When will the weather get better?

Life is very quite at the moment, the weather is still not good. This week it is "Storm Gertrude" to blame. The winds have been strong, the rain has been bouncing and today it is trying to snow again.

Yesterday (Friday) Tony and I had a ride over to Barnsley to visit Logan, Christopher and Joanne. Joanne's sister was there doing Joanne's nails. They were going out for the night for a spa and to stay in a hotel for Joannes sisters birthday( I cannot remember her name sorry).
Christopher had taken the day off work to look after the four children, he sounded suitably happy. He had the night planned out, film and goodies. It sounded like it would be watch, eat and sleep where they drop.
While we were there in his eagerness to show us something, Logan tripped and bumped his head. As usual Logan managed to hit the worst place possible, this time being the corner of the wall, which is quite sharp.

Logan's bump.

It looks a lot worse than it was, by the time we left it had gone down and was hardly noticeable.

On our way home Tony had to call to the doctors to collect a prescription for some cream and tubigrip for his leg. As we pulled up there was a beautiful rainbow over Aldi. I tried to take a photo of it, but no matter how I tried I could not get it in one shot. I took two and joined them together the best I could, it is not perfect but here is the result.

Rainbow over Aldi.

It was only later I realised I could have taken it on my phone. 

Lynsey very kindly gave Tony a phone because the phone that he has had for the past 10 years or more has begun to fail on him. He is not very technically minded where phones are concerned, so he now has my phone and I have the one Lynsey brought. 

The phone has a camera that takes panoramic pictures, that would have been ideal for taking the rainbow. Isn't hind sight a wonderful thing!

I came across something on the Internet the other day that amused me. It also made me think of my friend Elvira. Elvira sends me emails quite often, they make me laugh, sometimes they make say awwww! and sometimes they bring a tear to my eye. 

So this is for you Elvira

I just could not resist. XX

Until the next time...

Donkey, dog and a couple of cats.

I am still hibernating most of the time, however I had to go out on Thursday to attend the hospital. I am happy to say I got the all clear, everything went as planned and "Mr Assassa" told me I could now get back to normal. Both Tony and I found this highly amusing, I have never been normal in my life and I certainly don't intend to start now.

The workmen in the school playground seem to have got a sudden spurt on, I think they must be nearing completion date. They have laid some imitation grass on part of the playground, that wont last long once the squirrels see it. I can imagine they will be burying nuts under there before too long.
The squirrels are playing chase around the tree again, that means more babies in spring.

We had the first snow of the year, Tony took this very quaint view from the window.

The view from the window.

The snow didn't last long, it was followed by more rain, as if we hadn't had enough of that. Although we were not as unfortunate as some people. 

The rain and snow didn't stop the birds in the garden

                                                                                                                                                                                   STARLINGS

 BLACKBIRD

ROBIN 

SPARROW

COAL TIT

However the Coal Tit never stays very long, it is a case of snatch a seed.












Then fly away.










Tony and I had a ride to Go Outdoors to purchase a new gas bottle for our heater, (a god send in this weather). In a field at the side of the car park we spotted a couple of donkeys, one of which was very friendly. Tony took a few photo's of it.

 Hello,

 

 Gis' a kiss,

Alright then, don't.

Mum and Trevor lost their dog Happy at the end of last year as some of you know. Well Mum has always had a dog. When we were growing up there was always a dog in the family as far as I can remember.
So a few days ago Mum and Trevor welcomed a new dog into their home.

Meet Oliver.

Oliver is a rescue dog from York R.S.P.C.A.

He could not have found a better home than with Mum and Trevor.

An update on Lynsey's cats,

Pepper and Biscuit are getting on a little better. They will sit side by side to eat dinner sometimes.

As you can see Biscuit is still growing and is now slightly bigger than Pepper.

Biscuit enjoys playing and is always trying his best to get Pepper to play with him. Pepper is a good bit older than Biscuit so doesn't always want to play. Biscuit even goes to the extent of pleading Pepper to play.

Even on his knees holding up his paws begging Pepper will not play.

Well I am going back into hibernation, back into my onsie ,or my polar bear suit as Tony calls it.

Until next time...

A bonus for braving the elements,

With no improvement on the weather front, I am still in hibernating mode. I spend most of my days snuggled up in my furry onsie that Lynsey bought for me. (See she loves her mummy)

However today I needed to go out to buy some socks, some suet for the birds and a few other essenstials. Tony took us to B&Q first to get some pickling jars. He is pickling onions today, last time it was cabbage and eggs. (the eggs are yummy).
Then we went to Lidl for my socks, I had bought a pair a few days ago and I had liked them. They are flight socks, so they are support socks which stop my legs from twitching as much, and they come as high as my knees which is unusual. They are great to wear with my doc's.

Then we went to Sainsburys. I am so glad we did, I found some Gingerbread Dough. It was very cheap as well because it was on offer which made it even better.

So guess what I did this afternoon?

I made gingerbread bears, I also made bread.

The gingerbread bears will not last long because they are very morish! I made some small ones but they seem to have disappeared, I don't know where they went, honestly, (she say's with her fingers crossed tightly behind her back).

