I love this little dog. I love her human too.
Say “Sausages”
Play dead….
Look Adorable…
Go and see how Lollipop is…
Find a tasty snack….
Find MORE tasty snacks….
Rest head on table until more tasty snacks jump out of packet….
The BIG Finish!
.
The token squirrel….
and a little bit of snow.
We have decided to have a family outing to the cinema….
The husband won’t go to see Avatar.
The son won’t go to see Avatar.
The son wants to see Book of Eli. (My co-worker/friend told me the twist at the end!)
My daughter thinks she may die of boredom if she has to see Book of Eli.
My daughter quite fancies seeing Avatar.
neither my daughter nor I want to see 44 Inch Chest.
Sherlock Holmes is not an option. (Times don’t fit our schedule)
I would like to see Up in the Air. Hello! George Clooney.
So!
Alvin and the Chipmunks it is….. The Squekquel! hehe
Urghhhhh! Snow, snow. go away!
Friday night we had a few clouds-ful of snow dropped on us and then the temps dropped to about -3000 degrees (C or F it doesn’t make it any warmer) and we have trecherous driving conditions for an entire weekend! (And a hairy old drive to work this morning!)
The weather kept the birds away for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch too! I didn’t get the ever elusive Vulture, I still think it was lurking though! I telephoned my dad to complain about the lack of feathery friends. His response was a typical ‘dad’ response.
“They want to come to your garden but sadly they are all frozen solid to the branches….can’t get their feet off!”
However, we carried on regardless after a few false starts… 15 minutes would pass and my husband would look at me. “We’ll have a cup of tea and then start again…..”
After about four of these things still never improved.
So…. our bird-count!
3 great tits, 3 coal tits, 3 blue tits (See a pattern forming?)
2 Jack Daws (My daughter used to call them Jock-Jaws) 2 Blackbirds and 2 Jays (read ‘em and weep Flighty!)
1 robin, 2 collered doves, 1 woodpigeon. ( I have a bit of a issue with the wood pigeon count. My garden may have just got one visit but the field out the front of my house gets about a 100 in it. (I’m not lying… well I might be as I haven’t counted them) Anyway.. the field has so many in and early evening time they do that swoopy-fly-land-take-off thing that the starlings do.)
Side-tracked… sorry.
1 sparrow, 2 chaffinch, 1 seagull, 2 squirells and 2 rabbits. 
and that was it!
Ok… to the ‘Clipping ‘ part of the title.
Sweet Scruff, my dads dog had a bit of a tidy-up yesterday. She was a very good girl but in no mood for a close-up. This is the best I managed.
She left the house as a Ewok and returned as a Jack Russell!
Have a happy day!
Whatever normal is!
I’ve got my new specs which are really lovely to look at but I tell you something, they kill my ears! I feel like my ears are about ready to drop off. I was wondering if my head had grown over night as they were fine last night! I’m a trooper though…
New hair-do day tomorrow! As I haven’t stepped foot into the hairdressers since July last year I thought it might be time to tend to those split ends. Or on a more honest note, to have the haystack tamed! I’m not just having a cut! No, not me…in for a penny, in for a pound! I’m having a colour too! Andrea said to me, “Hmmmm you know you should go lighter… or… you could go darker!”
You don’t say Andrea! Well, whether it be lighter or darker it’ll be something different and I’m looking forward to the change! Not to be outdone by a human Scruff (My dads little dog) has an appointment on Sunday to have her fur clipped. She’s all ball of fur and its a little cotty and knotty at the moment so she’s having a new do too! (Poetic!)
Some things to mention before I go and spread my weight over the sofa for the evening….
Flighty mentioned it in his post too!
THE RSPB BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH is this weekend. I am so gonna see that vulture this year! I’m sure of it! I seem to remember last year being good fun… my husband was great when the birds were flitting in and out but the boredom sets in quick when there is nothing to see. That’s when the fun starts! Anyway he is planning out ways to attract the birds into the garden so goodness only knows what mad plot he has afoot!
I’ve come across three new blogs this week which I’d like to mention, I know they’ll appeal to most of you…
The first is again, something mentioned by Flighty. (He gets everywhere!) It’s a collaboration of women of a certain age and it called Vision and Verb. I’m loving it. It’s well worth a visit and with quite a few different authors there is bound to be something for everyone.
The second is actually a friend of Anvil Cloud. He asked us to pop over and say howdy to his friend who has just started blogging. Thoughts and Things is the blog home of Doris and she has some wonderful photographs to see.
The third, is just a lovely homely blog, words and wisdom from a lovely lady! (I know that and I’ve only read a few posts but it shines through her entries… you’ll see) Goodnightgram’s Blog is somewhere where you can go and feel cosy for as long as you want.
OK, I’m ready to be busy doing nothing…. for the first time today!
Image by Kate Mawdsley
Pouring my heart out on a piece of paper has always been my own unique way of dealing with whatever has been happening around me or with me at any time. Phew! That was a long sentence wasn’t it! It’s more of true statement I think. Writing has always been something that was easy to me… it perhaps isn’t good when it comes to reaching certain standards, but it is something I have no trouble with. To allow the contents of my mind to flow on to a virtual piece of paper is easy… until now.
Now, when I would love to unload the worrying niggles floating around my mind. Unfortunately I think I suffer from guilt. You see I always tell myself that I have no right to complain when there are people around the world who have every right to complain for what little good it will probably do them. Sadly, they probably know that too.
