The Sixteenth Blog of Augustus Lazarus Cooke (Gus)

Hello everyone!

It’s windy and dull today but it isn’t raining. It’s a special day for Mr H ‘cos it’s his birthday so it doesn’t matter to him what the weather’s doing.  Yesterday he and the missus went out. They took us for a long walk first then off they went in the car. They left Jenna in their bedroom but they didn’t know that till they got home and couldn’t find her.

They went to see Gareth and Nina and Susannah and Nick and the children. I would have liked to go too, ‘cos I like children but I had to stay and look after the house. Us dogs still haven’t met the baby – he’ll be all grown up by the time we see him. I think he’s coming to our house in a little while.  Everyone keeps saying he’s a gorgeous, happy little boy - I hope he likes us.

Anyway, Mr and Mrs didn’t get home till ever so late but they left the lights on for us even though we don’t mind the dark. We hadn’t had our supper so that was the first thing that happened when the Humans walked in. Then the Humans had their supper.

Today we’re all tired. Us dogs get really worn out worrying about our Humans when they go out without us to protect them so we always spend the next day sleeping. I’m wondering what’s going to happen in a few days ‘cos Mr H keeps saying, ‘You don’t know what’s coming your way,’ then Mrs H laughs and says, ‘They’ll be all right,’ so I don’t think it will be anything nasty. I expect it will be something nice that we’ll really like – maybe a big juicy boneJ They’re going to take us for a good long walk so that means they’ll be going out without us again to collect whatever is coming. I expect dogs aren’t allowed in bone stores – too much excitement.

Gillian and Bethan are coming to see us next weekend – at least, I think they’re coming to see us. I don’t think they’d be very interested in meaty bones but I could be wrong.

I must go now - *yawn* - I need to go back to sleep again.

Be good.

Hwyl fawr am nawr! (That’s Welsh for ‘Goodbye for now!’)

A New Baby and a New Book

A new baby and a new book

Thibié at one hour old

My daughter’s baby was born yesterday at 2:06 pm. He’s a healthy 8lb 4oz beautiful boy and as yet unnamed. The names Susannah and Nick favoured before he was born don’t seem to ‘fit’ him but I’m sure they’ll find something to suit very soon. I call him Thibié - that is, TBA - To Be Announced!

We’re hoping to go and see him in the next couple of days, though we may wait until mother and baby are at home. Susannah is feeling done in after a Caesarean section and barely able to stand up so doesn’t want to see anyone other than Nick until she’s stronger. I remember that feeling so well and at least I can reassure her it is all completely normal and she will improve little by little each day.

Thibié at twenty-four hours old

Meanwhile, the previous day, and after much work as an amateur compositor (!) by my husband, my first novel was published on Amazon. ‘The Sweets and the Bitters of Love’ is in Kindle format and is available free for loan to Prime customers, or can be purchased at the exorbitant price of £0.77/$1.23. Do go and have a look if you’re curious and maybe even read it and write a review.

If you find yourself wondering about the author’s name, Jane Hartley May, the reason is that my mother wanted to call me Jane but couldn’t because my surname was Mayne – Jane Mayne – you can imagine I would soon have become Plain Jane Mayne – so she called me Janice. To honour her I took her preferred choice of name and added her maiden name to it and shortened Mayne to May, so there you have it – Jane Hartley May.

Winston’s December blog 2010

Winston here . . . p’rrrrr, p’rrrrr . . .

It’s been really busy here again. Mrs H hasn’t even had much time to blog!

The Humans have been behaving very strangely, don’tcha know. I mean, Mrs H is always washing stuff – I think she’s got ODC (that’s Overly Dangerous Cleaning) but it spread to something called ‘delittering’ – no, that’s not right, ‘decluttering’ is what it is. I think it’s a competition between my Humans to see how many black bags they can fill. Thing is, Mr H flings things out and Mrs H takes it all out again so she can ‘rebicycle’ it, then Mrs H throws stuff out and Mr H goes through it and says things like, ‘I want to keep that’ and ‘I wondered where that had gone’ and ‘It might come in useful’ and then there’s quite a lot of huffing and puffing and slamming of doors.

I’m a laid-back sort of cat so I didn’t take no notice but Gus got really worried. He was afraid he’d be thrown out with the black bags, seeing as he’s the same colour and all.

 So, everything got washed and lots of things got dusted and polished and it smelt quite nice actually . . . well, different, anyway. Me and the dogs had to go and put our scent all over everything again. It’s all right, we was very careful about it, just rubbed our heads on the chairs, don’tcha know. It was really good ‘cos there was lots more room for us to rush about in until the house started to fill up.

When she’d finished washing everything what wasn’t nailed down Mrs H started cooking. Me and the dogs was very interested then ‘cos there was loads of food and it smelt tasty but she said it was not for us – it was for ‘Bortee’ and ‘Cornah’.

