Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Sun_Addict

Many years ago we had a rescue cat who didn’t like men. He wouldn’t go anywhere near Mr SA for a long time and hid whenever he was around. Made me wonder if he’d been treated badly by one. Don’t get me on the subject of what I’d like to do to people who are cruel to animals 🤬

Alchemilla

Sun_Addict said:

Many years ago we had a rescue cat who didn’t like men. He wouldn’t go anywhere near Mr SA for a long time and hid whenever he was around. Made me wonder if he’d been treated badly by one. Don’t get me on the subject of what I’d like to do to people who are cruel to animals 🤬

Amen to that.

foxgloves

Yes, @Sun_Addict, that is certainly possible. If we approach him from low down, v slowly, he will accept strokes & fuss & even starts purring. If we just come up on him when he isn't expecting it, he freezes, then takes immediate flight to a hidey-hole. He seems to regard every approach as a scary threat, which I think probably does point to ill treatment in the past. He is beautiful-looking, so I expect he began life as a very cute kitten but was later dumped.
F

ladyholly

I dont know if it would work with cats but with nervous dogs it pays to sit on the floor near them  (but not too near) with treats or a toy and just wait very quietly for them to come to you.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Onebrokelady said:

and thirdly I can't believe you're not really called Foxgloves 😲

Lol 😂🤣😂. I come across some unusual names working with children. One day I may meet a child called Foxgloves 😂 .

HairyHandofDartmoor

I hope your nervous kitty Ash feels more secure in your home soon and realises that it will meet nothing but kindness there.
I hope now it's Tuesday that you've stoppped feeling Mondayish. And well done on a big frog swallowed.

foxgloves

Thanks, @ladyholly, I will try that with Ash.

Yes, @HairyHandofDartmoor, I also came across some peculiar (to me, anyway!) names when I was working with children. I think some of them weren't intended by the parents to be peculiar, but had been arrived at by dodgy phonetic spelling.
I do feel brighter today - by last night, the IBS had got to my mood, but I had a decent sleep & am hoping it is on its way out now. I hardly ever get it these days. It was probably dentist stress.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Frosticles, Oh what a cold day it's been, I know Mr F had to do a lot of car scraping first thing, but the pond is still partially iced over hours later.
I feel I've achieved a few things today - I've worked out how many seville oranges & lemons I need to buy tomorrow for my annual marmalade-making & checked sugar supplies. Have also looked out a selection of decent jars from my recycled jam jar stash. While I was in & out of cupboards, I wrote this month's pantry stock-up list for A*di & topped up a few jars. Some useful decluttering - my yarn stash cabinet had reached 'drawers not shutting' stage again, so I wound off a small ball of all of the colours in my recently finished bedspread to keep for repairs & have put the rest of the leftovers, along with some other yarn into my current charity shop bag. Selected my next knitting project (from my stash), which will be a pair of lime green, lace-pannelled socks for me!
 Soot tried to get in the (very obviously too small for cats) basket in which I keep things like writing paper, envelopes, stamps, etc, & upended it everywhere. This actually turned out to be much more helpful than it first appeared as I found all the lovely 10p Easter cards I bought from a yellow-sticker box last year, plus 3 birthday cards I'd completely forgotten about, which will now be a 'shop from home' for some of our Jan - March birthdays.
Have also liaised with my sister about this issue we are wanting resolved (leftover from our parents' estate) & I agreed to draft a letter to which she will add her comms timeline before sending it tomorrow. It was an assertive letter, which set matters out clearly, so I hope it will produce results. 
However, the best thing I've done today, however ridiculous it sounds, was walk down to the bottom of the garden to empty the compost bucket! I feel very behind with everything in the garden atm - I just don't seem to have done my usual levels of autumn/winter clearing, & I think my fitness levels have dropped as a result of this, as I'm always usually bending & stretching when I'm out there. Well, I had a stroll around & it was lovely to see 3 hellebores in flower, the first snowdrop, the 'Midwinter fire' stems, a very early narcissus & my Mum's purple irises. The mesh covering the autumn-planted garlic had collapsed, so I stopped to do a temporary repair on that, then I noticed the rhubarb is starting to push through its autumn blanket of compost, so I put the forcing crock over some of it to get a crop of those pretty pink stems. Dropped into the greenhouse to check on the October-sown sweet-peas & they have obviously thrived on neglect as are looking fine. I think I feel motivated now to get my seed box out & think about what we might grow this year. Mr F has already said he's not doing any potatoes this year, as he has structural & maintenance jobs to do, so theoretically, that's more growing space for me. Time to get the seed catalogues out!
Well, I shall sign out now, as I want to do this afternoon's confidence-building strokes & fuss with Ash, who I think has only left the linen cupboard for his breakfast so far today. 
Cheers for now,
F x

Alchemilla

Soot is a money saving pusscat.

Honeysucklelou2

Happy seed choosing...I remembered your shop from home saying, as I contemplated which seeds to choose to buy  this year. I got up and checked my seed box first to make sure which seeds  I already had in stock to avoid any duplication or unnecessary purchases!