Monday 28 February 2022

TRUE STORIES FROM BBHQ **Has Your Cat Ever Saved You?** ~ Catkin the Hero Saved The P.A. From A Midnight Home Invasion

Mid-Week News Round Up with The B Team ©BionicBasil®

Happy Monday fluffies

Today we're sharing one of our true stories from BBHQ, and this one takes place in January 2000, it is something the P.A. won't ever forget.

Years ago, the P.A. had a beautiful tuxedo cat called C. J. Catkin. He'd been hanging around her apartment in the city centre and had even started to invite himself in more and more frequently. She made inquiries and found out the peeps who lived in the building next door had adopted him as a kitten, he was 5 months old and they didn't want him anymore, and literally left his cat food and litter box outside the P.A. doors after she expressed an interest in his welfare. No, thank you; no, here's his stuff, just dropped it off and ran.

Anyway, while the P.A was delighted at getting a kitty, she was completely horrified at the previous owner's lack of warmth and compassion for such a gorgeous little cat. But their vile actions led to a friendship that was extraordinary.

Catkin, as he was called was absolutely amazing, he had a purrsonality that just shined. He KNEW so many things, for instance on Saturdays the P.A. would buy him fresh prawns. He'd never see her bring the shopping in but he knew without a shadow of a doubt when his prawns were in the fridge, and he would stand on his back legs and try to open the door - which he couldn't - though it was his way of telling the P.A. he knew they were in there. And he never went to the fridge any other time apart from a Saturday which was Prawn Day.

When he was two years old he unfortunately got hit by a car, and the P.A. took him to the best vets to fix his badly broken back leg; it was a bit like the 6 million dollar cat and after many months he was finally healed, all the pins from his leg removed and he was almost like new.

But just before the P.A. moved to our current home aka BBHQ, Catkin was poisoned by some sicko cat-hating-flufftard, and after rushing him to the vets and getting him stable and well on the road to recovery the pair finally moved back to the countryside.

Catkin loved it, he adored the garden and the bigger house with lots more windows to look out of, and his favourite place to sleep was in the airing cupboard on the landing.

After he'd been poisoned, he had to have soluble aspirin administered orally every other day to keep his blood thin, plus the incident reduced the circulation to his previously injured leg and he started to drag his paw, it would curl under as he walked and the P.A. would gently massage his paw and leg three times a day to get the blood flow happening until finally, he could almost walk normally again.

So after moving into the barn, just the two of them, hardly any furniture and the bare necessities, it all seemed fab. Until a frosty night in January two months later.

True Stories from BBHQ ©BionicBasil® Catkin
This picture was taken not long after they moved in.


Catkin the Hero Saved The P.A. From A Midnight Home Invasion


In the P.A.'s words:

I remember feeding Catkin his usual late supper before I went to bed, it wasn't that late maybe 11 pm. I slipped into sleep and the next thing I remember was Catkin jumping up next to me at some point in the middle of the night, he began to paw my cheek and mew softly. Then as I was rather slow in rousing, he began with much earnest to wipe his cold, wet nose all over my face.  

Realising that something was wrong I opened my eyes, and lay there for a moment wondering what was happening and quietly asking Catkin why he was so agitated. And that's when I heard a distinct metallic CHINK CHINK CHINK noise. I held my breath and focused on the one sound, as at first, I wasn't sure if I was hearing things. Unfortunately, it wasn't my imagination, it was someone trying to break into the house, in the sitting room beneath my bedroom.

At this point, my mind went into automatic pilot and I knew I couldn't get out of bed because the barn is really old and the floors creak terribly upstairs. So there was no way for me to check out what was happening without alerting the intruder or intruders that I was awake, and at this point, I had no idea if they were in the house or not. 

I grabbed my cellphone, praying that there was a signal as back in the 1990's it was a rare occurrence, and by all that what merciful and I'm not being dramatic when I say that, I had two bars, first I dialled my Uncle's house right next door, but they didn't answer which was not the scenario I was hoping for. Then I dialled my parent's house as I knew my dad would answer as he's always been a light sleeper.

