Le trésor enfui

~ iamthesunking

It seems I must have been on the Naughty List, because Santa’s gift to me was a positive Covid test result. To add insult to injury, the text message came through in the early afternoon of Christmas Day, when I was in the middle of opening my presents. I suppose it’s sort of funny now.

Cat Daddy is not remotely amused; in fact, he’s livid that he’s now stuck indoors with me for the next few days and can’t go on any walks or bike rides. The isolation time is ten days from when symptoms started so we don’t have THAT long left although, bizarrely, I had none of the classic symptoms: no temperature, no continuous cough, no loss of sense of taste or smell, just what I believed to be an especially brutal teacher-cold. I only bothered to take the test because a family member had also tested positive in mid-December, with cold-like rather than text-book Covid symptoms.

In short, Louis Catorze is the only one of us who is allowed out. And he is making the most of this by, erm, burrowing deep into his winter igloo.

In other, equally rubbish news, our glorious outdoor winter wonderland has been vandalised by the depraved squirrels, so we can’t even enjoy that during our period of house arrest. They’ve chewed through our solar-powered outdoor lights, and the other day we caught one red-handed/pawed/clawed (no idea what one would call whatever squirrels have on the ends of their creepy little arms, and I daren’t Google to find out) trying to make off with one of our baubles:

Not really in the festive spirit.

Some of the baubles have been fully unhooked from the virginia creeper; in fact, we watched in horror as this chunksome thug did exactly that, before flinging it into That Neighbour’s garden. Other baubles have been snapped off, leaving the gold wires and the little clasp things dangling pointlessly on the bare twigs. It’s hard to say how many we’ve lost but it’s four that we can prove, and no doubt countless others that we can’t prove … at least, not until our neighbours do their springtime planting, when they will wonder what the heck’s been going on when they dig through the soil and unearth thousands of buried baubles.

Now, are the squirrels so dozy that they think the baubles are food? Or perhaps they are just feeling the magic of the season and want to make their dreys look pretty? Either way, Cat Daddy refuses to dismantle our display because he’s “not giving into bloody vermin”. He has installed a Squirrel Stick by the bifold doors at The Back, to pick up and poke threateningly in the direction of the thieving varmints when they come by.

Luckily there is a cat who has noted the problem and who is doing something about it. Sadly it’s Blue the Smoke Bengal and not Catorze.

Here is Blue (below), doing his civic duty. Catorze, meanwhile, has been in his igloo, doing sod all.

Blue on Squirrel Watch.

37 thoughts on “Le trésor enfui”

  3. From what I gather ANY symptom can turn out to indicate Covid. Hope you come through it safely.

    Maybe your squirrels have become cross-bred with packrats. They like to gather sparkly things. So do many birds, so you may have hybrid squirrels. Probably good that Catorze has isolated himself as you do not want to have to have rabies shots on top of your quarantine if he would get a varmint.

    Will Brexit have any effect on this ?

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    1. Would Brexit affect Catorze, you mean? Technically it should as he’s a French immigrant who isn’t contributing to society, but I expect he’ll find a way of slipping off grid and staying here with or without authorisation!

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        1. I think it’ll be a cold day in hell before they close schools, because they need us for the babysitting service. 😐

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          1. I never realised that I had signed up to do a frontline service until Covid struck and parents decided teachers should not be allowed the safety of all office staff  « sheltering » at home! Dont get me started! Take off as much time as you need. The cat needs you!

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  6. Regret that your Noel has been less than merry. Praying for your rapid recovery. Blue deserves to be rewarded 🙂 “Chunksome thug” had me rofl 😸

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    1. Oh, the squirrels around here are VERY generously-proportioned. I don’t know where they’re getting their food, but clearly there’s no shortage of it!

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  7. So sorry to hear that your are not well 🤧
    One of our neighbours found a Lindt Bunny, completely intact, buried neatly in her tulip pots, I hope the squirrels try to eat the baubles they have stolen… Are they glass???

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    1. Not glass, some sort of plastic or metal, I think. Would they really be so silly as to try and eat them? Nothing about their appearance, texture or smell says “food” …

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  9. I can’t remember where/how I heard this so you’ll probably want to do your own research, but I read that cats can contract/spread Covid too, so it might be worth keeping His Maj inside for a while (if at all possible) just in case.

    Like I said, I’m sourceless and the information changed to and fro (they do, no they don’t, yes they do) quite a bit when I was taking note (a few months ago, now). I’ve decided to just assume they CAN contract/spread it just to be safe.

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    1. I heard similar things, too, although I heard that they couldn’t pass to humans, unless a human stroked a cat that an infected human had just stroked. And he’s looking rough as guts at the moment so I can’t imagine anyone queuing up to stroke him! The only likely people are the Dog Family and obviously they know about my test and will be cautious. 🤞

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      1. I also meant to say I hope you feel better soon! My memory’s been worse than usual lately and cats always take priority in my brain, so now I feel bad that I didn’t immediately wish you luck getting over it! *hugs*

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      2. That’s good to know, btw. (I forgot to reply to your reply ffs 🤦‍♀️) The last time my dad petted KitKat, it was with a grooming glove I immediately threw away, just to be safe, so I may have heard that at some point, too? I have memory issues (sorry if I already said that 😂) and it’s been worse this past month, so I have no idea what’s true and what’s not. I’m probably being overly cautious as a result, but I don’t want her to get it anymore than I want to get it 😅

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  10. Oh my goodness, hope the Rona leaves you as fast as it appeared and you have no lasting effects. Hope CD doesn’t get it, as it will be way worse than ordinary man flu…. 😉 But on the plus side once you are recovered you won’t need to worry so much. Another friend of mine who is also a teacher has had it twice ad the second time was much less severe. xxxxx

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