Crazy weather again

So yesterday it was -7c here at 8am, the water drinkers in my birdy shed was frozen solid still at 11am, poor little devils. I cleaned up the oil filled rad, ready to put on last night for them, to hell with the expense (it costs about £1 a night to run, but I can't be that mean, some of those boys out there are 16 years old, OAPs nearly in Cockatiel years) I re-set the timer for it to come on at 5pm. Then the weather changed and we had rain, and cloud and it became mild, typical. So I ended up turning it off when I went to close up the shed at 4.30. This morning it was in the low 60s fahrenheit, around 16c! I was outside doing stuff (including cleaning the aviary out, yay!) in a T-shirt! Now it's raining again, but I'd rather that than being so damned cold. It was freezing in here, I have been huddled in several layers of jumpers and fleeces a couple of nights this week. God how I hate these bloody storage heaters, they wake me up in the night because it's so bloody hot, and then by 7pm when you want to be cosied up watching tv, it's like an oversized fridge. I think I shall have another go at the Council and see what happens. Why the hell should I be the only one round here who has to put up with these antiquated wasteful damn things??? Grrrr.

Other than that, not a lot to report really. Oh yeah, my car, well it's only just started these past two days, in fact yesterday, I thought it was going to be a walk round the village with Emma cos it wasn't having any - battery flat as a pancake. It just managed to fire up, and of course I did about a 10 mile round trip and forgot all about it. Then again today, that horrible sound of it just about turning over, thankfully it fired up okay. So when I got home I thought I'd take a quick look, with batteries it could be the fact that it's knackered, no idea how old it is, or it could be the alternator not charging or maybe something draining it. Well it was pretty obvious instantly, the negative wire and terminal was so loose I could just lift it off! Plus I then looked in the holes, and there is not a single drop of fluid to be seen. Oooops. Well good job it's going up to Brian's tomorrow to sort the heater out, which also isn't working too well. I detect another hefty bill on the way. Can't be without a car here though so can't be helped.

Another week gone

Well time to catch up again I suppose. I haven't done all that much apart from the usual, shopping and dog walking though, so not a lot to say. The weather has been up and down, yesterday it poured with rain all afternoon, so Emma did't get a walk, but then it froze about 6.30. I walked to the meeting, wasn't getting the car out of the garage to spend 10 minutes de-icing it to come home like I did last week, besides I needed the exercise having been stuck in here all day. Today has been absolutely beautiful, not a cloud or breath of wind all day, but absolutely freezing, it hardly went above 2c, and still frost on my front grass all day.

I've been gradually getting some things back on my laptop, software etc and it's almost back to normal. I also plugged in my old hard drive from out of my old laptop as I couldn't remember what was on there, and was thrilled to find that I had at some time in the not too distant past, put on nearly all my music downloads and cds that I'd copied, and hundred and hundreds of photos all in neat little albums. I honestly don't remember doing it, I really am losing the plot I think! Anyhow I then off loaded all the photos that I currently have on my three memory cards out of my cameras, and I still have about 5gb of room left, so am so pleased that I actually bought that caddy thing last year.

Kate is back from her holiday in Spain, and brought me back a beautiful Spanish leather bag, just a small one, as she knows I don't really use a bag, it has a long strap on it or you can use it just as a clutch bag. Really nice, just need to go somewhere to use it now and then! Talking of which, I tried on a coat the other day, and it looked fabulous, though I say it myself, just a warm, dressy coat, and I really felt good in it, which is saying a lot for me, cos I nearly always hate seeing myself in mirrors nowadays. But I didn't buy it, because I would never need to wear that type of thing, well only once in a blue moon. Not the sort of coat to go shopping in or walking the dog, just for going out. I keep thinking about it though, and am so tempted, but it would be a waste of money, wouldn't it? Sigh.