He answered almost immediately but as I was telling him of my plight the signal dropped out cutting the call, and I remember screaming inwardly at the fluffing rubbish cell service. My dad couldn't remember my cell number back in the day and called back on the landline telephone, which was actually in the sitting room beneath my bedroom. It rang and rang, I could hear it upstairs, and I was cringing inside as I thought if the people had got in the house, what would they do next?

The next thing that happened was the outdoor security lights pinged on, and I heard heavy footsteps running across the gravel drive.

At this point, Catkin was waiting by the bedroom door, and we crept as quietly as we could along the landing. I tried to walk with my feet on the outer edges of the floorboards so they didn't creak and the same down the stairs as I held my breath still not knowing if anyone was actually in the house with me and Catkin. Reaching the hall and solid floors I slipped into the laundry at the other end of the house and found a baseball bat, and feeling a lot better knowing I'd got a bit of protection I headed towards the lounge in the dark.

Luckily whoever had tried to break was gone and I found to my utter horror that they had been trying to prise open the metal patio doors with a screwdriver as the lock was all bent and the door frame damaged.

If Catkin hadn't woken me in the middle of the night, I dread to think what might have happened.

The next day I reported it to the police, and it turned out that there had been more usual activity in the village that night. Someone had tried to steal a horse and failed, plus there'd been a small horsebox lorry parked up near the pub in the early hours of the morning. So whoever it was; they had a plan and BBHQ was part of it, whether it was for a burglary or what I'll never know.

Catkin very sadly died on the 27th of January that same month; a blood clot from the poisoning reached his brain and even though I got him to the vets, he died a few hours later.

He only lived to be three and half years old, it wasn't long enough. I still think about him every day, even though it's been 22 years and one month since he departed.

Catkin did save me that night, from what I don't know, but he saved me by coming and waking me up to alert me of imminent danger, he knew what was happening at the patio doors was wrong, he understood the assignment. And I'll never forget what he did for me for as long as I live. He was so, so very special and I was beyond crushed after he died, I can't describe the devastation I felt at his loss, it was truly crippling. 

In total, he saved me three times during his short life; you can read about the other two here when he saved me from something so weird and quite unexplainable, but I shall call it a paranormal attack.

Catkin was a hero, there's no doubt in my mind that he was with me for a purpose and when that purpose was done or completed it was his time to move on. 

Basil is buried next to Catkin in the garden, and they were so very similar. I often wondered if Basil was Catkin reincarnated... maybe he was and that's why I felt exactly the same about Basil as I did with Catkin.

Many thanks for joining us today, and if mew have a true story mew'd like to share, do let us know as we'd be honoured to post it for mew.

We'll be back on Wednesday with our Midweek News Round-Up and celebrating Dr Seuss Day, so do join us then to see what's been happening in Mewton-Clawson since last week.

Epic purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 













Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post! 

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com 

Sunday 27 February 2022

Parsley's Close Encounter Selfie on The Sunday Selfies & Caturday Art Blog Hops

The B Team Sunday Selfies @BionicBasil ®

Epic greetings supurr furiends

Welcome to another selfie selection and today our theme is:

Parsley's Close Encounter Selfie 

Parsley's Close Encounter Selfie ©BionicBasil® Sunday Selfies
Parsley said he'd never been to Stonehenge, so he decided on the spur of the moment on Friday to take the Time Travelling Telephone Box and pop off for a quick trip, he'd just set up the tripod and camera. And then would mew fluffing believe it, just as the camera took the picture a fluffing Flying Saucer appeared!

He decided not to hang about, as he didn't feel like he needed to make any new acquaintances while unarmed and without the entire The B Team as back-up, or worse, end up as an alien abductee.

We'll keep mew posted if any more UFO sightings occur!  

And mew can watch the spooky video on Tiktok.


We're also joining in the lovely Athena's Art Hop so do stop by and show off your pawesome arty-farty skills.

https://www.athenacatgoddess.com/

Parsley's Close Encounter Selfie ©BionicBasil® Sunday Selfies & Caturday Art Hops

The effect was created with Befunky - Cartooniser DLX + colour changes to hue and saturation.

We also turned this fab arty-farty picture into a puzzle, so do stop by the puzzle page and take the Puzzle Challenge, see if mew can beat our time of 7 mins 29 secs. 