I don't really have much of any thing else to say, except

Until the next time...

Less photos and more reading.

The highlight of my day was a trip to B&Q for bird seed, then Lidl for a few essentials. You can guess from that how exciting life is at the moment.
The only other entertainment is watching the workmen in the school yard over the wall at the bottom of the garden. The builders have left, now the gardeners are here putting up a new fence. The men have taken down the fence at the other side of the yard and the top end of the yard. They have pulled a lot of ivy from the wall that runs along the gardens at our side of the yard. Yesterday a delivery of very big round posts were made along with fencing panels. The fence is slowly being erected. I am not sure yet what is happening at the bottom of our garden but we should find out soon.
Tony and I have been amused by a coloured gentleman, who appears to do nothing but walk backwards and forwards along the wall at the end of our garden, until the boss comes, then he moves so fast if you blink you would miss him.
The squirrels are not happy with all that is happening and have not been seen for two days, however I know they are close by watching because I can hear them calling in the trees. I think once the fence is finished they will be back, maybe before if they really want some nuts.
The birds are low in numbers too, this I think is a mixture of the work and the Hawks.


The bad weather is keeping me indoors so I am reading again, I am back to Jeffery Deaver, at the moment. I have however just read a book called " Little Black Lies" by Sharon Bolton. This was an excellent read and kept me guessing right to the end. I am looking out for more of her books to read.

Lynsey has joined the world of blogging, if you would like to take a look you can find her at

http://mypurplestatus.blogspot.co.uk



There you can read about her feelings, rants and day to day life with Pepper and Biscuit, her two cats.

Until the next time...

The rain keeps falling...

The rain is still falling, it is cold and miserable in the garden.
The squirrels however continue to come for the nuts and seeds. The collar doves, starlings and magpies have also visited. There has even been several blackbirds, they are beginning to get territorial over the garden. Small squabbles are breaking out amongst the birds, the males are trying to round up the females and remove the other males from the garden.
The robin is strutting along the fence, sticking out his red breast, obviously posing.
The snowdrops are sprouting and some daffodils too, Margarets garden is coming to life very early.

I have not been down to the shed, it is too damp and cold for me, I will make myself go tomorrow, the nut boxes must be almost empty, squirrels were seen looking through the shed window today. That is a sure sign food is running low.  I wouldn't mind but they don't really let me take pictures like they use to. The squirrels have become crafty, they watch me put out the food, they come and take a couple of nuts then stay away. However as soon as I go back inside the flat, three of them will appear in the garden. They will swing off the feeders, do somersaults on the shed roof and look at me through the window as if they are laughing at me. Yes I know I'm loosing the plot again.!


I just thought I would give an update on "Biscuit ", Lynsey's newest cat. After a bit of research we think he may be a "Maine Coon Cat" or at least a hybrid. These cats can grow quite big, Biscuit is already bigger than Pepper. Just to give you an idea of how big they can grow take a look at this.

This is a collie type sheepdog with 2 Maine Coon Cats

All I can say is good luck Lynsey.

Until the next time ...

Happy New Year.

The beginning of another year, 2016, I wonder what this year holds for us!

Hopefully some good luck for a change.




There have been builders working in the school behind our flat for a while, the squirrels are not happy.
The workmen act as though they have never seen squirrels before, they point and bang their shovels on the ground when they see them. Tony has been tempted a few times to fire a nut in the direction of the men, in the hope they would think it was the squirrel throwing them. The squirrels sit in the tree and watch until they can run down the tree into the garden without being seen. Once in the garden they can stay and eat their fill.

One of the squirrels keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

The squirrels have been enjoying a mixture of nuts over the festive period. They have also had some chocolate and some cake.

The cats are still causing a problem in the garden, however walnuts on the end of their nose does make them run!

Robin posing for the last photo of the year.

The Robin came to see me for his last photo of the year and posed very nicely at the top of the old concrete washing post. He even sang a song before leaving.

We have seen feathers falling in the garden a few times recently but not known what has been the cause.  We didn't think it was the Sparrow hawk as we are pretty sure that it would not be able to strike and carry off a collar dove in the air. We did wonder if it could be a Peregrine. There are Peregrines that nest in Wakefield Cathedral which is not that far away as the crow flies.

On Wednesday Tony was in the kitchen looking out of the window,  sitting on the fence were two Collar Doves, all of a sudden as if from nowhere a Hawk flew down struck one of the Doves and carried it away. Tony said it was definitely not a Sparrow Hawk and he was almost sure that it was indeed a Peregrine.

The remains of the Collar Dove.

We are both now spending a lot of time watching from windows, Tony in the kitchen and me from the shed. Waiting for the Hawk to strike again. Of course it will be the kettle scenario "watch kettle never boils",  "Wait for Hawk never comes".

I saw this and decided that this is very fitting for all my friends and family, because no matter what they love me for who I am, the same as I love them for who they are.

Happy new year, may 2016 bring you good health and happiness. xxx

Untill the next time...