Erm well, thats about it really, except for my trip out today. I haven't really been anywhere with Emma for ages, apart from the reservoirs, or the park, so I decided it was her turn today, so took her to Llansteffan (last time we went there was on her birthday) Of course everywhere is shut for the winter now, there were still a few people around though. We had a long walk all along the top of the dunes, then onto the sand (which was rock hard and frozen in places!) round the bay to the far beach and then up the cliff steps and along the top where the woody bit is and then back down. About 2 miles I reckon, so Emma is now knackered, but it was great to see her enjoying herself in the water, and having a good old huff round. We also had a McDonalds as a treat, I just had the Happy Meal though with 3 fish fingers and the tiny fries you get, with a coffee. It's only 460 cals for that, which is about what I would eat for a normal lunch at home, so don't feel at all guilty. I am keeping to under 1200 cals a day, so still have a large margin for my evening meal, yesterday it was only about 900, and I've now lost half a stone in 2 weeks, so am well chuffed. I can now get into my one size smaller jeans already. :)

I've had a disaster

Yesterday, switched on my laptop and got greeted with a black screen and error message saying windows could not load due to a missing or corrupt file. Looked at what I was supposed to do, and hadn't got a clue basically. It meant re-booting from the back up discs I made (and thank god I did) when I bought the pc last year. Trouble was, I couldn't get to the right bit to make them work. So I thought I'd take the lot down to the Computer shop in town, which is always open on a Sunday morning. Set off and had a nightmare journey, due to the road being closed because of a major accident, got diverted about 7 miles down little lanes, (along with about a hundred or more other cars, coming in either direction) Won't dwell on that only that a journey that normally takes about 12 minutes took 35. Got to the shop and it was SHUT! What was worse, is that I could see a bloke sitting in the back room doing something. So I rang the number, and could hear it ringing, and he wouldn't answer, so I didn't know if he was going to open or not, but I doubted it, this was about 11 am by then. So I popped in a shop, and made my way home, again round the scenic route.

I then spent a couple of hours setting up my old pc, which has been under the bed gathering dust for about a year, took ages to get online, so that I could ask for help on the forum I belong to. Long story short, eventually someone told me what I needed to do, and I managed to get the boot up discs to load. Thank god. Took about 30 minutes to re-install windows. Then I found out the bad news. It had wiped everything. I mean everything. All I had put on here in the past 13 months. All my photos, all my music, software, emails, you name it, it had gone. So someone else then tells me how to recover some of it. So I download that, and it runs and takes over an hour and saves thousands and thousands of images. Great I thought. It was then nearly midnight, I had been doing stuff with this about 12 hours in total. So I look and loads of what had been recovered were pictures I'd never taken or seen in my life. Then it tells me I have to purchase online with a credit card (I don't have one) to be able to save them. I was devastated, and ended up just closing the lot down and going to bed. Thank christ I do a blog, at least I have those photos still, and I did do a back up disc in June so all my important photos till then are safe, but the ones I'm most gutted about are some of my bird ones that I've taken this summer, and not put all on my blog for instance, or all my hedgehog ones on the cam as a record each night. I luckily still have lots on my memory cards (I've got about 5 of these with various things on) Still gutted though.

So today, I've been trying to get some stuff back on here. I've lost all my emails and contacts of course, I still have you guys from Yahoo, but all my other friends just have to text them and ask them to send me an email! All my important things too like banking stuff and bt and powergen, all gone. I just hope I can remember all the passwords and stuff. I couldn't get the wireless bit of my router to work this morning, and then the browser wouldn't work, you name it, I've had hassle with it. Sigh. I felt like killing myself yesterday to be honest. It was all my fault as usual, I couldn't wait and be patient, I could have taken it to the shop today and got it done, but instead I rushed into it, and probably chose the wrong option. Oh well, you live and learn. I suppose at least I've saved some money. Last time I had a laptop crash, it was £90 to get it fixed, that was about 3 years ago.

