next year I might even make all the apostles the same size ....

We choose the coldest night of the year to be without glass in the inner porch . CatCalls: Revitalising my Inner Porch

The wind blows a gale and for once I am grateful to be woken at four am by Pearl pulling at the duvet at my edge so that she can creep her way next to me . Toby is at the right flank and Kitty at the outer edges . I assume Jessie is keeping tout on Nats bed in case she should make a late night return , unlikely as she has taken duvet and pillows to a sleepover down at the sea front . I should know , I had to stop the car on the seafront in fear of our lives when the high winds threatened to take us over the sea wall with them at seven last night .

Although my little paste of lime juice and flash liquid etc has made little difference to the carpet stain the effect on the shower tray is impressive ( the hair dye stain ) so spurred on to greater things and fresh from the shower itself I wrap in a towel and squeeze a lime I find in the kitchen .( I can hardly believe Im blogging about stains here ) .

I apply myself again , this time to the grout between the tiles , some of them at least .

It strikes me as I scrub on hands and knees that cleaning a house is a full time occupation . Something that again I'm sure is known to many , though has escaped me , as it's something with which I concern myself in fits and starts . On the surface our house looks fine . Underneath ..... well let's say a full time housekeeper would not be pleased .

After some twenty minutes application , I am clean out of paste , about a tenth of the grout is looking better and I have written " a bag of bargain lemons " on the shopping list which sits in the kitchen . I have a plan to do a bit now and then , when the mood takes me . I am well pleased with my efforts so far , though I notice also how my arm aches and again wonder how a daily cleaner copes . ( as a student I worked as a cleaner in a large residential establishment . I suppose I must have had big muscles then . Or something . )

Following my ablutions , we walk Alice in the park . The high winds make heading for the sea and the headland inadvisable .

There are numerous trees down and some path clearing is inevitable . Alice is never at her bravest in the park , which has numerous shady spots which could be housing masss murderers or small ghastly terriers , so the walk is not a relaxing one . She starts frequently , and walks with that glancing from side to side to side motion which makes me laugh .

Once she is snooozing happily on the sofa I set off to my CatCall , the fairytale garden house , and find a lovely note there from Sue . I forget that sometimes real life collides with the blog and there are real life people who read the blog . I love this ..... that real people read . The cats are sleeping but each gives me a chirpy hello .

I head back home to throw a strop over my missing cake ribbon , but peace is restored when D goes to a flower shop and sources a new one . Truth to tell I hate cake decoration ( love the baking, hate the icing business ) and love to blame him for "throwing my stuff out ". He recently transformed my "odds and ends " drawer into a second cutlery drawer and insists that everything from there is now neatly housed in a basket in the cupboard under the stairs . But the ribbon was missing . It was not just any old ribbon either , being a particular yellow one which Laura had brought me last Easter to tie round the simnel cake having queued for it in John Lewis .

Say no more though ..... having given it considerable thought as I was weaving the trellis work on the cake ( and this year it worked !!! ) though I had some trouble getting my marzipan balls all the same size , but that's to be expected , I applied the deathbed test and decided that no , wishing I had spent more time griping over lost yellow ribbons was not something I would look back and wish I had spent more time doing when my number were up .

The yellow ribbon is to be mentioned no more , until he tidies away the next thing that is .....

Alice surveys scenes of devestation at the park . Many obstructions and ducks and having consultations about how to survive till Spring .

Respectively ...

Respectively , thats the word I was looking for ..... now I'm happy .
The cute little paste will remove the stains from the carpet and shower tray respectively .
Or not , as the case may be .

Not , is owt else I've tried is a guide .

Good Friday

Today I am mostly cleaning .... though I have also made a simnel cake , it being Easter , walked the dog , though on her lead , as she is still not allowed to run lest she tears open her stitches , though methinks any tearing would have already happened as she careers about the furniture tossing her pound puppies hither and thither in excitement and steams up and down the yard when not shying away from the bangs from the wind . Her recent savageing by a beast of a Jack Russell terrier has left her alarmed by the slightest movement outside and frightened of her own shadow . So far we cannot take her to the beach until she is able to run free . Maybe next week . If I wore a skirt I think she would walk under it .
I have also mixed a cute little paste from lemon juice and some other things in an attempt to remove stains ( dog unmentionables and hair dye ) from the carpet and shower tray in that order . There's one word that describes that phrase "in that order "but the topamax ( migraine thing ) stops me finding words sometimes . It's irritating to say the least . I' m not fond of blogs where there's a concentration on medication matters but find myself increasingly fascinated by them myself , and also feel the need to explain why I can't find that word . I wrote that sentence then realised its simply not true . I do like medication matters . ..... I digress . The paste is applied . I'm not hopeful . I mention these things as for me they are out of the ordinary . I recognise that for some peope they would form a regular part of daily life but for me they have novelty value . I wouldnt have even known such pastes existed had my sister not advised me of their possibility , whilst sitting facing the dog unmentionable stain probably ..... anyway we shall see.....

The wind is rising ( fast ) , it is hailstoning outside , the cats are snoozing on the water bed ( hot) , and Dog is growling heavily in her sleep ( dreams of attack no doubt ) , causing her polka dot bandana to wave airily .
I wish you all a Good Friday .

A Rat in the Bedroom .

I head for the bathroom at three am and round the far side of the bed I encounter a big grey thing .
A rat , next to the bed , sitting hunched as rats do . I stop dead in my tracks , as you do , and stare . Silence . Then I hear the rain lashing and the wind . I glance round , noting the presence of at least two large cats , asleep. I consider leaping back onto the bed but the consequent mayhem would stop D in his tracks , possibly .
The water bed does not take kindly to being jumped on . In the early morning light as I stare at the hunched sight I realise it is in fact not a rat at all , but a Guinea Pig . Of course ! Why would a rat be in our bedroom ?
A grey guinea pig , ( the one we call Hedgehog in fact , and house in the kitchen directly below , has clearly made her way upstairs in search of breakfast greens ) and is now resting and planning her day quietly near the Victorian fireplace ?

I feel oddly chilled by this large rat/ guinea pig and decidely reluctant to step over and around it , which I have to do to get to the door . I still need the bathroom . I am feeling the urge to run as there is something not quite right about this and I have a vague primal gnawing fear that the creature will turn and run at me and wind up inside my pyjama leg ( echoes of Dad here and the incident involving the mouse brought in by the cat circa 1968 , Stamfordham , one Saturday night after Supper, though I am sure it was his trousers rather than his nightwear which were invaded , to our glee ) .
I glance again at the bed . D and the cats breathe heavily on .
Suddenly , and without warning , the rat hunches and moves , wriggling in sickening fashion across the carpet . I am wide eyed but immobile , as it moves thankfully across my line of vision rather than closer to me . As it moves , it is joined at its right extremity by a large beige Birman cat , stretching and yawning . The rat was her bunched up tail , her body concealed by the overhang of the duvet .
I head for the bathroom my heart pounding .
For the record , I didn't wet myself .

19th Feb 2008 belated birthday memory wishes of Freddie Wills who would have been two years old . .

I couldn't get onto the blog yesterday , some problems with our connections .

It was through Fred's dad Tim and his blog describing their daily life in hospital that I started my blog .Fred