Wow! I woke up at six this morning!
Pity I didn’t get up right away, but I dozed only an hour before getting up. No
trouble from Ziva to get out, lovely quiet morning with my mippies.
And this, even though I went to bed
past midnight, and woke up several times during the night soaking wet from the
heat! Strange, but there you go.
It’s a lovely day, so I gave the
garden a try. I pulled some dried cosmos, some Kikuyu which had wormed its way
into the bed and just took a basic look around. The sun in blazing down
mercilessly, so I had better wait for some shade before I get down to any real
gardening. I saw that, unfortunately, the mowers had killed the largest of the
Lily’s so I’m determined to dig them up and place them in the beds as soon as
they are in the shade.
Rose was also at home when the
mowers came on Friday and she tells me they’ve also brought a blower – though
it’s a complete mystery what that’s supposed to be for. I mean, they don’t rake
what they cut, so all that blower does is blow everything into the beds, onto
the path and, worst of all, into Rose’s windows and courtyard! She told me her
bathroom looked awful! She had a hard task cleaning it all up!
When I got back upstairs, a friend
was online in the game which I play. He’s recently got a kitten and is worried
about his older cat as she doesn’t seem to interact with either the kitten or
him so much – very similar to Ziva and the mippies. I shared some of my
experiences with the mippies and how Ziva has grown as confident as the
mippies. We often discuss cat behaviour and he appreciates the assurance that
he’s doing everything right and just needs to give it time. He does play and
interact with each cat, though – like Ziva – his older cat also has no
experience with play.
Now I’m trying to come up with
something to do about dinner. I still have the tomatoes, the cucumber and the
steamed potatoes which need eating up (to quote Lady Sybill ha ha) – yet it’s
too hot for any kind of soup. I’ve decided to try gazpacho. I’ve never made it
before nor have I ever had any.
I decided to clean the kitchen
first. Just the dishes from the past 2 days; not really all that much – except
for the steamer. Then I started chopping greens for the liquid salad, aka
gazpacho. Since I only had 6 tomatoes, the end result is not so much a deep red
as it is a mixed green-red. And, of course, since you can’t get healthy red tomatoes
anymore but only pale red ones (I have a long memory, I’m not so easy to fool)
the only way to achieve the traditional red of gazpacho would be by adding
tomato puree; which is full of colourants. The fact that I chose to use the
seeds from both tomatoes and cucumber – rather than throw them away – also affected
the colour. Personally, though, I’m happy with the result! It may not look
pretty, but it is neither bland nor without texture! Of course I should chill
it for some time before eating – but I’m hungry now; so there! Ha ha!
When the Lily’s were finally in the
shade I went out to try and dig them up. I didn’t manage to get to that gnarly
root for any of them but decided to plant what I did manage to dig up in my
flower pot anyway. More than half of them had been mowed – I’m hoping they
survive anyway. I left the two which grew too close to the power cable for the
garage – which I’m convinced can’t be legal (having a power cable lying exposed
on top of the ‘lawn’). When I watered everything, Mewly followed me around, as
always. Rose stood watching this and just shook her head saying ‘what a strange
cat!’ ha ha! All her cats (and my Ziva) run away when a tap is opened – only Mewthos
runs towards it, to get a close look! He even ignored the grasshopper right
under his nose, preferring to try and get his paw into the watering can! What a
weirdo, eh? Good thing he’s so lovable!
Upstairs, Romeo came for an extended
visit. He made himself comfy on the window sill and was quite happy just to be
in my company – just like Snoopy used to!
When I went to the bedroom to close the curtains, he followed me quite
eagerly and sat on the dresser hoping for attention – which I gave him quite
happily! And guess what? For the first time ever, I heard Romeo purring! Turns
out he has a very quiet, almost imperceptible purr – I only heard it because he
was head butting my face so eagerly he nearly put my nose out of joint!
Considering how loudly he caterwauls all the time, I was quite surprised that
his purr is so quiet!
At least I had no trouble getting my
mippies inside! When I called, Mewthos and Lady Jane just looked at me, but
when Ziva came bounding past them they immediately followed her! The minis came
in without incident – but since Romeo was nibbling on the whiskas bowl outside,
Ziva didn’t want to go past him. Those two have a precarious relationship. I
wouldn’t say Ziva fears Romeo, exactly, but she is definitely wary of him – she
often comes running to me when he’s right behind her. She only came in when
Romeo did. I gave my mippies their bowls and had to actually pull Romeo off
Ziva’s food bowl – but he eagerly ran outside for his very own treat! I usually
give him the chicken, which none of mine seem to like very much. They loved the
lamb, though!
Ziva has lately taken to sleeping in
one of the boxes, which is lying on its side – it looks too cute the way she’s
curled up in hiding!
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