never scold a cat!

There are days when my humour needs to rise...today is one of them.The weather yesterday must have lulled us all into a sense of warmth, today I awoke to a cold day.
This is not going to be a moan, but in reality proves I have relaxed quite a bit since my downshifting path walk.

The alarm clock woke me up abruptly, but what stunned me more was the sight of DS2 asking to use the hairdryer. ( Its 7.05? why does he need the hairdryer?) He reassuringly tells me that he is off to a school trip with the choir ( he is the only boy in it!) and he obviously needs to look his best. I tap him gently on the shoulder, and turn over. A few minutes later in a slumber I realise that I better get up.... I thought a nice shower would wake me out of my slumber, but I get interrupted by DS 1 who says the shower is no longer working and he blames DS 2 ( usual between brothers). Can he use my shower ( OK I have 2 in the house, pre downshifting days and I am selling the house!).
I tell him to wait patiently and when eventually I open the door I am greeted with few words. I gently walk down the stairs to the kitchen to make myself that cup of tea which by now I am in desperate need for. The dog vies for attention and I wonder why my porridge is not in the oven. It is not there because I forgot about making it last night. I scout around in the pantry seeing what cereal I could finish off and opt for cornflakes with nuts ( last in the packet). The milk I get out of the fridge is tepid but I notice little, I am hopeful for my cup of tea.
The boys go off to school without any further hiccup and I breathe a sigh of relief that the morning session is over. I receive a phonecall thanking me for doing a talk about bodymind for a local charity and am told ’it mattered little that you arrived late’. I do not react, but slightly worried I walk over to look at my calendar, and yes, there it is in black and white, 7 pm and I arrived at 7.30. Back in the kitchen I notice the fridge is unplugged and realise that this matches with the tepid milk. How long has it been switched off? When DH does the ironing, he does unplug the fridge but I cannot remember when he last did do the ironing. I ask.......oh, it must have been the survey man who plugged in his computer yesterday. ( Hmm that is about 24 hours ago). Out of the corner of my eye I notice the cat playing with a mouse on the lawn.

I check the butter in the fridge and it is soft......... Having switched it back on, I look at the dog and tell DH we should just go for a walk and take a bit of fresh air. The dog is mystified. I gather my stick, treats, coat and scarf ( it is cold!), and when I gently start I am accompanied by DH, dog and.......CAT! No matter how much I tell the cat to go home, it follows us, making a loud racket up the hill. The dog scolds the cat and we look at eachother and walk on. At the top of the hill, the cat’s boundaries, the cat lets out a howl and I decide that I better walk back with the cat and leave Dh to go on his walk with the dog. It would be simpler. The cat turns with me and still makes a dreadful noise. After a few minutes I hear Dh shouting the name of the dog, but no, the dog runs towards me, the cat and home. Dh gives up and walks back with me.

Home again, I decide to put the kettle on and have another cup of tea.... ( usual strategy coming back from the walk). The cat goes and lies on the lawn.
DH goes into the larder and comes out saying....where is that cat? It is stretched on the lawn.........there is a mouse in here. He goes outside to grab the cat, and tells it squarely it is going to have to earn its living and go and catch the mouse in the larder. I am sitting at the table with my cup of tea......... Loud noises go on, shouts of ...... there., I have seen it 3 times, why can you not see the mouse. The cat shows no interest. I suggest he leaves the cat in the larder and leaves him to it or tries to catch the mouse himself to release it outside. It falls on deaf ears but eventually I am able to tempt him to the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee. We wait and hear some action. He peeps his head around the door only to find that the cat is ignoring the mouse completely. DH is in despair at this point and then something really funny happens..............

the cat leaves.

is followed by the black labrador going in the larder......


retrieving the mouse......

holding it in its mouth.....

dropping it on the lawn....

where the cat looks at it, finds it soggy and walks away.

( I know you want to know what happened to the traumatised mouse.......it has found a resting place in the hedge).

I am not sure what the vibrations are around the house here......but I must get back to that cup of tea. I reflect and laugh as I recall the whaling cat and suddenly understand he was probably saying......stop......stop...emergency..I lost a mouse in the larder!