The first hints of Autumn, Brexit and possible issues with Vampires

It’s August, about two thirds of the way through. What is somewhat worrying is that it is starting to feel like Autumn, surely that is not meant to happen yet it should be the height of summer . . . Pesky Weather.

Now in the last couple of days we have had a young Hedgehog scurrying about eating any bird seed in the early evening that the birds had missed during the day. We also have some posy hedgehog food that I have put out and it seems to like it. In the past this was not possible as Harry the Cat (who died) would eat the lot and tended to look at Hedgehogs with his grumpy face. So they would run off. Sooty the Cat (who has gone mad), is a happy critter has no interest in hedgehogs or the posh hedgehog food, so this little critter is making the most of it. Interestingly Sooty the Cat is putting weight on at present now that he is the Alpha Male Cat. Mainly because he is the only cat, but I don’t think he has worked that out yet.

We are keeping our heads down at present; it is reaching peak holiday time with the August Bank Holiday next weekend so there are Pesky Kids everywhere. I say everywhere that is not entirely true there are no Pesky Kids at our end of our tiny village and those at the other end are kept in caves until school starts again. It’s a quiet tiny village and folk like it like that. It may sound hard but one day those kids will appreciate the skills they are learning in those caves.

Talking of caves the bats are active and although not vampire bats folk like to stay on the safe side so are wandering about with garlic hanging around their necks. I have pointed out that in a No Deal Brexit garlic will no longer be easy to get hold of so some folk are panic buying garlic. They say they would rather face the disapproving glare of the local shop assistant than face an angry Vampire in the dark of night. Particularly as August this year has gone all Autumny and the evenings are getting darker all the time. So Vampires will be wandering the streets at the same time as the local WI society head home after one of their meetings. The thought of a gang of Vampire WI women prowling the streets and woodland at night is a scary prospect indeed.

Well that’s it, it is dark so I am off for a cup of tea. The doors are locked and I have rubbed garlic on the cat flap just in case, because after all a chap can’t be too cautious.

The Death of Harry the Cat

Last time I wrote something I mentioned that Harry the Cat was very poorly. Well sadly he had to go off to the vets on Monday for a one way trip to see the Big Cat God in the Sky. It was sad but the vets we use have this amazing vet from the US called Geoff and so Harry had a very chilled time and was very relaxed in his last moments alive. The thing that finally made us take this path was that Harry had basically run out of steam, he could hardly walk and although managing to eat small amounts of food and his beloved Squirty Cream he was struggling. And I guess as pet owners most of our lives we kind of knew poor old Harry had reached that point.

But over the fifteen years we owned Harry (I say owned, he was a cat) I can safely say he has been the most aggressive, demanding and cantankerous cat we have ever had. In his heyday he would attack the public passing the house, chase dogs regardless of size or breed, destroy furniture and clothing.  And scare the vets. Much of his life he had issues with eating large meals so ate small amounts between 5 and 8 times a day and hated having to wait. Our other cat Sooty is a lot smaller and agile and so would spend many hours on worktops or in trees or hiding in the garden while Harry patrolled his domain growling sometimes at nothing.

During Harry’s last week Sooty had also stopped eating, but after we buried Harry on Monday evening Sooty has been fine. We still don’t see him much he is an outdoor cat and spends many an hour or two in the field next to us hunting mice. Harry was a great hunter but is was a case of catch kill and eat. Sooty seems far more interested in the chase and once he catches something tends to get bored and wanders off so most of his catches get to escape to tell their mates to avoid the black cat.

Well that’s about it for today. So Farewell Harry you were certainly a cat with character who folk turned their back on at their own risk.

Harry the Cat (also known as Heavy Harry)