Compostable Kate

I spent all of 2011 trying to get used to the fact my Dad was no longer around, having died suddenly in November 2010. It’s taken a lot of getting used to, and although I’m not altogether resolved to it, I don’t seem to be constantly reminding myself of his absence.  It’s been a long time since I lost a family member, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for Dad to go, even though he’d been ill for a number of years. He was only 65, after all. Dad and Alex, not long before Dad died. They got on extremely well!  Although I was literally incoherent with grief – after being bizarrely calm while my poor brother Damian was breaking the news to me – my awesome friends, Karen and Steve, came and collected me and my furkids, and looked after me for several days while I processed the news. As Dad lived in the UK, and I am in Australia, I couldn’t be there for my family, and I wasn’t able to attend his funeral. However, I was in constant touch with my siblings, and my Mum (who w...

I thought I had done a terrible, terrible thing in my 2nd week of house-sitting for Karen and Steve (and their two dogs, Fudge and JJ, and two cats, Midnight and Pepper), when I left out a half-full container of butter, which JJ managed to get hold of (probably with Midnight's help) and cleaned out. The butter, in turn, cleaned JJ out - mostly on the carpet in the spare bedroom where I'm staying. Dexter investigated the buttery, barf-pattery puddle and consequently got regurgitated butter on his ears. I couldn't get the stain out of the carpet, and thought the smell of rancid butter on JJ's and Dexter's was the worst smell, ever . I could not have been more wrong! A week later (on another Monday, when I leave for uni at 6.30am and don't get back until 5pm), I came home to discover that the dogs had got hold of a large tub of 400 super-strength fish oil capsules, and EATEN THEM ALL. There was oil EVERYWHERE.  Fudge only had oily ears, but JJ was covered in it...

Top to bottom: JJ, Fudge, Dexter I am house-sitting for Karen and Steve, while they are away on Kaz and Steve's European Adventure , looking after field spaniels Fudge and JJ , and cats Midnight and Miss Pepper Pots. I have brought King Fred of New Farm , and of course there is Dexter . It's fun, being surrounded by - and even covered in - so many furkids. However, there is a fair amount of animal husbandry involved. For starters, Freddy gets carsick, and had pooed within minutes of us leaving home on the way over here, and then spewed a few minutes later. Poor Freddy-Bear. I'm not sure which kitty spewed this morning, but I'm glad that I saw it before I stepped in it!! Happily, there has been no doggy spew, which is much more voluminous.  The only poo I've had to clean up has also come from the cats, and has been contained within the litter trays. There was one oops-someone-missed-the-box wee, but that was in the laundry, so easy to clear up. I don...