Not my normal sort of post, I know – but it’s not been a normal sort of week….
The half term holiday, a welcome break from routine…. Time to recharge the batteries, to be able to fall into bed at night without setting the alarm, a chance to have a little lie in each morning – bliss! Well, that was the plan anyway….
So, last Saturday morning, being the first day of the holidays, I did just that…. By the time I eventually padded downstairs, taking care not to awaken the rest of the still slumbering household, it was quite a bit later than the usual 5.45 am and already daylight outside…. I wandered into the kitchen with coffee on my mind…..only to be greeted by the sight of two extremely grumpy cats staked out by their food bowls. The fact that the bowls were still half full of the late supper they had wheedled out of me the previous evening didn’t seem to make any difference; they were holding out for the gourmet stuff they have every morning. Breakfast is a big deal for these two moggies, having ‘posh nosh’ first thing is, for them, a matter of ‘principle’ – theirs not mine; they simply refuse to eat anything else. I let them get away with it in the mornings but the rest of the time, they get pouches like normal cats….
So, feeling guilty, I busied myself tending to their feline needs…. It was at this point I glanced out of the window, to spy three angry swans glaring back at me…. Now I felt doubly guilty, it was becoming blatantly obvious that I was not the most popular human that morning. So, avoiding the venomous stares, I hurriedly got myself sorted to face the day, (there was no way I was going outside to feed swans in my jim-jams, it was snowing!). By the time I was ready, the disgruntled trio had already stomped off back to the pond. Now feeling trebly guilty, I ventured out to give them their bread and grain – they did nothing to alleviate my guilt, I was definitely the errant human – a theme that was to remain with me throughout the rest of the day….
Having already upset cats and swans, I think I already knew the bunnies were going to be equally unhappy with me…. Cookie likes to show his authority at the best of times; this particular morning he lunged at me the moment I lifted the lid to his run. He is a rabbit who is King of his domain; he has a large outside run which is connected to his hutch by a twelve-foot tunnel. He is very much an outdoors bunny, even in sub-zero temperatures he prefers to be outside. In fact, he only retreats to his hutch when sulking, or when he has the urge to ‘trash’ it – he can sometimes behave like a spoilt rock star wrecking a hotel room….
My two girl bunnies are of a gentle nature, they are usually delighted to see me and greet me affectionately. Not so this morning – as soon as I lifted the blanket that covers their hutch at night, it was apparent I was getting the ‘cold shoulder’….
Things didn’t particularly get any better during the rest of the day. Lola, evidently worried that her brother wasn’t getting the required nutrition to meet his needs, went off to hunt. She came back with an appropriate rodent hanging from her jaws, emitting that ‘yowling’ that alerts us to her arrival bearing ‘gifts’….this is my cue to sprint and bolt the cat flap to stop the offering from being brought indoors. Successfully managing to prevent ‘grand entrance with gift’, I later opened the back door to be confronted by a disemboweled, headless rat….
So, the day progressed…. Evening feed for the swans – I’m used to them coming to look for me when they are ready – not this time though, I had to go and find them. They grumpily scoffed their food, turned their backs on me and ungratefully waddled off…. The bunnies, they were still sulking…. As for the cats, well, I was to pay….dearly! Every night since, I have been woken at regular intervals to be reminded that they are there and it will be breakfast time in a few hours; Lewes has actually taken to demanding an extra meal at the unthinkable hour of 2 am!
I for one, am glad half term is almost over…. I am hoping things get back to normal next week….I need a break !!
Cottage Capers 