Bunch of colour..............

Quite proud of these lovelies – sowed the seeds in the early Spring, nurtured to adult plants, kept them fed and watered during the Summer – this is the bunch I picked on the very last day of September.

Much loved, but always nervous cat - Feli

This is Feli, a much loved and missed cat who lived with us for a good number of years from when we moved down to West Wales.

Feli was a stray cat who roamed the area where we moved to in Corfe Castle in Dorset.  Some of the neighbours had been feeding him for years and we didn’t feel we could interfere too much when we arrived.

But he started coming into to be fed regularly, although wouldn’t let anyone  get near him, and when we decided to move to Wales we knew we had to take him with us.

To avoid any last minute dramas at moving time, we trapped him about a week before.  Feli was not happy.  He bit the vet who we had castrate him.  As we was so wild we put him into a cattery for ‘safe keeping’, and when we went to collect him for his move to Wales, he bit the lady who owned the cattery (she actually had to go to hospital) and bite Denise badly as well.

When we arrived here we let him out in a quite part of the house, we didn’t really see much of him but he took his food and we knew he was safe and his roaming days should be behind him.

He eventually started to come out and after some months fell in love with Womble, a very handsome cat already living here.  They were inseparable, mainly it has to be said because Feli wouldn’t leave Womble alone. Womble always looked like he could take it or leave it!

Although he was so very happy here, Feli never got over his fear of people and the only time we were able to hold him was when he eventually died a very peaceful death.

Bryn - proud SDC supporter

Our son Bryn doing his bit to promote the Street Dog Care charity in Nepal and in particular their 2014 calendar (in stock here now!).

Bryn loves his SDC t-shirt

SDC work with stray dogs in the Kathmandu Valley area in Nepal where poverty and a traditional ignorance of the needs of stray animals means their help is in much demand.

All the proceeds (less VAT and postage) from the sale of their T Shirts and bags, and now the calendar, sold through ethical WARES goes back to Nepal to support their wonderful work.

To find out more visit their website;  www.streetdogcare.org

More football

With apologies for going on about football again! (In truth the modern game with its huge income and sometimes bigger egos, leaves us feeling somewhat removed, but we make allowances for the smaller teams.)

But, the startling run from Leyton Orient still continues.  They were featured in The Observer newspaper (!) this Sunday which said that if they manage one more win, they will have made the best start to the season by any side in the top four divisions since Chelsea did back in 2006.

Their campaign to share the Olympic Stadium with local rivals West Ham looks slightly less promising so perhaps stick to the footie.

We watch future results with interest.

Bootsie

Bootsie Cat

Spent the afternoon today working at the computer with Bootsie sitting across my arms = difficult but reluctant to move her................

Sublime award & article

We were very pleased to have been chosen as the Online Shop of 2013 by

Sublime Magazine – the first international sustainable lifestyle magazine.

They also interviewed Mike and you can read the published article my clicking on this link

Changing Seasons (Part 2)

Following on from the earlier entry about how nature seems to move effortlessly from season to season, we’ve been making a few changes this week.

Our wildlife field which we manage for the benefit of the wildlife rather than the rescued grazing animals here, is now past its best. It looked a picture in the height of the Summer but its served its purpose and helped another generation of plants and animals to prosper.

Grasses in our Wildlife field

We manage this field by letting the grazing animals on in late Summer while the ground is still dry, for them to munch down some of the vegetation.  This keeps it as grassland and stops the encroachment of scrub, and as they are only grazing for a short while it ends up with some areas of short grass, some of lightly grazed and some area that are hardly touched.  This provides the mosaic that is so important in sustaining a healthy wildlife meadow.

The field next to it is grazed for most of the year, but we’ve just closed it up to give it a rest, and have had the reeds cut to keep them in check.  Taking the animals off now will also allow a fresh crop of grass to grow for the Autumn, to give them something to enjoy before the Winter arrives.