There is some good news today. Diddy boy has been out all day having a great time by all accounts. I left him outside when I went out as he was happy scratching around in the leaves outside, got home about 3.30 and expected to see him huddled and fed up, but he was still having a whale of a time. Whatever was wrong with him has gone away I think, he's just old, and wants to rest a bit more, but mainly he's as good as ever. He's eaten lots of proper stuff today, being outside, his little crop was full tonight. I bought him a pack of beansprouts, but he wasn't all that interested.

Dids getting his own worms

Something very pleasing ...

I am having chinese stir fry tonight, got the packet out and thought I'd give Diddy a few raw beansprouts. OMG I've never seen him eat so greedily (well apart from the worms) He's eaten loads! His little crop is the fullest it's been in yonks. Bless him. He's looking very perky too. Time to put him to bed now, but at least he's had a proper day's ration of food today.


Yum

C'mon

Give me some more!

mmm mmm oh boy my favourite.

Latest news

Umm well first the weather (as always) Absolutely crap. Coming home from the wind farm meeting the other night, it would have been quicker to walk home, spent about ten minutes scraping ice off the car window, and it had only been there an hour and a half! Yesterday was so bad,it turned grey, windy and rainy and I only set foot outside about three times to do my aviary birds and the wild bird feeders, Emma didn't get a walk, she didn't seem bothered though, we had a quick game of teddies instead. The highlight of the day was cleaning out the budgies, and sorting out the oil-filled rad in the back of the kitchen porch so that Diddy doesn't freeze to death, and me too for that matter, I just couldn't get warm at all, I had four layers on the top half of me at one stage and a fleece throw wrapped round my legs like a skirt before I finally felt hot at 10 o'clock last night. I've turned the heating up flat out in here now, it was only 19c in the living room, which just isn't warm enough for me I'm afraid when I'm sitting watching tv.

No hogs for two nights now, or mice for that matter, way too cold, I think Vee must have hibernated. I must look in the box again and see if it's occupied, but I'm afraid of disturbing whoever is in there, I guess once they are in a deep sleep it will be okay to take a peek.

Some slightly promising news about Diddy. He seems to be picking up a bit, I noticed his comb doesn't look quite as bluish as it was and he seems to have a bit more of an appetite. You won't believe what I have done the past two days, it makes me want to puke, but I have actually been out and got some worms for him from under the dustbins, plant pots etc. He wolfs them down, and I guess it's good protein or something, he absolutely loves them, I have to look away, and I feel like a murderer, but if it's doing him good. I mean for years if I had come across a worm, I had always hidden it so birds or my chickens couldn't get it! Anyway, fingers crossed for him, he is eating lots of sweetcorn, grapes and budgie seed which has vitamins and stuff in it, he doesn't seem interested in proper chicken/bantam type food though, but still.

Today the weather wasn't too bad until about 2.30ish. Luckily, I'd decided to take Emma out early, I wanted to go up to the farm to check on the animals. Something occurred to me which is a bit of a worry, and I will mention to Kate when she gets back, but if anything happened to either Jen or Me, would anyone know? I mean if something had happened to her, the dogs would be in a bad way by now with no food since Monday. She probably has someone who would know, but I haven't. If I had popped my clogs last week, then the four days I was due to do them would have passed by and nobody would have known. Bit scary really. When you live alone, you really need someone to check that everything is okay every couple of days, and you need to inform someone what your plans are etc. Same applies to my pets of course, I could snuff it on a Sunday night, and nobody would really miss me to the verge of worrying until the following Sunday. Something to ponder. I am such a pessimist I know. Anyhow the animals were all fine, took Barra and Skye and Emma round the nearest field, which is the only one without sheep at the moment. I got mobbed by all the cats, including the feral tom, so to be honest, I was wondering whether Jen had been up there this morning, they'd never been that starving before, and I was about 2 hours or more earlier than their normal meal time. Anyway, I gave them some dry cat biscuits, and they were all wolfing in to them, so I opened a tin for them just before I left. I hope she doesn't think I'm interfering, but I really thought they shouldn't be that hungry. Also gave the dogs some treat biscuits and half a tin of their food each, naughty! Most of the bird feeders were nearly empty too, she obviously doesn't do birds, or maybe Kate hasn't ever asked her to, anyhow filled them up whilst I was there.

