Welcome to BBHQ home of Basil and The B Team! We share Feline Enrichment tips, hacks and ideas, Cat Wellness, Adventure Stories for all ages, Book Reviews, Blog Hops, Crafting with Cats, Colouring with Cats, Pet Peeves, Product Reviews, Fashion with Felines, Brain Training with Cats and so much more. So drop by often to catch up on all the fun and remember; the world is way better with cats! Purrs from your hosts, Wing Commander Basil & The B Team
It's only two days to Catmas Eve, and we've been supurr busy here, the tree is up, the outside lights are glowing and we're pretty much ready. Plus if Santa Paws needs any help we've got the sledand if mew missed our epic crafting post, do go see what we made.
They asked us if we'd like to do another collaboration, only this time they offered a Royal Pet Portrait using one of their historic pawtrait templates, well mew just know that we couldn't refuse an offer for yours truly to be a Colonel, so here's the final artwurk.
We think it's EPICALLY EPIC, just take a look at these!
WE LOVE THEM!
We got to download the high-res images again, and we can have it put on a canvas here in the UK, but mew can also opt to have them printed/painted on a canvas too for an additional cost.
Currently, www.paintmyfurkids.com are having a flash promo of 1 pet portrait for USD$10, 3 pet portraits for USD$20 - digital files only.
They do ship worldwide too, so if mew're looking for an epically epic pawtrait, we'd highly recommend trying them as we are delighted with ours again, totally top paw! These would make a wonderpurr Catmas gift.
Visit @paintmyfurkidsonInstagram to see oodles of fabulous pawtraits, and they also do lots of different themes too, we especially love the Royal Pet Portraits and think that maybe Amber needs one next as we especially like The Queen or The Duchess.
*FYI ~ Disclosure: Even though this is a collaboration our review is completely honest and reflects our own experience/s with the product/s.
Next up, as it's Catmas we did treat ourselves to some new festive bandana's from our epic pal Eric and his wonderpurr Etsy store - sadly it's closed now for the holidays, so we're glad we put our order in early.
We'll get some festive holiday snaps for nexts weeks news round-up.
Who do mew thnk should model them?
Melvyn
Smooch
Fudge
or
Parsley
Let us know in the comments.
Finally in the news this week.
Today we're helping @PetsAtHomeFoundation raise important funds for its Christmas appeal which supports pets in rescues, to give them a special Christmas this year, even though they'll be in rescue centres and helping them find a loving forever home.
Donations mean the world to rescue pets and donations are even more important over the festive period. If mew can donate to their Christmas appeal, mew'll help to keep thousands of #rescuepets healthy & happy. Mew can also help by heading to your local @petsathomeUK store or by donating online on their website at:
Wriggles, Scooter and Zippy have finally gone into hibernation, we checked the outside security footage as we hadn't seen them in a few days to see when they last came and it was Caturday 11th Decmber as the P.A. went through several days after that and there was no sign of any of the youngsters.
We just hope they've eaten enough to get themselves through their hibernation, and we know that we did everything possible to give them the best chance.
Here's a little video of a few cute clips and we look forward to seeing them in the spring all being well.
Guys, sadly we'll have to reconvene in the New Year with the Haunted Happenings, though if mew have missed any of our real ghost stories so far, click hereto catch up.
Well that's us done for today, Amber will beback on Fridaywith another fab book just for mew, and click the link if mew missed Monday's Colouring with Cats post and our fab crystal series.
Festive purrs
Wing Commander Basil & The B Team
Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post!
In Part 6 of the BBHQ Hedgehog update; Zippy the new hedgling appears, Scooter bite's the P.A.'s slipper while she's wearing it **hedgehog attacks human** & Wriggles doesn't like Nike Trainers, hedgehogs obviously know what they like! MOL
Mew may remember in the last update a couple of weeks ago that we mentioned a third smaller hedgling had appeared, he was just a little bit smaller than Scooter, and the three of them aka Wriggles, Scooter and Zippy now seem to appear within a few minutes of each other, though they all arrive from different directions.
Scooter comes down the path from the summerhouse, Wriggles appears from the courtyard and Zippy just appears, we're not sure of his route yet.
