watching a Parelli Clinic

no flowers yet

in previous years there has been more to photograph at this time of year, perhaps last years constant rain has rotted things away, or the very cold temperatures are holding things back a while. hmmmm.....not to mention my guilty neglect of the garden last year. this helebore is holding very tightly to its buds, but not opening. I have two others who are looking decidedly neglected, have very poor stems and no flowers at all, will see how they fare this summer and remove them after next winter if they no longer perform.

I think these are 'snowflakes' Leucojum vernum, usually flowering a bit later than the snowdrops but there are no snowdrops to be seen....

and I think these are crocus, as usual I have not labled things so its more of a surprise!

the greenhouse temperature gauge, which I haven't checked for weeks, was showing a low of -10C and a high of 11C. so it must have been much colder outside, well I'll just have to get an outside thermometer too if I really need to know!

oh hai!

Abbey has a habit of turning her back on me when she sees me coming with the camera, she must have decided this was her good side...

I'm still trying to get used to this camera, a Canon S5 IS which I've had since last April, its not been out a lot this year, the constant rain meant it wasn't out often. it seems fine in the sun and bright light but I haven't really got the hang of fading light, I get a lot of out of focus shots or camera shake.....time to re-read the instructions for info!

lets have a good year!!

lots of hedgerows and trees have been taken out round the farmlands, nice to see these three old ones still here. the greenhouse temperature gauge shows a low of -8 C to a high of 6 C.

ice forms over the running water(its a burst mains pipe, making its own path down the lane)

very pretty

also very pretty!!

and Tansy, on 'her' futon. she's sharing with a stuffed dog....

brrrr....chilly..

cold and beautiful, the hills catch the last of todays sun.
Abbey makes faces at all the other horses as she comes down to the gate, modelling her red tartan raincoat... the horses have been turned out in the snow but for a shorter period than they would normally be out, they like to get out but complain they are starving by the time they come back in.

she discovers the camera is not edible.....

once she's in and has food she is more disposed to be nice to her fellow field mates, little Buttons would take the hay out of her mouth if he could reach!

at home Smokey Tiptoes sits on the mat and looks at the snow but doesn't go out...she's a house cat now!

and Daisy gets to stay in bed all day. Tansy did go out for five minutes but declined to have an 'in focus' photograph today. I should try to get one her on 'her' futon...no other cats allowed on it apparently, I haven't tried sitting on it yet so I'm not sure if I'm included in the 'get off!!'

Smokey Tiptoes

Smokey Tiptoes is a bit reluctant to come outside. Maybe its because there is 'too much' of everything for her, she's used to traffic, but not lots of people and all the houses. My other theory is that she's lived outside for two years and now she finds my house warm, cosy and the bed is too comfortable to give up!!
She tends to look outside and come straight back in, the longest she's been out is an hour, its been very wet and cold since she arrived so maybe she'll get out more when its warmer(if that ever happens!) and I'm out working in the garden. I know Daisy and Tansy like to come out to help me when I'm busy...

frost

a little winter beauty from a generous spider. its probably well homeless now as I took this picture just before driving home on the motorway. hmmmm, spot of rust there too.......
I drive a little Ford Fiesta, its eleven years old and still running good. Sometimes things break and fall off...ah well, I'll keep it as long as it goes.

competing with an injured horse?

SAY NO!!

this site has a petition against allowing horses to be used in copmetition if they are on bute or other painkillers. please add your name if you think competing on an injured horse is wrong.

CFL light bulb BURNS out

literally.....
I came in from doing Abbey, switched the light on in my bedroom and went for a quick bath as I was going out for dinner.
When I came out of the bath my bedroom was full of smoke and it was coming from the long life lightbulb!!! I took it out of the socket using a cloth and put it out onto the doorstep. At first I thought it might have been a fault in the light socket, but no, it was fine. I checked the bulb again and the plasitc is blackened slightly around the glass.
This frightened me more than a bit, if I had come in, quickly changed my clothes and gone out I may have been out for hours and left that light on.......which would not have been good!!!!!!
There is very little on the internet about this, a couple of stories, one from NZ, and some interesting press releases saying that CFL light bulbs are not a fire hazard? There is 'no smoke without fire' so why go to the bother of these press releases unless they are having problems they are covering up?
I have never heard of this and thought that these energy saving light bulbs were meant to be safer and better.
hmmmmm.....now I'm just plain worried about every single light bulb in the house, they are all energy saving. and I often go out and leave them on.

definately winter!

a very unkempt garden, thought it translates to photo very well, look at the long shadow of the greenhouse in the low winter sun, and this is before midday...it was a nice morning so another veggy bed was tidied and turned over with some home compost(one at a time due to sore back), two potatoes, two parsnips and one turnip being the total of todays harvest, now being stewed for my dinner.

Smokey Tiptoes gets onto the doorstop for the second time...yesterday this was as far as she got, today she made it into the garden for one minute....then she decides life as a house cat must be too good and gets back up the stairs pronto!! I'm glad she sees the house as a place of safety, and that she did not bolt away.

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!