Trials of pet ownership

If my life had been a movie, last night it would've been called:

"THE NIGHT MY CAT'S BUM EXPLODED"

This is my old girl, the last of my girls actually...and on the face of it she looks pretty harmless.

I've had her since 1991 when I found her while driving to work very early one morning.

She's been a wonderful companion. She has a lovely nature, has easily settled in when I've continually changed addreses and has travelled with me interstate without any hassles when I was transferred for work...in fact she probably clocked up more frequent flyer points than I did.

Unfortunately, last night though, she must've had a few problems controlling her bowels because when I got up in the middle of the night I was confronted with what can only be described as a stench that would makes your eyes water...and a sight that certainly got the juices in my stomach wanting to make their way up past my tonsils.

Think projectile vomiting coming from the nether regions. Her poo was up the walls, across the floor and, unfortunately, over my towel. She can always get out if she needs to relieve herself through the night, but it was raining and she doesn't like the wet. So she used the stand-by tray in the bathroom/toilet. And that's what I was confronted with...

Janet Hill Beauties

Janet Hill's Beauty Sleeps

I've fallen in love with the gorgeous paintings of Janet Hill. She's a Canadian artist and you can find her work here

This is the latest one I've ordered and I can't wait till it arrives. When it does, I'll have it framed and will hang it with the other two I have in my sewing room, wheree I spend a lot of my time.

Gorgeous!

Blowin' in the wind

I've never been a big fan of clothes dryers. Sure I have one and it gets used occasionally, but I can't remember the last time I put something straight from the washing machine into the dryer and switched it on.

I generally use mine to finish things off, like towels, just to fluff them up a bit....and I have four clothes airers...or as my Mum calls them, clothes horses to put the washing on when it's too wet outside.

This morning, I was checking out A-M's blog, TheHouseThatA-MBuilt... and she was lamenting the fact that she hadn't allowed enough room for a clothes line to be installed at her gorgeous new home.

Well, I don't have one either, at least not a conventional one. Mine is a straight piece of cable, similar to the stuff used on a hills hoist, that's connected to the carport and the back deck by a couple of large clips, like the ones used on dogs leads .

It works just as well as any rotary clothes line, or retractable one.

In fact, It's long enough and strong enough to hold a couple of queen sized sheets, towels and other assorted odds and bods...I mean, why pay to use a dryer when there's perfectly good sunshine and wind outside?

Baby it's cold outside

Winter has really arrived with a vengeance, but the chooks seem to like wandering around looking for grubs....and we like watching them.

They're always so "busy" when they're hunting for moths and insects in the yard. They're extremely funny too when they appear to see something in the distance and make a run for it.

Our three girls are getting on a bit now, only laying occasionally, but they're still lovely to watch.

Time Keeping

I've had a thing about clocks for quite some time...any time piece really. I don't really know why but I just like the way they keep ticking away. It's like there are a lot of little beating hearts through the house

The first one I fell in love with was way back in the early 80's when I moved interstate for work. I wanted an alarm clock but something that also looked good next to my bed, so I bought a little carriage clock. It cost me a fortune back then...or what I considered to be a fortune, but I just had to have it...and it's been sitting next to my bed ever since.

Then there have been a couple of crystal clocks...2 French style clocks ...and everything in between