Category: Phone photos.

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I think most of the photos I use today were taken yesterday when the world still looked frozen and frosty white. Well Sara as well of course.

The cold and wind free days are over and now we have windy but warmer days instead. The only thing I’m not happy about is how much dirtier the floor becomes 🙂 🙂 Still I prefer warmer weather. I have been born in the wrong part of the world, I should have been born in a  warmer climate where it stayed around 20 C (68 F) all year round 🙂

I would like to say this was taken in the early morning but it was already 9:25 am.
I never picked that last squash in the vegetable garden 🙂

 

Today we must have had some rain during the night and the rest of the day, except for a few minutes, the sky has been evenly grey. Now the sky is clear, the full? moon is bright in the sky and therefor it’ll be cold during the night. Tomorrow the day will be cloudy again and I wonder why it always happen that way and not cloudy nights and sunny days? 🙂

     

I’ve done some laundry today and right now I’m waiting for my french rolls to cool down so I can have one or two before falling asleep in front of the tv 🙂 I’ve had some fun with clay for a couple of days now and have had really fun. I’ll show You when it is done. It isn’t beautiful in any way 🙂 🙂 🙂 but I’ve had lots of fun doing it. The problem is that I really have no good place to work with it, I’ve been standing at the kitchen counter and the stove 🙂 🙂 Back pain as a result but it’ll pass 🙂 I do have a lot more time now when I don’t have a job so I thought I would see what kind of hobby I would like besides photography.

     

I doubt I’ll continue with clay though even though this was a kind that hardens without having to stand in a kiln lots of hours. I have lots more things I can do and also sit down while doing it so if You’re unlucky You might have to look at several more failures until I know if I have another hobby or being happy about having my cameras 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

I think it is time to try one of those rolls, this time they at least look good, and of course that last cup of tea for the day 🙂

     

Have a great day!

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Sunrise, well the sun wasn’t supposed to rise in a couple of ours but the tiny gap in the clouds really made it look nice.

The morning was quite cold today since the sky was clear and I could see the stars before the sun rose. No wind which I like but making our electrical bills go sky high (for those that pay per hour, I don’t so it doesn’t affect me that much. I pay for the average price of the month so I really should love the wind so our wind power plants turn as much as possible 🙂 🙂

Here comes photos I took on the way to the store/factory and back home again.

   

I drove to the grocery store in the village where I used to work, I didn’t know I needed as much as I bought 🙂 I forgot the list I had written and only remembered fruit, cat food and a cheese so I brought home a little of everything 🙂 🙂 After that I drove to the factory and wished everyone a good christmas.

     

I had driven almost all the way back home when I realized that I also was supposed to pick up a package in Gudhem so I had to turn and go back out on the roads again. It’s the opposite way than to my old work place 🙂 So up the hill bring the package bought something I thought I had forgotten and drove back home again. It wasn’t until we were out in the forest that I suddenly remembered something I really needed 🙂

     

So as soon as we were back from the walk I put the dogs in the dog yard again, jumped in to my car, drove to Gudhem and bought it and felt pretty annoyed about it all so I also bought a soda and a big chocolate bar 🙂 🙂 🙂  I now refuse to look at the list if I actually needed something more because I refuse to drive to any store again until next Monday 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

Clouds arrived while we were out on our walk and now we have fog again. It’ll be cold during the night but from tomorrow and some days ahead we’ll have warm temperatures again. Yes I know they aren’t that good in guessing the coming weather over here but I wouldn’t complain it it actually reach 10 C (50 F) for a couple of days or why not the rest of the winter 🙂 🙂

Lots of playing in the garden after I had come back home from the second drive to the store 🙂

   

Have a great day!

The monster kitten is for once sleeping 🙂 🙂
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I went to the mail box and checked if I had gotten any mail, we only get it every second day and I never remember what days they are 🙂 Anyway I took this photo on my way back. The left one is my neighbors and the right one is mine.

