Snow Shenanigans

At last the bengal "Princess Meeka Silver Glitz" has put herself to bed. Oh how precious she is about the snow! Three solid hours of manic behaviour preceded these ablutions.

I must admit she has a right to be mistrustful of the catflap since it froze shut a couple of nights ago while she was out hunting for non-dormant rodents. When DJ got up to make an early cuppa she was outside, leaning on it with both front paws and wailing like a banshee at him.

We have now sprayed it with de-icer and it seems to be swinging freely. It is regularly checked by her humble servants. She gingerly accepted an exit through the front door instead, first thing this morning, into the virgin snow from last night and tip-toed around the garden a bit, but decided she didn't like it and beat a hasty retreat indoors to continue demolishing the windowsill decorations.

She usually sits on the windowsills to keep an eye on the jackdaws which tease her from the overhead wires. She decided the tinsel was in the way and selected the mini crackers as well worth destroying.Almost too fast for the camera, she systematically culled half a dozen from two windowsills and the bookcase the little tree is on, and then tossed them about the sitting room, doing death leaps onto them from behind various bits of furniture.

At last she decided to give the catflap a go. She went in and out a few times, probably to test it and ran towards the end shed where her litter tray is and then back again to make sure it STILL worked and then....

again and....

again.

Until there was quite a worn path and then she ignored her litter tray and dug a little hole in the snow. Greatly relieved she eventually returned to catch up on her sleep.

Tigger's favourite method of drinking is to sit at the kitchen sink and catch the dribbles as they fall from the tap. In order to improve hygiene I bought her a pet-drinking-fountain for Christmas. It has been ignored. Okay, so maybe it resembles the toilet but she has been known to drink from that too. Maybe she'll get desperate enough to use it soon. It hums a bit but I'd happily put up with that if she adopted it. Otherwise it has been an expensive and ugly addition to her corner of the kitchen.

I made mince pies last night and was pleased with my pastry which I haven't made for years. I have got lazy and purchase the readymade stuff, but the homemade was lovely enough to make the effort. I shall make more for Christmas because I'll need to after scoffing last night's batch. I mixed some marmalade into the mince and am enjoying the flavour so much it shall become a regular thing. It seems to take the slightly metallic taste out of the readymade mincemeat. I have made my own mincemeat before but it is meant to mature for a few weeks so I resorted to Asda's luxury blend. Great all round. Pics next time when I take more care with the tops and dust them with newly bought icing sugar.

Cheers Gillian