The next day Gillian and Paul and their family come. Gus and Jenna and Frodo was excited ‘cos Tia and Foxy come too so they all charged around the garden and made the floor ever so muddy when they come back in. Then the day after that Gareth and Nina and their family come and all the children was happy ‘cos they hadn’t seen each other for a long time. After that, Bethan and her friend come and the house was nearly full up.

Everyone was in the kitchen, what’s quite big but not really big enough for fourteen people (I’m a cat; I can count, not like the dogs!) The only ones missing was Susannah and Nick but they was going to India that day and it was Gareth’s birthday too. Mrs H said that his birthday is eggsactly four weeks before Christmas Day every year.

Then everyone went in the dining room and all us animals was shut out. I don’t know why they always do that – we only want to join in and of course we’d be good don’tcha know!

There was lots of noise and everyone talking at once and when they all went home the next day we was really tired. When Frodo got up the morning after that he went along to the bedrooms to see if the children was there.

There was supposed to be more people coming last night but the Humans all thought it wouldn’t be a good idea ‘cos it’s going to be ever so cold again. I don’t mind though – the log fire keeps me nice and warm. When I wake up and want something to do I go and watch the birds – there’s ever so many of them in the garden. I went outside today – Mr H left the door open – but it wasn’t very nice and my paws got cold and wet so I was glad to go in again.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Be good!

TTFN

A busy weekend

Frodo, my Velcro boy, detached from me

On Saturday evening I drove to Chalfont St Giles to sit with my three younger grandchildren while their parents went out and Barry stayed at home to dog-sit.

Frodo and Jenna keep vigil

Frodo, Jenna and Gus took up position at the top of the stairs, there to remain until my return. When I phoned Barry to let him know I'd arrived safely he was unable to reach the phone immediately and consequently Frodo started howling and was soon accompanied by Gus. Frodo has a fine tenor voice and Gus sings baritone so they make a rather pleasing duo. We've never heard Jenna howl but she contributed to the musical episode by barking sharp staccato notes. Buddy continued to sleep – he's heard it all before.
Elliot taught me how to use the remote controls for the television. He and his father are showing an alarming resemblance to Barry in respect of all things technological. Callum, our oldest grandson, seems cast in the same mould, too. The more complex an arrangement may be the happier they all are. Anyway, Elliot guided me through the process, which, I grant, is simple enough once you know how.

As it was the weekend the children were allowed to stay up later. We decided we would watch a film together but gone are the days of a pleasant cartoon or a children's adventure story. Eve was outvoted by her brothers and we watched '2012'. Having established that they were allowed to watch it and it wouldn't give seven-year-old Louis nightmares we settled down to what seemed a very long film. The special effects were tremendous but the story line had a few gaping holes in it as far as credulity was concerned. After an hour or so Eve went off to bed with a book and we watched as 'the world as we know it' erupted and collapsed. Finally a huge tsunami engulfed the earth, almost submerging Mount Everest, and the arks that had been constructed broke free of their anchors and sailed upon the waters that covered the earth and every living thing just as it was reported in Genesis all those centuries ago. Ultimately, it was a new slant on Noah's Ark and the end would have been a good beginning for a film, I thought. Perhaps there will be a sequel – 2013 and all that.

Gareth and Nina arrived home after a good evening out with friends and soon afterwards I set off for home. I left their house at 12:30 on a journey that would normally take 35 to 40 minutes at that time of night. However, I had unplugged the Tom Tom on arrival, thinking it might drain the car battery, and forgot to plug it in again so after a while it stopped speaking to me by which time I had taken a wrong turning. Hastily, I plugged it in again and set it to find a route home. 'Planning a route' took forever but eventually the woman spoke. She sounded rather cross, I thought, as she barked, 'No route planned.' Now I was on my own, going in the wrong direction, towards Central London, rather than west towards home. I drove through some interesting places, constantly surprised by the amount of traffic on the roads, and eventually I picked up some road signs to take me to the M3. Unfortunately, I missed a vital turning and continued my journey through the outer suburbs of London until I reached Sheen and then I relaxed. I knew that once I reached Twickenham I would be on the right road. I reached home at around 2:45. There's no chance of getting into our house unnoticed and a great cacophony greeted me as dogs rushed downstairs to jump all over me and then look expectantly for food. Dogs – they're so obvious!

The next morning we rose bright and early – well, early anyway – to continue preparations for our two younger daughters who were coming for lunch. Barry took the three younger dogs out for a walk to get the tickle out of their toes and I stayed at home to finish off. Susannah and Nick arrived first and gave us wonderful homemade green tomato chutney that Nick had made and a particularly toothsome and stinky cheese they'd bought in a cheese shop in Whitstable the day before. 