Been to the supermarket in the early morning and followed the note I’d written and instead of buying more things I don’t need I actually removed some since I really don’t need them and probably want to have other things next time I’ll go to the grocery store 🙂

     

We were supposed to have rain today but I don’t think we’ve had any, we did get some sunshine instead and that was a good swap I think 🙂 Above 0 C (32 F) temperatures today so the snow and frost is slowly melting away, very slowly it still stays in places where the sun can’t reach. I don’t think Alma has behaved so well ever before as she did today!! I only wish I knew what was different this time 🙂 🙂

     

Every time my or my neighbors cars aren’t working as they should we borrow each others cars. Last year just before Christmas my old Peugeot broke down totally I could borrow their VW, this time they have their Volvo at the garage so now they borrow my Renault 🙂 I might have a rather shit life in some ways this autumn/ winter but I do have the best neighbors one can have 🙂 Also they like when my dogs jump over the fence and plays with their children and that’s a huge relief 🙂 🙂 🙂 So at the moment it’s a good thing I’m at home most of the time 🙂 🙂

     

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I baked some french rolls today and they sort of sank and are a bit flat but texture wise they actually are really close to the “real” ones but they taste absolutely nothing at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I’ve been sitting here wondering how all taste just have vanished when I remember that I forgot to put in salt 🙂 🙂 🙂 I tend to bake on a hip as we say here but I think I can remember how much of each product I used so I can do them again and put salt in too 🙂 🙂 🙂

Well if Alma is cleaning her up she of course does the same to her 🙂

I wonder what the Yule Gnome is trying to defend himself from? People who’d rather have Julmust? the biggest of all sodas during this time of year 🙂

Have a great day!

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The temperature dropped down to -10 C (14 F) again last night and it has stayed a bit chilly all day but we did get lots of sunshine instead so that made it all feel so much nicer. I always feel that even if one really doesn’t have any bigger problems during winter anything always feel so much worse than when it is sunny and at least above freezing when it comes to temperatures. Like if the car behaves odd I can take it with a smile during a nice spring to a nice autumn day but if something happens during winter everything just feels like life’s about to end in a miserable way 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

Last evening when I just had gone to bed a big lorry drove by my cottage. I was a bit surprised but it happens when they’ve cut down trees but I hadn’t seen any bigger logs lying by the road. Today I realized that it had been a lorry full with gravel, they had poured it out on the road down to the creek. Unfortunately they had used bigger stones than what one usually do and these stones are too big to settle on the ground, they will continue to move while walking on them and either one stumbles on them, fall and get nasty cuts in the hands when having fallen or one sprains ones ankles. If we’re lucky one will be able to walk without injuring oneself after three or four years. Plus the layer is so thin that I can’t see the use with it.

New gravel and it looks nice but is hellish to walk on.

   

Anyway we had to walk on them since we walked don to the creek and the older forest and I almost sprained my left ankle 🙂 🙂 🙂 Since it was a but troublesome to cross the creek yesterday we also had to walk back home on the same gravel road 🙂 The dogs dislike it as well and our mood while walking there wasn’t helped by Almas’ constant whining 🙂 🙂 🙂 I so wish I knew why she continues to keep on doing that.

   

I brought in three big branches from what I pruned off the apple tree yesterday. I wanted to bring in more but I have no idea what so ever where I’ve placed my big old urn, something in the back of my head says one of my old cats broke it but I do hope that’s a false memory. I can’t say it was beautiful in any way but it was practical to have during easter when we bring in lots of branches for easter and dress them more or less like our christmas trees but with other things like colored feathers and chocolate eggs filled with creamy nougat and chickens and I can go on forever 🙂

     

When we Swedes first started to have christmas trees they used to be put at the top of flagpoles, so only rich people could do that. Then they brought the tree inside and they hanged it from the ceilings so the trees were of course smaller. It took some time until they placed them on the floor and if they dressed it they often used apples ( and if it was a rich family perhaps oranges, by the way do You know that the Swedish name for orange (apelsin) means apple from china) which they could eat on Christmas, not the oranges they would most likely have started to mold by then but the apples.

     

It is time for that last cup of tea and then fall asleep in front of the tv 🙂

    The Himalayan Cedar is looking good so far.

Have a great day!