As 2009 trundled to its end I arrived at the end of something too… It was my tether! Problem after problem occurred. Problems that would cause financial concern, problems that would cause trust issues, problems that would inflict pain onto loved ones and stifle their ability to ‘get on with things’. It really has been a trying few months but, we are healthy, we have full tummies and a roof over our heads.
Snowy weather behind us for the moment I am moving forward.
I’m updating my CV simply because I think I should.
I’m going to put into motion plans that have hung around in my head collecting cobwebs.
I’m aiming to improve the standard of life I have even if that means making sacrifices.
I’m going to write down my woes and worries on my virtual piece of paper and not feel any sense of guilt.
I’m absolutely capable of tending to my own needs whilst feeling empathy for others and acting or reacting in the way I normally would. So perhaps I will now begin again, like Michael Finnegan. Only I won’t grow a hair from chin. ( As I already have one…) I will vent… I will write… I will expel… I will banish… I may not solve much of anything but I will feel better and I promise you, to feel better than I have in the past three or four months would take very little.
She has been a family member for a few months now. After Little Bears sadly set off on her journey to Rainbow Bridge, Lollipop came to put the smile back on my daughters face. I’ve heard people mocking a love for a hamster….it’s so small and insignificant, how can you love it? Easily!
Lollipop is such a little character. She loves to be with people and she idolises my daughter. When Andrea goes to her Grandmas for a sleep-over, Lollipop is placed into the care of myself and my husband. We take this responsibility very seriously. Well, we thought we did. We vowed each other to silence on Friday evening when Lollipop was lost for almost 11 minutes in the deep caverns of the back of the sofa. After frantically stripping the sofa of all of it’s cushions we finally found her…
Andrea must never know of our lack of responsibility and bad judgement to allow Lollipop to roam free on the sofa.
Lollipop trying to do ‘Control/Alt/Delete’
Lollipop is so brave as you can see here where she shows her shear nerve when she faces a tiger!
Cute. I can’t even get angry with her when she chews all of my buttons on my favourite shirt….
You just don’t like to keep on, keeping on about the weather but the low temperatures, the ice and snow are all taking their toll on us! -7 degrees this morning when I was coming in to work and by the time I arrived at work it dropped to -10. I remember 30 years ago we suffered winters as bad as this one but I think the mild winters that have followed and the dependency on cars has made us very complacent! I’ve not managed to get my car out of my village.
You choose to live in these picturesque isolated villages and you pay the price when you need a regular gritting vehicle to go through! So, after one day of working from home, which I must say I enjoyed, the rest of the week I have been getting up with the 4.45am sparrows. My husband, bless his cotton socks, has been kindly taking me to work. The only down side has been my arrival time on site of 6am. Plenty of work to do though so although the days are long at least I’m there/here!
In the other news… my son no longer has a car. In the bad weather we had in the run up to Christmas he hit a patch of black ice. I guess the ferocity of the skid and his inexperience resulted in his car being very badly damaged. He was fine… no damage to my precious cargo! The car was collected by the recovery company and the chap who came said he thought it was border-line as to weather or not we would get the car back. Sadly, we found out yesterday that the car is being scrapped. The insurance company will make an offer and then that will leave my sons short driving career in tatters. I can’t afford another car I’m afraid and the offer from the insurance company in unlikely to cover the cost of the car.
I’ve not managed to get over to my dads house as often as I would like to although with the help of my husband and his 4×4 car again we have managed to make fleeting visits, dropping in cooked meals and shopping at least three times a week. I’ve promised my dad, come hell or high water (or more snow) that this Saturday he will spend the day at my house. Scruff loves the snow so the two of them are still enjoying their walks… although the walks are shorter than usual due to the treacherous conditions of the footpaths. *
Christmas and New Year were lovely quiet family times but they were hampered slightly by the snow and cold. Of course with my sons accident happening only a few days before Christmas our festive spirit had already been dampened.
I hope you are all keeping well and for those of you sharing this proper, real wintry weather….. Go somewhere tropical! STAY WARM!!!
* apparently the UK has a shortage of rock salt! Isn’t it just typical that when we need the roads to be able to get a regular salting, there is none for us! I remember when we had grit bins at the end of each avenue and we could grit our own roads. At the moment any back streets or estate roads are pretty much impassable! (or do I mean impossible! haha) I also remember when the old-school gardeners’ used to coat the streets with ashes from the fire… used to work perfectly as an anti-slip precaution but what a mess it used to leave behind!
A very happy New Year to anyone who passes through these parts.
I love that you visit and if you comment, that’s an added bonus. I managed three posts in December 2009… I managed even less visiting so I apologise. My New years resolution should be to get out in the blogdom more often!
Snow is the word… and you thought it was Grease!
Where’s the squirrel?
Ahhh! He’s there!
Mr Blackbird…. Are you coming in?
“Don’t mind if I do! Any food?”
Just a few nuts…
I took some views from the house. It looks pretty nice…. from my house….
I’d like to say a HUGE GREAT BIG Thank You to Nikki & Roomie.
Their Christmas gift was the gift of giving….
They donated a wheelchair in my honour… it went to India.
Many Thanks Ladies! xx
Posted in Family
Anyone who knows me, even a little bit will know I don’t like snow. Well, from the purpose of getting from A to B I don’t like it. I have no confidence when driving in it at all and that alone should probably convince me not to drive. Of course sometimes you just have to… That’s the only time I will drive in it… when I have to.
Today, I don’t have to.
I managed to see the beautiful side of it today as Andrea and I walked around the woods which are just at the back of our home.
I twanged a few snowy branches behind me, covering Andy in the cold white stuff! Her little red cheeks glowed against the white backdrop.
*All the photographs are clickable… well worth the click.
