Critters And Their Daily Demands

As predicted, the demise of the poor moggy yesterday (see previous blog) kept me awake most of last night, and so I have lost the will to do any crafting this afternoon, despite the extensive 'to do' list that I eagerly drew up during breakfastthis morning. I'm feeling guilty about this but as Scarlet O'Hara was fond of saying, "Tomorrow is another day".

As I can safely say that hens are the thickest pets I've ever had, cats are the most sensible. My two cats, Zebra and her one remaining son, Dolphin, have not left the house today, even for a pee. I on the other hand, being a human, have had the responsibility of tending to all my animals' needs. Sid the Sod, my lovely 15 year old bay Welsh cob, resides in sheer idleness in a huge field, 7 miles from here towards the Pennines, and remains outdoors with his home boys all year round. I usually put an all-weather coat on him by mid-December but decided not to bother this winter, as I'd heard many reports that his type are better off unrugged. He has amazingly thick fur at this time of year and only suffers the cold when it has rained and he is too wet to dry out over night. Today, however, I gave in as the forecast here is for more snow overnight, and he is now cozy-bozy in his glam pink duvet, with all the other horses pointing and laughing at his lack of dress sense. Needless to say, I left the camera in the car, which I had to park one mile away as the lumpy country lane is now impassable, so cannot show you how fab he looks, but you can see from this photo, taken a couple of days ago, the thickness of his natural coat and how well equipped he is for this cold weather.

I've been replacing the hens' water bottles several times throughout the day as they are freezing up within half an hour. I fill one up with hot water for them to use and keep another in the house to thaw out, this little routine occuring 8 or 9 times in all. The wild birds positively leapt on the fat balls and trashy white bread that I left for them this morning. They must be having a ball at the moment with everyone sticking food out for them. I spotted a very fat robin, 2 thrushes, a blackbird, blue tits, longtailed tits and many dunnocks and sparrows around the bird feeder within half an hour of their food delivery. I also saw an amazing V formation of about 60 geese flying over the house, all screeching joyfully in the glorious sun. Ain't nature wonderful!

The Temperature In Manchester Today was -13C

I don't remember ever experiencing weather as cold as this. De-icing the car today was sheer hell as the lock froze over within seconds, there was ice inside the car and my hand actually stuck to the door handle. The draught excluder (Moo Moo the cow snake - don't ask, but he's rather gorgeous)was stuck by ice to the inside of the front door all day, despite the central heating roaring away. This evening my shoes were frozen onto the concrete outside my back door.

I keep hens in the back garden - four gorgeous Pembrokeshire Blacks, bred for cold conditions luckily. Named Beryl, Onyx, Jet and Doris (my mother's name) they have soft oily feathers that insulate them against freezing temperatures. Lately they have stopped bickering between themselves and adopted an attitude of sisterly love, which I know from experience won't last, and have taken to huddling together at night inside their straw lined house, inside the cat basket that has become the egg production room. They look hilarious squeezed into such a small space together, but what a sensible bunch, considering hens are incredibly stupid on the whole.

There was a feline fatality outside my garden gate this morning. I found a dear, sweet young black cat's still warm body lying there, presumably knocked down by the delivery van that I saw cruising round the corner, and try as I might I could not find anyone who recognised the poor moggy. I will not go into the details, but needless to say it will haunt me for a few days. God knows how a van travelling at about 5 mph could possibly do this, but I'm assuming that the cat or van skidded and didn't quite put the brakes on in time. RIP little cat.