And if mew haven't watched the video, Scooter walks up to the P.A. and bites her slipper before heading off in search of a more nutritious snack, like a big juicy snail and then the following evening Wriggles checks out her Nike trainers and he doesn't think much of those either! MOL
It's been really windy and wet the last couple of weeks and the temperature has dropped considerably, so the P.A. hasn't been outside in the evening so much waiting for them to appear. Although we can see them from the patio doors in the sitting room, and they are still coming like clockwork every evening, so obviously they're not ready to hibernate yet.
We will put the wildlife camera near the igloo again this week and see what it captures, and we will have another update next week.
Next Up In The News
Melvyn's got a new hobby; Rug Sculpture. For those that have never heard of this pursuit, it involves the intricate shaping of said rug into something completely new and in today's video mew can watch him create a pyramid, inspired by his ancestors.
What did mew think about his latest creation? Sadly it didn't last long, maybe next time he won't listen to Fudge's unfounded criticism! MOL
BBHQ Haunted Happenings ~ The Psychic Medium Reveals How Many Spooks are at BBHQ
And finally 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 at BBHQ, they are not made up or fictional tales for effect.
Hello again lovely friends, in last weeks spooky instalment I shared the giant glowing orb, so if mew missed that spooktacular event, click the link to catch up.
The psychic medium spent quite a bit of time at BBHQ and after she told me about the soldiers, she went on to tell me there were approximately 27 spirits in and around the house which included several past farmers, children, so about 10 or 11 human spirits and the rest were animals.
Yes 27 ish, that freaked me out and when I took her into the sitting room, she said to me, "You see things in here don't you?"
I nodded and replied, "Yes, I see orbs and strange light phenomena in here all the time."
"They are three little girls about 12, 10 and 8," she said. "They come to play here."
In the middle on my sitting room floor there used to be a well, it's long since been covered over and hasn't seen the light of day since the barn was converted, I think there's a slab of concrete over it now, and the psychic thought they'd fallen in the well and perished at some point, but she said she couldn't get any further details. Whether that's correct or not, I don't know. It's very sad if true, but I could see quite easily that if one child slipped into the well, the others could have tried to save her and they all died.
But the really odd thing was when Snowie went berserk one evening. I was sat on the sofa opposite the fire and the sofa is as close to the wall as is possible, and there's no room for anything behind. Snowie was sitting on the rug looking at something behind my right shoulder, and I watched her for a minute or so because it was really out of character for her, normally she'd just jump up and snuggle on my lap or next to me. But not this time.
As I watched her, she was fixated by something behind me, I didn't feel any bad vibes at that point, and then she started to growl, and when I say growl I mean like a vicious attack dog. She puffed up like a big, white fluffy marshmallow, her tail was huge like a bottle brush quivering straight up and she had her fangs bared, she looked feral and rabid as she snarled, growled and never took her eyes of whatever was behind me.
Never have I ever seen a cat react like that, she even looked different, and that's when I realised it was something else, I slowly edged to the side and got off the sofa while she still went crazy at the seemingly empty space behind me. Then as suddenly as it had begun she snapped out of that ferocious stance, sat down and said "Meeeeeh!" She didn't meow like a normal cat, she made a MEH sound, and it was as though she said, "It's ok mum, it's gone now!"
In all the time she was here, she never acted like that again, it was one of the strangest and unexplainable experiences I ever encountered with a kitty. So out of character for her, and I never knew cats could growl or even sound like that, so guttural and savage and never have any of the other cats reacted like that since, so whatever Snowie could see right behind me must have been horrific/scary/evil, that's my only explanation for her aggression, and I think she was protecting me from whatever it was.
If mew've ever seen the movie The Mummy (2001) with Brendan Fraser; when the mummy comes to take Evie and Brendan Fraser's character launches a white cat at the mummy and it retreats/disappears, that's how I liken the above event, good triumphing over evil, as bizarre as that may sound.
Not long after that incident, Snowie stopped coming upstairs, and until she died, the only time she would come upstairs was if she was carried but then she'd never stay long, it was like she had to protect or be on guard in the sitting room.
The barn has very creaky floors upstairs which I mentioned before, and the psychic told me that one of the old farmers walks along the landing, and the time I saw the black opaque shadow in the doorway when I had the flu, apparently he was just checking I was alright!
