Meanwhile over at .....

We were out last night, out with the other grown up people, and didn't get home until waaaay after midnight.  It's not something we do very often, but when there's a new marriage in the family to celebrate you celebrate :-)

Anyway the late bedtime ... it was 2am once we had had coffee and settled after the long journey home, well it seemed long driving for an hour and forty minutes in the dark and then the strange later start to our day, luckily the dogs were happy to lie in after being disturbed so late in the evening ... has I think left me in a thoughtful frame of mind.

My usual brisk food, film, or book related post over on my other Challenge blog turned into musings from the mind, so I thought I would link to them on here and share also on here ...

... my new mantra, motto, whatever you want to call it.

Over on my other blog today ..... is this.

Now I'm off to clean out the hen house and chop some wood .... my musings frame of mind won't live through that  ;-)

Sue xx

Cladding the Workshop

Another delivery of working materials and another job in the process of being done.

When we got planning permission for the garage space and workshop part of the permission was that we wood clad the workshop to take away the industrial look of it, and to be honest I hate the blockwork so it would have had to be done anyway!!

It will look so much better when it looks like a building made of wood as you approach the house.

Lovely Hubby has finished the first stage, which was to put the battening on that will hold the top layer of work. 

It was fiddly and time consuming but I think he's made a brilliant job of it and to my mind the whole building is already starting to look just that little bit better.

Just the front and the right-hand side are being done.  This side gets the full force of the Winter winds and rains so it was imperative to take the cladding round the corner to protect the building as well as making it look better.

I think he's done a lovely neat job, and after a day off yesterday to join in with the 'ladies who lunch' he's back at it again today, soon I'll be called out to lend a hand as the lengths of wood being attached on top will need two people to keep them straight while they are being fixed in place, but for now while he is doing some tricky cutting out to get the bottom layer straight on the right-hand side I'm keeping out of the way.

Sue xx

Have You Vanished?

While we were away at the weekend lots of you got in touch to let me know that my Blog List on the sidebar had vanished (thank you), but from my phone there was nothing that I could do about it until I got home to check things out.  It's a problem that seems to be creeping around the Blogger blogs at the moment. 

Since I have been back I have slowly and steadily been re-instating the blogs that were on the sidebar, and adding a couple of new ones that I have found on my journey around blogland.

Some of you have noticed that you were missing from the new list and helpfully reminded me, others I think are being a bit more reticent.  So this is a shout out to anyone who's blog used to be on my sidebar that I have yet to re-add to the new list, please don't be shy ... let me know.  All you have to do is to comment on this post and I will be able to pick up your link from your name. 

Also if there is a blog similar to mine that you journey to after reading mine each day don't be shy about letting me know it's name and if I like the look of it too I can add it to my sidebar to make your journey around blogland even easier each day.  Indeed if you have a blog that is along the lines of either of mine, don't be shy,  shout out and get yourself a little bit of publicity by making it on to my blog list too.

Now I'm off to try and pick up a few more links to my favourite people  :-)

Sue xx

To the Right and to the Left

If you look to the right it's all blue sky and sunshine ....

... but I think it's time to grab that last bit of washing in .... because if you look to the left it's not so good!!

Our weather here can change in an instant being nestled in the valley as we are.  Clouds roll in and clouds roll out, usually leaving us a gift of rain as they pass, but after almost three years of living here I have got used to the subtle changing of the light or the feel of the air, and nine times out of ten the washing is rescued from the line before it gets a second rinse from the skies.

Meanwhile, in the conservatory tucked up and not caring one jot about the weather, Ginger raised his head briefly as he heard me come in and then went back to pussycat dreams on his fleece covered pillow on the windowsill.

It's a hard life being a pussycat  :-)

Sue xx

Suky's Weightloss Journey

  

Suky has now been a member of our local vets 'Tubby Club' for the past sixteen months and in that time she has reduced from 12.2 kg, as she was in this photo taken at the start of her weight loss journey ...

... to her current weight of a much slimmer 8.8kg.

Her journey is ongoing, with each appointment now being a chance to evaluate if she needs to continue losing weight or to move onto a maintenance programme.  One thing's for sure we would never allow her weight to creep up to where it was before, she has done so well.

All we have done is to slowly but surely reduce her food intake, and she now eats a 'lighter' dried dog food especially formulated to help dogs feel fuller after a smaller meal.  You should see the size it swells to once she has a drink of water after her meal.  We tried it out for ourselves by pouring water on it in the bowl, it's amazing ;-) 

So she has a nicely full tum on less food and slowly but surely her weigh creeps downwards.  All I have to do is watch how many titbits Lovely Hubby gives her and reduce her evening meal accordingly if he has slipped her anything.  It might see mean to some people not sharing my food with her but hopefully I've already added a couple of years to her lifespan by reducing her weight.

Instead of giving her things to eat to make her happy I play more with her and enjoy a bit of rough and tumble in the paddock, something she wouldn't have had the energy to do a year ago.  And  there are still some treats that she has, an occasional half of a small dog sized Dentastix and half a carrot every time I am prepping carrots, but it's never a regular thing like it used to be.

She's now a much happier and fitter dog, as her running all the way up the hillside this morning testified to, she only used to be able to manage a run down the hill ... and that would have left her out of breath.

One thing's for sure a fat Pug is not a happy Pug no matter what folk tell you, but our new streamlined slimmer Pug is most definitely a happy dog, and we are happy dog owners.

Sue xx

Still They Keep Coming

I've come to the conclusion that I must have paid for a two year subscription for Kitchen Garden magazine as the copies still keep landing on my door mat with the free seeds attached.  This months, or should I say Novembers edition, also has a free 'seasonal harvest and cooking' booklet with it.

I've not even read last months yet ... which is really this months as it's the October edition ..... are you keeping up, so this one will be adding to my ever growing reading pile.  I don't like it that magazines publish so far in advance and it gets even worse at this time of year when they are all gearing up to a Christmas holiday and have to get their January editions in the shops as early in December as they possibly can so that the magazine staff can get some sort of holiday at the end of the month.

Hopefully though as the harvesting slowly winds down a few gears there will be more time for cosy nights in reading and I'll begin to catch up a bit.  It's already dark by 7.30pm here at the moment, and the nights are drawing in even more with each passing week.  The clocks will be going back an hour at the end of this month and then it's the time of year I love, with the curtains shut and the log burner and candles lit the evenings and time to sit down are much longer and it doesn't feel as though I'm working right up until bedtime.

Is your routine changing with the ever decreasing daylight and the changing weather?

Sue xx

Last Day of September

Well it's the last day of September, and what a quick month that seemed to be. 

It's also I think, the last jug full of Sweet peas from the Veggie Patch.   I only planted them to attract the bees to pollinate the French and Runner beans which have both fizzled out and done terribly this year.  The Sweet Peas however, have done brilliantly well, my best Sweet Pea display ever, bringing colour and a glorious scent to the hillside and the house over and over again. The more you pick the more you get!!

Shopping with Mum last week saw me spending another bit of my Flower Show winnings on more packets of seeds.  They were being sold off at 50p a pack at the garden centre, so that's another £3 spent.

Well roll on October, let's see what you have in store for us, is all I have to say now :-)

Sue xx