Animal tales

The cats looking very cute. 
You would never guess what a nuisance they can be:

• meow, meow let me in the house meow I am staying here until you do meow if you open any windows I will sneak in meow I will try to bust through the bedroom shutters while you are sleeping giving you the fright of your life meow MEOW MEOW
• meow, meow let me walk on the table (in the outside kitchen) and steal your food while you eat
• meow, meow I am going to bust in to a visitors car and eat as much of the boudin noir they have brought for you as I can (luckly not that much before Sambuca was caught at it)
• meow, meow when I have busted in to the house one time I am going to try to eat the butter and SMASH the butter dish on the floor

Pernod and Poppy - great carnivors and hunters

Poppy eating watermelon

Pernod eating watermelon

When Pernod broke in to the kitchen (and broke the butter dish) the thing he tried to steal was a packet of cherry tomatoes... not the pork chops...

Poppy goes to the vet
We took Poppy to the vet for her final vaccination and for the rabies jab (so she can get a pet passport in case we ever need it). She made such a fuss at being jabbed that the vet said she (our normal vet Nicolas is on holiday) had never seen such a wimpy pathetic dog in all her life (or something to that effect in French). She also showed me up by trying to wiggle out of my arms and doing her crocodile impression, I was occupied trying to stop her crashing to the floor and the vet gave me a row for not telling her off for snapping (the crocodile champs don't ususally make contact, she is just showing her annoyance). Then she wouldn't sit and rushed around the place. They think we are raising a savage (a wimpy pathetic savage!)

Poppy goes in the car
Since the great car crapping incident we have been working on two things to get to Poppy travelling in the crate in the back of the car. The first is getting her used to the car and it's motion, for this she has been travelling at Doug's feet and we have been making an effort to take her places - although the peacefulness of the drive is generally somewhat marred by her trying to dig up the floor to make it more comfortable and trying to climb on to Doug's lap so she can see out. The second is getting her used to being in her crate in the back of the car with the car stationary. For this we have been putting her in there for her naps and feeding her lunch in there.

Let me out you cruel people, I am NOT a wimp, cars ARE scary

We went for a drive yesterday to go for a walk in Pouzac woods (about 5 mins or less drive) so that on the way back we could put the two things together with her travelling in crate in the back. She wasn't 100% relaxed but it was much much MUCH better than last time (no howling, no barking, no crapping). We now just need to build up the time a bit and get her used to rougher roads - we didn't push it and leave her in the back for the drive which she isn't keen on as it is very bumpy. The vet was right - she is wimpy and pathetic!! Perhaps we are pampering her too much :)

Sambuca the trigger happy killer (or not)
The baby lizards have come out, they are very small and cute and you would think very chasable by a killer like Sambuca and even by a dollop like Pernod. However Doug saw one run over Sambuca's paws and she failed to make chase. I believe she did kill it a little later though, so she is just a bit slow off the mark