Yay, it's cheery Friday.

[woodsmith]

Not so cheery here as I had to put my lovely cat Tigg to sleep yesterday and I'm pretty devastated TBH.

[Dave Barter]

Not so cheery here as I had to put my lovely cat Tigg to sleep yesterday and I'm pretty devastated TBH.

Really sorry to hear this, I love cats.

I'll try to uplift your Friday with the story of "Blackie". We have three stray cats on our street that myself and my neighbour, Pam, look after. They live in boxes outside of Pam's house, she feeds them mornings and I do an evening treat for them. We call them "The boys", individually named Blackie, Fluffy and Boy.

Blackie became ill last week and stopped eating. He also looked sluggish, tail down and generally not well at all. So we needed to catch him and get him to a vet. These are properly feral cats and have zero tolerance of humans. Even though they know us we cannot get close to them. Catching Blackie was a nightmare that involved chasing him into Pam's basement and then coaxing him through a hole in the door into a cat box. We got him on the 2nd attempt.

Then he was driven to vet number 1. We warned her that Blackie was feral and would make a run as soon as she opened the box. She didn't listen at all, opened the box, out he came and then straight onto the wall mounted cupboards aiming for the window. It was hilarious watching her and a colleague attempt to get him back into the box. Took them ages but finally he was trapped again. They admitted they were out of their depth and hed have to go to another vet to be sedated and examined. So we drove him to Paignton where vet number 2 took over. He was sedated and examined, turns out that he has damaged his tongue by licking/ingesting something horrible and has chemical burns. Also he's a girl.

Blackie is now in Pam's house locked in a room to recover. She's slowly starting to eat but constantly planning escape back to her box outside of Pam's house.

So bye bye Tigg, sleep well. Take comfort that Blackie will hopefully live for a fair few years. I love her evening appearance on my window sill begging for biscuits. And now understand why my male cat also looks forward to this.

[fatbikephil]

Sorry to hear that too Woodsmith, losing pets is very sad. Bet he had a great life though
Following on from Daves post, friends have been adopted by a stray ex farm cat. Very timid but also demanding:



4 O'clock = feeding time

Well it''s looking rather damp, me back's still knackin' but I have to do a bivvy so off out into the dank, dark night.

[RIP]

so off out into the dank, dark night.

'Twas brillig, and the slithey toves......

Hope all goes well Phil.

[woodsmith]

Thanks for the sympathy chaps. She was a stray that turned up on the doorstep as not much more than a kitten and stayed for 16 years, so the house feels empty without her. Buried her at the bottom of the garden and took all the surplus food around to the local animal shelter today. It's going to take quite some time before I stop expecting to see her in all her usual spots around the place.

[thenorthwind]

Sorry to hear about your cat woodsmith, it's always so hard, but I hope you have good memories of your time together.

Nice work Dave. Cats can be such difficult and viscious buggers, and yet we still love them.

Have a good one Phil. Quite a nice clear evening here so hope it improves there. This is why I don't do BaM Admire those who do though. From the warmth of my house... ok I'll stop now

Nothing mega cheery or otherwise, just gald work is over for a week, and looking forward to a rare weekend without travelling anywhere. Might have a beer and go fettle bikes in the garage

[Bearlegged]

Thanks for the nice cat pics gang, and sorry to hear about Tigg, Woodsmith.
I had a cheery Thursday, with a trip to see Emily Chappell. Met up with Trep and TSK there too. And now hoping for a nice weekend with my folks. We travelled over while the kickyball was on, so had a very peaceful journey. Off to see some strong folk tomorrow, lifting ridiculous weights. Mrs Bearlegged is very excited.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Dee's XX birthday tomorrow, so we'll be having some very nice looking fillet steak for tea, lovingly prepared by yours truly. Something to look forward to there then

[slarge]

Dee's XX birthday tomorrow, so we'll be having some very nice looking fillet steak for tea, lovingly prepared by yours truly. Something to look forward to there then

She's 20? You've got yourself a toygirl there Stu

[Bearbonesnorm]

She's 20?

She was once I'm sure

[Dave Barter]

Dee's XX birthday tomorrow, so we'll be having some very nice looking fillet steak for tea, lovingly prepared by yours truly. Something to look forward to there then

She's 20? You've got yourself a toygirl there Stu

69 ;-)

[fatbikephil]

Happy Birthday to Dee
Cheery here, on my bike ride earlier I passed the 6000 mile mark for this year, nearly a month early which means I can spend the rest of December sitting on my fat arse eating and drinking. In other news I'm in for the Highland Trail next year despite vowing never to do it ever again so I'm a stupid idiot

[Verena]

Happy birthday Dee

[Verena]

Sadly not as cheery for some as for others

Cheery Friday for me, day off work to precelebrate husband's birthday (which means cake and yummy treats), crisp cold dry weather ahead, and the winter bivvy to look forward to!

[whitestone]

Just got myself warm by chopping up a van load of firewood, basically some of the remnants of this - https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/115022 that was a victim of storm Arwen last year.

[sean_iow]

On the ferry on my way to the SWWB

[Verena]

On the ferry on my way to the SWWB

[frogatthefarriers]

Cheery and warm. The repair man’s been and fixed the central heating boiler that’s been broken since Monday.

It hasn’t been desperately cold despite the frosts, because we have a log burner in the sitting room that keeps the house from being too cold. No hot water either. Got through a pile of logs though.

It takes me back to my youth in the 50's when everyone had just the one fire in the house. Larry Graysons

“Shut that door”,

was heard everywhere in winter. We used to all huddle in the one room with the fire and in the morning, get dressed under the covers before getting out of bed, it was that cold. Frost ferns on the inside of the glass. Some of you will remember those days, I’m sure.

Before anyone says “You had a fire? Luxury!” I don’t want to know

[RIP]

^

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k&t=21s

[RIP]

^

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k&t=21s

frost ferns on the inside of the glass

You had glass Lu?

[fatbikephil]

"Right!...."
etc.
Anyway cheery for me as just back from works xmas night out and not totally trolleyed. Hopefully up to the far north for the SWB tomorrow but currently looking rather snowy and winter bag cold....
But not -30 so hopefully OK.
Jimmy - Get the fire on!

[JimmyG]

Your wish is my command Phil! Consider it done.

PS: Read my latest on the SWB thread.

[fatbikephil]

Cue epic to beat the 2017 edition....

[Verena]

Forgot now where exactly I read last night something about the madness of winter swimmers....

My CF started like this this morning.

I would totally have gone for a proper swim (Yeah right....), but the ice was really quite thick, and we only just managed to smash a hole in it with my trustey rigger boots, big enough to have a bit of a stand and a short sit down to waist level... great fun!

received_535420595304523 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20221216_094930 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20221216_095025 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

the little Robin was grateful for some water
IMG_20221216_094659 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

[Bearbonesnorm]

Bugger that ^