People at the last Weird Weekend will have noticed a bric-a-brac stall incongrously situated between a bookstall and a specialisr publisher. Behind the stall you would have seen a pretty young lady called Beth, and on the sunday she was joined by two newborn kittens which were - I think - a bigger draw to Weird Weekenders of all ages than anyone except possibly Ronan.
Her name is Beth Tyler-King and for years she has been involved in Wildlife Rescue, first in Bristol, and now in Hartland. She has become a good friend of the CFZ, and like all our friends she has been persuaded to write for the bloggo...
After I had finished the last story I wrote about Millie I realised over time that I had forgotten bits and pieces about her, so I will mention them in this section now!
One thing I noticed about Millie was her passion and her insistence for having everything on the floor, and I mean everything….. I would often wake up in the morning to find that all the cat beds were on the floor, all seat cushions from the dining chairs on the floor and even if my coat had been flung around the back of a chair, that would invariably be on the floor as well! (Not to mention any tea towels lying about, scourers, and perhaps the salt shaker…….)
Millie liked EVERYTHING on the floor……
She has two boxes in the Conservatory filled with her toys and every morning, every single one of these toys would be out of the box and on the floor as well. It’s like clearing up after a toddler! The “throw overs” that covered the settee and armchairs would be partly dragged onto the floor as well. I would trot around “Millies room” picking up after her and she would be running rings round me leaping up as if to say “Leave that there, I like it there, oh you always have to ruin everything for me you horrible person”! Sometimes to be deliberately naughty, after I had cleared all her toys up she would drag another toy out the toy box, run off and then drop it on the floor some metres away, turn to look at me insolently as if to say “And that’s staying there okay, so there!” She made me laugh so much every day.
I soon learnt that that was one of Millie’s quirks and foibles and if she was having fun insisting on having everything on the floor then who was I to stop her? I never minded tidying up really!
One day I was doing the washing up and I stood backwards only to hear a little yelp. I had stood on Millies foot! She ran to the kitchen doorway and I leaned towards her and said “Oh Millie I am so sorry!” Her response was to shake her injured paw at me in absolute disgust (I am sure she had a frown on her forehead!) and she ran off. I followed her into the conservatory and sat down besides her on her settee where she was licking her “injured” paw. I picked it up in my hand gently and said “Oh Millie, is this the bad paw?”. Amazingly she snatched her paw out my hand and promptly offered me her other paw as if to say “It’s this one if you don’t mind”! I had to smile, she was so intelligent and you had to be there to believe it.
If Millie wanted food (and believe me she had plenty accessible to her) she would stand behind me if I was doing the washing up or making a cup of tea and dig furiously at my bottom. (I KNOW my bottom now has deep ridges in the rolls of fat) I would then get out some of her favourite tripe, give her some and she would hurtle off with it to eat in peace. Well not always….. If Harley my male four month old kitten saw this happen he would dash off after her and literally just take it out her mouth and she would let him! It was unbelievable that she just backed off and let this little kitten, about a third of the size she was just take food out of her mouth!
Once Millie came into the kitchen just after I had given her some food but seconds later she was back as if to say “Mum, Harleys pinched my food!” I followed her into the conservatory to find Harley tossing the tripe all over the floor and having great fun. I retrieved the tripe and gave it back to Millie who then proceeded to dash behind the sofa to eat her offering and I would have to pick Harley up frequently so that she could eat alone.
In the conservatory I had the Tv on 24/7 mainly so the hum would keep Millie company. I would often find her lying on her back in her armchair, half hanging off the edge, watching Tv upside down. She was so amusing.
One of Millies favourite games was the “Upside Down game”. She liked you to sit half on the edge of her armchair while she laid upside down behind you and she liked you to play with her tummy, paws and face while she wriggled all over the place like a puppy. Once I was sitting in “her” chair watching “her” Tv when Millie dived behind me and with all her little strength proceeded to push me forwards with her muzzle until I was sitting on the edge of her chair, she was obviously telling me she wanted to play the Upside Game again which we did!
If ever I had visitors Millie would make her own mind up about them but she has never bitten anyone, ever. Some people she would immediately come up to and put her little paws up on their laps but some people she would take at least 15 minutes deciding if they were axe murderers or not. If I ever picked Millie up so that people could stroke her, she never ever snapped in fright. She trusted me implicitly and although
I could sense she was nervous she was always as good as gold. A real sweetheart.I was warned once by someone not long after Millie arrived here that “when she grew into an adult she would turn vicious and kill all my cats”. Well foxes mature at 9 months old and considering Millie is now nearly a year old I think I can safely say that this will hopefully not happen. Millie has never shown any vicious tendencies, has grown up with my dogs and cats and plays with my four month old kittens as if they are her siblings. Millie has enhanced my life there is no doubt about that. I cannot imagine life without her now.
(TOP IMAGE: Millie and Harley take posession of an armchair)
(BOTTOM IMAGE: Millie looks somewhat disapproving at the concept of purple fox coats)
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