Tag Archives: Mr Spaghetti Legs

Mr Spaghetti Legs and the Bed

Mr SL and Bed 1

Mr Spaghetti Legs is a very old boy, who unfortunately leaks. His bed needs scrubbing down quite often. Then I prop it up against something like the door, to catch as much winter sunlight as possible, so it can dry by the evening.

I heard a scrabbling sound and when I looked outside, there was old SL, settling himself on beddy. It didn’t seem to occur to him that his bed was vertical! He just made the best of it and lay down.

Mr SL and Bed 2

By the looks of things, he couldn’t quite understand why his bum did not fit on his bed. His front paws were in the correct position, so what was going on? Not normally spatially-challenged, he just could not figure out that his bed was sideways on!

Three Cheers for Mr Mole!

LM and Mr Mole 1

In the spirit of Enid Blyton, Noddy and Big Ears.

“Oh No!” cried Little Monkey. “Something’s happened to the lawn! What will Mummy say?”

“What is it?” asked Mr Spaghetti Legs, coming over to investigate.

“Look at the grass,” said Little Monkey. “It has been dug up in tunnels!”

Mr Mole 2

“Oh dear!” agreed Mr Spaghetti Legs. “Mummy will be really cross. You know how she hates it when we dig up the lawn!”

Mummy came out of the house and the two friends looked up at her in concern.

“Look what’s happened, Mummy,” they said, quickly adding, “It wasn’t us!”

“That’s all right,” said Mummy smiling. “It is just Mr Mole.”

“Mr Mole?” asked Little Monkey.

Mr Mole 3

“Yes,” said Mummy. “Some bugs were eating my lawn, and I asked Mr Mole if he would like to have his dinner here last night. And he agreed.”

“So it is a good thing?” asked Mr Spaghetti Legs, wondering how he could also get to chew up the lawn.

“Yes, it is,” agreed Mummy.

“Three Cheers for Mr Mole!” cried Little Monkey and Mr Spaghetti Legs.

post script: I loved Enid Blyton as a child, and avidly read all the Noddy and Big Ears books, all the tales of Toyland and more. I know poor Enid has since fallen out of favour; her writing being criticised for all sorts of things, but here’s one little girl who will be forever grateful for the fantastic journeys I took with her, and later passed on to my children.

post post script: The sticky things on the mole runs are the stalks from the orange berries that have fallen from the Syringa tree. Squirrels and birds eat the berries.

A Wee Bit Chilly

Barometer

This is what our temperature was yesterday morning.

Barometer 2

Yes, I know 12C is nothing to you guys in the Northern hemisphere: probably even in summer!

But the barometer stands in my lounge. This definitely feels jolly cold!

Yes, I could switch on a thermostatically controlled electric oil heater, (many Capetonians will heat their homes, or at least a room, somehow), but electricity is expensive. The last time my heater was used was during a cold snap in winter about 4 years ago, when a friend was over for afternoon tea and I took pity on her shivering! Remember I am from the North of England.

My husband and I just wear more clothes, or blankets in the early morning or evening.

Most of my dogs, Lady, Madam, TJ, have been fine, as they had that extra downy undercoat. Mr Spaghetti Legs, although not having the under-layer, has a thick coat and never appears cold (you know, curled up in a tight ball with nose tucked under tail and all legs plaited.)

But two of my dogs, who looked very similar, have bred themselves on the streets of Cape Town to withstand searing summer temperatures, even going so far as to lie baking in full sun on the hottest of days. This was old Jack, and of course, Little Monkey. For her, and previously for him, we throw a thick blanket over her little curled up, plaited body, as she lies on her bed. She soon gets toasty warm. Snug as a bug in a rug!

Jack sunbathing

Little Monkey Sunbathing

Mr Spaghetti Legs and the Swiss Cheese Plant

Mr SL and the Cheese Plant 1

While I was gallivanting around Europe recently, my daughter DD’s Swiss Cheese Plant was drowning in its pot after heavy rains. Though this is a lovely ceramic pot, it has no drainage holes.

So it was time to transplant it out into the garden.

Mr Spaghetti Legs loves new scents and came along to “help” us during the replanting.

Mr SL and the Cheese Plant 2

He had to inspect the hole too!

Cheese Plant 3

Finally, the Swiss Cheese Plant is safely tucked in its new home, where hopefully it can cope with all the heavy rains still to come in our Cape winter.

Quiz Time.

Do you know why the leaves split and have holes in them?

Apparently it is to enable the leaf to grow larger and cover a greater area than a solid leaf could. This means that it can receive a more constant supply of the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees, and hence have a better chance of survival. If you are interested, you can read more about it here Leaves with holes in them.

Did you miss me?

“Are you my Mummy?” asks LM

Apparently, not much!

Which is fine, as it means that my dogs Little Monkey and Mr Spaghetti Legs were happy in my absence; and proves once again that we can learn much from our dogs, who live in the present.

Are you Really my Mum?

LM takes a very close look at me on my return, to check I really am her Mum!

SL also having a good look

Like LM, Mr SL would also rise like a Lipizzaner horse to get a better look, if his spaghetti legs allowed.

Has anyone noticed, by SL’s back legs, the Kong that defies gravity? LM picked it up to shove in my face, as her own way of saying “Hi”, and has just dropped it. The photo caught it mid-air.

My Old Boy

Mr Spaghetti Legs

Mr Spaghetti Legs, enjoying one of his favourite pastimes; sleeping!

The scrumpled up blue mat to the right is what he is supposed to be lying on (to save my carpet). But he always “makes” his bed so much that he rarely ever actually lies on it!

Who Moved My Bed?

Mr SL and Bed

Dogs are creatures of habit. If they have been trained to lie on their bed when they go in the kitchen – then that is exactly what they will do; even if their bed is no longer there!

Mr Spaghetti Legs’ bedding has been collected in a pile ready to wash. The sponge mattress is leaning against the door.

The old boy lies in his usual spot, and manages to get his front paws on some sort of bedding. It looks really uncomfortable!

But in his mind, he is lying on his bed!

Chalk and Cheese

LM and SL

I have noticed over the years with my different dogs, that they all have a preferred way of sleeping. The older ones with short coats could curl themselves up into the tiniest ball and I would throw a blanket over them in winter. Jack loved this.

The long-haired dogs tended to stretch themselves out as much as possible, taking up the whole mattress, and presumably trying to keep cool. Lady excelled at this.

However, I saw a new first when I went into the kitchen at 2 a.m. this morning to make a cup of decaff coffee. Understandably, my dogs were fast asleep. But what was funny, was how they slept.

Little Monkey was sprawled all over her comfy bed, with her head hanging off the end and on the kitchen tiles!

Mr Spaghetti Legs always “makes” his bed; so his mattress was in the middle of the floor, with the top cover strewn elsewhere. But he seemed to have missed the point of a comfy bed, because, while his head and all four paws were on the bed, the rest of his body was on the cold hard kitchen floor!