Little furry friends

phew!  that’s better.. oh zelda what are you doing out of the doona it must be dinner time.  do you like the new background thingy?  No they don’t have ones with bones or doggy biscuits or tubs of butter or paw paw cream.  I’ll say one thing Zelda.  You are very persistent.

And no you can’t have seconds and you can’t help Lily eat her dinner.

And you can’t put your nose on the computer. or those paws.  

i’m sorry Zelda but enough is enough.  No more pink.  It reminds me of musk sticks or something..disgusting!

Oh Zelda

Its so Pink.

I never thought of you being such a girlie girl

Its shocking

Shocking Pink

I don’t know how long I can stand it!

Zelda has very strange eating habits.  We all know that she is obsessed with food.  The vet said that it might be a good idea to feed her a few small meals rather than one big meal once a day.  So that she wasn’t thinking about the one meal all day.

So she has breakfast, dinner and supper.  Does that sound a lot?  Breakfast is a small handful of dog biscuits, dinner is two big handfuls and supper is the smallest handful.  She has dry food and it is supposed to be low calorie, for dieting dogs.  She can’t afford to have too much stomach because it could damage her back.

One of our friends had a beagle who had a bit of a weight problem and a healthy obsession with food.  Her name was Penny and she was very charming but she was very clever too and had learnt how to open the biscuit cupboard.  There was nothing she liked better than a party; preferably with lots of people.    She would saunter through the crowd, picking up the odd olive pip or crumb for starters. And then as the party progressed  she would scoff down several plates of food without any one noticing.  Eventually she got quite carried away and did it whether people were noticing or not.  I think at some stage she went on a cabbage diet.  I don’t somehow think a cabbage diet would work with Zelda.

Oh dear Zelda!  What can I say?

She has become quite creative in her insatiable search for the next tasty morsel. And I don’t mean mousel!

A month or so ago I was in the shower and when I reached for the soap, I noticed that there were teeth marks in it.  It didn’t happen again, until yesterday.  I had assumed that Zelda had had a nasty shock when she bit into the soap and had learnt her lesson.

But yesterday when I reached for the soap, it wasn’t there at all.  I searched around the bathroom, on the sofa, in my bed, all her usual haunts.

Oh dear Zelda!

Last week I noticed a tube of paw paw cream on the sofa.  It had had it’s top chewed off and had been delicately licked until all its contents consumed. 

I suppose her insides are nice and clean and moisturized.

If only she would stick to more sensible titbits.  Like avocado.  She loves to lick out the shell of an avocado. Grapes and peas are fun as it is rather like playing Fetch except she doesn’t bring anything back.  She eats it instead.

When she is very desperate she licks the floor where something has been.

Well yes that is true.  She is a very gentle sweet natured dog. But  she is a bit eccentric.  Why?  I don’t really know.  No-one else is eccentric in my house.  Don’t laugh.  It’s true.  Well maybe that isn’t quite true, but back to Lily. She has had some adventures in her life.  She was in the house when we got burgled, when she was just a young dog and she was very frightened. And after that she was very shy. It happened again in our old house and again in our new house.  Poor Lily.  She has never got used to burglars. They never hurt her and they were only interested in taking things that they could sell quickly and easily. When she was young I used to bring her to school and she was alright.  She enjoyed herself but as she grew older she became a very stay at home sort of dog.  She likes nothing better than lying on the sofa watching tv with the occasional snack every now and then. When she was younger she was a great mousing dog.  If any mice came into the house she would catch them eventually.  She was so patient and would sit beside the cupboard for ages waiting for the mouse to come out. As she has become older, she catches them less and less.  But that doesn’t mean she will tolerate them in the house.  If one comes in she will stalk it and always finds its hiding places.   She will lie for hours with her nose under the chest of drawers, every now and then she will bark.  Help me get this mouse, she barks.  She will wait there all night if she has to.  And sometimes it can be a little aggravating is she keeps on barking through the night.    If you ask her to be quiet she will sort of wail instead, which doesn’t really help the would be sleeper.  I have chosen this picture of her with Zelda on the couch.  They look rather sweet together don’t they.  Lily is the boss dog and if Zelda over steps the mark or becomes too bossy, Lily will growl at her and poke her hard with her nose.  Dachshund’s noses  are very pointy.  And it works.  Zelda looks very apologetic and tries to lick Lily’s nose.  If she tries too hard Lily will growl again and Zelda looks very embarrassed. They are dear little dogs and keep each other company while I am away at work. I’m not sure why that photo is in the middle of the writing like that.  It just seemed to happen so I think I will leave it like that. 

