Still clearing my desk

I’m still working my way through Shimelle’s Clear the desk class. I was struggling with the set of papers that I’d put together so grabbed an old Basic Grey collection pack, or rather the little bit of it that was left, and tried to use it all up. I didn’t do too badly. The hardest part was finding some photos to go with it so I ended up with some Disney pics from 2010, after getting distracted for a few hours organising my photo boxes 🙄

The pack that I used was Lucky with all the lovely purples and reds. I only had a few sheets of paper left and no embellishments, tags or alphas. I did have quite a few Halloween embellishments though so I used up some of those.

 

I’ve also got a few photos of the cats in their Hop-in so I used one of those to use up the very last bits.
And that was the end of BG Lucky. I can’t believe that I’ve finally finished off one of the BG collections. One down, thirty-three to go LOL

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Fun in the snow

The cats loved playing in the snow last weekend. Two of them did, anyway. Sammie refused point-blank to go out in it. Frodo was outside for most of the day, with a short interlude for a wash and a snooze on my lap. Rosie was outside for a fair bit of the day although she wasn’t as keen on the snow falling on her and didn’t like the sound of the snow crunching under my wellies.

This photo was taken on Saturday before the snow really came down on the night. There was just a sprinkling so it gave them a chance to get used to the idea before playing out on the Sunday in the deeper snow.Frodo had a whale of a time. He was chasing snowflakes, helping Stephen to shake the snow off the enclosure roof and stalking Rosie. Rosie was a bit more cautious but didn’t seem to mind the snow underfoot. It was great seeing them have so much fun and it definitely wore them out as Frodo spent the evening cuddled up next to me, fast asleep, while Rosie curled up in her favourite bed on the cat tree.

Cat flaps

The cats are loving their new enclosure but it was getting a bit chilly having the back doors open for them to go in and out. Because of where we’re situated, and because Rosie tends to panic if she can’t get in and hide if she needs to, we couldn’t just close the doors and leave them out there.

We’d been talking about having a cat flap for a while but couldn’t decide where to have it. The options were to go through the wall in my craft room, which would be a big job but would only need one flap. I was worried about getting a draught in there though as it’s a cold room to start with.

The other option was to go though the kitchen door. Then to either go through the conservatory wall, or though the door, which is double-glazed. If the latter, we’d have needed to have a new glass bit made with the cat flap already in it.

We’d been going back and forth on it for ages so eventually we found a company online that looked reputable, (Facebook reviews/good website etc) and gave them a ring. They turned out to be a godsend as not only did they give excellent advice, but fitted two flaps the next day (last Friday).

We had one in the kitchen door and one in the conservatory door. We had the glass panel replaced by a solid one as the door wasn’t wide enough to take the cat flap and still be strong enough. It looks a bit odd having the glass on one side and a solid panel on the other but I can live with it. If it does bother me, I can always get the other panel replaced to match.

The company we used is All Glass & Glazing, and we’ll definitely use them again if we need any glass work done. They were fast, efficient and friendly and left absolutely no mess at all. They supplied the flaps, which we chose from their website and they’re plenty big enough for the cats.

Frodo got the hang of using them straight away. I’ve been trying to get a pic of him but he’s so confident that he goes through them at about 90mph. He’s loving it.

Stephen made a little step for them outside as we thought the drop might put them off using it.

Sammie took a little longer to use the flaps and would still prefer for us to open the door instead, but she has been using them and has been in and out a few times today.Rosie is the most reluctant. She has used them but isn’t keen on trying to push them open. There are magnets holding the flaps steady, so they don’t blow in the wind. The cats do have to push a bit harder than if there weren’t any and that is what Rosie is struggling with. She’ll soon get the hang of it though.I’m noticing that the back door needs cleaning. Everything got a bit grubby out there while the landscaping in the enclosure was being worked on. Now it’s pretty much finished, I’ll have to get my scrubbing brush out!

I’ve been taking photos of the enclosure and I’ll post them soon. We’re really happy with it, and so are the cats.

Adventure playground – progress

We’re still landscaping the new cat enclosure and it’s taking a long time. We’ve had to remove the top layer of soil to make room for the hardcore that needs to go underneath the artificial grass. That’s pretty much done now but it still needs a bit of levelling.