Also, and this is fact, the barn was built prior to the farmhouse next door, and apparently, the people used to live upstairs in the barn with the animals living below, and the psychic did tell me the exact same thing, so maybe the creaking/footsteps along the landing is just the past impressions of the original family in the 1800s.
The psychic did pick up on a malevolent energy in the upstairs bedroom, the one we use as the BBHQ office and lounge now, and which is directly above the old forge, it's the room with the big beam in, which you have to duck underneath to get from one side of the room to the other, and the cats love sitting/laying/playing on it.
The huge beam is off a ship from the 1600 or 1700s, it must have come up the River Trent at some point and been offloaded nearby in the 1800s to be repurposed as a support beam, the other beams which traverse horizontally through the roof were from the same consignment, and who knows where they've been in the world or what stories they could tell or what is/was attached to them.
The psychic said that the energy was hostile and stuck inside the property and especially liked that particular room, and it was like a swirling ball of black viscous energy which made her feel quite sick, so she did a cleansing ceremony in that room and some of the weirder stuff did stop for a while, but then it started back up again and I had to call the local vicar to come to the house.
And if mew want to hear about the exorcism, let me know in the comments?
More Bite Sized Bird TV Episode 5 is now live.
This footage was captured on our wildlife camera, so do let us know what mew think to it, as we think it does the job really well.
And we've got a Bigger Bird TV episode which is about 20 minutes long, for those of mew who love a longer episode to get your fangs or murder mittens into! MOL
That's us done for today, Amber will beback on Fridaywith another fab book just for mew, and click the link if mew missed Monday's Colouring with Catspost and our fab crystal series, and see our latest crystal haul from the gem show.
Epic purrs
Wing Commander Basil & The B Team
Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post!
In Part 5 of the BBHQ Hedgehog update; Scooter goes off-roading through the undergrowth and Wriggles has seconds. Snuffles and Prickles have gone into hibernation, leaving the youngsters to fatten themselves up for the big sleep.
Nicely camouflaged The entrance Inside is full of dry leaves to make a snuggly nest
The hedgehog igloo is now fully insulated. The instructions recommended placing approximately 5cm or 2" of natural insulation such as leaves and twigs on it. We used the pine needles from the Scotch pine as they created a lovely thick layer with was incredibly dense, and then we placed some small conifer branches on top to prevent any wind from blowing anything away. Plus as it's already halfway under a tree it should be nicely protected from the elements, and inside if they choose to move in, is filled with dry leaves which they can burrow in to make a nest.
And guess what? Last night a third hedgling appeared, who's a little smaller than Scooter, and in next weeks update mew can meet Zippy!
AND
Scooter bit the P.A's slipper in the next episode.
Yep, there was a hedgehog attack at BBHQ! MOL MOL
Bite Sized Bird TV Episode 3
Next up in the news, Bite Sized Bird TV Episode 3 went live the other day.
Watch what Melvyn and Parsley thought about episode 1.
Melvyn loves it, even Pandora has been watching it, so we'll make a few more videos over the coming weeks to add a bit of variety, as we have some fun footage of jackdaws, starlings and magpies up close from the new wildlife camera.
Wildlife Camera Update
And speaking of the wildlife camera; we finally got it to wurk, the SD card wasn't being recognised so aftur a quick format it was good to go.
It's now placed in front of the hedgehog igloo, to see if the youngsters decided to move in for the winter and we'll check in a few days to see if it captured any footage.
BBHQ Haunted Happenings ~ The Poltergeist Strikes Again
And finally 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 at BBHQ, they are not made up or fictional tales for effect.
Hello fabulous friends, you may remember in last weeks haunted happenings when I spoke about the bed moving all on its own?
Today I'm going to tell you about the time I'd made new curtains for the same room. To set the scene, I commissioned my cousin to make a solid wooden pelmet for the window. He screwed a thick wooden baton to the wall and made it the pelmet so it would slot behind the baton, enabling me to remove it for cleaning.
The wooden pelmet sat snugly on the baton for several weeks before I made the curtains, and I would randomly test it to make sure that there was no way it could fall or come loose, and it was solid as a rock.
