I’m afraid I haven’t got time to write anything else tonight, so here is a gratuitous cat photo instead.
The blue eyed cat, who lives over the road (with Big Cat and two very large dogs).
Gratuitous cat photo
Category Archives: Animals
Today was, generally, not very good. I think the worst part was not even getting an interview for a job I think I really would have liked, and the worst worst part was that I now realise this may have been because I filled in the form badly, and not due to circumstances beyond my control like the number/quality of applicants, etc. I would quite like to know what I did wrong (I think I know, but I’m not sure), but the organisation doesn’t give feedback unless you’ve been for an interview. Anyway, it’s too late now. I will try to stop thinking about it and get on with some knitting.
On the plus side, I was cheered up by reading about Armstrong the Good Giraffe.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary
We went to Wollaton Hall last week and saw this beautiful stag grazing in the grounds. The rest of the herd were in another field, but he having a peaceful time by himself. We tried really carefully not to disturb him with our photo-taking, and he didn’t seem perturbed by it. I wish I’d had my proper camera with me, but the phone camera had to do…
Cats on alert
Next door’s cats like sitting on our shed roof. I think this is because it gives them a good vantage point to look across the garden and is in close range of the bird table. Needless to say, we don’t get many birds in our garden anymore. However, the cats provide us with some entertainment as they lounge about on the shed roof. Occasionally, something (often invisible to human eyes) makes them jump up, ears raised, eyes staring about them. Little do they know this is also quite amusing to the stupid humans observing them. I’m afraid to say I disturbed the cats’ restful time by sneaking up on them to take the following photos…
A cat sleeps peacefully against the flowerpot
His sister is alerted to the presence of an irritating human…
She gives the human a look worthy of a displeased librarian.
The first cat looks sheepishly round the flowerpot…
…and is relieved to find no tigers lurking, but would rather his sleep had not been disturbed by that foolish human with her strange black contraption.
Gastropods’ gastronomy
This year hasn’t been a very successful year in the garden, crops wise. I planted peppers, spinach, thyme, runner beans and radishes, and all but the peppers have been eaten by slugs and snails. The peppers have only survived thus far because I kept them indoors until yesterday. The Busy Lizzies I planted at the same time as the fruit and veg are still going strong because I put them out of harm’s way on top of the shed. I’ve put one pot of peppers there now, and one on the top of the dustbin. They look un-nibbled at the moment. It is all very frustrating and makes me wonder why I bother trying to grow my own veg at all. I think next year I won’t bother with beans because this is the second year they’ve been eaten – I think I was being a bit optimistic planting them again. They didn’t get eaten the first couple of years I grew them, so I wonder if those were a different variety that slugs and snails don’t like the taste of. I’ll investigate and see if there are any slug-unfriendly varieties of veg and things out there, but I doubt it! Having said that, they don’t seem to like tomatoes, or chilies, and apparently they don’t like hot (spicy) plants in general, so perhaps I’ll have to stick to trying to grow those in the future.
On a more positive note, the raspberries remain largely untouched by slug or snail, and the strawberries are doing well – I just have to pick them before they’re properly ripe (and ripen them on the windowsill) so they get rescued before the become tempting to those greedy gastropods.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Friendship
The Grumpometer
I received a belated birthday present last week:
One of my colleagues, who has the dubious pleasure of sitting next to me every day, had it made for me! She is now well-acquainted with my various moods, which can range from happy manic monkey (see above left), to scary crocodile (see above right). In order to help her and other colleagues to ascertain what kind of mood I’m in, I can now turn the dial on the Grumpometer™ to the appropriate animal:
- Manic Happy Monkey (alternative picture: Tigger) – I have probably had too much coffee! Very chirpy.
- Bagpuss – Slightly sleepy and contented. Fairly chilled out.
- Dog – Nice and well-balanced.
- Terrier – Snappy and irritable. This picture can be replaced with Hedgehog – of a prickly disposition. Possibly not safe to approach.
- Crocodile – Danger! Stay away!
The Grumpometer™ is a most excellent and useful present. I would recommend it for any workplace!
Thank you to my lovely colleague and her friends who helped make it.
Snow Monkeys of Jigokudani Park, Yamanouchi, Nagano
“It’s hard to be part of the famous snow monkeys of Jigokudani Park. Just imagine the pressure when people from all over the world including media outlets like CNN or National Geographic annually visits you for a feature story. Obviously, they expect you on your cutest mood and if you are covered in snow, then its just perfect television".
"Then, there are the tourists- who mostly armed with big cameras trying to capture our every move, I bet they have photo collection showcasing every angle of my red face.
PhotoHunt: Fluffy
Badger the cat takes a snooze in the garden...with one eye open...
There are more ‘fluffy’ photos on this week’s PhotoHunt page.
Written! Kitten?
If you are having problems writing your novel for NaNoWriMo, or need some assistance in motivating yourself to write for NaBloPoMo, why not try Written? Kitten!?
If you write 100 words, you get to see a picture of a lovely cute kitten! What more motivation could you need?
Obviously this will only work if you like cats.
Happily for me, I do like cats, and kittens, of course. I also like dogs, but I think they are probably more difficult to look after than cats, as they need to be taken out for walks, and to go to the toilet and things. Dogs are cool, though. Cats are cool in a different way – in a ”I’m cooler than you, stupid human” kind of a way, which most people dislike them for, but I find it quite amusing.
[I wrote 138 words and I got this photo (Chilled, a photo by BigTallGuy on Flickr) as my reward.]
