Saturday 25th April 2020 - Some Roast Pork with a Bit of Luck, Paying Respects and Over the Cliffs

Back last September when we took in ‘Hissing Sid’ the then approximately five week old ginger kitten, there remained two of his siblings living outside. By the way Sid (we’ve dropped the hissing as he doesn’t any more) has settled into domestic life so well and now sleeps for England, regularly commandeering Barney’s bed for his daytime slumbers. Maybe we should rename him, Rip Van Winkle! The smaller of the two remaining kittens, a dark tortoiseshell, disappeared and we can only conclude the poor little thing perished. This left a black and white which waited for food outside our neighbour’s gate each evening. After much patience and standing out in the chilly autumn evenings, our neighbour managed to catch it. She named the kitten Lunar because it waited for food, in the light of the moon. She took Lunar into her home where ‘it’ spent most of the winter. Lunar was not alone for long as another young black and white cat appeared on the scene, expecting to be fed. After another stint out in the cold, our neighbour caught it, bearing the scratches as proof it was not domesticated. This cat, because of its habit of meowing for food, was named Meowmeow. Larger than Lunar, it was obvious Meowmeow was not from the same litter. Come the spring both the cats made their way outside and since then have preferred the great outdoors, becoming ferals. Meowmeow and Sid have become firm buddies and when Sid isn’t sleeping, it has been a delight to watch the two cats having a bundle at the bottom of our garden. However, the other day, seeing Meowmeow mounting Lunar and not wanting to add more ferals to the local cat population, action was needed to have them neutered.

Peter wasted no time and purchased a Racoon trap online. Yes, I know we don’t have Racoons living in this country but the trap is a perfect size for trapping cats too. Set up in the garden and baited with roast pork, a treat we know the two ferals love, as do Sid, Poppy and Barney, we sat eating our breakfast in the conservatory watching and waiting. We didn’t want to leave the trap unattended in case either Sid or one of the other cats that pass through our garden ended up in the trap. I didn’t mention Poppy, as I am sure she is too canny to get caught in the contraption. Luck was on our side and it was not long before Meowmeow came to find Sid, ventured in for some pork and was trapped. We thought he may get stressed and throw a wobbler but after a couple of turns, looking for an exit, he settled down. Peter phoned the vets, who had already been primed and off we went in the car. Later in the day, we picked up Meowmeow and he has been convalescing at our neighbours until this morning when much to Sid’s delight, who has really missed and been looking for his buddy, they were re-united, carrying on as normal with their morning bundles.

Peter reset the trap and baited it with more roast pork and in went Lunar but we were not so lucky this time; instead of putting a paw on the plate that sets it off, Lunar stepped over it! By then the weekend was upon us, so we wait until Monday morning when hopefully we will catch Lunar and head off to the vets again.

So, to follow on from cat trapping what else has been going on. I have taken more actions on my mother’s estate, this is going to be a lengthy process and I can see I am going to have to chase a few things up. We walked up to Northrepps, I took the bluebell photo on our way, where we joined others all waiting to pay their respects near the home of a friend who passed away a few weeks ago.

We heard, the metal railings that were erected by the Council, to prevent access to the car park and subsequently disappeared (see blog 17th April), had been thrown over the cliff. These have now been retrieved and replaced. The cold easterly has dropped and we have spent time in the garden. Would you believe, after all the rain we had earlier the year when the lawn positively squelched when we walked on it, the ground is now dry, making watering one of our daily tasks.