I made the curtains and matching fabric pelmet to hide the wood and hung the entire thing on the baton, using a small hammer to knock it firmly into place, I gave the curtains a tug etc just to check it was secure and went downstairs to put away my sewing machine and supplies.
I'd just stepped into the kitchen when I heard a god awful crash from upstairs. My first thought was, oh fluff the cats as I raced up the stairs and along the landing to find the entire pelmet in a heap on the floor, and luckily no cats in sight.
Replacing the pelmet/curtains, and hammering it even harder into place, then checking that it was solid, I left the room again and had just got back to the kitchen when there was another god awful crash
Running back upstairs I found the entire thing on the floor again, and the curtains were splayed across the floor like they'd been dragged and several curtain hooks had come loose and flown across the room.
I was feeling quite annoyed and a little bit freaked out as I replaced everything, hammered it back and replaced the curtain hooks which had mysteriously come out, and anyone who's hung curtains knows how difficult it is to remove them. Satisfied it was firmly in place and wasn't going to move, off I went downstairs.
I didn't even make it to the bottom step before,
CRASH!!!
Hurtling back upstairs, the pelmet was halfway across the room like it had been ripped off the wall which such force, and as I stepped closer I saw that most of the brand new curtain hooks had snapped clean in half. Curtain hooks don't snap like that, not in my experience anyway, I was really freaked out at this point as I noticed how the curtains looked like they had been grabbed, twisted and wrenched, the fabric was pure silk and the curtains had been ironed to within an inch of their life before hanging and now they looked like crumpled rags.
I didn't hang the pelmet and curtains again, I put everything on the bed, shut the door, locked it (yes, I know a locked door wouldn't stop whatever it was, but it just made me feel better in that moment), and went back downstairs until Josh came home.
Josh used No More Nails and several screws to secure the pelmet to the baton a few days later, and it never moved again until it was removed in 2019 not too long before my accident, and yes that was the same room where I fell through the floor/kitchen ceiling.
I've noticed over the years that stuff only happens when work or renovations are underway, and no, I'm not planning on doing anything at the moment!
How does it make me feel knowing there is something unexplainable/creepy/scary/spooky in my home?
It did use to really freak me out, and I noticed that the more I paid attention to it, the more stuff would happen, so over the years I began to ignore things and they have lessened to where most of the time I'm oblivious to the spooks. I did have the local vicar come to perform an exorcism on the building, if you'd like to know about that, let me know in the comments, and would you like to see the monster-sized orb I captured on film in my office? Let me know and I'll share more spooky tales next week.
That's us done for today, Amber will be back on Fridaywith another fab book just for mew, and if mew missed Monday's post, our latest mandala onColouring with Cats is ready to download. And Fudge shared an epically startled selfie on Sunday and a really fun puzzle.
We look forward to your company again soon.
Epic purrs
Wing Commander Basil & The B Team
Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post!
Welcome to the Pet Parade and our weekly news round up!
And furst up in the news this week is;
The BBHQ Hedgehog Update
Prickles must have gone into hibernation already as we haven't seen him/her for over a week now, although the youngsters are still coming.
In Part 4 of the BBHQ Hedgehog update we go on a little night time safari as Scooter, Wriggles and Snuffles appear for snacks, have a little snuggle while Melvyn and Fudge watch from the patio doors.
We've bought a hedgehog igloo last week, just in case they might need somewhere to snooze for the winter, although the P.A. was talking with her cousin next door and he thinks they've got a nice warm spot under one of his sheds, which if that's the case is fantastic as they will be very safe there.
The P.A. cleared out a lot of the dead plants, mew can see the full wheel-barrow on Monday's post, so she could put the igloo partly under the Irish tree.
It's waterproof, although it doesn't have a bottom in it, so she gathered some dried leaves and put those in before using some metal tent pegs to hold the igloo in place. Also, the entrance faces the fence so the wind will be minimal should any little prickler decide to take up residence. Next, she's going to use some of the pine needles, fallen leaves and a few small branches to insulate the outside igloo further, though being partly under the tree will help enormously. We'll share a final photo next week.