That's about it really, was almost dark at 3.30, dreary and rainy but at least it's a bit warmer. Now almost pitch black at 4.20, so had better go out and shut up the aviary. Looking forward to the telly again tonight, Strictly Come Dancing, then X Factor, and I'm a Celebrity. One new programme I really love that was on in the week is called "The Street," it focused on the excellent Timothy Spall this week, who came to fame in Auf Wiedersehn Pet. Great series.

Quick update

Just seem to be too busy lately to do this of an evening, too much stuff on the telly, dark at 5 oclock etc, has completely thrown my routine out of the window. So thought I'd better do it now before my day gets going again.

Today I am going to the hairdressers shortly, then off to my friend Pat's for the rest of the day, by the time I get back it will be nearly dark I expect, then it's food time, and off to the Wind Farm meeting. Must remember to record the last Autumn Watch tonight. I must say I haven't really enjoyed so much of it this time. The thing about the fox with the bad leg that the National Trust won't interfere with has pissed me off no end, and the way Bill Oddie just laughed it off, concerning all the protests there have been. The RSPCA are monitoring the situation. Big deal. Meanwhile the fox is starving to death. Also the emphasis on the Deer Rut has bored me to tears. I mean how many times do we want to see stags smashing the shit out of each other, or bonking the does? Also very upsetting to hear that 70 newly born seal pups were swept to their death last week in the storms.

Yesterday I went shopping and found some bargain bird foods in Wilkinsons, bought 4 new jumpers for the winter in other shops, and lots of food in Tescos, it was a miserably cold, damp, rainy, dismal day here. Got home late, time I'd unpacked the shopping, it had stopped, so just took Emma round the block here for a walk.

Update on Diddy, well he's still about the same, he has spells where he perks up and then next time you look and he's got his head down. He does seem to be eating a bit more, he's eaten half a tin of sweetcorn this past two days, and some bits of grape, biscuit and bread, and some seeds, but it seems to be an effort and I constantly have to urge him to bother.

Talking of food, I finally managed to get myself into the frame of mind to try and lose a bit of weight. When I lost my three and a half stone three years ago, I found the way to go was to NOT eat breakfast. Despite what all the experts say, that you need it to get your metabolism going, it's the most important meal of the day, yada yada yada... Well it doesn't work that way for me. Once I start eating, it just makes me want to carry on eating. So I've knocked breakfast on the head, which means I am instantly eating about 400 calories less a day, with no adverse effect on how I feel. In fact I feel more lively if anything. I also bought no cakes biscuits sweets or anything naughty whatsoever in Tesco yesterday, I wouldn't even walk down that aisle because I knew I would probably weaken when I saw the belgian buns (they are my biggest weakness) So anyway, I started on Saturday, it was easy because of getting up to go up the farm, it was too early for my normal breakfast anyway. And the good news is I've lost three pounds already this week. Yay! I want to try and lose a stone by Christmas.

Still got two hedgehogs coming, thought there was only one till last night when battle commenced over the dish again. I don't know if they will be back tonight though, because have woken up to a very hard frost, haven't yet ventured outside, but my guess was it was the coldest night yet, everywhere was white at 6.45 (Woke up that early because my very considerate neighbour opposite, the RAC man, has started up his van and left it running for 45 minutes in the end to defrost the windscreen.) Thanks Mike. Filling the road with pollution and noise. Can't he just buy a tin of de-icer for 75p? I should imagine there was plenty of ice around on the roads too after all that rain yesterday. Winter is here folks.

Oh well, must get up now, it's a beautiful sunny day outside, but I guess its going to be brrrrrrrrr cold out there.

