Saturday

I decided to go shopping this morning with Mr. Swiss. I was clearning up a bit at home and Mr. Swiss decided to make himself comfortable in the kitchen with the newspaper, but there was a small problem.

Yes, this was the problem. How do you sit on a chair in the kitchen, when it is occupied by Fluffy. As Mr. Swiss wanted to pull the chair out a cat was sitting comfortable on it. It took a bit of persuasion, but when Fluffy realised that things were much nicer out in the garden, he moved. By then the newspaper was being read in the living room. Fluffy soon made himself at home outside and seemed to enjoy the fresh air.

Eventually I was ready and we went to the supermarket. In the meanwhile Flufy had curled up on his favourite chair, not under the kitchen table, and settled down for a sleep.

My other two cats were having their daily sleep on top of the cupboard so all was quiet at home. Cats seem to sleep 80% of the day and the remainder eating and thinking about where to sleep next.

I had an appointment at the hairdressers in the afternoon so took a walk into town. Although the sun was shining there was a very cold wind blowing. I decided to walk home from town this time along the river. To get to the river I had to cross a park where they have an aviary with some odd birds. I am preparing the photos at the moment, but I just loved these two. It seemed that the cold weather didn't bother these birds, although they probably come from warmer countries.

I arrived home after getting through about 50 photos on my camera, but are still preparing them.

The Sun rose

I arrived at work as usual started getting psychologically ready for the day ahead with the thought at the back of my head "Thanks goodness it is Friday". The telephone rang and me colleague in the accounts department said it was now time for me to come and see her - at 07.30 in the morning. I knew what laid ahead of me so took my camera out of my handbag and went into the accounts department.

On the side of the company where I work we only get full sun in the afternoon and sunsets which I have photographed many times. On the side of the company where the accounts and IT departments are, you get a rising sun in the morning.

My colleagues in the accounts said they would could me if the sun showed up in the morning and this morning it was there, So here it is, my sunrise over Bellach (the village where I work).

I had to open the window wide, which was not very popular so early in the morning, especially as the temperatures were under 0°C and wedged myself between a cupboard and the window to keep steady, otherwise the photos get a bit shaky.

When I returned to my department, export, everyone wanted to see the result(s). As usual I took about 5 photos to be sure.

Otherwise a normal Friday, nothing special happened. A trip to the food temple at lunch time for the week-end shopping and smooth run through the afternoon. My colleague, whose mother has the farm with the cats, told me the two kittens are doing fine and yet another female cat was making advances towards Diego, the stud cat. It seems Diego was willing and the next kittens will probably be arriving in 3 momths time, so it looks like another kitten blog.

So with a view of the sunset from my department I will come to a close.

Cats and a Fish Supper

My three cats, Nera, Tabby and Fluffy are annoyed with me and Mr. Swiss. I overheard them talking.

Nera: I just don't understand those two legged humans sometimes. It is most annoying. Yesterday was Wednesday and everyone knows that is tuna fish day. In the evening each of us get a dish of tuna fish to eat.
Tabby: I know what you mean Nera. Yesterday evening we had no fish, just the usually dry stuff which is supposed to be full of cat vitamins, the problem being you have to wash it down with a dish of water to make sure it goes down.
Fluffy: Mr. and Mrs. Human were invited to dinner yesterday evening and they didn't have time to make anything special for us.
Nera: Typical Fluffy. Humans always have to have time for us, that is the reason why we train them with our miaw and pawing exercises.
Tabby: Not forgetting a scratch and a bite now and again.
Fluffy: Well they did come back home yesterday evening.
Nera: Fluffy I don't know why you are always taking their side of things. Of course they came back, they wanted to have a good nights sleep so they came back to their beds, the only problem was that they made no effort to serve up our normal dish of Wednesday tuna fish.
Tabby: Most disappointing Nera, we have made a mistake in our human training there.
Nera: I decided to ignore them today.
Fluffy: But Nera you were sleeping all day today as usual. I don't think Mr. Human noticed you were ignoring him.
Nera: It's the principal that counts.
Tabby: Fluffy, just get one thing straight. You have to treat humans as if they don't exist. They have some sort of feeling that we cats like to be near them.
Fluffy: Well I like to be near them, they feed us and look after our needs.
Nera: Exactly Fluffy. We hang around to make sure we don't have to rely on mouse hunting or bird catching for our regular meals. Humans are a sort of tool that we need now and again, like humans that need a tin opener to give us our tuna fish once a week.
Tabby: Once a week on Wednesday evening.
Fluffy: Yes but we got our Tuna fish this evening.
Nera: This evening is Thursday and not Wednesday.
Fluffy: Does that make a difference?
Tabby: Of course it does. We are cats and have our tuna on Wednesday, not Thursday. It is a fact of life.
Fluffy: But you and Nera ate it all the same. You could have left it and not touched it, as well as being all the more for me, you would have shown the humans that you were annoyed because they went out yesterday and didn't give us our usual tuna.
Nera: Are you mad Fluffy. A plate of tuna is not to be ignored at any time.
Tabby: Fluffy, if someone put a plate of tuna in front of you on Sunday morning would you eat it, although it isn't Wednesday.
Fluffy: Of course I would.
Nera: Good, then you have understood the basic fact of cat life. Take what you can and when you can, but do it with dignity.
Fluffy: OK I understand. Now a small question. You two have not eaten all your tuna fish and there is some left in your dishes. Do you want it.
Tabby & Nera: We have had enough, you have to leave a respectable remainder to prove that you are not slaves of tuna.
Fluffy: Well, in that case this tuna slave is going to eat the fish you two left.

