A little post about Ben...

Those of you who read this week's Cats on Tuesday post will know that we lost Ben this week.  He was our little house rabbit who had lived with us for six years (we think he was about 11 which is a great age for a small bunny to reach).  We originally got him and his partner Lucy from a rabbit rescue organisation where they'd been taken by their previous owner after she acquired a dog that killed her other rabbits and then decided to go after the last two.  Lucy died a few years ago and that's when Ben moved into the house with us.  He was a shy, gentle little soul who gave us (and his wonderful vet Aga) a nervous breakdown every so often when he had to undergo a dental - we were never sure if he would make it through the anaesthetic or not!  He used to like to sit cuddled up to Mrs P, or he could be found on his footstool next to the radiator (often with Posky trying to get on it with him).   Anyway, here are a few photos of the wee man himself.

This is the last photo we have of Ben - this is him

doing his 'An angry - I haz it' face...

...and here he is being squished by Posky.

Who could forget the way he stole the limelight from the cats

during the pumpkin photo shoot last year?

Or how he gamely joined in with the cats' 'Drama in the Garden!' productions.

He was a bit of a star.

Pet Pride

Ben said that the cats have been hogging the camera for long enough so he decided that he would be this Sunday's Pet Pride post.  This is him looking festive, sitting in a Santa hat.

Pet Pride

What happens when a bunny bites a cat's bum!  Actually Posky was yawning, but the thought made me laugh...  In case you're wondering about the relative size of these two, Posky is a BIG cat who weighs almost 6.75kg, and Ben is a very small rabbit who weighs 1.23kg...

For more Pet Pride photos click here

Sunday in the park...

I actually took my camera with me on this morning's walk.  It was cool, blustery and just a great morning to be out of doors.  We got to Bradgate Park at about 7.30a.m. and slogged up to Old John where we met a group of fellow masochists who kindly offered us food.  We unwillingly declined as we had our hike in front of us and then after admiring the view for a few moments, set off downhill trying to avoid two stags standing on the path who were 'looking at us in a funny way'.  We made it around our normal route in record time without mishap (apart from Cath almost falling off the path) and decided we must be getting fitter as we didn't feel as if we needed oxygen quite as badly as usual after tackling the last hill back up to the car park.  Something strange happened on the way home though, we had to nip into Sainsburys (post-Starbucks) and I picked up a copy of the Mail on Sunday for D as it had a feature on Nigella.  It's not a paper I'd normally even put in my rabbit's cage but D loves Nigella so it had to be done (I like to think he would have done the same for me if it were George Cloony).  What was really odd is that I had to be over 16 to buy it.  I kid you not, it said on my receipt that the checkout operator confirmed I was old enough so I asked her about it.  Was it the fact that the Mail is such an awful paper it can't be allowed to corrupt the young, or just that Nigella was seductively inviting people to 'come into my kitchen' on the cover of the magazine, wearing a dress that looked as if Dulux had had a hand in spraying it on her?  One of life's little mysteries...

Old John with rather dramatic cloud formation...

Apologies for the poor quality of this one - the stag was so close to us I became inept and couldn't change the settings on my camera in time!  He was posing so nicely too...

The views make it all worthwhile...

At least this bit's downhill...

I love the look of red berries and have to take a photo of them whenever I see them - it's like a pavlovian reflex...

Not a Bradgate Park wild rabbit.

This is Ben snuggling up to D this morning to watch the Grand Prix