Little Vee (he's got a distinctive white V above his nose)
Bash!

Dogs and Cats

Are you going to throw the stick or not?
Come on, hurry up!

Emma finds the water as usual
Oh no, those dogs are there!

Biggun & Little'un

The Farm, Day 4

I've been awol again I know, but really haven't known what to write about that I haven't already said before. Today is the last day for looking after the dogs, cats and sheep, and as usual have enjoyed it on the whole. There's been a few things that I haven't enjoyed quite so much this time, but I won't go into great detail here. Only thing I will say is it's a bit upsetting seeing the conditions the dogs live in, and the state of Barra in particular. I've tried to improve both, and hope that Kate won't take offence. I will try to be as tactful as I can without causing any upset. I know they are outdoor dogs, but I still feel that grooming could be a part of the regime. If she hasn't the time or inclination to do, I am more than willing. I've removed in excess of 20 tics from him this week, cut out a few of the knots in his fur and been brushing him every day. It's strange that Skye doesn't have any of these problems, ie no tics, no matted fur, and no smell. Thing is where do I stop with the trimming, if I were to remove all the matted fur he would be virtually shaven around his rear, tail and ruff. Living out would mean a lack of insulation, like shearing a sheep in January, so I don't want to go too far. I really must think of a way of broaching the subject.

The other thing that has been a bit upsetting is walking the dogs round the fields, which they sold off to another farmer, he just doesn't seem to be looking after his sheep very well. There are the remains (either bones and fur, or actual rotting carcasses in ditches) of at least 8 dead ones in the three fields. Those that are alive are either hobbling badly, or have green diarrhoea hanging from their rears. Very worrying, yet he seems not to care. Has been spending the last few days renewing fences and putting in another gate. Sigh. Must mind my own business I guess. Kate & Terence did a very silly thing, which they readily admit to, selling off the four best fields to him when they bought the farm, they are the flat, level ones, the ones they kept for their sheep are on a sixty degree slope down the valley. It's very hard work to keep an eye on all the sheep, it's been killing my legs walking up and down to check them. I also think the ewes, which are in separate field now to this years lambs (there are 30 in all now) are going to run out of grass before they come back from holiday. The field is shaved nearly already, and they have another week yet. I haven't seen any hay around the place either which is obviously given to them during the winter, perhaps they haven't had any delivered yet. They should have kept the fields they sold for hay if nothing else, and just rented them out.

I've been getting quite attached to the kitten, Biggun I think they are calling him (as opposed to Little'un maybe, don't know about the small kitty, he's not very tame yet) The big one is so funny and purring and meoowing in my face as I am doing the food, and playing with bits of string, chasing leaves. I wonder if the she cat will appear any time soon with some more kitties. If it weren't for having the budgies indoors, I could be quite tempted...... noooooo, mustn't, anyway, would hate the fact that something I love and cherish could go outside and be run over, I couldn't have a pet that you can't have any control over its destiny.

I'm hoping to get some photos when I go back in a short while now, but thought I'd write this up whilst I've got a few minutes to spare. This morning, I was thrilled by the sight of 12 donkeys in the next field! I bet they won't be around when I go back. Also Red Kite circling within a few feet of me overhead, looking for pickings on the dead sheep I guess. Also a flock of at least 50 Wood Pigeons, wow, I've never seen that many together before, could have been even near 100. And lastly, a airplane came so low overhead, I could almost see the pilot! These often come over here, they are old transporter planes I think, dark green coloured jobs, they literally skim the tops of the hillside, and of course up there I am even higher than here, it was fantastic, right over the field I was in.