Winter wonderland.

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We woke up to a village covered in white, well covered is a bit much but it is at least more snow on the ground than last time. It made my neighbor happy because it’s her birthday today and she wanted snow at least today and around Christmas 🙂

     

Even I must admit that it looks beautiful outside now and if the weather sites are somewhat right it might stay like this for a week or longer. I often hear that the snow at least makes it less dark but that’s only true if there is some light reflecting on it, I learned that when I moved to the countryside, if it is cloudy it’s just as dark as it is without snow 🙂 🙂 A clear sky and full moon is the best but since a clear sky usually also means nasty cold I prefer to have it cloudy at nights 🙂 🙂

     

I went to the super market this morning, Tuesday mornings are perfect to go there because there’s so little customers there that one can take time to just walk around looking for what one wants to buy and still not be in the way for others 🙂 That’s a dangerous strategy though because it is too easy to find other things to buy 🙂 I made it through without buying anything that wasn’t on the list though 🙂

     

I’ve started to put seeds in the feeder that is hanging in the huge lilacs and the birds of course loves it and I hope it will stop them from eating all the window putty from my windows. I have no idea what it is that makes them love eating it and it is so annoying! Anyway the small birds are happy and so is the Sparrowhawk. The first thing that happened was a Sparrowhawk catching a house sparrow in front of me. I really can’t be angry because they need food too but I do think it could have been polite enough to wait until I had walked in again 🙂

     

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I’ve just made a couple of scones and they are good but I don’t like how they smell for some reason. So the faster I eat these the quicker I can make other ones that doesn’t smell like these 🙂 🙂

     

Have a great day!

A bit grumpy after having a nap in my sweater 🙂

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The sun is slowly rising.

Very windy here again but we had sunshine for quite some time and the temperature was at least above freezing. We walked down to the creek because I wanted to see if I could find where they had cut down trees. We walked up-stream and they had thinned out the smaller trees that grew along the creek but they must have been elsewhere too because the sound they make while working kept on for much longer than what these few trees could demand.

Still some time before I can see it.

   

In one way I don’t like it when they do like this along the creeks here but then again it is most likely some rule/law they follow by doing it. Also now it’s much easier to take photos of the creek up there too 🙂 A while ago they put up a caravan, well that’s not the right name for it, it’s green and looks like one of those green barracks they have by construction sites. There’s three holes on one side of it and three hunters can sit in it at the same time. They have also put up a feeding station around 20 meters (much the same in yards) away from it, I guess it’s for when they hunt wild hogs. It doesn’t seem especially sporty having it that close but we do have lots of hogs here now.

     

Alma behaved rather well today, Just a little whining and the occasional husky talk, that’s odd because there’s no husky in her 🙂 🙂 She did pull the leash too much but I’ll take one battle at the time, to fight both her loud whining/shouting and pulling the leash is a bit to much 🙂 🙂 🙂 Unfortunately when she pulls the leash Malkolm starts to do the same but he’s easier to communicate to. He follows every track he can and gets a bit exited so he forgets that he actually can follow tracks even if he walks calmly 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

The dogs and the little monster has been playing all over the cottage today, they’ve been running up and down the stairs, having fights in my bed (I still haven’t checked how it looks there now 🙂 🙂 ) and Sara the monster cat has followed me down to the cool cellar and always refused to come back up to the kitchen at the same time I me. Normally it takes two minutes before she starts to scream behind the door but sometimes up to half an hour 🙂 I forgot about it when we had our morning walk so she must have been sitting there for one and a half hour 🙂 🙂

 

Back in the days when the dogs living with me and were quiet dogs on our walks 🙂 We sometimes surprised deer sleeping here in the sunshine. They all knew these dogs so they rarely bothered to move when they noticed us 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. Nothing to watch on tv I’m afraid but I do have lots of dvd’s I haven’t looked at yet. I always buy a few just to have when we have days there isn’t anything to watch on tv (and no I don’t stream), the problem is that I always forget about them 🙂 Good thing to have at Christmas though 🙂

   

Have a great day!

Much hardier than I thought.

