'He looks like a normal cat, but one wearing moon boots'

Today after work, we headed off for the rodeo at Kihikihi, after first dropping Agnes in Cambridge.
She is travelling for a few weeks before returning home to Hungary. She has provided comic relief
(unintentionally) & rarely said anything more harsh than 'No biding !' even when a neddy was hanging
off her face.

That leaves Kirsty, Claire & I in the staff house, so we have a room each & with Kirsty's two moggies,
almost a cat each too.

'Tootie' (pronounced 'Tuddy') is a black & white tom, who is polydactyl, which means he has more than 4 toes on each foot.
I always want to call him pteradactyl, but that's wrong, as that is a loud, screaming, flying dinosaur.

If he sounds freaky, then I promise you, he's not, just very cute looking. He looks like a normal cat, but one wearing
moon boots. There are certain advantages to a cat having thumbs. He can, for instance, open his own
tins of cat food, drive a car & fill in his own tax returns.

The other one is Jasmine & she is an incredibly pretty girl who appears to have a penchant for Adam Ant,
certainly during his 'Dandy Highwayman' era anyway. Stand by for a foty & you'll see exactly what I mean.

This pooter is causing my ickle obsessive, compulsive brain lots of stress.

It takes my tping & just randoly misses out the odd letter hee & there.
This mut be how it feels to be Bil & Stan all the tim.

It also means I will have to use spellcheck which irks.

This morning I checked the horses on the front of the farm, some 30 odd horses.
As usual, I pretend it's my property, my farm bike & my neddies.

One day, maybe.

I vividly remember the 1st few days that I checked the horses. I was in panic-mode
all the time, expecting to come into work to have someone say ...

'All the neddies are dead, with their legs in the air, why didn't you notice anything amiss ?'

I used to have a haphazard approach to checking the animals. With experience, I am now
much more systematic. As soon as you enter the paddock, you should be looking for how
the horses move towards you, looking for any who are obviously lame. If any don't move
towards you with the others then check those first, as they are likely to be unwell.
(or have no mates)

Then it's a case of legs, legs, legs & an all over check. I find myself intently studying
the legs of every horse I see, even if I'm not at work. It's incredible how often horses hurt
themselves & I am just beginning to know what's serious & what's not.

The most innocuous 2mm cut can turn out to be a deep puncture wound, requiring immediate
veterinary attention & conversely, very nasty looking gashes can heal beautifully, unaided,
without the slightest sign of injury.

Ledge is my failsafe, I adopt the approach of telling him everything & he has the know-how
to decide.

'Ledge, that neddy in paddock 4, looks a bit sad, can you see what you think please ?'

That's all for now, as it's my turn to cook dinner, mango chicken with rice.

Michelle, The Taotaoroa Tattler is a bit behind, what can you possibly do with all your spare time ? :)

Bill, Can you get a copy of The Herald to me ? or forward the quote ?

Trudes, Did you get my mail, when are you Antipodes-bound ?

Love to all,

Cx