Anyhoo it's time for us to go on kitty patrol around the garden and check that the P.A. has finished pruning the roses, and a few other trees and shrubs. Sadly the storms and bad weather have put this years pruning on a back burner, but hopefully we'll get caught up soon and then the big garden clean up can begin again.

  So we do hope mew have a totally terrific day and look forward to your company in the morning when we're back with a BBHQ True Story, and mew won't want to miss that! 

Wishing mew lots of snoozy snuggles

Supurr Sunday Purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team





Don't furget to join in the pawesome Sunday Selfies Blog Hop with

 Angel Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer ~ visit them at their pawesome blog:














Don't furget to subscribe to our blog and never miss another post. 

Graphics created with paid licence @www.canva.com & www.befunky.com

Friday 25 February 2022

Love To Read? Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #192 featuring ~ **A Whisker in the Dark, The Oyster Cove Guesthouse Book 2** by Leighann Dobbs PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins + Photo Fails Blog Hop

Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library ©BionicBasil®

Hello gorgeous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, and this week I've been snoozing a lot because of the weird stormy weather. yesterday we were getting snow and sleet flurries on and off. And luckily storm Gladys hasn't rolled in at Mewton-Clawson, but we're still on weather watch.

Book Reviews with Amber #192 ©BionicBasil® Amber Rolling in Clover July  2008

And yesterday, while we were looking for some files we came across this epic flashback from July 2008 when I was sitting in clover, shortly after this I was rolling in it! MOL

Part of The Mewton-Clawson Library ©BionicBasil®
Amber's Book Review Library Mice Divider ©BionicBasil®
Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.
1. _______________ is the ___________-est I have ever been.

2. I really hate going to _________________.

3. While most people _________, I _________.

4. I’m glad that _________ was invented.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. Winning every first red rosette in all the classes I was entered in at a gymkhana. is the luckiest I have ever been at a horse show.

2. I really hate going to crowded places, in fact I avoid them most vehemently.

3. While most people love going for a manicure or pedicure, I don't.

4. I’m glad that print-on-demand was invented. I'm loving creating new books in a hard copy! LOL

Amber's Book Review Pink Dot Divider ©BionicBasil®

Today, as it's the last Friyay of the month, we're also joining in the furrbulous...


So do drop by the marvellous Mudpie's blog at www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com to join in.

Fudge's Giant Floof ©BionicBasil® Photo Fails Blog Hop

Fudge was wearing a gorgeous bandana, yet he was adamant his tail needed to be centre stage, and who can argue with that giant floof??? MOL

Amber's Book Review Pink Dot Divider ©BionicBasil®

Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

Amber's Book Review Divider ©BionicBasil®

This week's top book pick is...

Amber's Book Reviews - What Are We Reading This Week 192 ©BionicBasil® A Whisker in the Dark Oyster Cove Guesthouse Book 2
Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

A Whisker in the Dark

 The Oyster Cove Guesthouse Book 2

 by 

Leighann Dobbs 

       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

Discovering the 300-year-old skeleton of shipping tycoon Jedediah Biddeford in the ballroom wall is a big old hassle for Josie Waters, owner of the Oyster Cove Guesthouse. Especially when Biddeford’s descendants turn up, certain that a family legend about treasure buried nearby must be true.

Josie is too busy dreaming up the perfect cake for the Oyster Cove’s 250th-anniversary celebration to worry about the Biddeford family – plus half the town – digging up her yard... until one of her guests is murdered in the guesthouse garden.

With worries that her guesthouse will get a reputation for being the kind of place you only leave in a body bag, Josie must put her detective skills to work to find the killer. Lucky for her, Nero and Marlowe and their gang of cat sleuths are also on the case.


Amber's Book Review Mice Divider ©BionicBasil®

If mew remember a couple of weeks ago I reviewed the first book in The Oyster Cove Guesthouse Series. 

As mew've probably just read the blurb, mew know a little of the plot, and this second book didn't disappoint at all, another fresh cast of characters arrive at the guesthouse and it doesn't take long for one to turn up dead.