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It’s finally warmer again but not especially close to what they guessed, instead of 10 C (50 F) it reached 4.5 C (40,1 F). They did guess it right when it came to the rain though and it it also quite windy so the photos You see today are from yesterday when it still was cold and sunny, so much nicer to look at 🙂

     

Nothing much has happened here and that’s just how I like it 🙂 I had decided to let one of my seed grown Gardenias stay outdoors because I have very little space indoors now 🙂 So I ignored that the cold period would come and it fell down to -12 C (10.4 F) and I thought that was it, after all it comes from warmer areas. So I brought it in anyway and now it has a slightly too dark place in the cool cellar. So I just checked the hardiness for it and to my very big surprise it is hardy down to -12 C(10.4 F) 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well I hope any pests it could have gotten from when living indoors, like whitefly have died 🙂 🙂

     

I have also gone tired of my Camellias since they only flower while down in the cool cellar, I know they can take this cold and some more so I’m not surprised that they still look really healthy out there.  I want around in the garden to see how my small trees had managed this first cold period. The Persimmons has frozen some, the tips of their branches but looks good otherwise. To my very big surprise the Pawpaws looks totally untouched by this first cold and those were the ones I was most worried about 🙂 The English walnut is also untouched by the cold and the Red mulberry, White mulberry and the one called M. accidosa or Mulle as its name is as well 🙂

     

Well this was the first cold weather for most of them and winter is young, Last winter really didn’t start until early February and ended in the middle of March just to come back to easter again for a week, just as I brought home Malkolm 🙂 🙂 We had 40 cm (20 inches) of snow and it took a week for it to melt away 🙂 🙂 🙂 I wouldn’t mind if this was the last snow for this winter but my neighbor wants snow on her birthday on December 3 and on Christmas, after that she doesn’t care either 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

I think I’ll skip that last cup of tea for the day and Instead I’ll make some rose-hip soup, fits so well on a windy and rainy day like today. I’ll also have a slice or two from the loaf I baked today 🙂

     

Have a great day!

Well our weather service :-)

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So this morning they changed the weather predictions, no snow at all but slightly colder perhaps. The low pressure will continue to the south of us before it turns north so the snow will fall over eastern Sweden. I’m all for that even though I now have bought everything I need for quite some time just because of the snow prediction they showed yesterday  🙂 🙂 🙂

     

Well by now we all know how great they are in predicting the weather over here so I wouldn’t be the least surprised if we get that snowstorm anyway 🙂 🙂 I will at least be prepared for it. The insulation in these old wooden cottages have been made as good as it gets but the windows and doors are usually letting the cold indoors, old cottages tend to live a life of their own and move some with heat and cold. So today I’ve started to hang up draperies or what ever I have that covers the door and of course I’ll have something thicker at the bottom so that any cold coming from the doors stay there. Last year I couldn’t find any thicker draperies that could cover the entrance door so I actually used three thin sheet.

     

I really couldn’t believe how effective this would be since they were so thin. Well turns out that layer on layer works really well so the entire door froze 🙂 🙂 🙂 I couldn’t unlock the door from either side and since the outside of the door was covered in snow/ ice the door had also frozen to the door frame 🙂 🙂 🙂 During warmer days I just pull it all to the side and when needed I’ll just cover the door again. I don’t want it to insulate too good when it comes to the windows since I need it to have potted plants there. It gets a little bit dark indoors to be honest but sunny days I’ll just push all covers to the side to let the light in.

I cleaned some carrots I brought in from the vegetable patch in the water barrel, this is what I found this morning 🙂

   

I cleaned some carrots I dug up yesterday in the water barrel, this is what I found today 🙂

I’m just about to put some bread in the oven, we call them tea cakes but that’s not the name in English, I’ve looked and it’s absolutely something else. One can say that it is sort of flat french rolls 🙂 Even these gluten free ones taste really nice, especially as warm with some butter on and a, in my case, strong cheese 🙂 One can even put some jam on them as well, really yummy 🙂 so I’ll have that last cup of tea for the day together withe one or two of those tea cakes 🙂

    

Have a great day!

Today we were lucky with the weather.

