It has been almost a year since I first learnt about the dainty swallowtail butterfly. Last summer this beautiful butterfly could be seen fluttering around our vegetable garden where we had planted some zinnias. The butterflies laid their eggs on our citrus trees and we were lucky enough to find several growing caterpillars. In an attempt to ensure their survival they were collected and kept in a large storage contain that I had set up to house them. You can read about it … [Read more...]
Dainty Swallowtail Butterflies in My Garden (And My House!)
Towards the end of this summer we were lucky enough to be visited by some beautiful dainty swallowtail butterflies. Actually I’m not sure how many there were because I only ever saw one. When we first saw them we were not sure what they were called. We just knew that they were very pretty! This was the first year that we had zinnias in the garden so maybe that is what attracted them - they seemed to love our zinnias! I haven’t got a good photo of the butterflies because they just didn’t sit … [Read more...]
How to Keep Ants out of Cat Food (A Quick and Easy DIY)
Are you frustrated by ants getting into your cat’s food bowl? This simple DIY will show you how to keep ants out of cat food bowls quickly and easily. Our two cats (Maddy and Wally) are part inside and part outside cats. They have a few hours outside each day and are brought back inside in the late afternoon. When they are out during the day we always put out some dry food for them to eat. There’s no issue with doing this over winter because there’s not many ants around. Once the weather … [Read more...]
Easy Homemade Sock Cat Toy
If you want to make a cheap and easy cat toy from items commonly found around the house you can’t go past these homemade sock cat toys! Both of our cats still love the cork cat toys that I made last year but Wally in particular needs lots of mental stimulation. That means that the toys he plays with need to be varied quite often! I recently decided to make up another cat toy using old socks. Wally likes to play with my old shoes (see here) so I thought that he would love an old sock! I … [Read more...]
Cheap and Easy Cat Toys
These DIY Cat Toys are so cheap and easy to make they are practically free! Plus unlike bought cat toys, cats will actually play with these toys! How many times have you bought a toy for your cat only to get it home and find that your cat or cats just ignore it? It has happened quite a few times in our house and the result is that we have a box of cat toys that the cats are not interested in! The problem is you never know what toys will take their fancy until you get them home :( What is … [Read more...]
National Pet Adoption Day
I could not let today pass without writing a post in support of National Pet Adoption Day. This event is one that is close to my heart, and that of my family, because we welcomed two adopted cats into our home a little over 12 months ago. Pet ownership is not for everyone but after our experience I would urge anyone who is contemplating getting at pet to consider adopting one from one of the many animal shelters around the country. The idea of getting a new kitten or puppy from a breeder or … [Read more...]