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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.