise, which was part of the plan I think, and she did bring us some catnip drops as a present which was civilized.  She had the camera turned on her too!

Adult human visitors don’t cause me too much trouble really.  I am introduced, they make suitably admiring/appreciative comments and then I’m able to sleep until the next meal. They usually bring presents too and we often have better, real, food when guests come.  I get a snack even when I’ve had my tea and can look forward to more ‘leftovers’ in the morning.  What I can’t understand is why they must shut the door when they use the toilet in ‘our’ room and cut me off from my tray and food access for about 5 whole minutes.  They also don’t seem to want me on the inside with them- very strange.  Children are much harder work on all counts.

Mind you, I’ve recently – just at the end of the season I’m told – discovered what Ruari said he knew a long time ago: that the open fire in the lounge is really nice to sit in front of while looking enchanting on the rug and producing more nice comments.  Ah, Ruari says he wants to continue the visitor theme, so here he is...

RUARI WRITES: As Suzie says, I knew a long time ago that the lounge fire was very good plus extra laps to sit on and taking part in the conversation until people go to the dining room to eat and I have the lounge and fire to myself for about 2 hours, with the fire topped up even. I too like the presents they bring, the rubs and admiring remarks.  Poppy is sort of OK – in moderation and at a distance, outside mostly.  Suzie usually leaves children to me once she has been introduced.  Not all of them know the signals for ‘that’s enough’ but Sandra and Gill try to look after us and educate the young.

I find it is adults that get in my way most.  They sleep in the guest room that Oscar, Saffi and I use to sleep and just hang out during the day, draped across the bed, settee and window seat.  Human guests have this fetish about closing doors!  They also have breakfast – and talk - just when I’m settling down to sleep after an active night out.  My picture this month shows where I have to resort sometimes – on top of the tumble drier in ‘our’ room, looking glazed because I’m tired!

It is fun to explore the guests’ cars – the boot while they are packing up is particularly good. Yes , of course I want to be discovered really but the guests , Gill and Sandra get worried – and then we all laugh, and they’re gone (until next time...).

After writing about ‘my’ beds last month, I thought it was time for you to see me on my feet again.  This is me in the back garden I share with Sandra, Gill and Ruari – and Oscar and Saffi, assorted birds and mice (until Ruari finds them).  There are also 7 gnomes but Ruari and I try to forget this awful human attachment. They all have names linked with the church and write letters to, and visit, other gnomes in Lincolnshire which is way beyond mature cat understanding.  You can just see 3 of the gnomes in the far distance in prayer position, near the artificial sunflowers – don’t even begin to ask...

With some bursts of sunshine in the last few weeks I have been tempted out and the camera has come too to record these rare events.  It has to be dry, warm – preferably with bright sunshine- and after meals for me to venture out.  I like human company in the garden.  It may not be considered large in human terms but when you are my size, and can’t move too quickly, I like someone to stand guard while I sniff, check messages and leave some of my own.  I disturbed two blackbirds recently and they shot up from a bush at the end of the garden.  I told Ruari and I think he was impressed.
 
I can tell spring is coming as Ruari jumps on me more often.  He may be neutered but he gets frisky and likes to play tag with me, hiding by the stairs and tapping my rump as I pass by.  I hiss and paw at him to show I don’t like it but he skips off.  Maybe linked to this ambushing, or maybe just the warmer weather, I am moulting a bit in my morning rubs and purring a little more loudly.  I like the lighter mornings and evenings but am disappointed that we don’t get fed any earlier – or more!

I lost a LOT of hair when we went to the vet for our ‘well cat’ check.  Why would anyone go to the vet when they are well?  Only humans could want to do that ! Even being told we have a VIP (or VIC) plan does not help much.  A few jabs and a worming pill later, I was having my legs bent back to trim my claws.  A little painful on my back legs with a touch of arthritis but I have to say that I’m catching my claws less in the carpet now and Molly was quite gentle – but firm too! That set us up well to ‘celebrate’ Ruari’s 3rd birthday. I gave him the early ‘present’ of sleeping in his bed in the dining room and then a funny card with a mouse on the back of a ginger cat.  Well, I thought it was funny...

RUARI WRITES: I was not amused by Suzie’s build up to my 3rd official birthday.  You might remember that the year before she ‘celebrated’ by sleeping all the way through the day.  I think I preferred that one- in my other bed!  Despite Suzie’s tactics, I had a good time- especially out two nights in a row with Oscar finding my own mouse to celebrate the occasion.  My picture this month shows me playing with the flame on the candle of my cup-cake.  I love flames but sometimes get a bit too close for too long – then it gets blown out by Sandra and Gill and the cup-cake eaten by them.  I had some Parma ham with my tea so that was a good exchange!  I also had a new catnip mouse and I’m promised a new mat under my plate that seems to be rather slow in coming.  I’ll nudge again.

Must go – Saffi has just come in and is about to eat up my biscuits.