I should know better

Yes, Dido did it. At 12.45am - why always in the middle of the night? - she started, and an hour later had three. Unfortunately the little girl didn`t make it. The placenta was huge and deformed, and that usually indicates stunting and malnourishment in the womb - she just wasn`t strong enough even to feed.

But the boys are thriving, and Dido is enchanted with her sons. One is quiet and one is greedy and demanding - when she goes out he screams and you can hear the anger in the screams. How dare she leave! Her only function is to feed him constantly......yes a typical male. His brother is quieter, and resigned to being bulldozed aside in his brother`s frenzied circling. (Very young puppies crawl in circles. If they crawled in a straight line there is a danger that they would crawl out of the nest altogether, and being blind and deaf wouldn`t realise it.).

They are now five days old. As usual I have great hopes for them.

It has quite made up for a day spent in the innards of the stove, up to my armpit in its back passage searching for an obstruction........fortunately no dead bird this time. I`ve scrubbed the soot off and am off to relax in a warm room with a pot of tea and some chamber music.