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We had thick fog again this morning but I could see the sun rise behind it so we hurried out before the fog would evaporate. I would have loved to go out to the bog and the island but it was noticeable that the sun would remove the fog just as I would reach it. So we walked down to the creek instead.

     

When one read about our beings it often says that this is the season they’re the most active because it’s so dark all the time. Then one read about them in all other season and those are also when they are most active, usually because we have all our holidays from christmas till midsummer 🙂 🙂 🙂 Then again we have so much daylight here during summer that they wouldn’t be able to do much at all if they were sensitive to daylight 🙂 🙂 I think that this morning would have been great to see any beings in the fog out there 🙂

     

In the northern parts of Sweden, by the high mountains and deep forests they have a being called Vittra, a close relative to our vätte (vaettir or wight in English) Both live underground and can look much like a human but being considerable smaller. While the vätte normally can live rather close to humans the Vittra prefers to stay away from us, plus they have their own livestock, like cows or goats. They don’t dislike us but they tend to stay away from us which I guess means they don’t like us 🙂 🙂 Normally they also almost always wear beautiful folk costumes. Back in the days humans let the livestock walk up on the mountains during summer and that’s when the young girls that lived with the animals up there often could meet the Vittra or their livestock. If the girls were smart and quick in thought they would throw an iron knife over the animal they had met and when they had done that they could keep the animal.

     

It wouldn’t take long before the original owner would visit them though to set the rules. Not milk the animal too much and any offspring from it would go to the Vittra. Their animals looked just like ours but were much smaller and gave lots more milk. It is said that their cows were purely white and wore a silver bell with a wonderful sound. Usually there were never any problems with the Vittra but there were a few things to look out for. They could steal our livestock or our children but they usually returned them back after three days 🙂 Another thing is that they behaves much like our badgers when it comes to where they walk. If one would be unlucky enough to build a home on one of those paths one had problems. One wouldn’t be able to sleep at all during nights ever. So the only solution to that problem was to move the house or sleep with all doors open so that the Vittra could pass at nights 🙂 🙂 Vittror never came alone though, the entire family would have to pass and also their livestock 🙂 🙂 (one Vittra several Vittror)

     

This photo is a bit blurry but I think it came out pretty good anyway.

There were also Vittror that reigned over lakes and if one tossed in a silver coin (or I guess anything silver) before going fishing in those lakes one would catch lots of fish, unless it was one of their pikes, no matter what one tried they were impossible to get out of the water 🙂

     

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. The dogs and I had our dinner not long ago so I’ll just have that cup of tea.

Have a great day!

Malkolm and Alma do like Sara the cat but she’s never calm so they prefer to avoid her when they want to sleep (if they can 🙂 🙂 🙂 ). Old Nova made Sara calm in some way I don’t know so I think she’s missed by the kitten. Sometimes however they make an exception and let her stay close 🙂
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Alma did not want to share her chew hide 🙂

We were supposed to have fog this morning but it never happened, now on the other hand I can see that it is rolling in over the village. Well I can always hope for tomorrow. So mostly grey and dull but thin enough clouds to make it brighter than yesterday.

     

I had to go to the super market this morning because I forgot to but cat litter last time I was there. I did need some cheese as well but nothing more. Well I came home with more things but that’s what can be expected of me 🙂 🙂 Lots of christmas stuff up now and if it hadn’t been that Sara the cat screamed her way in to my home, she has enormous lungs for being so small and that’s good for her since I never would have found here otherwise 🙂 🙂 I would perhaps have bought some christmas ornaments for my plastic christmas tree.

     

No idea to do that now because she’s a climber and tends to toss down anything she can on the floor 🙂 She has so far not started to chew on the potted plants but I think I need to move one of the orchids because I think they are poisonous in all their parts. I have to admit that it was nice to have a christmas tree again but since it is plastic it will last until I can bring it out again, well that depends on how old the little girl will become and me too to be honest, after all that tumor on my kidney is a question mark at the moment.

