Country bumkins - Aug 2025

 

Before heading off to our next sit, we had a lovely lunch out with James's family at the pub in Huntingdon, where J's uncle lives.

Our next sit was in the weeny village of Burrough Green.  We had no domestic pets here, only farmyard animals.  What a lovely place to be!

We had the very good company of Cruella, the pig.

Seven ducks that didn't lay any eggs but were, nontheless, very personable.  Once they got used to us, they would sing out every morning and evening for their kibble.  As it had been so dry for so long, it was also important to provide them with lots of fresh water as their pond had completely dried up!

Yet, most surpising of all, was the tortoise, Mercury, in the back yard.  He is 23 years old!  We fed him fresh beans from the garden and fresh dandilion leaves from the hedgerow.  And he absolutely loved company!  So we would sit in his enclosure for a while each day and be entertained by him. What a (hidden) treasure!

James also had the opportunity to go hunting with his nephew-in-law on the family farm.  It is so much different to hunting in New Zealand.  This style of hunting is high seat hunting, where you sit up in a seat and wait for the deer to come to you.  As most of you will know, if you follow our lives/story, we much prefer to eat our protein this way .... by gathering it ourselves from the wild.  This did not disappoint.  James cam home with a Muntjac deer which we have all enjoyed.

Too far away.  But what a mob!

The real work begins

We put a lot of work into the harvesting and breaking down of our wild game in order to get the best out of the animal out of respect for a life given/taken.  We even eat the neck meat, which, if you haven't tried it, is slow cooked and made into a pie or similar.  If is a bit like pulled pork in texture.  Melt in the mouth!  We also eat the heart, liver and kidneys.  Nose to tail harvesting.

We have seen so many deer in the countryside and even in the town this trip.  Not sure what is going on.  We have seen Muntjac, Red, Fallow and a Chinese Water Deer.  Pretty special indeed.

UK bound - Aug 2025

Trying desperately to find the joy in a 24hr flight

We arrived in the UK at the end of July and in the height of summer.  We headed straight for James parent's place in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Bury St Edmunds is the very pretty Suffolk town where James grew up.  The central piece de resistance of the town is the Abbey Gardens.  The weather was so lovely that a walk around the gardens was a must.  The story of the Abbey Gardens

Once we found our feet and got over the jetlag we had a lovely time catching up with family and friends.  Soon enough, we headed for our first housesit not too far away.

Flint & Magic

16yo Flint, the wee terrier, is a gentleman in his prime who is not fazed by anything at all.  As long as he can wander down to the pond for a dip and a drink whenever he fancies.  Magic, the Romanian rescue girl, took a little longer than usual to warm up, especially to James.  But boy, once she did, he was her most favoured 'possesion'! Especially when food was involved.

We also had the very good company of mother and son cats - Mrs Cake and Fred.

We were all very happy rolling around the fields together watching the deer an hares.  We saw our first ever Chinese Water Deer, which was very special.

Checking out the flora and fauna with the girls

We thoroughly enjoyed this short sit in the countryside.  It was good to remember how much we love to wander the fields with some canine company.  Priceless.

Clevedon cats - Jul 2025

We spent the month before leaving the country, house and kitty sitting for good friends. 

Lilly .... the beauty, not so much the brains 🤣

The catwalk

And Tinkerbell ... a clever and funny girl

The girls, well Tinky, have brought a skink in from the garden. We try to release as many as we can.

At the very beginning of the sit, by far the saddest thing we have experienced happened. Our cheeky chap, Alfie, got hit by a car on the main road. The vet let us bring him home for the night, but alas, he was too badly injured and his family had to made the heartbreaking 💔 decision,  the kindest decision, to put him to sleep.

Clare was with him while he passed 😔 

It took a while to find our mojo after this extremely upsetting time so we just hunkered down with the girls, all healing together ❤️ 

It was hard not to feel responsible for Alfie's accident. Even though it was just that! An accident. Cats and roads, ya know. Sigh.

Tinky definitely missed him. They arrived at their forever home together as we kittens. We met them even back then. Tinky just got clingier than her normal self and we were happy to oblige.

Lilly and Alfie never got on so she just seemed delighted not to have to put up with him bashing he and she and Tinky got a bit friendlier with each other.

We recovered by catching up with friends and family and snuggling with the girls.

Sigh.