Finding joy in the everyday

Did I ever tell you that I don't enjoy cleaning the bathroom - in fact I have been out-sourcing it to my son for many years.  But today he had to work, so I had to do my own cleaning and Ruby decided to help by climbing into the bathtub and watch me!! These are the photos I took of her in the tub.     Even though Ruby is only part Ragdoll she has behaving just like one. One feature of a Ragdoll is habitually lying on their backs with their back legs flattened out and "arms" sticking straight up in the air—Ruby does this all the time, even when she is cleaning her paws—I can’t help but rub her tummy and laugh at her, she thinks she is very clever.  Do you remember the story I wrote about Brenin (our Doberman) who broke his front toe.  Next Wednesday he is back at the vet to have an operation to remove a unusual lump on his back (which appeared within the last few weeks) — the vet tells us it’s the sort that can turn into cancer.  DH is taking ...

I think you can guess what the new addition is - yes a rat (Hooded rat to be accurate). After Herbert's passing 6 months ago I said no to any more rats. But this is a "rescue rat" - his previous owner no longer wanted him (wanted a bird instead of a rat and was going to get the poor creature "put-down") and a friend took the rat, unfortunately this rat and her other rats didn't get along so the poor thing needed a new home. Tristan is a softy and said yep - he would love to take "SCAMPS" so we now have a 1 year old rat that is quite large but very sweet. Caius was thrilled to have another rat as Herbert was his and he loved taking it to bed with him!! Interestingly Charlie the cat has never liked the rats and runs away and hides. Which is a good thing. So far we have owned: Felix, Zelda, Zoe, Bob, Herbert and now Scamps. Both my sons love animals and we only have Charlie (the cat) as Caius couldn't bear to see a poor lost soul wandering t...