Destruction!

 

Destruction!

                                Pansy and Clown (blue and chocolate)

Warning! If you are averse to animals, do not read on.

Polly spoke about her Labrador breeding friends and the destruction the puppies wrought, and it reminded me of our brief foray into breeding Burmese cats.

It had never been our intention to breed cats. We had had an accidental breeding of Jack Russells, which was fun for the children, and also why we ended up with four of them – JRs, I mean, though we did have four children, too.

My sister and brother-in-law had a beautiful brown Burmese, called Tip, because he had a white tip to his tail. A few years after I left home – the baby of the family - they gave my parents a little queen who had come to the end of her breeding programme (!) Liza gave them a great deal of pleasure and much appreciated the freedom and love they gave her.

When we decided to acquire a cat, we remembered how affectionate and curious Burmese cats were, and found a local breeder, who had a pretty little brown queen, a few months old. They encouraged us to breed from her, and we thought it would be interesting for the children. That encouragement is not generally given these days, but this was many years ago.

The kittens were enchanting. From Alicat we had brown, chocolate, blue and lilac offspring. Each child and its friends had different favourites, so, naturally, we ended up with quite a few cats.

Pansy Blue as a kitten

People often claim to ‘know’ that cats and dogs are instinctive enemies and cannot live together, and take pleasure in promulgating the myth. We have found them to be allies and friends. The cats groom the dogs’ heads and faces and the dogs step between arguing cats to defuse the situation, as they would with warring dogs.

              Cariadd, (Dalmatian) with six Burmese, one brown, one blue, three chocolates and a lilac. They would climb on her for comfort if they started arguing.

We were extraordinarily lucky with the Jack Russells, known chasers – and killers – of fur. When we brought Alicat home, I sat down, and Daisy JR jumped up on my lap! We never had a problem with them, but I would not risk it again. It just didn’t occur to us to worry.

Puppies are fun, adventurous, and messy, but they don’t climb. Kittens clamber up everything in sight, including people. The view from the top of someone’s head, or the curtains, is exciting and different. If there are no people or furniture available to ascend, the wallpaper will do.

Inevitably, the time came, at three months of age, to bid the kittens farewell to their new homes. Interviewing prospective owners was never a job we relished, but we wanted to ensure our little creatures went to loving homes. Equally, I felt we had to be honest about what they were taking on. Burmese kittens do not lie around looking beautiful, although they can. They are adventurous and curious and can get themselves into unusual hiding places.

We once lost a litter temporarily. We had put them in our en suite shower room, where we were sure they would be safe and could not escape. When I went in to check on them and feed them, I couldn’t see them anywhere. Our shower room is not vast and the window was securely closed. Panic set in momentarily but something caused me to look more closely at the bidet and sure enough, the kittens were tucked safely under the pedestal. They soon emerged for their food, and we found a different room for them to grow up in.

As well as giving prospective owners directions to our house, a task at which I am still very poor, I would test their resolve by telling them what to expect. If they were experienced cat people, they would quickly understand. One man put it succinctly – ‘So, we look for the house with the wallpaper hanging off in shreds.’ I agreed that was the case and he came to collect his kitten anyway.

While kittens may not eat the carpet or the plaster on the walls, or chew the door frame, your shoes, or anything else that takes their fancy, as puppies will, they have sharp claws, like needles. They will tear at your soft furnishings, turn the stair carpet into a series of scratching posts, scale the heights of the kitchen cupboards, and pierce your heart with their unbelievably silky fur and huge, lustrous eyes. A warm purring cat on your lap or next to you as you lie on your bed is worth more than a king’s ransom.

If dog/s join the cat/s, you are more blessed than you could imagine.

We haven’t bred puppies, or kittens for many years. It is exhausting, being responsible for so many tiny beings. Guinea pigs, mice and gerbils are much easier, but once our children grew out of the farming phase, we ceased breeding altogether. Oh, that is, until our youngest child was born. She came during the cat breeding phase. We must have got muddled, somewhere! 

Herbert with Bethan

Herschel observes . . .

