MISSING MOUSE AND SCREAMING FROGS

The pussies are having a great time at the moment. Tommy and Mitzi have been sleeping on the bed at night with Binky close by on the floor. I think Kitty has been sleeping in the lounge. Tommy loves to be outside and Mitzi looks up and watches the house martins swooping in the sky

Today I heard a funny noise by the bathroom and later discovered a dead mouse. Someone (probably Kitty) had left it for me as a present. Poor little mousey

In the afternoon I heard a dreadful high pitched screaming noise and gingerly made my way downstairs to the source of the screaming. Tommy had a large frog in his mouth and was being watched by Mitzi. He ran out of the French windows and let the frog go. I picked it up and it played dead. The poor thing was covered in bits of fluff and carpet so I washed him in a puddle. He was quite large and had beautiful green eyes with black pupils. Eventually I put him in the undergrowth near the bottom of the garden

Later I went back to dispose of the dead mouse but it had gone. What a surprise! I have never encountered that before. Usually they leave a dead thing for me and that is that

Caught Kitty just now in the hall eating the remains of some entrails. I wonder if that is the riddle of the missing mouse solved?

BABIES IN THE BATH

The kittens love sitting and playing in the bath, esp Mitzi Gaynor. She also goes on tiptoes and reaches up to bop the light pull

I thought the bath made a great natural photographic studio too

TOMMY AND THE FROG

I was doing a bit of spring gardening when something moved amongst the grass. To my astonishment it was an orange frog - quite an extraordinary sight! I showed it to Tommy who proceded to chase it into the long grass on the bank. He leapt after it with delight. Suddenly a very loud high pitched shriek eminated from the grass. At first I thought it was Tommy; it was actually the frog. I have since found out that frogs actually do scream when in danger. It is supposed to scare off predators but it didn't seem to have any affect on Tommy Fudge.

I managed to get hold of froggy before he leapt out of my hands like a bar of soap. I got hold of him again and popped him over the fence into the school field where I think they have a nature pond. The silly thing was scrabbling about seemingly trying to make its reptilian way back under the fence. Fortunately I distracted Tommy leaving froggy to live (and scream) another day

Pussies eating all together and Tommy waving

TOMMY'S TRAIN

SNOW BABIES

We had a lot of snow, very unusual for us. Woke up in the night and was very excited, looked out the window and the garden was a blanket of white. I could tell it had snowed before I even pulled back the curtains as the bedroom was lit up from outside

When I eventually got up a few hours later I looked outside again and there were a few pussy prints in the snow. Wasn't sure who they belonged to though. The kittens were on the bed, but they could have sneaked out earlier and come back in again

Went outside after lunch and coaxed everyone out by shaking a tub of cat sweets. They all fell for it, apart from Kitty (very wise). None of the other three thought much of the snow - I think it was far too cold on their feet. Tommy ran around in it for a while before discovering a patch of green under a wheelbarrow and sat there

Mitzi eventually decided the high fence was much drier and Tommy swiftly followed. Binky came out for a while, gobbled up some cat sweets and then popped back in the cat flap (very sensible)

The kittens in particular enjoyed their first Xmas as Grandad Leakey came to stay in the boys' room. They can't wait until next Xmas when he will be staying again. I think most if not all of the cats took it in turns to visit Grandad in the night and early morning

Fur and feathers

Yesterday afternoon it seemed particularly quiet in the bedroom. I took a look and discovered Tommy and Mitzi entranced with a dead bird, possibly a young thrush. And a few feet away was a large pile of feathers. Mmm. I wonder who caught it? Was it a joint effort? Poor birdy. There was a thin trail of feathers leading from the feather pile to the bird

POTTED PLANTS AND POTATOES

Today I finally got round to a job that had been on my list for a long time: to repot my plants that live in the kitchen. I found a small bag of compost and crouched on the floor surrounded by brightly coloured cyclamen, empty pots and compost. I was soon joined by two furry friends - Tommy and Mitzi, who were most curious. They watched closely as I deposited the plants into their new homes and spooned in the earth. They came and sniffed and also sniffed the discarded leaves. I think they might have thought I was preparing a new dirt box for them, I just had that feeling! Bless them. And Binky and dear Kitty too. Binky is curled up in front of the monitor and talking to me and Kitty sat on the bed beside me earlier.

OLD POTATO
When I had finished my tea today I gave Binky a little bit of fish, then she jumped down and finished off an unwanted roast potato. She left half of it on the carpet. Kitty arrived next, sniffed the potato, licked the plate and waddled off. I then replaced the potato onto the plate. Finally Tommy appeared and made straight for the potato, lifting it off the plate in his mouth and devouring it on the...carpet