Last night we only saw Scooter, but the good news is, he/she has put on lots of weight in the last couple of weeks. We'll check tonight to see if anyone appears but we're guessing it that hibernation countdown is nearly here.
Wildlife Camera Update
Aftur setting it up on Sunday and leaving it to record on the motion sensor setting, the P.A. checked it on Monday and nothing had happened, so three YouTube Tutorials later to check they'd set it up properly which they had, it was placed back on the tree. So we'll check again and let mew know if it captured anything.
Next up in the news, if mew remember last weeks video of Fudge? This is what happened a little later...
Catnip Cushions Cause A Disturbance To The Peace
The P.A. gave Smooch the catnip cushions to try, and Fudge wasn't happy #catnipaddict!
And even aftur the scrap, Fudge still lost as Smooch had purrsession of both the catnip cushions, OH DEAR!
BBHQ Haunted Happenings ~ The Poltergeist
And finally 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!!!
Hello lovely blogging friends and readers. Last week I gave you my missing earring theory, though that wasn't the only thing to disappear. The most troubling item was a sharp chopping knife out of my kitchen which vanished, never to be found again and around the same time, things really started to get weird.
Today I'm going to tell you about one really unsettling incident/episode with the poltergeist.
There is a dog-leg staircase in the barn and on the small half-landing, there always used to be a freezing cold spot in the corner, enough to make you shiver as you passed it, and it wasn't from the window as they're double glazed. And about 8pm every evening you'd hear the floorboards creaking and no, it wasn't the central heating, as it was off at the time because it was summer. It sounded like someone was walking along the landing to the bedroom door and back again, and it was a regular as a daily alarm going off, once when I had the flu and was in bed early I did see a shadow in the doorway which did freak me out a little.
But one of the really bizarre things that happened was in the middle bedroom, the same one where the purple toy car appeared, there used to be a double bed on the wall to the right as you walked in, and straight ahead there was a chest of doors which sat opposite the bottom of the bed. There was enough room between the bed and chest of drawers to put up the ironing board and use the space without falling over anything.
One day I went in and put the ironing board up ready to start working through the ironing pile and I stood as usual with the bed behind me. I don't know about you but I kind of zone out from everything when I'm ironing and operate on auto-pilot. I don't know how long I'd been there but as I half-turned and stepped back to grab a coat hanger off the bed I literally fell onto the bed, there wasn't the normal amount of space and at first, I couldn't figure out what was going off, as the headboard was still against the wall.
As I got up and walked around the side of the bed, it had moved 2ft away from the wall, now I know you're thinking oh someone moved it. No one else was in the house, and that bed was so heavy as it had 4 big drawers filled with all the spare bed linen; if I ever wanted to move it I had to sit on the floor, with my feet on the wall and push it with my back to even budge it an inch.
So who silently moved the bed straight forward 2ft while I was ironing? I don't know, I can't explain it, but normally if the bed was moved forward the headboard would fall forward as it wasn't attached to the bed, and it didn't this time. Spooky indeed.
Snowie actually stopped coming upstairs in 2008/09, and right up until she departed for the RB, on the immensely rare occasional she did go upstairs she'd never go along the landing or into that room.
I remember really struggling to push it back and cursing rather loudly, but that wasn't the scariest thing which happened in that room, if you'd like to know about what happened when I hung the new curtains I'd just made, let me know in the comments.
Tabbies of Trout Town purrlease scroll past this segment, we don't want to give mew nightmares.
We've just launched our TV For Cats on YouTube for cats who love nature but are short on time and it's purrfect to watch alone or with furiends as each episode is only about 5-ish minutes long, so won't interfere with napping, nomming or nipping.
Bite Sized Bird TV Episode
1
With Beautiful Bird Sounds on YouTube this week, so check it out and see which feathered fluffers visit our garden.
How exciting? Epically exciting and episode 2 will be live tomorrow.
That's us done for today, Amber will beback on Fridaywith another fab book just for mew, and if mew missed Monday's Colouring with Catswe shared a gorgeous mandala that can be downloaded. Plus Pandora shared a hilarious selfie on Sunday, and mew know how hard it is to get a good picture of Miss Speedy Pants! MOL
Epic purrs
Wing Commander Basil & The B Team
Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post!