The cats are obviously my favourite characters, and they do play an integral role throughout the story which pleases me immensely, as mew know how much I love my books with cats! MOL

The plot is well crafted with the usual red herrings and dead-ends, the list of suspects grows and then slowly diminishes. The pacing is spot on, and mew just want to keep on reading or in my case, listening.

I know I've said it before, but I am going to say it again, the author really has her writing recipe right and always delivers a cracking cozy mystery!

If mew love your cozy mysteries, try this series, I'm sure mew'll love it as much as I did and next week I'll be sharing book 3 in the series, as mew know what I'm like when I'm enjoying something so much.

A top paw read.

Audio: 6 hours 6 minutes
Paperback: ‎ 216 pages
Publisher: ‎ Bookouture 
Amber's Book Review Library Mice Divider ©BionicBasil®
My Ratings Scale

Amber's Book Review Paw Ratings Scale Pink ©BionicBasil®

Amber's Book Review Pink Dot Divider ©BionicBasil®

Ratings of:

A Whisker in the Dark

Overall Enjoyment

Amber's Book Reviews 5 Paw Rating ©BionicBasil®

Amber's Book Review Divider ©BionicBasil®

Other Fun Blog Hops to Join in Today

         Catblogosphere        Feline Friday        Nature Friday        Flashback Friday     Friendship Friday       

Amber's Book Review Pink Dot Divider ©BionicBasil®

I really hope mew enjoy the book as much as I did if mew decide to read it.

It's time fur me to say BFN or bye-fur-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 


Amber's Book Reviews Pink Review ©BionicBasil®





Amber's Book Review Pink Dot Divider ©BionicBasil®

& @BionicBasil® on Instacat

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another review! 

Amber's Book Review Pink Dot Divider ©BionicBasil®
 graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com 

Wednesday 23 February 2022

Welcome to The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ~ Who Wants Smooch Hugs? Epic Cat Embroidery and Who's Having Sneaky Snacks? **PLUS** BBHQ Haunted Happenings ~ A Ghostly Attack or Something Else?

Midweek News Round-Up with The B Team ©BionicBasil® Winter Banner

Epic Wednesday Greetings Furiends

Welcome to the BBHQ midweek news round-up!

How's your week going? At the time of writing this, Monday afternoon, we've experienced three back to back storms. The current one is called Franklin. Storm Dudley battered the U.K. earlier last week, just before Eunice came in causing even more mayhem and destruction around the country leaving 1.4 million homes without power. 

Mewton-Clawson is nestled in a rather quiet area on the East Midlands, and although we missed the most severe weather, it was still pretty gusty and quite scary at times.   

We've just read that after Franklin passes later today, there's another weather front coming in later in the week with the possibility of being another named storm, this time Gladys. We hope that Gladys doesn't pick up ferocity or strength as the poor U.K. residents have had enough of a battering in the last few days. Rivers have burst their banks in Yorkshire causing flood misery, and there's significant flooding in Derbyshire too; these two counties sit higher above ours, and we usually get a lot of floodwater days later especially from Derbyshire. So we'll be keeping an eye on that in the coming days.

Winter Divider 2021

First up in the news this week.

 Who Wants Smooch Hugs? 

Smooch is sending oodles of love and hugs this week to anypawdy who needs some.

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Smooch sends oodles of hugs

And catnip cookies for everypawdy, just raise your paw for cookies!

And mew can have as many hugs as mew want, Smooch says there's enough for everypawdy.

Winter Divider 2021

Next up in the news this week. 

Epic Cat Embroidery - Meet Purrtuna

The P.A. used to do a lot of embroidery creating fabric pictures, and a few weeks ago, she decided out of nowhere that she needed to do some again, and this is her second picture.

It looks adorable in real life as the sequins and beads are really sparkly, and what's epic about this little picture is that it's winging its way to someone as a special surprise. 

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® The P.A.'s Cute Embroidery Picture of Purrtuna

Watch Smooch as he makes the P.A. stop sewing to give him pats on TikTok.

This is what it looks like in its frame.

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® The P.A.'s Cute Embroidery Framed Picture of Purrtuna

Cute or what?

We thought the name Purrtuna suited her and hope the surprise is epically epic for the mystery recipient.

