Hershey

Hershey belongs to the house two doors up, but spends most of his time in my garden.

29 July 2023 at 14.04

Go out into the garden and find Teddy sitting on a starling. Manage to distract him enough that the starling escapes, flies into the fence and falls between it and the tomato plants (in pots). 

Take Teddy into the kitchen and try and soothe his feelings with biscuits and treats. Shut the back door.

Go out to find Hershey marching up the garden with a starling (same one?) in his mouth.

This is not a daft starling: it knows to play possum but being smacked with a clawed paw will wake anyone.

Go and fetch the old cagoule I keep for gardening.

Take it and throw it over the bird, keeping myself and it away from Hershey's mouth and paws. Slowly bundle the cag up with my left hand until I can, but he can't, see the bird and pick it up with my right hand.

Proceed to the lottery winners’ house facing onto the end of our road which has a very large garden and two loud dogs.

Place the starling on the garden wall and it flies, albeit a little groggily at first, away.

OK. I know it may drop dead of shock sometime soon, but I did my best for it.

29 July 2023 at 18.39

Watching tv and hear the lad from two doors up calling Hershey (his cat).   

Look out the back and there is Hershey (who I've thrown out of our house at least four times today) sitting washing himself on our back lawn taking absolutely no notice.

Go out and tell him to go home (I know, I should know better).

Carries on washing itself.

So go and knock on the lad’s door and tell him Hershey is in my back garden supposing, innocently, that he might come and take it home.

"Oh that's ok. As long as I know he's safe..."

Great!

My cats come when they're called - if they're in earshot.

Miss Doozer  I have made a little Hershey spot in our potisserie in case he gets stuck outside again