Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

Welcome to CatMinders

Welcome to CatMinders


Sunday, 25 November 2007

Winter Salad Kitchen


Just to make a change from clutter clearing ( there 's still under the king sized bed to do , as the water bed has no space under it for storage . I couldnt quite bring myself to bend down and look under the bed though today . I know the scene under there is going to be characterised by dust , fluff , assorted cat debris and old suitcases full of forgotten sundries. So I decided to get into the kitchen instead ) D picked all gthe green tomatoes , I went to town in search of storage jars , and he bought all the other ingredients ( apart from the green tomatoes that is ) to make Winter Salad . I've never made this before so had to ring my mother for her recipe to be e mailed , with various bits of advice to go alongside . The picture denotes about a third of the quantity that resulted and we still have about the same amount of tomatoes all over again .
Then , whilst we were winter salading and D was cooking the Sunday Dinner Nat went to Emily's and they made three chocolate cakes , complete with eight eggs .
One of these is pictured somewhere too .

the chest of drawers is perfectly tidy inside each individual drawer ( thanks to D and his organisational skills . I take everything out of each drawer , stare at it a bit , then put it back hurriedly so its as well Im not in charge . ) Soon the room too will be clear . No more piles of stuff on top ( now all gone , it was piled high ) , piles of spare chairs to the side , books in a stack and waiting to be moved on , picnic baskets to the fore . By next weekend maybe ? But hang on all the extra stuff hasnt arrived yet ???
This is the house only half full .

Order restored ....the cats are back






Jessie at least back at the helm
, last night's clearing of the chest of drawers was too much for her , and later , as we surveyed the scene after we were done , and every
drawer was back in place , she couldnt resist climbing back up to the desk where pre Alice she and Kitty fought over the best position at the desk .
Later , despite Alice sharing the sofa with D and me , Pearl came in and settled for the first time on Jess ( teenager not cat this time ) as the most comfortable person to share a chair with .....
Nice to have some of the cats downstairs with us again though .....

Saturday, 24 November 2007

Preparing for the New Arrival

Last weekend was the clearing of the clutter from N s room . Monday night clearing from under the eaves in the attic . Friday am ( yesterday ) clearing the junk from the shed , including the placing of a ton-weight kiln and a gas heater in the back lane to find them gone within minutes . A useful disposal system that , saved a trip to the dump or a call to the council .
And , finally ( or not quite finally ) the clearing out and weeding of the coats in the downstairs hall cupboard . Another bag for the greyhounds charity shop and we each now have a peg with two or three coats on . Eminently sensible . Previously opening the cupboard was a heavily stressful experience , attempting both to unhook a coat , pull it through the darkness past sixteen wool scarves , five denim jackets and a hat ,whilst at the same time keep Alice from helping herself from the little bag of Gravy Bones situated on the floor . She would snaffle a few , dump them on the sofa and work her way through them as you finsished the coat retrieval process.
This morning was a dream , door opened easily , cast an eye in , select the right coat suited to the grey skies and freezing temperatures rather than just the only one that would come out , unhook it in one single handed movement , close the door and apply said coat . Alice didnt even try to grab a treat , seeing that everything round here is changing . Result !

What's it all in aid of though , you may wonder. I myself wonder why we don't do this clutter clearing more than once in a blue moon . Its a task , there s no doubt , but how much time does it really take once you stop procrastinating and dig out a pile of heavy duty bags . The charity shops win , storage space increases ten fold and you feel somehow Light and Airy as you waft through the house .

Its in aid of the fact that having paid to have stuff ( and a lot of it ) in storage for over a year , we have now faced the fact that unless we take deciseive action this Stuff would still be in storage at the time of our demise sometime when . Seemed to make sense to shift a few things round . Most of the stuff ( which originally lived in D s cottage ) is long since forgotten , though I have a distinct memory of the gigantic water bed , which is my incentive to put pressure on to take action , and now the cold weather is upon us he can recall a warm padded coat . We also recall a washing machine , a large sofa and a million bits and pieces of this and that .....
So there you have it !
All will be revealed when the van rolls up on Thursday at nine thirty . A man is booked to fix up the bed , a complicated process involving hot water and pumps .
Oh but before that we have to dismantle the king sixed wrought iron framed bed from our room and transfer it to N s room , having first dismantled her bed and stored it somewhere ( eek ) . On Wednesday night . Foreseen hitch , where will we sleep on Wed night ? A mattress somewhere perhaps ? On a sofa with Alice ? Who knows .

I'm also amusing myself with thoughts of how much the cats are going to adore the permanent warmth of the water bed , and how much they may resent the way it rises and falls like a lake when a new body climbs aboard .

Watch this space .....

Friday, 23 November 2007

First snow

First snow spotted at 3 am this morning , lying onthe ground and on the cars , although all gone by the time I let Alice out the back at 5am there was the odd drift of slush on the cat windscreens .

As we left the park at 8 m I thought I felt a flake of snow . By the time we were back home , almost as we closed the front door and D dried Alice's paws off and removed her coat ( first time of wearing it in earnest today rather than as a try out previously ) the snow was falling for real ....

Thursday, 22 November 2007

Happy Birthday Bett

Its Bett s birthday today . 71 and counting , she said when we met her coming round to say thanks for the little present I pushed through her door at seven forty as I took Alice out ( we ordered some greetings card made out of a photo of her beloved cat William ( he 's a Birman too, and Pearl 's third son so he's quite dear to our hearts too ) .

Bett is a truly amazing person . She has lived on the same road as us for several years and nursed her husband Les at home until he died the winter before last .

Bett is a great gardener and " does " many of the gardens round here , including a long stretch of the council owned grass in front of all of our properties . In Summer she is out from early morning till the light is done , and as she gardens she makes everything look easy . Despite her years she manages always to make living look like a joy , always a smile and a word for all passers by . She rarely gardens alone , either . Before her four grandchildren were in school she childminded all four of them on a regular basis , so she would do her planting , watering and tending with her little girls in tow. Now that she looks after the girls pre and after school only , she usually has a dog or two with her . Bett is a true animal lover and would rather her neighbours' dogs were out with her , under her watchful eye , than alone indoors . She has already taken Alice to the park for us one day when D wasn't at home all day . Often one of her cats will sit on the wall watching her progress and looking disgruntled as the dogs race around having fun . Bett doesn't just garden , she muti tasks out there , throwing balls for the dogs as she goes .

Before we had the Birmans we had two elderly cats , both of whom as their days drew in chose to move in with Bett and no amount of persuasion would bring them home . We joked that with Bett feeding three times a day and being " always there " it was no wonder they left us , although both of them spent a final night with us , saying goodbye before they died .
Being "always there" is the thing I connect with Bett . When my ex left , completely unexpectedly and left N and I shell shocked and traumatised , she was always there , and seeing her out in the gardens , bent over the earth , she would give me the strength to go on .
Happy Birthday Bett .

Migraine Days ( again )

All I can say is , I am so glad I stopped working five days a week . I had a migraine starting yesterday and its not responding to naything at the minute . Makes me wonder if I also have some virus as usually the sumatriptan will knock it our for a while ( which it did yesterday , long enough for me to finish a report in the afternoon ) but overnight nothing has worked .
Alice has had her half hour in the park , so Im back to bed for a couple of hours to see of sleep will help . This is a wierd life sometimes , but hopefully it will go by tomorrow ?

Migraine Days

Migraine Days

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

art on a sunday

art on a sunday