The one bit of bad news is I think poor Diddy boy is fading fast, he is indoors completely now, Anonymous will be pleased about that, but he has little interest in eating anything at all now, all his favourites get a tentative peck and maybe eat two or three bits of sweetcorn, or grape, but he's really not bothered. I have been sitting with him, holding stuff out in my hand for him and he will take a few bits, but he's really eating about enough to keep a small bird alive, his comb is starting to go a bit blue, which is a sign of heart trouble. It's breaking my bloody heart, held him and cried yesterday, I just pray that he will pass away peacefully in his sleep, and not just get so feeble that I have to take him to the vet to end it. He's like a skeleton under his feathers, he perks up now and then, so it's not like he's really ill and I'm being unkind by prolonging it I don't think, no point in taking him to the vet for advice, they haven't a clue about birds, so would just be stressing him out for nothing.

Well the skies have cleared now, so I guess we maybe in for another cold night here. Last night it dropped to minus 4c (26f) and we had a really heavy frost of course. The bird drinkers in the aviary shed were frozen solid at 10.30 when I went to do their feed, poor bloody birds. Good job Diddy wasn't still out there, that would have finished him off I think. It would actually have been colder out in the main garden, the water by the back door where the thermostat is didn't actualy freeze, so I reckon it was probably around minus 7c up the shed. It killed off the last of my summer plants, my trailing lobelia is now hanging black and yucky in the pot, so will have to get busy sorting the garden out once I'm back to normal tomorrow then.

Been watching a bit of telly the past few nights, hence my absence from chat, last night watched David Tennant and recorded the thing about Rudyard Kipling's son in World War I, which starred the boy who was Harry Potter,Daniel Radcliffe, have watched half of it but got to 11 oclock and had to call it a night, so looking forward to watching the rest later. Also enjoying Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor as always, and tonight it's Autumn Watch, yippee, and then I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here starts tonight, so I shall probably be absent most nights, sorry folks, I love that show.

Oh well, time for the off, my last session sadly, although I may still pop up at the weekend just for a walk if the weather is okay. Will post some photos later hopefully.

Wednesday

Well nothing overly exciting today. Just went to Morrisons shopping, and then to Wyevales and bought a couple of new bird feeders (not what I went in there for of course) I looked at the price of their peanuts, Guardman ones, 10 kilo sack is £19.99! How on earth do people afford that kind of money for bird food. They obviously sell it at that price though. I was looking because there has apparently been such a bad season in China where the majority of our peanuts come from that they have gone up, but I can still get a 25 kilo sack for £23.

After that sat in the car park and had lunch, and shared it with Emma and a cute squirrel! The nearest I have got to a friendly squirrel in ages, mine has disappeared from the garden now, and even so, he used to leg it if I went within 10 yards of him. This one allowed me to put the window down and photograph him, but he didn't allow me to get out of the car, then he was off. Still he had a bit of bread. Took Emma round the reservoirs for her walk today, I think she likes it there as much as anywhere, and it's lovely at the moment crunching through the leaves. Loads of Mallards about again, wonder where they've been hiding all summer?

Another fantastic sunset tonight, the whole sky in every direction was all shades of blues, oranges reds and yellows, it was so wonderful. I took photos with both my cameras to compare, first with my old Praktica and the second with my Kodak. The colour reproduction is much more natural with the Kodak, more like reality. I have actually tarted up the Praktika ones a bit because they were a bit insipid. What do you reckon?

Tuesday

Been a lovely day here today, blue skies, yay, don't faint, no wind, would have been nice to go somewhere, but no car of course. It got to 1.15 and hadn't heard so I phoned up, and Brian said they'd done all they could but he wanted to give it a run, and then another flush through and said come up in about an hour and a half! So I said that I wanted to get Emma to the vets so he said oh fine, come about 2 then. I felt horrible, probably meant he didn't get any lunch, oops. Another £120 bit the dust there too, but I did manage to sell him some raffle tickets for our Wind farm Christmas goodies.

Anyway, all done, he thinks my clutch is on the way out too, has adjusted it a bit, but it's right down to the floor really. He thinks the heater is a bit better but to see how it goes. Well I've never been lucky with heaters in cars, apart from my Fiesta, that was brilliant but others I've had have been non-existent sometimes.