 

Herschel observes . . .

Herschel observes boats on the Kiel Canal

Herschel is the Hebrew name for deer. It is also a German name deriving from Heinrich, which means ‘home ruler.’

We gave Herschel his name because we live not far from Slough, where Sir William Herschel, an Anglo-German astronomer, died in 1822. He was the first person to discover a new planet while using a telescope. He wanted to call it Georgium Sidus, meaning George’s Star, or the Georgian Planet, to honour the reigning King George III.

However, the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, proposed that it should be named after one of the classical deities, in the traditional manner. He suggested Uranus and this was ultimately accepted, almost seventy years later.

Sir John Herschel, William’s son, was born in Slough in 1792, and was a polymath. His interests encompassed mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, photography, and botany. He invented the blueprint and researched colour blindness, and named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus.

One of John’s sons, Sir William James Herschel, also born in Slough, was the first man to realise the importance of fingerprints in identification. Throughout his lifetime, he recorded his own fingerprints, to prove their unique and unchanging nature.

 

 

Have you got your ‘phone?

 

Have you got your ‘phone?

This looks like a rebuke!

I am getting better at remembering to take my ‘phone with me when I go out. I don’t always take it when I’m going out with Barry, as his is always with him, almost needing to be surgically removed from him. That is also the case with our children and all the grandchildren old enough to have ‘phones.

I know it’s sensible to have a means of contacting someone in case of emergency and it is just possible, though unlikely, that Barry’s ‘phone will not be fully charged.

So, I try to remember, not least because I get irritated by the question, ‘Have you got your ’phone?’ To me, it feels like being asked if I’ve got a clean hankie (does anyone use those these days?)

Differences

 

Differences

 

Arthur sleeps!

    There are many differences between working Labradors and Cocker Spaniels.

The most obvious difference is size. Labradors are bigger, between 25 and 38 kg. I’ve just discovered that working Labradors are known in the States as American or field-bred Labradors. British working Labradors are field-bred dogs from the UK and Ireland.

Working Cocker spaniels weigh 11 to 16 kg and are between 36 to 43 cm at the withers, which I have to remind myself is the highest point of the shoulder blades. Compare that to a Labrador standing 54 to 62 cm. at the same point.

Labradors are relaxed, steady dogs, though they do have their wild moments. Generally, well-exercised and well-fed dogs will settle down at your feet and snore sleep the hours away. Cockers are busy, fizzy little dogs. They are anxious to please and will greet their owners with enthusiasm and at least one toy in their mouths. Labradors are equally delighted to see their people and are keen to nose them and give them a good sniffing to discover where they’ve been and with whom.

When they’re outside, a cocker’s nose is never far from the ground if it’s not scenting the air. Labradors like to read the environment as well, but they’re not so keen to seek prey. That’s not their job. They are required to pick up, though they will sometimes spring birds or rabbits.

Both breeds love water and are drawn to it as to a magnet.

The biggest difference is in their approach to food. All Labradors – at least, all the many ones we’ve had, love food, and most of them live to eat, whereas cockers eat to live, from our limited experience of them.

When Arthur comes to play, we have to persuade him to eat, even when it’s obvious he’s hungry. Like a restless child, he is easily distracted from eating, whereas the Labradors plough straight through the food until there’s not a hint of a scent of anything left, and then look around with a half-starved expression, hoping to convince any passing human in the house that they really have not been fed for days.

Both breeds are great friends, like all dogs.

Jake

Dogs are wonderful companions, no matter what their provenance, and some of the best are rescue dogs looking for their forever homes. One of the loveliest dogs I ever knew was Jake, an absolute peach of a dog.

Of unknown breeding, he was delighted to be accepted and loved by my daughter and son-in-law. He was an amazingly loyal and loving dog to them and their children. When they acquired a Labrador puppy, and we went to see them, he would jump into the back of our car, hoping to come home with us. He liked the puppy but sometimes wanted a rest from her. All puppies are exhausting for a while and Jake enjoyed a quiet life. As the puppy grew up and calmed down, Jake became very fond of her.

