We were blessed with a sequence of baby ratlings as the day progressed: on the grass; on the path; under the patio table. By extension, the next one should have been inside the house, but we haven't found it.

Yet…

We once took a photo of the whole Tribe together on the bed - it was in the days when They Were Nine, and gone are Mollie, Zool, Shrimp and Drumknott, and Esk and Ptep have moved to Norwich.

I doubt we'll ever get the current Tribe to sit together, but they were all in the study together yesterday, waiting for us to turn off the rain, so here's a photo montage of them all.

Lilith

Please don't do it again - I trod on it.

No love

Blob

We called and called, but no sign, and then there was the noise again. Further investigation found that she had managed to get shut in the shed - she must have nipped in there when I got the fish food out this morning, and I didn't notice when I shut the door.

I'd like to think it'll be a lesson to her, but I bet it won't ...

In recent weeks, she has taken too sitting on Pete's lap, but only if she is put there. This seems to us to be a huge stride forward, and one which we think is due to the number of cats in the household having diminished; they're all more relaxed and seem happier.

But imagine my astonishment last night ... Pete was just making some tea in the kitchen before we went to bed, when Lilith descended from the arm of the sofa where she normally sits, and climbed onto my lap! And there she stayed for about 20 minutes, until *I* put her off, as I wanted to go to bed.

Wonder if she'll ever do it again ...

various beasts wandered in and out of the living room while we fed her coffee and home made blueberry muffins, and a potted history of each cat was given. When Lilith arrived, we told Heather how Lilith was very standoffish, hated to be cuddled or picked up - while Lily calmly proceeded to climb onto Heather's lap, and sit there clearly enjoying herself.

it's very frustrating - we feed and clothe that cat, and this is how we're rewarded!

Iggy came home with yet another scratch on his nose the other day; it looked painful, but healed up fine, and the scar will join the others on his battle-scarred face.

and Lilith had a very nasty hole under her front leg; her Greatest Fan brought her home to show us (I really must write about this young girl one day), and said she thought a dog had got her.

but actually, looking at the wound, and knowing Lily's entirely deserved reputation as the Great white Cream Hunter, we think that she finally took on a rat that got the better of her. We've watched her carefully for a week to make sure it wasn't abscessing, and was healing cleanly, and she's just about mended now.

the interesting thing is that - like so many other incidents with cats - it seems to have made her slightly less stand-offish; but I'm probably imagining that ...

we cornered her in the living room - I scruffed her, while Pete manfully disposed of the sky rat, which was already half dismembered, and then we hoovered up the feathers, of which there were LOTS. We're still finding them several days later.

as you will see, she has previous for this - the photo attached to this entry was taken in April 2004!

I shudder to think what state our house would have been in had we not managed to stop her, or if we'd already left. Although to be fair, she eats most of her prey. As in "most of each individual item of prey" - usually just a head and entrails left. Bless ...