We’ve had plenty of help from the cats though. They love it if one of us is outside with them especially if there’s a wheelbarrow involved.

Rosie has definitely got over being nervous about going outside. She runs up and down the ladders as much as the other two. Frodo loves to lounge on the shelves and keep an eye on what’s going on.

Sammie loves it up high too.

The shelves make a great spot to watch the birds and squirrels from as we’ve got bird feeders outside the pen.

We have had a bit of a problem with dirty cats as both Rosie and Frodo think it’s great fun to roll on the ground and Rosie has been digging for worms which she then plays with.

We’ve started to get a few grasses, ready to plant once the artificial grass is down. I’ve got them on the patio for ease of watering and the cats love to get in between them. I can’t wait until we’ve got them growing all over the garden so they can hide in them.

The enclosure was definitely worth getting. The cats love being outside and we’re happy knowing they’re safe.

Hopefully it’ll be landscaped soon it looks a bit nicer than it does at the moment.

Kitty Angels

Before we’d even booked our last holiday, we’d talked about how the cats would be cared for while we were away. We looked at several options but quickly decided against a cattery. The cats are used to having the run of the house and I knew they’d hate being confined to a small space. Plus Sammie would be really stressed by strangers and noises.

That left a cat sitting service and after doing a lot of research, we contacted Kitty Angels. They arranged to visit us and spent some time with us telling us about the service and asking us lots of questions about the cats and their habits. Tony filled in a questionnaire with all the details of how we wanted the cats fed and cared for. We were very impressed and went ahead and booked with them.

They’ve got brilliant reviews on Facebook, which was just as reassuring as the various documents that Tony had brought to show us, such as insurance and DBS checks.

We had another visit a couple of weeks before we went on holiday, this time from Andrea who would be the main visitor. We showed her where everything was and she made sure she had all the information about the cats that she needed. She also met the cats and made friends with Frodo straight away.

What I loved about the service is that they set up a WhatsApp group so that I could receive twice-daily updates and ask any questions. With every update I got a chatty account of the visit telling me what games they’d been playing and including lots of photos and the odd video. Because of the time difference, the first update was there by the time that I woke up so it was lovely to be able to see how the cats were doing first thing in the morning.

Andrea and the other Angels took some great photos. These are just a few of them.

They played with the laser pointer, the flying frenzy and a piece of string. They got down on the floor and played with mice. They fussed them and cuddled them and talked to them. Even timid little Sammie had a fuss and some playtime.

They cleaned up any mess, even getting the vacuum out and took any waste away with them so there was no smell. They let us know that the cats were eating well and using their litter trays. On bonfire night they put my iPod dock on a timer so there was some music to block out the fireworks.

I’ve already booked them for next year. I came home to happy, healthy, well-fed cats and you can’t ask better than that.

 

Rosie & Frodo

I love this photo of the two of them on their cat tower.

Best friends

Rosie has settled in really well now and gets on brilliantly with Frodo. She trots round the house after him and cries for him if we separate them. He’s just as taken with Rosie and plays with her, and naps with her.

Stephen got a quick snap of them on the cat tree together.

They often snuggle up on the sofa, next to me.

A couple of days ago, Frodo was asleep on the sofa and Rosie jumped up and snuggled into his back.

A noise outside disturbed him but Rosie was still happy to cuddle.

Stephen spotted them sunbathing together on the windowsill a couple of days ago.

I love this photo though. Frodo was on the back of the sofa when Rosie jumped up and started washing him.

She’s ok with Sammie now and Sammie rarely hisses at her any more, just when Rosie takes her by surprise or tries to nick one of her Dreamies. The two girls have been playing chase and even sit on the bed at the same time now so life is peaceful again.

Well, as peaceful as it gets with a naughty tortie, that is 😉

Off to work

Frodo loves to sit on Stephen’s work bag. I’m not sure if it’s because he doesn’t want him to go to work or if he wants to go with him for a wee adventure.

Friends

Frodo loves to lie on the back of my sofa, on a large folded quilt. A couple of days ago, Rosie went exploring and found him. This is what happened next.

Not the best video as I was in a hurry to catch them and didn’t have time to mute the TV, or get a bit closer. Still, you get the idea 🙂

Now all we need is for Sammie to make friends too.