     

The dogs and I walked down to the creek again and Alma behaved so good until she heard something moving in the forest, after that she was a bit much but still so much better behaved than she was just a year ago. Losing Nova (and Albin) must have been rather hard for her. Malkolm had his nose towards the ground the entire time so he didn’t notice anything at all 🙂 🙂 🙂

   

I think it is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I haven’t had anything to eat since just after we came home from our walk so a sandwich or two would be fine as well 🙂

Have a great day!

Foggy morning.

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As I wrote yesterday we had really thick fog last evening so I expected I wouldn’t see much when the dogs and I was outside just before going to bed. We had a clear sky and absolutely no fog what so ever, so I must admit I was a bit disappointed.

     

The first thing I did after I had woken up was to see what it looked like out there and the fog had returned 🙂 plus it was below 0C (32F) so it felt a bit nasty chilly to be honest 🙂 We went out to the bog and it was absolutely quiet and no wind. These last days I’ve heard spring songs from birds, the only thing I heard today was a couple of Ravens when they passed above us.

     

I went to the supermarket after our walk, I really didn’t need much but I needed to post a letter. A couple of days ago I was offered to see if I had “invisible” bleeding in my intestines so they could catch and cancer in my intestines. I’m not sure if this is because of my kidney, they have started doing tests for all kinds of things when we come to a certain age, free of charge of course. It could just be a coincident and of course I did what they asked for. Just as well check the entire system when I can 🙂 🙂

     

Anyway, I went to the super market and was just going to buy some milk and perhaps something to have on my sandwiches. So I came home with a small kitchen assistant, they are already displaying everything christmas there now and I guess this is seen as a christmas present. It was really cheap and online it would have cost almost twice 🙂 So I’ve already used it today to bake a loaf of bread that now is in the oven. This was my christmas present to myself this year 🙂 I can’t remember the brand right now but the reviews are good, I really should check something like that before buying anything 🙂 🙂

     

Besides that nothing much has happened, the fog stayed until I came back home after the supermarket and after that it has just been grey and dull. I don’t mind really, I didn’t have anything planned and we have been outside in the garden every now and again.

     

They have made an update on Windows Photo program and it annoys me so much. Windows wants me to upload every photo to the one drive app up in the clouds 🙂 I refuse that so then they make it harder with the downloading. It creates a folder by itself and put all photos in that, the problem is that it’s impossible to find again!!! So I need to move the photos from that folder to one I’ve made to be able to find them again 🙂 🙂 🙂 Also anything from my wildlife camera doesn’t show up when I try to download it to the blog?!!! I now must download it to YouTube and then download it here. Nothing exciting so far, just a couple of Roe deer passing by.

     

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and a slice or two from the new bread 🙂

Have a great day!

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The weather sites said we actually would get sunshine from around 10 am and for the rest of the day and later tonight fog would roll in. We did get some sunshine but it arrived rather late and as soon as the sun had set the fog rolled in. It is so thick that I can’t see the lights on my neighbors barn on the other side of the cow pasture. I do hope they’re right and that it stays until tomorrow 🙂

     

We walked down to the creek, followed it for a while and then went up in the old forest, turning to the creek and followed it down stream again and then went home through the forest on the gravel road. I’ve tried to show You where we have walked but I just can’t save the picture, I’ll try until tomorrows blog. We didn’t see any animals except for a couple of ravens but a couple of horses had walked in the old forest yesterday so Alma was pretty excited, she really don’t like them for some reason I don’t know. Malkolm was really happy though because he loves to follow tracks 🙂

     

I got a message yesterday that made me happy 🙂 Normally when one quit ones job by one self one get a period of 45 I think, days when one doesn’t get paid. It’s another thing when the employer fires us, then we’ll get paid from the first day from the unemployment fund. However if the employer does what they did to me, force me to quit because I can’t work those hours they demanded one can get approved to get paid from the first day anyway and my dogs keeping my neighbors up all night by barking at anything moving was a good enough reason to quit and therefore get paid from my first day of unemployment 🙂

     

The first good news in a long time 🙂 I guess it is time to have that last cup of tea for the day but I’m not hungry so perhaps a digestive or two will be enough to go with it 🙂

   

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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