Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Bess The Bodybuilder

by admin - 23:34 on 16 February 2012

It didn't take long for the world's pickiest puss to grow tired of some of her new healthy choices. The renal-recipe beef she gobbled down the first day is no longer in favour, nor the chicken. Fortunately she still enjoys tuna.

So tomorrow we'll return to Dr Death's clinic to ask his friendlier colleague, Dr Vet, if she'll swap the disfavoured food for something more to The Demanding One's liking. The vast price charged for this magic medical menu means that dropping the rejected foodstuffs in the dustbin is the final option.

The steroids (or the vitamin injection, or the tasty tuna) have had a noticeable effect on Bess The Bodybuilder: her slightly scrawny rear end appears to have filled out overnight and her garden activity has increased.

The latter might have other causes, however – for the past two evenings our guard cat has stared with endless fascination into the bushes. Whether the lurking presence is a pine marten, an early-rising hedgehog or something else, I don't know.

I hope our spiky friends haven't ended hibernation precipitately, fooled by the appearance of purple crocus blooms and the green shoots which herald the imminent arrival of daffodils, because the snow we didn't get when England shivered is forecast to return on Saturday.

It looks like I'll be busy sawing more logs tomorrow.

Television Update: The Killing is over, Borgen is over, and Inspector Montalbano is a disappointingly inferior substitute, so Matchgirl was excited to see a trailer for a new Scandinavian crime thriller that begins next week on ITV3. Shame I can't remember the title. The fact that the cast includes Lars Mikkelsen, who played Troels Hartmann in series one of The Killing, is pure coincidence.

Marathon Update: The postman has been kept busy the past few days delivering vital equipment to Matchgirl. She is now the proud owner of a new Camelback (a hydration system for runners), special socks to wear before and after training, and a satellite watch which not only tells her the time but where she is, where she's been and how fast she was. Amazing.

The training must be paying off because she's disappointed that tomorrow's big run is only ten miles. It takes all sorts.

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