KIttens Arrive

Our main event for Sunday 15^th July was to head for Silverwood’s to collect the 2 new kittens. These little mites are only 6 weeks old which seemed a bit young to us but apparently that is OK for felines. They are called Blue and Rolo and were ‘bred’ by daughter of Tommo the Builder (though I’m surte that bher only involvement was to own the bottle-brush tailed cat, Bailey. Mum and Dad managed to wrap the 2 hour each way 'zoom' around a lovely roast pork dinner including Mrs S’s best ever crackling. It (the zoom) was preceded by the usual unleashing the chickens of war but we have now developed a handy rounding them up process involving going to fetch grain from the clangy dustbin in their shed (they hear and come zooming over to see if there's food on offer).

The drive itself was made slightly more scenic and less zoomy by us being diverted off the main road by the Guards (Police) to avoid 'Match Traffic' - some kind of GAA big match in Roscommon. So now we have 2 kittens who are doing ‘cute’ in a very thorough and professional manner but whom I am not allowed to eat. This message is being driven home very forcibly, as it was for the chickens, this time by a series of ‘training sessions’ in which I am kept on a lead and introduced. I am allowed enough lead to sniff, watch and chase them some of the way round the furniture, but never quite enough to poke them with my nose or worse. I think the plan is that we all end up one big happy family.

Oh and Dad’s Rotovator is sick. Something to do with the ignition, possibly as a result of him forgetting to cover it one rainy night, so that is off to the 'garage' this morning.

Silverwood Seven

 On Friday 15th, Mum and Dad head for Silverwood to catch up with the family but also to get a first glimpse of Lily's pups (at Day 12) and also, if they can wangle it, Tommo the Builder's "bottle brush kittens". We dogs are left behind for this as we'd cause too much confusion and Lily has even banished the puppies' Father, Maxwell from the room. The pups are all very cute, plump and healthy and have been going down great guns on Facebook with a series of pictures posted by Mrs S under the heading "The Silverwood  Seven"

 The plan is currently that one of these little mites joins our number at week 8 so, roughly, the end of July. It will be a boy and will be named Towser. Mrs S has picked one out for us.

 Mum and Dad are taken round to Tommo's house where a young daughter, the nominal owner of the cat, Bailey, brings the kittens down to the front garden to show them off. Later she also brings Bailey down and she has indeed got the legendary 'bottle brush' tail which it would be quite fun of the kittens were to inherit. Bailey herself was formerly a feral cat, then adopted by Tommo's daughter. She has had three kittens. There is a big one which an Aunt is having, but the other two, very similar kittens are ours. They might have been named Heckle and Jeckle but now Mum has seen that one is slightly ginger and the other 'blue', they may end up named Ginger and Blue.

 All very cute. It remains to be seen how I take to these new animals when they arrive, or indeed how Coco does. Incidentally, ignore anything you heard or read about Coco being renamed Trig. The name never stuck. The humans keep forgetting it and calling Coco Coco anyway, so they have decided to revert to Coco.