Anyway, the bit you've all been waiting for, Emma at the vets. Well, not very good news, Damien checked her heart and the murmur wasn't any worse but listened to her symptoms, and said that she now ought to go onto tablets. We had a golden retriever who was on heart pills, and I know Irene's two labs were too. It should help with her breathing, and her coughing, and I've to give her two a day to start, and if there's no improvement then there are some other ones she will need too. He said to still walk her, but nothing too fast so that she struggles, so lots of my walks are out now then. The cost is bad news too, £45 for 100 tablets. Now Damien reckoned that was two months supply, wonder if he passed arithmetic exams???? Bless. 50 days in my reckoning is a month and a bit, but still, I didn't argue (as if)

And the other bit, yes I got his photo! I asked him outright, I don't know how I did it, and I then spent the next half an hour walking Emma saying OMG how could I? I was more embarrassed after, but I think I stayed calm and very matter of fact in front of him. He was fine, and asked how I wanted him! Jeeeeez! I said "oh do you want to be pretending you are doing something to Emma" so that's what he did. I told him that I do a blog for a record, not that I write it as if she was doing it, don't want him to think I'm completely off my rocker, and he was fine, and said "yes I don't mind" I showed him the pic and he said "oh it shows my bald head" We both laughed and shrugged. So that was it. So I shall post it on Emmas blog, after all, it's only fair.

After that excitement I just took her down the river, and took some more photos of the gorgeous golden colours of the trees.

Bit more...

Well you can tell I've been stuck here all day, two blogs in one day! So I've just taken a couple of pics of Diddles, he's taken to his new/old home like a duck to water, very apt considering the weather outside. At 4pm the light was fading fast, and he was huddling outside in an old shelter, so I brought him in and plonked him down in the porch/cupboard/thingy, having first removed the guinea pigs, because they'd been in there all day for a run round. Well he ate, and stomped around a bit, then put himself up on the perch like he'd never been away. Phew. I was anticipating tantrums as he wanted to go to his normal place. I've had a thought though, I could easily put the new house I bought him inside where he is now, and he can still use that, maybe a better option, and at least it won't get all messed up and rotting outside. May do that tomorrow.

Also Brian rang me, had problems with the heater which wasn't working very well, and he's had to order parts, said did I need the car back today, so as it was 3.40 by then I said no, so he's going to keep it overnight and get it done first thing tomorrow, so I can have it back by lunchtime, so I'm hoping that will be the case and in time to go to the vets. I'm working up my nerve to ask Damien outright if I can take his photo tending to Emma, wondering if I can do it though! I shall explain that she does a blog and it's for that, hope he knows about Blogs, else I shall feel really stupid. I will anyway though. Not sure if I can do it, but have a while to build up my courage! Silly cow. :D

Ho ho ho, it's raining!

Shame that. Wonder if it will spoil the fireworks? *smirk*

Been so grey here for days now, apart from that brief interlude on Saturday morning for a couple of hours. I knew we wouldn't get much longer without getting wet, I mean 7 whole days, almost a record. Wind has got up here today as well. My car is in for service and having the heater looked at, so am stuck here today, waiting for the phone call to go and collect it Won't be much fun trudging up the 1 in 3 in the rain though.

Well it's meant that I've cleaned out the guinea pigs and the budgies, and I've also moved Diddy Cockerel again. He isn't too good really, starting to look and act his age, which is positively ancient in chicken years (he's not far short of 10 now) and he seemed so fed up in the aviary, I mean I've been letting him out in the garden during the day, but he's standing around huddled up and half asleep most of the time. But the main reason I've moved him is that his little house has been causing terrible fighting amongst my cockatiels. Some of them have designs on it as a large nest box. Now I thought I may have a problem next year in the spring, but of course as it's stayed so mild I guess the birds aren't thinking about the time of year. There has been quite a bit of bloodshed, and three male birds are harrassing a hen back and forth in the aviary, and it's only a matter of time before something worse happens. So I've taken it out, and there has been peace ever since thank goodness. So his little house is now a shelter by the back door, but I'm having him back in the porch thing to sleep from now on. If I go out for any length of time, I'll pop him back in the aviary or if it's raining, but otherwise he can stay in the garden. I'm not going to have him in the main house again though, not now I've got new carpets this year!

