Poor Derek on the Isle of Sheppey - rain just seems to keep missing them and everywhere is absolutely arid and the ground is cracked - all quite worrying. Here most days we get a shower at some point; the lawns are green and nothing looks seriously short of water. Now that my gardener has been and cut everything back already many of the herbaceous plants like the geraniums and the gallardias are coming into flower again. Now all that remains is for me to get rid of all the bags of rubbish. It is green bin collection on Wednesday morning. My son has promised to take my excess up to the tip tomorrow and once the green bin has been emptied it can be filled again so hopefully the patio will soon be clear again. There is definitely an Autumnal nip in the air morning and evening but T and S have just called with some damsons and a couple of cooking apples and they say the temperature is twenty one outside.
As I sit here typing a sleek black cat I haven't seen before has travelled through my garden along the top of the wall. I haven't seen this one before - is it new to the area or (more likely) is it swift-moving and hard to see?
Every time I see a 'new' one I am envious but then I remind myself I do live on a busy road and I would hate to own a cat only for it to get run over. (In any case does one ever own a cat or do they just choose to live with you - the latter I rather think.)
A new series of Antiques Road Show begins this evening and before that an hour of Country File. Just about time for tea before it is time to get all locked up and settled down, so see you again tomorrow.
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18 comments:
All my cats have been house cats... spayed and declawed... and spoiled.. I don't know how someone can just leave them to run around and perhaps get run over by a car.. Rain rain rain .. we've had some wonderful rain here in TX much needed and much appreciated.. I think we shall spend the next week at least drying out.. Hugs! debs
How delightful to have flowers getting ready to bloom again and the catch a glimpse of the black cat. Perhaps he/she knows your garden wall is more safe than the road?
Since we live on 5 acres, we often have raccoons looking in windows at us and the occasional passing cat. We see deer and foxes at a distance.
Hugs!
Love a black cat. All the cats we have just showed up on the farm but none are black. YDS is home helping his Dad who is ill and he brought his marmalade cat with him who is a rescue.
Our second crop of delphiniums are beginning to look promising after cutting them to the ground after first flowering.
Sad to think that cats are allowed to roam free. Apart from the danger to themselves, they run havoc over bird populations. I very seldom see cats outdoors here, they are mostly kept indoors.
Like your friend Derek we have had only light drizzly showers here in Gloucestershire, though strangely places only a few miles away have had lovely downpours. However, the grass is managing to throw up one or two new green blades here and there.
I found a way of dealing with the problem of no pets in the flats where I live, by buying an extremely lifelike resin ornament of a ginger cat. It has caught one or two people out and also solves the problem of worrying about living on a busy road. What a shame it didn't come with a purr!
I respectfully differ from most here, and think a cat should be given more choice in their environment suited to their inherent feline nature.
It is an instinct to sharpen their claws, as much as it is washing themselves.
I am a strong believer in de-sexing however, for obvious reasons, and a cats hunting nature keeps rats and mice away, although I completely understand others concerns for native wildlife.
Cats with the option of a cat door, seem content.
I find inside cat litter trays a bit yucky. Our present cat, now desexed, was a frightened stray and adopted us. Like those before him, he loves being outside in the sun and fresh air, as do the majority of living creatures. -Pam.
At this point, I have four strays coming to be fed. I just volunteered to help with a group who is trying to set up a TNR program in our county, the first of its kind here. I agree with Pam. Some cats simply cannot/will not stay indoors. Others, like my deceased cat, Paddy, never was interested in going outside at all. 'My' strays cannot be brought inside. They have a place to stay, and I will make sure they have a warm place this winter. They will be fed. Perhaps in time, I can bring one or even two in, but cats will be true to their natures. Some cats are indoor cats. Some inny-outies. Others are just feral cats.
We had a tiny storm last night, and I see that the ground is wet. Not enough to have done any good though.
On the cat subject, I am very much with Pam there. (I know Derek won't agree - but that's fine, just as it is fine that some of us prefer dogs over cats, or no pets at all, or men over women, and so on. The nice thing is that we all have choices, right?)
A tiny bit of rain fell here Saturday night or early hours on Sunday morning, still a long way from what our forests and fields would actually need, but better than nothing.
Orion is now bright in the sky, rising from the East when I look out of my kitchen window when I get up during the night. He is my special friend and only visible from my area during the cooler half of the year.
I haven't a problem with what Pam said, it was basic common sense.
What I've always had a problem with is those owners who refuse to accept that their cat is basically a wild animal when it's wondering the neighbouring countryside, catching and killing wildlife in the same way as say, a fox would and for that reason should be able to be treated in the same way as a fox can be. It is legal to shoot a dog seen attacking livestock, yet wild cats are protected.
Interesting discussion points here - thanks to you all.
Thank you for clarifying, Derek. Yes, interesting discussion points, as is often the case here on Pat's blog.
If a feral cat attacks a farmers sheep on his land then he is entitled to shoot the feral cat in the same way he could shoot a dog doing likewise.
Cats are not protected here. If a cat is killing livestock (?), or attacking people, he is liable to be shot, and there would be no quarrel about it. The four cats that come to my house are ferals. I do not know their history. I'm trying to socialize them. One of them was actually taken in (by me) about six years ago. He did not want to be an indoor cat. I have caught sight of him in the neighborhood, but he just recently started coming by regularly again. I try to make their lives better, but no. The situation is not ideal. One can only do what they can. Cats will be true to their nature.
I don’t agree with declawing cats but do believe in desexing them. When I have kept cats in the past, they were also locked indoors at night.
Thank you Rachel for the clrification. We once found 8 sheep dead in thr field and we never found out what had killed them.
We like the same TV.
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