Zelda has got out from under her doona to say good bye to a friend and good supporter of Little Furry Friends.   This person has several little furry friends herself and has written some very good comments on some of Zelda’s stories. Although we are sad to see her go we look forward to her contributing to Little Furry Friends in the Future. So Zelda is ready……oh dear I can’t really type the sociable noises that Zelda is making.  But I can try to translate them for her. I think she is saying  GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK DEAR EMILY.  HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON. And there are several licks and wagging of tails. Lily has just come into the room and says that she would like to included in this message. Lily sends a few rousing barks.   

Mr. Belvedere was a country cat and he loved to look out from the verandah over the fields to the orchard.  But he wasn’t looking for fruit.  He had his eyes on his feathered friends.

One day he was sitting in the sun on the verandah.  It was a warm day and he forgot the birds in the orchard as he dozed in the sun.

I was busy with the washing and every now and then I glimpsed him through the window as I bustled about.

And then I noticed that he was up.  He had found something in the grass.  He was  padding it with his paw and then walking around it.  I thought that it was probably a mouse.

When I looked out again he was nowhere to be seen.

And then I heard him at the door.  He was using his “I’ve caught a mouse” voice.

I was quite pleased about this as there were always mice about looking for lodgings in the cupboards.

I opened the door and peeped over at him through the flyscreen door.  I thought I could see a tail sticking out of his mouth.  It looked quite a thick tail.  Perhaps it was a rat!  So I opened the flyscreen door, ready to praise him for being such a good mouser. 

And then I froze.

It looked as if this rodent had two tails.  One at each end.  And they moved with a sort of corkscrew action.

It was a baby snake.

I jumped back and slammed the flyscreen door and the wooden door behind it.  I peeped through the window at them.  I was concerned for Mr. Belvedere.  What if he was bitten?

He just stood there with the snake in his mouth.

“Drop it!!!” I cried.  “Put it down.  Thank you so much.  It’s a lovely present! You’re a good cat, but drop it!”

And so he did.

And then he lost it near the doormat.

He was looking about but he couldn’t find it.

This was worse, much worse.  Where had it gone?  I cautiously opened the doors and peeped out.  No sign of the snake.  Mr. Belvedere looked as if he had forgotten all about the snake and was busily licking his back leg, as if there never had been a snake.  As if I had dreamed it all.

But I knew I hadn’t.

I searched around but there was no sign of it.

And then I noticed that the flyscreen door had a broken bit on the end of it where it met the corner of the door.  The gap looked just big enough for a snake to crawl through.

So then I thought it must be in the house with me.

I searched through every possy in the passage but there was no snake.

Mr. Belvedere came and  sat and watched me as I hunted through the children’s toys that were stored against the wall of the passageway.

Finally I gave up and Mr. B went back to the sunny spot on the verandah and I was left wondering just how many babies the copperhead had hatched.

Great Aunt Tisha had a generous spirit.  She was kind and thoughtful, often in subtle ways.

One winter we decided to go to Byron Bay.  We had organised for someone to come in and look after The Woozel and Great Aunt Tisha.

Everyone was very excited and there were suitcases dotted about the house waiting to be filled.

Eventually the day for departure came and we all got in the car very early in the morning.  Some of us had tufty hair and were still wearing our pajamas.

We drove and drove, stopping every now and then for refreshments.

When we finally reached our  destination, which was a town called Forbes, we were all very tired and teasy.  We had a take away dinner in our motel room and then made ready for bed.

We were opening the suitcases for toothbrushes and things when suddenly we made a surprising discovery.

In among the socks there was a bone.

