charlie... and the incorrigible cat

Charlie is back. Mum and Dad brought him up yesterday and stayed over night while Andy was at a conference. On arrival, I simply popped him in his hutch without much ado, but later I went out to give him his tea. Charlie has a very strict diet and can't have very much dried food - his chief food is hay - so he's always eager to get his nose in his bowl and start eating. He saw me coming, naturally, and began to do his usual snorting dance where he hops about making grunting noises. This is normal when food is coming, so I was most surprised when instead of flinging himself at his bowl as I put it in the hutch, he ignored it and came straight to me, flattening himself to be stroked. This was extremely touching and most unusual. Only after I'd stroked him and said a proper 'hello' did he go and eat. So sweet. Bless his little bunny feet.

I am planning to get a bigger hutch very soon. We didn't buy this hutch for a rabbit, we bought it for guinea pigs. Charlie was adopted from a close friend, and came in a hutch of a similar size but slightly different proportions. Since the one we'd previously bought had more height, I put him in there and used the other for the baby guinea pigs, as it had a kind of lip to protect them from the cold. So this time I will have a rabbit in mind and therefore a more appropriate sized hutch. I'll have to ask for it for my birthday, or money towards it, since they are so expensive, especially the big ones. It's hard to find ones that are both sufficiently long but also high enough for the rabbit to stand up in. Also I want it to be big enough for two, if we get Charlie a 'bunny buddy'. Now that we don't have the guinea pigs (*sniff*) this is more feasible.

I shall bring him indoors and let him run around the lounge soon. He was originally a house rabbit so still has the remnants of house training so I've never had any trouble on that score.

Speaking of such things, I am getting annoyed with cat poo. I do not have a cat, but the local kitty has decided our main flowerbed is its toilet. It's a small garden so clearing up piles of poo every day is very disheartening for me - especially when it scrapes / breaks / buries the fragile plants in the process. We put a layer of top soil on the bed and this apparently is kitty toilet heaven - as soon as I see it's been flung into a heap, I know the perils that lie beneath. I am extremely vigilant on this score. You do not want to come across it by accident, as I learnt last year when digging with a trowel. Eugh. I never used those gloves again. It's incredibly stinky and sometimes (ug) mushy. (Also - always take care when kneeling on the lawn...the thought makes me shudder.) I have taken measures and stuck a load of pebbles and sticks and small bamboo canes all over the bed - looks slightly odd but not too bad, just while the bulbs and perennials come up - and scattered some chamomile tea bags (apparently they don't like the smell) and some cat repellent (basically an aromatic powder that they again don't like the smell of). Hopefully this pungent obstacle course will have an effect.

Please go away, cat - you are very good looking (as I know from the occasions I actually see you strolling by) but do you ever speak to me? No, you just poo everywhere. It's not really helping my opinion of you - hmmm?

Now I'm just beginning to steel myself for my annual intensive warfare - with slugs. If I could just make an advance on the feline front...