A guest post from Cassie

Today has NOT been a good one. In the morning, our servants wouldn't let us out into the garden after they came to release us from our nightly imprisonment in the kitchen. We ALWAYS go out into the garden first thing. We were Suspicious.

After a while, they came with cages. Padded cages, certainly - but cages. The smalller servant picked me up. I squirmed and squeaked and waved my arms and legs, making myself as spread-out as possible. The larger servant came and - well, the word might be crammed - crammed me into the cage. Cheek! By this time, Sirius - who isn't the sharpest cat in the world but isn't a complete fool - was under the table. The larger servant went and rudely grabbed him. Sirius doesn't have my spirit. He submitted to being shoved - cramming was not necessary - into his cage.

Off we all went in the car. I squeaked most of the way, making myself sound as pathetic as I could. I know how to administer the emotional blackmail. Sirius yowled all the way. He's a wimp.

At the Nasty Man's place, we got examined by the Man. Sirius got praised - "perfect" was the word used of him. He hadn't put on any weight (which is entirely unfair because he stuffs his face at every opportunity) and is in excellent health. Then he got stuck with a needle and seemed relieved to get back into his cage. The Man then turned his attention to me and said that I had put on weight! Huh. He did admit that I wasn't fat, though. As if! I'm simply very fluffy. Then I got stuck with a needle.

At last we got home again and we both bolted out into the garden and stayed there. We might have considered coming back to enjoy a well-deserved rest on the sofa but the larger servant started noisily sawing up bits of wood in the kitchen (covering it with sawdust - the smaller servant wasn't totally thrilled either but the large one said it might rain so he didn't want to do it outside).

Eventually he finished making the big noise but by then we were totally offended and had decided to teach them a lesson and hide outside. It was quite nice and sunny outside so it suited us quite well anyway.

But then: all that horrible bangy flashy stuff started up in the sky and it began to rain VERY HARD. Again! The smaller servant has put these photos up on my blog - they may look like yesterday's but in fact the flowerbeds were even fuller of water this time.

We do not approve.

Sirius, who doesn't have my moral fibre, caved in and went back inside when the servants called but I stayed out for a long time. I became very wet. But I think I made my point.

Look, there's the smaller servant waving to you in the puddle after the sun came out again. That really is a very short haircut she got last time. Her hairdresser has a mind of her own - just like me.

By the way, there's another thing: every time the phone rings, she leaps towards it as if she was expecting some news. But so far, there doesn't seem to be anything special happening. We don't like new things. I'm not sure that this bodes well...