Autumn leaves, crackling fires, quokkas and puffins at the Bluestocking.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

A new thread - with apologies to the gerbils for leaving them out of the title.

Is there a reason why specifically your left leg, Boily?

Cat tea time at my house is one cat eating without cutlery from his plate, another cat eating without cutlery from her plate, (both plates flat and carefully chosen to avoid the peril of whisker stress. remember whisker stress?), and me sitting on a low stool between them ready to prevent any 'gobble up quick and raid the other cat's tea' nonsense.

Dreadfully uncouth.

But (cross threading) I do make tea in a teapot three times a day, so maybe I'm a civilised person after all.

It's usually the one that's outside of the covers when I'm in bed (menopause cooling system!) so the boss cat knows he likes the taste of that one! He's spent sixteen years attacking it and biting it if I refuse to wake up and feed him! He used to sit above my head and very gently get a claw and pull open an eyelid. But realised it was too easy for me to catch hold of him and insist on enforced snuggles, so then he moved onto the leg!

A very logical cat, clearly! My menopausal cooling system is both feet outside the covers 🤣

But (cross threading) I do make tea in a teapot three times a day, so maybe I'm a civilised person after all.

See I get the cat to do that!

I’m a both-feet-out-from-the-covers woman too. And I sleep with the fan on.

I save that for mid hot flush when I can't fling everything off me as I can't disturb the sleeping cats!

Window open even through wintertime for me. If I open the back bedroom window as well i get a nice through draft!

I once had a smart & egotistical ginger cat & a dim tortie. When given crunchy food in two heaps on the patio, the ginger one would look at them & Rainman-style instantly know how many were in each pile. She would then position her body over the lesser pile & eat the bigger one, then back up to expose the second pile & carry on eating. All the while, the tortie had to watch & wait till the ginger one was full.

I also had a badger who was even funnier to watch. If I put a pile of peanuts out, he'd start eating them at speed & if any other badgers approached he'd carry on eating but rapidly move his body round & round in a circle while keeping his face in the peanuts, so nobody else could get near them & if they tried they'd just get barged out of the way. It was hilarious.

Talking of morris dancing...

We were out one evening, got home about 11:30pm (those were the days), and I parked up, got out the car and as my OH walked round the car, the engine was making this really, really weird noise. It used to keep kind of blowing after we got out of it, cooling down, but this time it was really, really weird, getting louder and louder.

I stood there listening, trying to work out what it was. Would it explode? Had something plastic got caught in the engine and was it popping and melting on something? I couldn't work it out, at all. I was there for what seemed like ages.

I said to my OH as he stood by the door waiting, that something was very wrong with the car and he looked at me as if I'd totally lost my marbles. And gesticulated to look behind me.

The noise was coming from about 4 Morris men on their way back from the pub. Jingling away down the quiet country road. Apart from that, they were silent.

I think DH must be going through the menopause. He slept most of last night with no covers in an unheated bedroom, while post-menopausal me, with socks on, was cuddled down under multiple layers.

Either that or he is mostly Eskimo.

Oh, it's lovely at the Bluestocking this morning. It's overcast, Peak Woo is lost to sight, and chill but the crisp chill of autumn rather than the biting chill of winter. There are crackly piles of leaves on parts of the footpath that the pigs are having great fun bombing through (I'm taking them into the woods for acorns, Colin's come along). There's a slight mist softening the banks of the river. I can hear the jangling of the harness as Spartacat is taking her chariot in loops around the meadow, the quokkas and the goats are taking turns to pull it. I can smell a hint of woodsmoke from last night's fireplace, though some of the gerbils were bustling in the kitchen so could be from that. The trees are mostly golden or brown, some, the cherries I think, are nearly leafless. Everything seems peaceful, except I can faintly hear the gulls arguing...don't know what's happening with them?

Mmm, lovely <inhales the spicy, subtly smoky autumn air). Colin will enjoy bouncing and burrowing in the leaf drifts.

The gulls are just being gulls.

I did hear some squawking late last night from Sharon, something about life insurance, throwing something in the bin, Narnia type wardrobes and canoes. I'm sure it will all become clear in time!

He's not the only one enjoying it!

Ahhh, breakfast has arrived! Can someone just push my chair closer to the food, I can't be bothered moving today! (Maybe the giant bunny ?? Behind me could give me a push?)

Something is going on at the Staunch Alley, I've just been sent a photo.

Either that roll is the size of a pizza or the fried eggs come from quails or gulls or something small. Which might explain the resentful family members rallying outside.

It's a stottie cake. They can fit a full cooked English breakfast!

Like those giant Yorkshire puddings into which one can fit an entire roast dinner?

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about those. Can I order that for lunch? It might be difficult for the gerbils though!

That was a lovely walk. Could the gerbils do me some French toast with berries and maple syrup and a mu...no...a pot of tea? My shoes are a bit muddy, I've left them by the boot scraper.

Those boots got cleaned quickly, good service from the quokkas, just in time for you to balance your breakfast on them. The gerbils weren't too sure what French toast was as the bread in the kitchen was sliced white from the bakers next door. So they made pancakes.

Bless 'em. I didn't expect them to clean them. I just wanted to explain why I was just wearing socks...and the rest of my clothes. They've done a cracking job though. When I took them off they were just a tatty pair of plimsolls!

I do like pancakes fortunately. Later today I'll invite the gerbils to my TEDtalk on brioche.

😃 damn it, forgot the banned word!