This year ( for reasons unknown ) the village cat population has grown. There must be thirty or so of the things. Our stretch of lane has three that call it home. For the most part they sit on the Old Farmers balcony, fight, play, drink milk from a saucer laid out for them and watch the world go by. At first light two of the three wander across to The Rickety Old Farmhouse and sit right outside the front door making loud 'meeowing' sounds. The effect of this ( as the cats know ) on the PONs asleep inside is nothing short of electrifying. For their master it's that 'time to get up' moment.
Sophie shoots out of the front door quicker than a cork from a champagne bottle. She emits a short sharp yelp of delight as she goes. Round and round the orchard she flies. Her big brother follows on behind. He eventually understands the cats have long gone. The family boy watches his sister continue to hurtle round the garden wearing his ' what did I do to deserve this ? ' expression.
The bakers is in brown mode.
Very brown mode.
So starts a not so quiet day in deepest, deepest France profonde.
7 comments:
What wonderful music indeed - thanks!
What an appropriate metaphor: champagne corks.
Our neighbor is a cat lady. She takes in every stray. Step one: to the vet for shots and getting snipped. They get well-fed but don't reproduce.
Good solution. Here they get well fed and do reproduce !
A friend of mine in Syros Greece says that their stray-cat population is 31,000 - Give it time in your village....But cats typically do not reproduce in the winter, so that may help.
Loved the music at the start of my day!
Feral cats a big problem here. Our birds have to be fed on a table with wire fencing enclosing the seed dish.
We used to have beautiful little lizards sunning on the patio in the summer. All gone these days.
Thanks for the Proms. Lucky BBC watchers who can receive all two days on full screen television.
Stuff me full of eclairs and I would be happy.
Nothing like a cat chorus to awaken you from your slumber. My little friend I live with is particularly vocal if she wants something and I am sleeping. Playing dead never works.
I've read of wildlife management feeding some kind of birth control to deer, wonder if same could be done for feral cats?
It's tricky, though, because a few are useful to keep mice and such out of barns and houses.
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