following me about like a bad smell...

oh, wait - he IS a bad smell following me about! The rotten dog went and rolled in something fox-like in the woods again today - yyeeurch! He REEKS! We bathed him after tea, it was so bad but the smell's still there, lurking...

He actually climbed into the bath himself this time - unbelievable! Richard was there; he's never bathed him before so maybe that had something to do with it. (he climbed back out again pretty quickly and had to be ordered back in though!)

Now he's curled up in the kitchen refusing to share the living room with us)

St frances?

I've discovered why Murphy wouldn't come and sit near me when I'm studying in the back room - the cat curls up on the sofa (well, on Murphy's blankey which is there to stop her shedding all over it) but he dozed in the living room.

Last week I relented and let him curl up on the other end of the sofa - so from then on he's been inseparable and now when I'm here there's the two of them at each end, fast asleep! I would take a picture but the battery's run out. Watch this space! At least it's company...

woosh, bang, bark!

yes, you've guessed it - Guy Fawkes night finally caught up with us (or we with it) and we had our fireworks and curry night last night. Poor Murphy - doesn't mind bangs normally but the back garden is a bit too near. He was hyper, jumping up, running back and forth and barking. We shut him in the living room to be as far away as possible and eventually I went in to look for him and there he was, ensconsed on the (newly hoovered!) sofa! He got very cheeky and when Nick told him to get off just shuffled along a bit. Told again and he got off and went on the other one. Told again and he moved back to the original one! It took Elle to get him off and stayed off.

Meanwhile Gizzy had shot off upstairs and went to ground under our bed (very sensible). When I went to look for her later she had moved to under Richard's chair next to the radiator so was perfectly happy and cozy - I brought her down to say hello and she promptly went and curled up on the two least cat-loving people in the room. They say cats can tell, you know, and you have to wonder...

omg

geeze, it's been a while! I'm attracting all sorts of technical problems - for a start facebook doesn't seem to accept me anymore - I've changed my password 4 times now and every time I go in with the new one it refuses and i have to change it AGAIN! I'm thinking of giving it up - nothing's worth this much hassle.

Anyway, double trouble are fine. Gizzy's taken to sitting on my laptop or papers at the most inconvenient times - either to say she wants fed or just to say hello. Nice, but irritating! She's in mouse-kill mode - 3 last week. About time too - the garage cupboard is infested and I even saw one running away the last time I was in.

Murphy has chewed the wing off his new toy duck and it's no longer its pristine cream self - looking a bit chewed and mucky now - still he seems to like it so it's all good. I'll find a decent recent photo... oh yes, as you can see he's taking this sofa promotion thing seriously - here are my boys!

tune in

blimey, where has the time gone? October is flying by and I'm only just settling into student life. Which, this time round, involves a lot of writing, reading, computer work, cycling, cooking and supermarket shopping (oh, and dog walking and getting wet)

The partners in crime (Gizzy and Murphy) are doing OK. Murphy was sick on Saturday - luckily outside in the garden, how good is that? I'd shut him in on Friday night (as he'd taken to going outside and barking 3 times a night) and he duly barked in the wee small hours - but inside this time so Richard got up and he wanted out. Clearly that was why. Must've been the rubbish he was being fed when I wasn't looking.

Gizzy is also fine although we think there's a nother cat prowling round - she's been shooting in the carflap and haring away upstairs or somewhere, with Murphy instantly shooting out and bounding round barking at all the corners of the garden. She's dashing madly round the house as I write, with her tail all bushy and Murphy went out to have a look but didn't bark so not sure what's going on now. So what's new?

I've now got a blog on my student profile online at RGU and alos we're doing e-Profiles (including CV's and PDP's) so got a blog there too - I'm rapidly going off the idea. Even motormouth me can't keep that lot up! Besides, I have too much work to do.

Gotta go - it's 9.45pm and I've just sat down to study (having been making and eating dinner and been to supermarket).. toodle oo!

busy

very busy now the days are flying in! and the weeks.. Murphy showed his cool in an emergency on Sunday, I was hurrying to hang the washing out before we took him down to the beach for a walk (it was a glorious sunny, blustery day) and missed the step down to the grass. So the pegs went flying (I really must get a proper pegbag, anyone for Christmas?) and a went head over heels with a squeal.

Even Richard came to find out if I was OK, but had to find a way to remove the dog first - he'd been on the grass and immediately rushed over and stood over me as I lay there - I mean right over, front paws on one side of me and back paws on the other.

I'm not sure what in the doggy world it's meant to achieve, but he's very good at it! At least he didn't actually sit ON me, which he is prone to do when I sit or lie on the ground (for my exercises, I should add).

gizzy again

I had a panic the other day, thought I'd lost Gizzy. By 10.30 she still hadn't come for her breakfast - for a cat who is usually breaking the door down at 6.30am and refuses to leave me alone in the bathroom for my shower (presumably acting under the suspicion that I'll escape - naked - from the window before feeding her, this was unheard of!

By about 11 I'd been out in the garden calling her, searched the whole house - nothing. Sudenly I noticed the garage door was closed -hmm, I wonder?

Opened it and a silent blur shot past - straight to the food bowl (well, why waste time and energy miaowing that would be better used in getting to the food?). Mystery solved....