New Kittens at the Farm

A friend of mine has a farm. I have known her for a few years and one of her daughters (she has 5 daughters and two sons) works in the same office as I do. Apart from the usual farm animals - cows, pigs, & goats, as well as white bellied hedgehogs and guinea pigs, one of her "hobbies" is breeding cats. My own Fluffy was a product of the time when she bred exclusively Selkirk Rex Cats, but since she has gone into Persian cats. Her Persian cats are not the snub nosed inbred that you often find at exhibitions. Although they are all with pedigree documents, or whatever it is called, they are bred without any cosmetic gags. Either you like Persians, or you prefer the short haired type of cat. I often used some of her cats as "actors" when I was writing my Reservoir Cat stories.

The daddy of all cats is Diego. My friend kept him from a litter she had once with the idea of him one day being the man in the family. He has proven that he has the right qualities and in the last year has been father of many. He is even hired out by other breeders looking for a man to woo their females. I know this sounds all a be degenerate, but the cats are having a happy life and now and again even get a male visitor when they feel like it.

Well one of the lady cats at the farm has been pregnant and last Sunday she had a kitten. Just one, which seems to me a bit rare. I did a photo blog last year about the farm (actually it was about 5 blogs) and so my friends daughter at work always keeps me in the picture of what is going on. She told me her mother thought there would be more than one kitten as the cat was quite on the large side, but up to this morning there was only one - "was". This morning, 2 days after the first kitten, kitten No. 2 was born. Strange animals cats - you never know what is going on really. In any case it seems that No. 2 will be the last one. Both kittens are doing very well, and the mother is busy feeding them at the moment. And here are the photos I got today.

Home Alone

Well not exactly alone, my oldest son is at home and my three cats. My other half has left me this evening for - a set of drums. I learnt to play piano at school - 10 years of piano lessons. I never had to take my instrument with me and these days I even have an electric piano with headphones so that I don't get on anyone's nerves if I hit the wrong note.

What you see here is a practice drum set. We don't have the drums in our home as they do tend to take up quite a lot of room, so they are in the cellar. They would also be quite noisy to practice on so this is a sort of electrified thing to practice with.

When I met my husband I soon found that his music tastes were a bit different to mine. He had been to London when he was younger to learn English for a year, but I think he spent more time in the various London jazz clubs than at school. Anyhow after a couple of years I realised that Cannonball Adderly was not an American secret weapon, or John Coltrane was not some sort of long distance American locomotive, but they were jazz musicians. After almost 40 years of being married to a jazz fan (and not traditional jazz, oh no that is not welcome - it has to be be-bop and swing) I must be one of the people that are quite an authority on who plays with who, what they play and their style, without even really being a fan of the music. I have found out that my taste is mainstream, because whenever I am listening to the jazz my Mr. Swiss listens to and I tell him that sounds good, he tells me it is mainstream.

My husband did play with quite a few local jazz quartets before I met him and since over the years he played in a couple of formations (just listen to the expressions I am using, you can tell I have become an expert). One of the groups was the Monday Groove quartet as they would rehearse on Mondays. Then they had to change the day of rehearsal and so the group became the Friday Groove quartet. My husband on drums, his colleague on piano and the bass player (who is actually professional after finishing the jazz school in Bern) and another colleague that played trumpet. Now and again there were jam sessions with other musicians in the area. I remember his 60th birthday which he celebrated together with the pianist. They were both 60 in the same year and a party was organised in the jazz cellar which is at a local restaurant. My husband was one of the founder members of the jazz club which meets once a month. He doesn't go so much any more, but it became quite well known in the district and there were always good bands playing there. Anyhow the birthday was quite a success. Musicians were invited and it was one jam session until midnight. We still have the film and I did the master of ceremonies, introducing the people. We had food and drink and it was fun. It was decided the next party would be in 10 years time (then they will be 70 - I wonder how that will turn out).

