Friday again! Perhaps I shall make my ‘Friday Blog’ a regular thing.  If so, then I also need to make this a regular slot for a weather report, so as not to disappoint.  Therefore, for those of you reading this and care to know, here it is:

Today, it is…..wait for it……cold.  Again.  There you have it.

It is also March 1st, and that means that soon the surrounding fields will be filled with  new-born lambs frolicking hither and thither (a bit of old English that),  bird’s nesting  and ‘hosts of golden daffodils’ as far as the eye can see.

That, at least, is my idyllic vision of a spring which is  almost upon us despite the fact that although the sun did come out to play for a short time it has, once again, gone ‘missing in action’.

Meanwhile, we have plenty of ‘sunshine’ indoors thanks to the fun and games, indeed commotion galore, thanks to our naughty cats.  It’s that boy again (cat, not human).  Husband gets up at the ungodly hour of 4.30 every morning.  Before he leaves for work he feeds the cats who have come to expect having breakfast this early every morning. Oh yes, weekends are fun in our house!

A few mornings ago I was doing my usual.  That is, I was trying to get back to sleep (having been awake oh, let’s say, since about 3 am as per ‘normal’) when, from downstairs, and unusually, I could hear the back door open, then close, then open again, and the strained sounds of Husband’s voice saying, “Eddie!” and “out!” and “no!”

This was interspersed with the sounds of a kitchen chair being scraped across the floor, cats leaping about all over the place obviously in a state of some kind of great excitement, and finally, what to me sounded like a very deep growl.  By this time I was sitting bolt upright in bed.  What on earth?  Did we have some wild animal in the house or something?

The back door closed and the strange growling sound stopped.  Husband’s footsteps coming up the stairs.  Oh oh.  He had come to tell me that Eddie had brought a live mouse inside the house and dropped it on the kitchen floor causing the poor mouse to try and run for its life.

Maisy was delighted at this real, live mouse, oh boy, did it smell great, so very different to their toy mice filled with catnip, and it moved all by itself!

One mouse. Two cats. It had no chance.

I’m just a little ashamed to say that I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.  Then Husband told me that when he had tried to get Eddie and the mouse back outside before it got loose in the house, Eddie had growled at him!  So I was right about that.  I know why he growled.  He wanted to bring the mouse upstairs as a present for mummy and daddy wouldn’t let him.  Petulant teenager, that’s all.

This morning was more peaceful. Having been awake since sparrow’s fart and feeling very tired, I crept downstairs to make a cup of tea, taking the luxury of bringing it back up to bed with me. I am most definitely not a morning person and need to wake up slowly you understand.

As I sat up in bed, propped up by lots of lovely, comfy pillows enjoying my cup of tea  (all I needed was a bed jacket and I could have been like Lady Mary from Downton Abbey)  Eddie suddenly appeared from nowhere and, with a happy little ‘chirrup’,  jumped onto the bed padding across the duvet to greet me, tail straight up in the air as cats do.

Eddie Knows How To Relax
(c) copyright Sherri Matthews 2013

He settled down for a cuddle right next to me (always on my left side for some reason!), nuzzling into me to ensure that I gave him lots and lost of attention.   At these times, he gets so luvvy and purry and delighted that he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself.  He is the only cat I ‘ve ever known who lets us stroke with his paws without pulling them away, they are so gorgeous, soft, gentle little lion paws.  That could kill a mouse.

These morning cuddles happen quite often but the only problem is that his timing is so bad because it always  seems to be just before I have to get up! One centimeter I move, and that’s it, he’s gone.

But they are lovely while they last.

I do enjoy telling Husband about these morning cuddles with my little boy.  Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to repeat his response.  I think he might be a little jealous.

But I know he loves him really.

Spring is on the way, take heart.