Nick's green tomato chutney, not quite as full as when it arrived!

Not the remains of the day, but the remains of the cheese!

Then Bethan and her friend arrived and gave us a beautiful bouquet and a fine bottle of wine from their holiday in Sardinia.

The bouquet was full of late summer blooms - absolutely gorgeous!

The wine remained unopened - a treat for another time.

Lunch was late, of course, but the food was a secondary consideration to the stimulating and enjoyable company of our guests. We laughed a lot and that is always so good for the soul. The dogs were rather put out that they were not allowed to join us. Jenna stayed downstairs, though not in the dining room, but the boys were shut out of both the sitting room and the dining room and protested vociferously until they realised shouting would not gain them access. Winston, on the other hand, was welcomed and fussed over by everyone, which he thoroughly appreciated.

Everyone left in the late afternoon and the house suddenly seemed empty. The dogs were exhausted by the change in routine and slept soundly. Barry fell asleep in his chair and I went to bed about 8:30 and read for a while and then couldn't sleep. Scenes from '2012' mixed bizarrely with remembered comments and expressions and conversation from lunch. It was a most pleasurable weekend on many levels and today seems pleasantly relaxed in our unusually tidy home!

The Fourth Blog of Augustus Lazarus Cooke (Gus)

                          Here I am before Christmas, still wearing my puppy collar.

Hello everyone!
I see I wrote my last blog exactly four weeks ago today back in 2009. Happy New Year by the way. (I don't know what that means but I keep hearing all sorts of humans saying it and it seems to please them.)
Well, Christmas came and so did lots of visitors. I met four new people. First there was Susannah, one of my Humans' daughters – they've got three, you know, as well as a son, but they didn't have them all in one litter like me and my siblings. Susannah brought Nick along with her but they didn't try to sleep in the house which was just as well 'coz all the beds – and the caravan – were taken and there was only floor left! Bethan came to stay with Rob – his family's got a black Labrador as well, called Fidget. Then there was Dorothy, who is Mr Human's mother. He's ever so old so she must be ancient! The Humans were expecting Mr Human's brother and sister-in-law to come but they were late getting back from Ethiopia so I haven't met them yet. Anyway, on the busiest day there were seventeen humans, six of them quite young, six of us dogs and Monty and Winston Ocicats. There was LOTS of food but we weren't allowed in the dining room though we managed to sneak in a few times.
 

We've had OODLES of snow and it's ever such fun playing in it but I do get tired quite quickly 'coz it's difficult to run when your legs keep disappearing up to the knees and sometimes the shoulders! I don't know whether it's because it's been really cold or whether it's my age but my coat is changing. It used to be very soft and velvety all over but now I've got a strip down the middle of my back that's quite coarse, just like Jenna's. I will be nineteen weeks old on Sunday and my Humans are beginning to have difficulty telling me apart from my sister at first glance. Our eyes are different and of course I've got a white chin.

I've got a new collar! We were going out one day and I got over-excited and pulled so hard on the lead that my puppy collar broke! Mrs Human bought collars for Buddy and me. Buddy didn't break his collar but it kept coming loose and sliding up over his ears so we've both got stripey blue buckle collars. I think we look cool! Frodo's wearing Buddy's old collar and he looks very handsome in it. I really like Frodo – he's awesome. I'm too big to sleep in the same bed as Frodo now. I suppose my Humans might buy us an extra big bed? I heard them saying that I might soon be able to sleep in a bed upstairs, rather than in my night-time pen, but that hasn't happened yet.

I'm wearing my new blue stripey collar.I feel quite grown-up in it and it's just like Buddy's!

I'm very good at stairs now. I can get up them quite quickly but I'm still very careful coming down (Mrs H says I go 'be-dom, be-dom, be-dom') and in the early morning, after I've been out for a breath of air (well, a pee and a pooh, actually . . . ) I hurry back upstairs and try to jump up onto the bed where the Humans sleep with Jenna.

I still like just about everything but there are a couple of things that I'm not keen on. I don't like Mrs H singing or sneezing and I'm afraid of the roaring machine that sucks up dust and dirt. It might get ME one day! The cats and the other dogs don't seem to mind it – well, Buddy can't hear it anyway – but I'm going to carry on keeping out of its way and watching from a safe distance. Luckily Mrs H doesn't use it very often.

I heard the Humans saying that Tia and Foxy are coming for the weekend – ooh GOODY! I hope there'll still be enough snow for us all to enjoy together – they haven't had much in Dorset. I'd better go and push out some zeds so I'm ready to play when they arrive.

Can you see Buddy's collar? Mine matches his though it is a bit smaller. Aren't we smart?

Hwyl fawr am nawr! (That's Welsh for 'Goodbye for now!')