MEET THE CATS - Sept 2012

So ... Why did Yoda Cat fall out from the under sink cupboard this morning? How long had he been in there???

It's about time I formally introduced you to the cats - Yoda, Dobby and Gizmo.

Yoda and Dobby are brothers. Small black cats of Siamese descent somewhere in their ancestry, and named after their doppelgangers from Star Wars and Harry Potter. 

Dobby, nicknamed 'Fangus' due to his protruding fangs which have developed over recent years, now resembles Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon despite Toothless not having fangs. 

He does not like being outside, unless it's calm, sunny and warm (can't blame him really!). 

Yoda, otherwise known as 'PITA' (Pain In The Ass) Cat, is distinguishable by his unusually curly tail.

He was surely put on this Earth to make everyone else's life, hell! Even the lady at the cattery  named him (and Dobby) 'The Devil Cats' and was convinced that if she had looked under their fur on their necks she would have found the numbers '666' tattooed there! However, he and Dobby are excellent hunters and very funny and affectionate. Yoda's most favourite and comfortable place is on any poor unsuspecting victim's shoulders. 

As his nickname suggests, he has a particular ability to be painfully annoying as no doubt you will discover in further posts. In the mean time, he chooses to curl up on a knee just when he has come in from rolling in the mud or at the most inconvenient of times, just as the knees owner is about to stand up & go to the toilet.

Yoda and Dobby have always been very close to each other, however, they have never really accepted Gizmo into the family. Toleration is the nearest they get to acceptance.

Gizmo is a big fluffy grey cat, a product of my daughter's cutie cat and a big grey, one-eyed, 3 legged, ugly stray, fondly known as 'Grey Cat's Dad' ('Grey Cat' being another of his offspring).

Gizmo is just a cat. A cat - cat. A proper cat. One who likes to do everything a cat should do, as long as it's on his terms. Which is how cats should be. He will explore outside regardless of the weather. In fact he seems totally oblivious to anything that might be thrown down from the heavens. He likes to curl up on a knee just when he feels like it, which fortunately usually coincides with the knees wanting to feel warm. But he will also hit out, just when he looks like he needs to be affectionate.


Following their change of home and long hours of traveling, the 2 black cats in particular were still feeling very angry and anti-social 

They were becoming increasingly frustrated at being kept in, so after a week or so, when the holidaying dog next door returned to Liverpool, we let them out. Yoda and Dobby streaked out like grease lightning. It took Gizmo 2 more days to become confident enough to follow.

Once he plucked up the courage to venture outside, Gizmo quickly disappeared over the fields to find out what all those white woolly things were. 

Meanwhile Dobby decided to live life dangerously and was to be seen jaywalking down the middle of the busy road.

Yoda took no time in finding himself a black & white lady-friend in the graveyard.

It's amazing how much interest one can find from their kitchen window overlooking the local graveyard, and there is little else to do. It is very overgrown and as a result attracts an abundance of birds, in particular gold finches and swifts/house martins. The birds perched, one each on top of a headstone. Simultaneously, our cats sat atop others further away trying to gain the attention of the she-cat sunning herself on another headstone. As the cats moved in on the she-cat, one gravestone at a time (apart from Dobby who has no interest in the ladies), she feigned uninterest. The birds watched the cats with suspicion and hopped from one stone to another to avoid them. Dobby started to pick up an interest in the birds and moved as discretely as he could from stone to stone. Of course birds aren't daft and they would leave it until the very last moment before hopping to another stone. All in all it was like watching a game of wildlife chess.

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We went blackberrying and I have decided that Llŷn blackberries make the very best apple and blackberry crumble. I have never tasted such rich, juicy blackberries. Maybe it is due to the fact that over recent years the local hedgerow has taken the form of a Morrisons' shelf.
And I don't need to educate you about the comparisons between supermarket products and those grown at home or in the wild.

Our 2^nd temporary home came to an end towards the end of September. We had 2 days of homelessness before our 3rd place became available. So we found a local B&B to stay at. We spent the two days in glorious sunshine walking a variety of wonderful beaches; sitting in a beach cafe watching seals; taking in the fabulous views from the end of the peninsula over Bardsey Island, across to Ireland and the whole of the Snowdonia range while buzzards soared overhead in blue skies. During one road trip we followed a low flying buzzard through a tunnel of trees along a single track road. The weekend was not complete without a drink at Tŷ Coch – the pub on the beach which can only be accessed via a half hour walk along the beach. We joined a hundred other people sitting with a drink watching boats while soaking up the Autumn sun.

The B&B was great – only marred by the slug Will found in his meal!


Next blog - Our 3rd Temporary Home