Duvet fights

My sister called up this evening in a gesture of support. Both of us watched with baited breath, as Hughie led his new small family band up into the Churchyard elm, and both the little blue male and the tiny black female ( I worked out she is a female as she has been calling the typical two syllable call of "buck wheat" all day.) scrambled up behind him with a great deal of difficulty.
The 13 hen houses have all been locked up tight, and extra door latches have been attached as well as extra heavy stones repositioned in front of poop doors and on roof openings.
Anyway, enough already........I have done all this to death on the blog.....Fingers crossed that everyone is ok by morning!


The cold weather has increased the surreptitious nocturnal events of "duvet jumping" in this household.....and the whole thing, as small scale habits often do, has gotten completely out of control!
Duvet Jumping is the term I give to the sport indulged by the dogs to illicit the most prestigious and comfortable part of the bed in the middle of the night. Now only George has true permission to sleep on the bed at night as he alone curls up well out of the way of legs and bums at the very end of the duvet. Yet over the past few months Meg, William and even Albert have now joined the merry throng, which has caused us many warm but uncomfortably "crushed" sleepless nights.
For Meg, it is purely a need to be close to me at all times. for William, it is a joyful game, which starts when Albert uses the cat litter tray in the middle of the night. Albert will open the kitchen door in order to reach his tray, thus giving William a 3 second window to wake up from his bed on the floor and negotiate the rapidly closing door in order to allow his entrance to the rest of the house.
He will then joyfully swallowdive onto the bed (making as much noise and fuss as possible) and will try to oust Meg from her position of power in beteen Chris and myself. Meg will cling to her piece of the duvet with the tenacity of a limpet, and will usually win this almost silent power struggle
Only Maddie, has any sense at all ( and I include Chris and I in this) as she always sleeps peacefully AND ALONE on the couch....
we must be mad