and it rains and rains

thats about it

monday

hmmm. yes. its been that kind of Monday.

Smokey comes to stay

this a photo of little grey Smokey and Phoenix, the stable cats, taken last year. sadly Phoenix was run over and Smokey has missed him very much. There are two other cats about but they are quite independant and not about most of the time. as there's no longer any horses staying at that yard, there will be no people about and I was very worried about her as she is such a friendly cat..... so Smokey has come to live with me, it will take her a bit of time to get used to being in a house, also for my cats to get used to her being here. She is fairly young still so it should be okay. We are now 5hours into our new 'household' and no fighting yet....actually they are all avoiding me mostly as I've just de-flea'd everbody and they hated it!
So when I talk about Smokey the cat, and Smokey the highland pony, I may be the only person who understands what I'm on about.....
One of my ambitions in life is to become a 'mad old cat lady', every street should have one!

more Winter Warmers

these are my daughters cats modelling their new jumpers...they are indoor cats so maybe they might feel the chill...Felix is the balck and white

and this is Sam. he always looks a bit surprised with his big round green eyes!

winter coats..

here's Abbey with her latest wardrobe aquisitions... gearing up for winter...she is still living out without any rugs on, and growing her winter beard and shaggy coat. some of the older horses are wearing light rain sheets to keep them dry and warm. when Abbey is stabled for the winter she will be rugged with waterproofs for the day and warm for nights.

these two rugs have been purchased from a very nice lady on e-bay, who very kindly sent along a third rug too, very generous! and much appreciated! its an expensive business getting everything together.

garden winds down for autumn

hmm, a much neglected 'long border', its looked better!! it had very little done to it last year due to the weather and this year was just about totally neglected. there has been a couple of attacks on invading weeds and not much else, the path is growing its own greenery too now!!

the leaves start to turn their fabulous autumn colours

a bright spot provided by...the name escapes me.... I've another one in yellow and its not obvious what they are. perhaps my brain cells are winding down for autumn too...

gladioli, stunning! but only one flowering stalk this year.

some winter fare still growing, the weather is turning a wee bit colder so this will be cut off and it'll go into the greenhouse to ripen off hopefully,

pot of pumpkin soup no.2!!

this year has provided more tomatoes than I've ever had before, just hope there will be enough warmth to ripen them off a bit more. some of them have been bitter, which may be the long cold time they have had this summer. one of my neighbors has been very helpful in opening and closing up the greenhouse to stop it getting too hot or cold if I've not been in.

and further proof of garden neglect! this cold frame ought not to be sheltering such a fine crop of weeds!!!!

if only life were always so simple...

borrowed from I Has a Hotdog