Diurnal?

di·ur·nal (d-ûrnl)

That means:

adj.
1. Relating to or occurring in a 24-hour period; daily.
2. Occurring or active during the daytime rather than at night: diurnal animals.
3. Botany Opening during daylight hours and closing at night.

Romula

Interesting Comparison

Helena leaves the door to our secure home open during the day and evening, closing us in at night. She may think it curious that, given the freedom of her house, we choose to stay within the room in which our home is located. Even more curious is that each of us hangs out no more than 2 meters away from our home, be it Rema, in the blanket which lies against our home; The White One, who lies with either Rema, in the blanket, or under the sofa throw, on or under the sofa, which is located only centimetres away from our home, with me.

The following abstract provides some interesting insights into the activities of our country cousins, which all sounds quite exhausting. I wonder how they would find life living with Helena.

Abstract
(1) Radio-tracking techniques were used to study movements of rats on arable land. The mean range length for ten female rats was 340 m and for seven male rats 660 m. (2) Movement occurred primarily along hedgerows which provided cover, but several individuals occasionally crossed open ground, covering distances of up to 500 m without approaching cover. Most of the movements observed were between homesites and known food sources up to 500 m away. (3) Although the rats frequently changed their homesites, there was no noticeable tendency to move them towards recognized food sources in the area; changes of homesite were apparently random occurrences or were related to encounters with other rats. Males and females changed their homesites on average once every 7 and 14 days respectively. (4) The rats studied became active soon after sunset but generally did not move away from their homes until about one hour later. Peak activity occurred 4-5 h after sunset. Six of the twenty-one rats studied were active at times during daylight and one was predominantly diurnal.

Romula

I'm looking old, aren't I?

Rema

A Belated Burns Night

Our yoghurt and honey was accompanied by grapes and pine nuts which was followed by haggis and 'tatties'. No sign of 'neeps'.

What's the world coming to?

Rema

Comfort Concentrate Sunshine

Rema smells of fabric conditioner. Helena has washed the blanket in which Rema loves to sleep; it eases the weight of her bones.

Romula

Same for The White One too I guess.

Romula

Same here.

Rema

Cheese, sweetcorn and avocado are the next three on my list.

Romula

Come late evening I thought to take a wander over to the window and check out the curtains. (Look carefully and you can see some of my 'handy work'.)

Rema

I think it's the same for The White One too.

Romula

It's the same three for me.

Rema

My top three favorite foods are:

Yoghurt with honey
Pine nuts
Grapes

Romula

My body has changed significantly over the past six months; if you consider that I age at approximately fifteen times the rate of a human, those six months have been the equivalent to seven and a half years. In human years I'm around 60 now.

I've lost my robustness and and now carry an additional bulk in my lower abdomen, which hinders the use of my right leg, though I don't let it get in my way (excuse the pun).

I still have an appetite and, while I'm still interested in exploring the room we reside in, I take short cuts rather than following the usual practice of circumnavigating it to reach a destination.

During the recent cold spell and at night, a blanket has been placed over a section of our secure home to keep out any draft. In the day it lies crumpled on the floor and I've found the folds to be a comfortable and cosy place to lie in. Over the past two nights Helena has provided me with my own dish of food and water and allowed me to stay there overnight, while the other two stay in the secure home.

The White One has joined me in the daytime and preens me. All in all I'm comfortable and where I want to be.

Rema

Rema has been allowed to stay out for two nights. She's slept on the blanket, under the sofa. Though we're twins, she's notably less active that I am. I think.

Romula

Helena hasn't let me sleep on the sofa the past few days, which is a pity as it's so warm and comfortable there; I'd made the snuggest of beds out of the wool blanket located under the throw.

Romula

I'm missing a piece of Polish garlic sausage, which I had left under the throw on the sofa. I wonder what has happened to it.

Who's there?

We seem to have spent a long time holed up in our cabin; when it wasn't too cold to leave our nest there were unfamiliar voices in the room, which discouraged up from venturing out.

Once they were no longer around we took to the sofa; Rema underneath, nestled in the overhang of the throw, and The White One and I on the seat.