Pica Pica

Today I combed the cat:

When I got up this morning I found this picture of peaceful coexistence on the couch:

Of two very different kinds. Insectoidal:

To add to the samsaric tragedy of it all, having watched green more or less kill black and taken this picture, I accidentally brushed the table with the camera strap, and black fell to the ground, not to be found again.

Wild mammalian games probably appeal to most of us, as mammals, more:

She has no teeth, but you still need to treat the claws with respect!

It was just a couple of minutes distraction:

Nougat is hard to photograph – black fur and white snow are well known problems for photography. So I’m posting this one because, although he’s looking the wrong way, you can otherwise see what he looks like.

Dark coat in the sun

The picture was taken at a school playground/small sports area down the road. It has substantial, 7-foot fences, and although there are four unlocked gates, you can throw a heavy metal bolt across each, so that if someone wants to come in you will both see and hear them. Today is the last day of the school holidays, so no kids, and it’s a working day, so the people who come to play basketball won’t be here for hours yet. A good opportunity to run for joy!

I didn’t know it was one of the wonders of the world until we saw it this afternoon. In a high-fenced playground near here, with bolts across all the gates, Nougat ran for joy. Only for a couple of minutes (which was all he wanted anyway).

What can I say – wow!

So the “45 mph couch potato” woke up for his third morning today. While I was doing my morning chants, it took a mixture of persuasion and trial-and-error (particularly the error) before he accepted that sitting on my lap was just not going to work, and that he would have to settle next to me. At a good metre long with his tail tucked in, he just wasn’t going to fit:

Settled at last...

I take this as a good sign.

Nougat (for that is now his name) had his arrival delayed due to an upset stomach, but today he arrived. He is tall! The signs that he’ll settle in happily are good, though to our surprise he is quite uncertain about other dogs at the moment. He’s fine with Rose and Scrappy, but at the park he wanted to skulk in the bushes round the edge rather than get close to the usual crowd. But that will probably change. He’s black enough that he’s a bit difficult to take photos of , but here he is:

You gotta love the ears!

He soon spotted his bed

The family should be getting one bigger next Friday. He:

Nougat has ears

The ears fold

… has retired from racing. (Rumour has it he wasn’t the fastest.) A lot of greyhounds are just put down when their racing days are over, which is not only sad but also quite silly as they are really good companion animals.

He was called Cougar, both because he is lithe, fast and black, but also because he is a big pussycat. But we feel that sounds a bit mean, and we think he’ll accept Nougat as his name. And, like most greyhounds, his personality is really sweet and gentle.

Expect more pictures – the ones above are just from the rescue website.

Sometimes when one sees a pink elephant, it is real. One may find one abandoned in the park and bring it home. Ones people may insist on washing it, but one is justifiably proud.