You may have guessed by now that here at “Turtle Towers” we are animal and wildlife lovers (just not fans of the mud they bring in on their paws!)

In fact, as I write this Molly and Lucy our loveable but curious “Turtle” dog double act are bounding around our garden. Lucy (Jack Russell) is certainly lively and Molly (black Lab) is the perfect foil to this, being quiet, thoughtful and tolerant (well she has to be with Lucy around).

We also know how much some of our customers love their pets, as we often receive photos of cats and dogs lounging on Turtle Mats. It’s great to receive these so please keep them coming and you can also now add them as fan photos on Facebook too.

With all this talk of our “furry friends” we’d like to tell you about the great work animal welfare charity The Blue Cross do, as they are a charity not only close to our hearts but also close to our home here in the Cotswolds.

We have visited their Burford facility a number of times and seen first hand how they make a real difference. As a pet charity they provide support and information for pet and horse owners – The Blue Cross has a fascinating history of helping work horses in London during the early 1900s as well as horses from the trenches of World War 1.

They provide practical care for pets whose owners cannot afford private vet bills, work to re-home abandoned and unwanted pets as well as educate people on the responsibilities that come with owning a pet.

We were lucky enough to have around 300 spare Turtle Mat – Pet Mats and were pleased to pass these on to The Blue Cross who were able to make use of them to raise much needed funds to support their ongoing work.

If you would also like to show your support for the Blue Cross, find out more about the great work they do or volunteer please visit http://www.bluecross.org.uk

Here at Turtle Mat we love our mums (not just because some of us forgot to post a card for yesterday and want to apologise); as they effortlessly manage the demands of a busy household.

We like to think here at Turtle Mat that we help just a little bit to make mums lives easier; keeping floors and homes cleaner for longer with the dirt-trapping power of a Turtle Mat. Don’t just take our word for it though; the Family Panel (review guide)     thought so too…

http://familypanelreviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/turtle-mat.html

It’s great to receive such positive feedback (stop – you’re making us blush!) and it got us thinking about the secrets our mum’s have shared with us to make housework a breeze.

So we thought we’d spend the week (through tweets #cleaning and Facebook posts) sharing with you the hints and tips that make the boring job of cleaning that little bit more bearable. So to get the ball rolling:

Vinegar is a great household cleaner (good on chips too!)…

* Use white wine vinegar to clean floor tile grouting (two tablespoons of vinegar into a large mug of warm water)

* Cider vinegar (approx 100ml) with about 4 litres of warm water is great for cleaning wood floors – just make sure the mop is well wrung out and not too wet

* Vinegar into the warm water you use to clean glass (1 litre water and 250ml vinegar) makes your windows sparkle, dry-off excess with newspaper

Hope they help and if you have any tips you’d like to share don’t forget to comment, we’d love to hear from you.

The threat of frost is not quite over, our Turtle Mats are still adorning our windscreens, tufty-side down to keep them ice free (thanks for the tip Susan), but there is definitely more of a spring in our step.

The Turtle Mat garden, although quietly coming to life, is seeing some impressive bird activity already. Amongst our usual winter visitors – finches, robins and blue tits, we have spotted yellow hammers and a great spotted woodpecker, so twitching here is almost a full time job!

We’ll try to keep you up-to-date on our visitors in future posts, with a few snaps if they’ll stay put long enough.

We missed the opportunity to plant bulbs in autumn so the garden isn’t as colourful as it could be – we’re reliant on several different coloured Cornus for a bit of zing.

We’re thinking daffies for next year so if any of you have any favourite varieties you could recommend – please let us know by commenting on this post. (more…)