Nine minus Three!

They say that a cat has nine lives. We have three cats, all ex-feral who have given up a life of hardship and uncertain meal times, for the luxury of having servants to cater to their every need. The first two to arrive I named Daffy and Dilly and the last one in I called Dopey. I should have called them Austin, Morris and Bentley, names that at least sound a little different from each other, as I end up saying 'Mind Daf, uh Dop uh Dil' just before I trip over one of them. Anyway, Dill is usually called Dilbert, we call Daffy, Daphne (don't ask), and Dopey, well, his name actually suits him. And, he is gradually working through his nine lives. And once those are used up, I imagine that he will move onto the other eighteen that belong to his pals!

Dopey, bird watching!

Living with a celebrity!

Rob's photo of Alfie in 'home' magazine

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, the name 'Alfie' conjours up a picture of a small, almost white dog with scribbly hair and a long tail! Well, fame at last, as our 'pavement special' who is well known in our little village, became a celebrity almost overnight! We have a wonderful magazine in South Africa called 'home' that is produced monthly, and I buy it and read it from cover to cover each month. They have a 'Pets Page' that answers pet related questions and prints a selection of photographs that readers send to them. Rob must have over three hundred photographs of Alfie, (he is very photogenic!) and decided to send one to them a few months ago. They mailed back to say that they loved it, and so, this month, on page 80, our boy can be seen sitting on the garden wall, his ears delicately swept sideways by the prevailing wind!

Spring has Sprung!

We seem to be well into spring now, the South Easter is winding up and each day it seems to blow a little stronger! Sadly, that also means that our rain is a thing of the past, not that we had much this season, and I am pretty sure that we shall have strict water rationing once summer arrives in force. Soon after we moved into this house, Rob had the sense to buy two tanks that catch the rainwater off the roof, one holds 2 500 litres and the other holds 5 000. So, we have 'free' water to use on the garden and to fill the bird baths. Talking of birds, they seem to bath as much during cold, wet days than they do during the hot, dry days! And some birds use a lot more when they bath than others! The weavers tend to fling themselves around and splash furiously, whilst the tiny white eyes take a long time to build up courage to get into the water (like me into a pool!), and then do a quick dip and go! The starlings arrive by the family, plus grandma, and simply take over the space! We have counted up to eight at a time shouting and shoving and splashing!

Starlings at Bath!

There she blows!

Every year between June and November I spend a goodly part of the day standing on the veranda and staring at the sea until the little squiggles start to dance in front of my eyes and everything looks green when I go back inside! The reason? Whales! The Southern Right to be precise, so called because they were the 'right' whale to hunt. They have a lot of blubber, they float when they are killed and they swim close to the shore, 'good' reasons to hunt this noble mammal almost to the point of extinction. When whaling began five centuries ago, there were an estimated 300 000 Southern Rights and by the end of the 19th Century, 99% had been killed. In 1940 they were finally given protection and today there are 10%-15% of that number. Although they are increasing at around 7% per year, they still face dangers like collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing nets, pollution and starving to death due to over fishing in the Atlantic.

A mother and calf