It wasn’t a meaty bone.  It had been well-gnawed and was

white with age.  It was obviously a treasured relic.

We knew that it was Tisha’s bone.  The Woozel always buried her’s in the garden for later.  

Tisha had obviously felt that we might need it on our long journey.  And maybe it was a reminder of the faithful hounds waiting for our return.

Whatever it was, everyone felt much better and laughed and joked about it until they fell asleep.

We had a white fluffy dog called Great Aunt Tisha.  She was half a maltese terrier and half a Shitz Zu.  She was a very loving dog but she was a bit eccentric.  She had had a troubled youth when she had been mistaken for a baby and had never really recovered from being offered bananas instead of dog food.

We took her in and she settled in quite well.  We already had The Woozle and it was The Woozle who led the way.  Great Aunt Tisha liked to run behind The Woozle and copied everything that she did.  If The Woozle barked, Great Aunt Tisha barked.  If The Woozle lay down in the grass, then Great Aunt Tisha lay down in the grass.

She really was a lovely dog but she had one bad habit.

She was a Bolter.

Do you know what a Bolter  is?

It is someone who likes running away.

And Great Aunt Tisha loved running away.  She didn’t need to follow The Woozle when she was running away.  She could manage it all by herself.

I don’t really think she had any destination in mind as she raced away down the street.  She just liked the sensation of running away.

She really liked it if someone was chasing her.  If the front door was left open Tisha would be off.  Who ever it was who left the door open would rush out after her calling and calling.

Tisha would then stop.  She would look back at the person.  Sometimes she would even sit down and pant at you.  But as soon as the chaser drew close, she would jump up and run away even faster.  It was very frustrating.

I had several ideas about how to deal with this behavior.  Sometimes I would just turn around and walk away from her, hoping that she would get confused about who was chasing who and chase me home instead!  But it didn’t work very well.  She didn’t get confused and kept going in the opposite direction.

Sometimes I would cross the road and pretend that I was just an innocent person walking on the other side of the road.  When she looked over at me I would ignore her, as if I didn’t know her at all.  And then she did get a bit confused.  She wasn’t sure if she knew me or not, or maybe it was that she didn’t know if I knew her or not.  It was a bit like Winnie the Pooh’s tactics when surrounded by the bees.

Once or twice I did manage to catch her and then I had to carry her home. 

No matter how cross I was with her, she always gave me a welcoming lick when I picked her up and she would pretend that we had just met on the street by accident.

Here is beautiful Esmarelda.  What a handsome cat she is!  She is sitting on my knee in this photo and is about to lean over and chew the leaves of one of Jessica and Steve’s pot plants.  Cats don’t eat leaves, Esmarelda.  She doesn’t listen.  She only hears what she wants to hear and if you say something not to her liking she puts her ears down and glares at you.  Some times she talks and says rude words in cat language. But guess what?  She likes to play Fetch.  You know, when the master throws a stick and the faithful hound runs and fetches it and brings it back to the master all waggy and slobbery, waiting hopefully for the master to throw the stick again? Except Esmarelda has changed the rules slightly.  She has a toy at her house which is just like a wristband with a bell tied on to it with string.  It was connected to something else but Ezzy didn’t like the something else.  She just wanted the wristband and the bell.  She brings it to you and puts it down near your feet and then she miaows at you.  You are meant to pick it up and throw it.When you do, Ezzy runs after it very quickly and sometimes when she’s caught it, she continues to slide across the floor, rather like a cricketer who is trying to stop a  ball from making 4 runs.  Then she brings it back to you.  She has a special run for bringing back the toy.  It is a sort of slow loping run which is supposed to look like one of her jungle relatives, bringing the prey home for supper.The problem is that the bell hangs down and sometimes it hits her legs as she runs.  She doesn’t like it doing that so she puts her ears down and runs with her legs further apart which really looks very comic.But you mustn’t laugh or she becomes very offended. Jessica says that she is going to buy Ezzy a harness for walking in the street.I’m not sure how this is going to work as Ezzy has definite ideas about how things should be done and I don’t think she will like being told where to walk.  But we will see.