Had two hogs again last night, no sign still of any little ones though, but I didn't have any here last year either, the two I had contact with were the one I found wandering down the park, and the one the vets gave me to look after. Talking of vets, I am taking Emma to see Damien tomorrow, bit worried about her coughing, maybe she needs to be on tablets now.

Have a slight problem....

Last night, when I put the hogs food out in the front porch around dusk, I noticed a slight movement out of the corner of my eye in my hanging basket, which is right by the front door, I mean literally 8 inches away from the edge of the door. I focused and saw a small bird in there, looking at me, and about to fly off. Thought no more of it because I have the suet pellet feeder hanging from this just underneath, and a peanut feeder hanging too, so guessed it was just a late feeding birdy who was caught out by me opening the door and dived in there for cover. This hanging basket has trailing ivy, a small bush like a mini conifer in it, and I've had trailing lobelia this summer too. Anyway, tonight, when I put the dish out again, I looked just out of interest, and there is a little wren roosting in there! How cute is that! I can't take a photo obviously as it will scare it half to death and I don't want it flying off in the dark in a panic. But the trouble is that I am afraid now to open the door to let Emma out for a wee,, had to let her out the back tonight, and she then went potty because she could smell the hogs, and probably there was one on the lawn by the way she went off. Oh poos, now what to do.

More shades of Autumn

Took Emma down to my favourite place by the river this afternoon, and took some more photos of the autumn colours of the trees, this really is such a beautiful time of the year. Weather mild, no wind, and dry still, no rain for a whole week, can't believe it. I woke up so full of enthusiasm because it was sunny with blue skies, and thought I'll take Emma to the beach today, but checked on the tides, and it would have been high tide, typical, and also, by the time I'd done a couple of bits here and fed the birds, it had completed clouded up. Ended up just pacing around, cleaned the bathroom, and doing little else until lunchtime. Emma is limping like hell too from yesterday, she can't do long walks like that anymore sadly. Anyway, time to do the evening teas, and a full night ahead of tv for me. Oh and volume turned up to drown the noise of the inevitable fireworks I suppose. There's a do on down the football field - I suppose we will have three nights of it though unfortunately, poor bloody birds and other creatures out there. Doubt I shall see much of the hedgehogs.

Autumn in Coed y Foel Woods

Another fine, warm day here, no sunshine though, but pleasant enough to not need a coat really. I popped over to see Eileen this morning, she phoned me up to tell me her news and I went over for a coffee. Seems her husband has been in hospital for over two weeks, and has at least another two weeks to be in. Told her if I could run her down anytime or take her shopping she was to let me know. I told her off for not getting in touch about it before too. She's as bad as me though and doesn't like to ask anyone for help.

Anyway, I decided I wanted more than the usual 15 minute plod round the park this afternoon, and took Emma to the Woodland Trust place that I go to now and then. Haven't been there since the early Summer when I went with Irene. It's a wee bit lonely really, but decided to brave it whilst it's dry. Because of the steep hill to climb, it's a killer but good exercise. Poor Emma was trailing well back though and I had to keep waiting for her to catch up. It was so peaceful there, I kept stopping every now and then and listening, and there was nothing, absolute complete and utter silence. Wonderful. Saw and heard a couple of robins and blackbirds near the first part but other than that, just this eerie silence. There were millions of acorns fallen to the ground, every step was crunch crunch crunch. Seems a shame if they all go to waste, no sign of any squirrels, thought the place should be teeming with them, perhaps they are all shy. The carpet of leaves was really thick, like walking on cushion flooring.







These berry things were actually attached to the oak leaf