There is always an unknown quality in rescue dogs. Unless they are very young puppies in a rescue centre, there is no knowing what has befallen them in their lives. It’s too easy to be led by the heart, rather than reason.

 Rescue societies do a grand job of assessing them and advising to the best of their ability whether a dog will settle with young children, or cats, or more than one or two people. The best rescue centres will interview prospective owners and will not release a dog unless and until they are satisfied that the dog is going to a good home and will not be returned in a few weeks when the novelty has worn off.

We don’t deserve dogs, really.                        

Starship 5

 

Starship Flight Test 5

                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

On Sunday, we watched the launch of Starship 5 from SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica in Texas. It was as spectacular as such things always are. The really impressive and innovative part of the test flight was the recovery of the Super Heavy rocket booster. It travelled back to the launch site and was captured by huge metal arms, called ‘chopsticks’ which prevented it from a hard landing. The objective is to use the Super Heavy rocket booster in future launches.

The spacecraft landed in the ocean and will not be recovered. Further tests will practise landing spacecraft on dry land.

Starship is destined to land US astronauts on the moon in 2026 in an ongoing bid to create a permanent settlement on the moon. This would then be the first stage in the development of further settlements in deep space. The USA and China are engaged in a race to become the first deep space settlement pioneers.

Protected again . . .

 

Protected again . .. 

We had our Covid and ‘flu jabs at midday, a stab in each arm, quick, efficient. We arrived early, went straight in and that was that, until the next time.

Then Barry trotted off for an ultrasound scan. He has had so many appointments recently but has a day off tomorrow, followed by an early start on Monday. He has to be at the hospital at 7:00 a.m. First on the surgeon’s list – a good place to be. A stay overnight and then home again on Tuesday, all being well.

He will not be able or allowed to lift or carry anything for a few weeks, which will be good for me, as I will get plenty of exercise doing the things he normally does. Can’t wait!

Clowns

 

Clowns

                                            Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Many people don’t like clowns. Some are actively scared by them.  A clown phobia is called coulrophobia and is more prevalent than some other fears, like arachnophobia or claustrophobia.

Traditionally, there are three major categories of clown to be seen in circuses, though some clowns, like Joseph Grimaldi, performed only on stage in pantomimes.

The whiteface clown is regarded as the superior clown, his face and neck completely masked in white greasepaint, ‘clown white’, the features painted on in red or black. He often wears a conical hat and a fitted, full sleeved costume with short trouser legs. The suit is usually colourful and elaborate and may be decorated with sequins. The clown in Pagliacci is a whiteface clown, the jocular exterior hiding the pain of his inner sorrow.

The Auguste or ‘red’ clown wears red or flesh-coloured makeup and outlines his eyes and mouth with white and paints other features in red or black. He wears baggy trousers in strident patterns and colours, oversized shoes, outrageous wigs and a bright red nose. He is ‘the fall guy’, the stooge to the whiteface clown. He is the one who receives a pie in the face or falls on his backside or has his clothes ripped off. He is the butt of every joke.

The third category is the character clown, who may support either of the other two clowns, depending on circumstances. He is cleverer than the Auguste clown but inferior to the whiteface clown. He is an eccentric version of any one of a number of standard characters, like a policeman, a housewife or a tramp. His make-up is flesh coloured and accessorised with such things as a false beard, big ears, huge glasses or an odd haircut.

Laurel and Hardy are examples of character clowns, though they relied on costume rather than make-up and bizarre accessories.

Marcel Marceau was not a circus performer and not traditionally a whiteface clown, though he adopted white make-up. He was a brilliant mime artist but also deserves to be remembered for his work in the French Résistance, saving at least seventy Jewish children from the Nazis.

I find circus clowns quite grotesque and not at all amusing, but am happy to watch Buster Keaton or the Marx Brothers, or any of the modern clowns.

Modern clowns include actors like Rowan Atkinson and Sacha Baron Cohen, though they may prefer to be known principally as actors, but then surely clowns are actors, too.