Memories-Caturday Art.

The photo used for Caturday Art was taken when the famous "Purrizen Fence" was being built.
Eric and Flynn used to have free run of the outdoors and would go off into the fields on their own and be back within a couple of hours.

In time, Eric started to go further and we would have to go looking for him. He would cross several fields towards one of the neighbouring farms. We started to worry for his safety, so both boys got grounded.

That meant that they could only go outdoors if I was with them. It upset them after having freedom to roam, and it upset us to see them fretting about it.
The solution was the purrizen fence. It was 8 feet high and the horizontal boards were on the outside so as not to make it to easy for them to escape over it.
As you can see, they wanted it done as soon as possible and helped out with it.

The fence meant the garden was completely enclosed so they were able to use their cat flap and go outdoors whenever they wanted to.
I am sure they could have got over the fence if they really wanted too, but they seemed more than happy with unlimited access to the garden. Of course I also took them for walks around the fields so they could continue their perimeter patrol and mouse hunting.

Visit Athena, The Cat Goddess for more Caturday Art.

Our 11th Blogoversary.

Eleven years ago today we started this blog. I wish our boys were still here to celebrate it, but I will continue to keep their memory alive here.

I have made so many friends over the past 11 years and I am grateful for those friendships and all the support we have been given.

The last blogoversary that Eric and Flynn shared was the 6th one which can be seen here. It also tells of our first ever post for those of you who were not following us back then.

Some Blogger trivia which was accurate when I scheduled this post 2 days ago.
Total page views - 677,929
Comments - 84,500
Posts - 2,519

Caturday Art - A Beautiful Gift.

I have a special submission for Caturday Art this week.
I had an email from Barb, Angel Nellie's mum saying that she was doing a painting of Eric and Flynn for us.
It has arrived and is so beautiful. It captures them so perfectly.
We can't thank you enough Barb, and will always treasure it.

Visit Athena's blog for more Caturday Art.

An Update.

I haven't put an update on how I am doing for quite some time on here, although I have put it on Facebook occasionally.

I have had two CT scans since the last time I updated. The first was not what I was hoping for and the cysts and tumours had grown very slightly.
My doctor had said he was not too disappointed as the pills are very slow working and he wanted me to stay on them for a further two months to give them more time.

I had my latest scan 2 weeks ago and went back to the hospital on Monday for the result.
It was better this time and two of the tumours were very marginally smaller and the others were unchanged.

Although it is not a huge difference, it makes a great difference to me to know that they are not growing any more, and that two have even started to shrink.

I am to stay on these pills for now and will have a full blood count in a further two months time which is mostly to check kidney and liver function, and also bone density.

I  have been asked how I am doing but don't want to bore people with my health problems, so will only update if there is any significant change, hopefully for the better.

I appreciate all of the good thoughts and prayers you  have been sending me.

I can't do a post without a photo, so here is one from 2009 of me coming back from a walk in the fields with the boys.

Memories - The Hunters

Warning! This post includes the bodies of a rabbit and squirrel as well as the usual prey caught by Eric and Flynn. Please do not read on if it is likely to upset you.

Eric and Flynn were always very good hunters. The following photos show their prey and although I don't want to upset people with photos of dead bodies, it was a big part of their life.

Flynn normally didn't catch birds, he left that to Eric.

Eric always made sure he ended up with them though.

He always knew when they were hiding in the hedge.

Sometimes they were too ambitious.

They knew when it was better to just watch.

This is one of my favourite photos of Flynn in mid pounce.

It was very rare for a mouse to get away from him.

Sometimes he would eat it.....

but more often gave it to Eric.

Eric also was capable of catching his own mice, although he always appreciated it when Flynn presented him with one.

He was never one to turn down a free meal.

Bunnies were also a welcome visitor for Eric. (Sorry Speedy)

Also where Flynn was concerned, a squirrel had a one way ticket if it came into the garden.

Moles were also kept under control.
The wildlife here must be thanking their lucky stars now they don't have to watch out for the Mighty Hunters.

Memories - Caturday Art.

I am taking part in Athena's Caturday Art this week and used lunapic for this photo.

Eric used to love wheelbarrow rides and would jump in and wait to be pushed around.
Sometimes Ivor would bring up bales of hay from the barn to the tack room on the barrow, and Eric would stand on top looking proud with his tail straight out behind for balance.

Memories - Togetherness and a "Vishus Deer".

These photos are all from 2007. We had been to Norway and brought back a reindeer skin otherwise known as a vishus deer*  for the boys, and they loved to sleep on it together.

* The late and great Skeezix the cat called deer vishus deer, and he and his brother Mao invented Vishus Deer Repellant to save young cats from them. The name has stuck ever since.

Memories - Relaxing.