Winter Divider 2021

And finally this week.

Who's Having Sneaky Snacks?

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Who's Having Sneaky Snacks

Check out these three heathens nomming down on Instagram.

Mew've heard the phrase, mew snooze mew lose? 

Well, that's exactly what happened on Monday afternoon when Pandora, Fudge and Smooch piled into the laundry and demanded a sneaky snack while Amber, Parsley and Melvyn catnapped!

Needless to say, there was a bit of an uproar when the others found out they'd missed out on extra noms! MOL

Do mew get sneaky snacks without your fursibs knowing?

Winter Divider 2021

BBHQ Haunted Happenings ~ A Ghostly Attack or Something Else?



And lastly this week the P.A. is back with some more spooky tales, so get your cup of tea or coffee, sit back and relax! Muwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa!!! 

FYI for new readers: These are real ghost stories and true-life events which have happened to me during my life. They are not made up or fictional tales for effect. 

Have You Ever Experienced A Psychic Attack? 

This was the question asked by the P.A. in last weeks post. 

What is a psychic or ghostly attack? It's the very real sensation of being attacked as you sleep, feeling completely wide awake while being utterly paralysed and unable to speak. It's truly terrifying. 

Some scientists call it sleep paralysis, and if you look that up it offers many explanations. Though at the time of my attacks, I wasn't suffering from any of the 'symptoms' which supposedly cause this strange phenomenon, and I still believe my incidents were otherworldly entities.

I've experienced this twice in my life, and when I say it freaked the fluffing bejeezus out of me, it really did.

Both times it happened, I was living at my old house. The first attack occurred in the middle of the night. I was obviously asleep, in a deep sleep on my left side. And then I was woken by an unseen force pushing down on my right shoulder and right hip. As I suddenly woke fully, I could feel this enormous pressure, like clawed hands gripping ferociously onto my shoulder and hip, and I was being pushed down into the bed. I tried to move, to get away, but I was totally paralysed, I tried to scream, but I had no voice. I couldn't make a sound. 

I was shaken violently with malicious intent for what seemed like forever. I remember being in the inky darkness of the room with my eyes wide open and feeling like a defenceless rag doll, as this unseen energy attacked me with such ferocity. 

I could feel this thing trying to push me through the mattress as I was forced down, released and forced down repeatedly really quickly. 

I was terrified out of my mind, literally. I cannot describe the fear, the terror, the panic of not being able to move or cry for help, it was so overwhelming, and I am not the sort of person to scare easily. 

The attack abruptly ceased when Catkin - my first cat - leapt onto the chest of draws opposite the end of the bed and pushed a pile of C.D.s on the floor. His sudden presence and the crashing sound of the C.D.s landing on the floor stopped whatever was happening; the thick, shrouded darkness seemed to lift. I just lay there not daring to move, as to be honest I wasn't really sure what had just happened, and I didn't know how to process these events as my mind raced and my heart pounded. 

Eventually, when Catkin got on the bed a few minutes later, I plucked up the courage to turn on the bedside light, and there was nothing in the room with me. I ventured downstairs, but the house was empty, apart from Catkin and me.

After that, I didn't sleep for the rest of the night, as I was too scared and Catkin didn't leave my side. 

It didn't happen again for a couple of months, and the second attack was equally as frightening as the first with the same thing happening, and once again it stopped when Catkin came in the room, and this time he jumped on the bed growling.

Whatever it was seemed very real; the total body paralysis was real, the inability to scream was real, the sensation of being violently shook was real, the feeling of clawed hands digging into me was real. Everything about those two incidents was terrifyingly real to me, I can't explain what it was, I can't say for certain that it was 'X' or 'Y', all I know for sure is this; it happened, and I don't ever want to experience it again.

It gives me chills just thinking about it - EEEEEK!

And after that chilling story, would you like to know about the ghost I saw in Australia? 

Winter Divider 2021

That's us done for today. Amber will be back on Friday with another fab book just for mew, and click the link if mew missed Monday's post click here to read the Grand Finale in Part 10 of Fast, Furry & Dangerous.

Epic purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 













Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post! 

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com 
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...