Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
The Noises In The Kittenry
by admin - 23:16 on 10 September 2012
The Rural Retreat's rodents have had it easy for too long – Maia has proved herself a worthy successor to Tess as a pest controller.
Matchgirl discovered our new girl's victim when she descended the stairs this morning and espied the corpse in the middle of the living room carpet. What a pygmy shrew was doing in the cottage is a mystery.
An even bigger mystery is why the permanently hungry moggy didn't wolf it down, for she continues to spend much of the day staring hopefully at her dish. The steroids may be to blame for her ravenous appetite. (Maia arrived under treatment for a skin condition – our tradition of ailing felines continues.) Perhaps she'd already eaten half-a-dozen.
Maia has been happy to play with Matchgirl and the toys she's been provided. Toys have also been placed in The Kittenry, for Matchgirl feared that our two junior residents might become bored when left on their own. She shouldn't have worried – give a kitten a scrap of cardboard and she'll be happy for hours. And if that palls there's always their own tail to chase.
But that's a very last resort. Willow and Pandora spend much of their time chasing each other over, under, through and around the furnishings of The Kittenry; from downstairs it sounds as though they're dragging my desk across the room.
I spent some time with them this afternoon and discovered the art of one-handed snappery, usually practised without a viewfinder: digital capture and auto-focus are a boon, especially when a boisterous kitten is tugging the strings of your Weird Fish jumper or nibbling your fingers.
And I can report that there's nothing more cute than two well-fed kittens who want to curl in a jumble in your lap and sleep, even if this does restrict one's ability to operate the Mac. The other most favoured sleeping spots are the sofabed, the office chair and the filing box. Just like Maia, they've shown little interest in the cat beds chosen with such care by Matchgirl. Cats don't do gratitude.
Talk Update: The presentation on self-publishing at the Black Isle Words festival yesterday by James and me was well received by a bijou audience who were interested enough to ask questions afterwards and even buy a few books. This bodes well for our talks (on other subjects) to Dingwall Camera Club in two weeks.
Tonight I attended my first meeting of The Serious Lenses, for I've switched my allegiance from Cromarty Camera Club because of the continuing clash with band rehearsals. I was allowed to enter their world after paying £30 subs and promising to be nice in the blog. I'll do my best.
Squirrel Update: Soo took what might be the world's best squirrel snap when she and Tony returned to James's secret place without me last week. She's home now and her snaps are on Flickr. This one has to be shared.
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