One little chick was hatched this summer. Gulliguld is his name. One day this will be his flock, but he doesn’t know that yet.

In spring the chicken are as happy as we to be out in the garden after a long winter.

It’s better when the cat looks out than when it comes in with presents.

Later I made this picture of one of the little fluff-balls.

This was a really nice birthday present to Susanna!

Sadly he caught something and became ill, very ill. We didn’t realise how bad things were until mid-last week when we contacted our veterinarian. They didn’t have any appointment before Monday and told us to contact some other place if he became worse. And he did. So on Saturday I went to the animal clinic in Lund to see what can be done. He was barely able to walk when we got there. Just skin and bones. The veterinarian told me she was surprised that he lived with that low of a body temperature. There were only very slim chances of him ever getting well and the best thing would be for him to die.

So he left us. Back home we gave him a nice little burial.

Hi is missed. By me, by everyone in our family. The kids got to say goodbye before we left for the animal clinic.

He came to us in the beginning of 2006. It took him a while to start to connect to us, but when he did he really enjoyed my company.

They soon started to enjoy our garden and the surroundings. Making life difficult for all the rodents and some birds too. The wild bunnies moved out of our place rather quick after one of them losing to Siam. Siam was the big hunter, but both did a great job keeping mice out of our house.

It took a while until they dared to come close to our kids. All of them have had periods when they chased them. They are also loud, and Siam didn’t like that. For the last couple of years our daughter has become a person they trusted though.

The cats didn’t sleep in our bedroom for most of the time, but came for a cuddle after we went to bed frequently.

In the end Siam was friendly with all kids; he even enjoyed being petted of all of them at the same time.

We are so happy we got this time with him. Now we will take care of Milo who has lost his brother the best we can.

I really like the hedgehogs; they are nice animals, to look at from a distance. Don’t want to pluck out spikes after touching them.

Our cats are really nice ones. If I sit on the couch watching television they always come and get cosy. They are still a bit scared of our kids and I think that might be wise if you don’t want your tail to be pulled, especially when it comes to our son. They have decided that the couch is their favourite spot, most of the time (as long as the kids aren’t too close) you’ll find them like this.

When our son is sleeping they actually come and lay beside him sometimes. That is nice. They are gone faster than a lightning when he wakes up though.

They are really good hunters too. They from time to time (now a bit more seldom) come with “gifts” for us. Most of the rodents they catch they eat themselves. But they are a bit picky sometimes, leaving some intestines on the rug as a not so pleasant surprise walking to the shower in the dark in the mornings. Just the other day, (or maybe a week ago) they had left somethings that looked like intestines again, but this time it was no less than 6 mouse foetuses, four of which still in the uterus. I don’t know why they didn’t eat that, but as my brother has had a similar experience before it might be intentional.

They really are a threat to the small animals around our house. We like them to kill the rodents, but sometimes they kill small birds too (and a rabbit) and that isn’t really as nice. My brother saw Siam catch a bird that was trapped in our outdoor room. I just saw him walk away with the bird in his mouth. There still was one other bird in the outdoor room, panicking of course, so I opened a window and let it out before it would have been the next victim of the feline killing machines.

So before Christmas we finally got up the birdfeeder. It’s a start. So now the birds are able to get some seeds when the stock is short in nature. Not that it is this year, but we didn’t move to Skåne for the winter.

The birds really like the place. Most of the time the small ones are there, but in between crows come and raid the place too. Then we have to fill the feeder with new seeds. The pheasants are also finding the seed fallen down on the ground and once we saw a woodpecker too.

Pictures of the birds: How many kinds can you see? And today things became even more serious; we have two new family members of the feline kind, Milo and Siam. A friend of ours couldn’t keep them anymore and asked if someone would like to take them over. We really wanted cats too. It is a start when you want to have animals and they are nice having around too. And it’s good to have them around when you have kids so they will learn how to interact with animals. Our daughter ran herself tired the first day excited about the fellas that came to our place and tried to figure us out. When she was asleep they were less reserved and Siam sat in Susanna’s lap for a while.

Here are some pictures of them today: (Milo is the black one, he is a bit more reserved than Siam).