Anhow living in a country town word does tend to get around who plays what in the jazz world and my husband was asked if he was interested in sort of playing a bit now and again, so he is off for a practice with a couple of other jazz lovers. Not so easy being a drummer. He got everything piled up in the garage to put it in the car. He won't be far away, but drums are not something you can carry to where you are going. Luckily No. 1 son was at home and could help to pack them in the car. When he arrives he will have to assemble them and before coming home will have to pack them up again. It would have been so much easier if he had learnt to play guitar or saxophone I suppose.

This is only half of the drum set, the other half was piled up on the other side of the car.

In the meanwhile I will make myself comfortable with the computer and at nine o'clock in the evening my favourite tv programme "The Eastenders" will be on the tv. Problem is that televisions have got so complicated over the years and I just leave the tv to my husband that I will be a bit lost. He was giving me instructions how to turn it on , but we have a second set, a bit simpler, so i will be using that one.

It's a cat's life

Nera's day: Well it was just a typical day really. This morning I was waiting for one of those two legged types to eventually get up (must be Sunday, always takes longer then) to let me out. Not that I wasn't out during the night, but when I arrived back home the cat flap is shut and I have to wait. A cat that has to wait - degrading really, but I suppose that's a cat's life. Anyhow as I was saying two legs eventually came into the kitchen and let me out. In the early morning hours you never know if you might meet a mouse on its way home, although I think it is a bit cold for them at the moment. First of all I had a sniff and noticed that Garfield, the new cat in town, had been around, but it seemed the coast was clear and it was only his smell in the air. After going on an inspection tour, I decided everything was under control and went back home for a sleep. Later on in the day two-legs, Mr. Human, went for a walk with Fluffy, my blind fellow cat, so I decided to join him. Somehow I don't think Mr. Human always enjoys going out with me as well as Fluffy. Something about me bothering Fluffy and Fluffy not being happy about it. I just keep Fluffy under control - you never know what comes into his curly head. Anyhow the rest of the day seemed to pass ok, no big dramas and Garfield kept clear of us. Mr. Human sort of chased him away and Bobinette the neighbour's cat was around. Of course I had my usually daily photo session, I was just going up to my favourite sleeping place on top of the cupboard and that is where I am now until midnight. Then it is out and about again - all sorts of things move around in the night outside. And now over to Tabby

My day - well as always really. I also went out for a few minutes this morning, although not long. I was out most of the night keeping everything under control. My favourite time is the night. You would be amazed what creeps around in the ground at night. Even in the cold nights there are things happening, although I am not too keen on it when its raining. I don't mind water coming upwards, like puddles and muddy places, but water coming downwards, now that is extremely unpleasant - I mean if I want a wash I just have a good lick. Otherwise my day was spent as usual. I always have a problem knowing where to sleep. I have a few favourite places. In the cold winter months I prefer the bathroom. I am sheltered on four sides and the floor is heated. My humans have a nice comfortable carpet and I have spent many happy cat sleeping hours in the bathroom. Now and again a human comes in, but I just ignore them, they soon go away. Today I chose the first cushion on the right on top of the cupboard. Actually I prefer the third cushion on the left, but Nera my big fat boss sister had already taken that one. After my usual 10 hours daily sleep I decided it was time to have a bite to eat. It seemed a bit too early to go out, so I retired once again for a few hours sleep until this evening, then it will be a cats night out again. Meanwhile Fluffy...?

Yes, well, I had a quiet day. Not being able to see anything, I don't usually go out on my own and have to wait for the humans to fit me with my harness so that I can go into the garden. I have quite a wide range to walk around in as I have a telescopic dog lead which is hooked to a pole in the garden. Clever people these humans. I had a good smell through the opened window and gave cat signals to Mrs. Human. She noticed I wanted to go out so fitted me up for the great outdoors. However, after a few minutes I decided it was a bit boring and I also heard that Mr. Human was moving around so decided to go inside to see if there was any action. I then noticed that Mr. Human started making the movements he makes when he takes me for a walk. He took my lead in his hand, but started searching for something - like his key I think - and I had to wait until he was ready. Now that was rather frustrating, there was I ready for a walk and had to wait. Eventually the door was open and we were gone. We took the usual route and suddenly my big black fat boss cat Nera was walking with us. Now I don't mind her being around as long as she keeps her distance. I always have the feeling that she is watching me. Mr.Human was with me so I knew he would have everything under control. I spent the afternoon having a sleep in the armchair indoors and eventually decided to go up on my cat playcentre where I have a good view of everything in my territory and fell asleep.

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So that was the day of my cats. Sometimes I would like to be one of my cats as well, no stress, no housework, just sleep when you want to and food is always there.