Category: The Cat.

The wild hogs comes closer and closer.

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The wild hogs are now just 50 meters (much the same in yards) away from my cottage, in the cow pasture beside the dog house/ yard. I did wonder why the dogs kept running around like crazy during the night 🙂 🙂 🙂

-6C (21,2F) as coldest last night but it can’t have lasted that long because it was close to 0C (32F) when we went outside after we had woken up. They said the sun would start to show around 8 am, so of course it didn’t arrive until after noon but when it did the world warmed up properly again 🙂

I haven’t done much today, I sowed some leek seeds and was about to sow some bell pepper seeds but for some reason I still haven’t 🙂 🙂 I’ll do it after writing this 🙂 I can’t start sowing especially much yet because I don’t have the space indoors and we’ll most likely have frost several nights the coming week, days will be warmer again though.

Chionodoxa.
Vinca minor.
This is how it looks after I removed the grapevine. I think I’ll plant an apricot tree there.
Can never remember the name on these, spreads really happily everywhere though.

I started to clean up my garden yesterday and continued for a while today. I also gathered all the pots I’ve spread around the garden 🙂 🙂 For some reason I never empty them in the autumn so I really need to do it now before weeds grow and cover them so I can’t find any when I need to 🙂 🙂 I’ve also continued to rip up stinging nettle roots and this time I managed to stay away from those nasty leafs. I have way too many nettles in the garden but then again they are edible so it is perhaps not such a bad thing to have just in case the orange idiot does something really stupid (worse than what he has so far and he’s done some really stupid things) 🙂

I also tried to nap in the sofa while the sun shone through that window. Stupid idea when one has two dogs and a cat 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can however tell You that when I gave up they finally decided it was time for them to have a nap 🙂 🙂 🙂

The orchid that flowered earlier this winter decided to give me more flowers, didn’t see that until I thought it was time topwater it 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I must remember to buy more tea tomorrow when I’ll drive to my health care place to give blood before the kidney x-rays. Some time this week I’ll know if I got a job at the coffin factory, if not it sounds like I have another one on the way, they promised to call back this week and give me a job if I didn’t got the coffin job.

Have a great day!

The ticks and mosquitoes are back, yay.

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Below 0C (32F) again this morning, nothing strange to be honest because that’s how it used to be back in the days. April here back in the days could be anything from what we have now to bitterly cold and snowstorms, usually the latter. This year the warm weather started so early that it isn’t until now we can see and especially hear bumblebees in the air. Also the ticks are active, yay, and yesterday I killed two mosquitoes that tried to drink my blood.

The first bumblebee of the year 🙂

We are thankfully out on our morning walks so early that it is too cold for ticks to be active, the ground is still frozen after the nights low temperatures. It will be less warm the coming days with especially Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights being pretty chilly but we’ll have sunshine and almost 10C (50F) temperatures during the days so it will not be as bad as they first guessed.Tuesday will be the start of rising temperatures again. So I took a bit of a chance today by sowing annuals in the little area where I’ll have flowers for pollinators. I most likely did this too early so that those more sensitive flowers might get killed even if they during those chilly nights still only will be seeds.

I’ve also brought up more trees from the cellar but those will be covered with fibre cloth so the freezing temperatures won’t reach them. It’ll be nice when I can bring out all those plants down there so that I can use it as an earthen cellar. The cool cellar works fine as a farther cellar but if summer is hot it will be a bit too warm down there as well. It is perfect during winter though when the temperature usually stays just above 0C (32F) as coldest, especially now days when it doesn’t get as cold as it used to be.

I think it is time for a cup of tea and perhaps some hard bread with cheese and jam 🙂

I have a couple of old piles with branches I’ve cut of from trees and bushes and yesterday the monster kitten went in to one of them and Malkolm was upset, he couldn’t follow her 🙂

Have a great day!

I couldn’t put it off any longer.

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It was pretty chilly this morning and the sky was covered with dark grey clouds and it looked like the ground was covered in a fine fog. I didn’t want to got outside if it was cold so our morning walk was delayed for quite some time. It wasn’t that much warmer when we finally did get out but it didn’t take that long before the sun broke through the clouds and after that we’ve had sunshine all day long 🙂

Today I couldn’t postponed it any longer, I had to clean the filters in my grey water sewer. It’s only the water from laundry, shower and the dishes going through there before it is pumped out to the Root zone. The root zone is much like a pond bit filled with sand, gravel and clay and planted with plants that prefers to live in swamps, both flowers (like the Yellow flag) and bulrush and other things. That area is much like a quagmire so one really doesn’t want to sink down into it 🙂 🙂 🙂

So to be honest there isn’t anything nasty in that water but still the filters and water are quite nasty 🙂 🙂 🙂 First from the dogs, dishes laundry dry and me are collected in the filter so after a while it sort of becomes a slow running liquid, it smells nasty in one way but since soap and detergent goes through it sort of smells perfume as well 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thankfully I have a water vacuum so it is easy to get out of the filter but after that I need to bring it out of the box, brush of what ever sticks to it and then clean it and I can tell You all that one isn’t especially clean after doing that 🙂 🙂 🙂

Waiting for us to finally come home after the morning walk 🙂

Now I don’t have to think about it or do anything about it for another year and I know I’ll drag my feet next year as well just because it’s so nasty. Just think of it as cleaning the shower drainage  🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ve also done two batches of laundry so I feel that I’ve done enough for today. Tomorrow I’ll go to the coffin factory for a visit and hope I’ll get the job 🙂 If not for any other reason than to have the title coffin maker 🙂 The only thing is that we don’t use titles here, no Mr, Mrs or Miss. We never say I’m doctor or coffin maker or anything. We always use our first names when talking to other people, even strangers but I would be able to use it when someone asks for what job I have. To say You or trying to use a title when talking to someone is to be rude and insulting here, even kids use the first name of their teachers.

This is the beginning of a greater sea-kale. It is tricky in so many ways when sowing them. Can take two or three years before it germinates and when it does it’s so easy to water it too much so it dies and rots away. As old though it’s tough enough to survive most things.
I thought this giant sequoia was dead after what ever it was (most possibly a certain monster kitten) had chewed off all branches but now it shows new needles 🙂

It is time to have that last cup of tea and after that I’ll see if there’s anything worth watching on tv.

Have a great day!

Well she’s anything but an explorer, she prefers to stay close to the door and sleep in the sunshine. Also Malkolm will not allow her to stray too far 🙂

Hold Your thumbs and cross Your fingers!

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These photos are a bit old now but it was nicer weather when I took them than it was this morning 🙂

 

We had odd weather yesterday, we were supposed to have rain and we did get some misty rain but that was it. Instead the air felt sort of thick (no mist or fog) so it did drop a lot from the roofs anyway, really odd 🙂 It stayed that way until noon today when the sun broke through the clouds and dried up the air.

I was preparing for going to my job coach when a number called that I didn’t recognise at all. Normally I just check the number and if it is from specific telephone companies I just block them because it is always someone trying to sell me things. Today however I answered and a good thing that was 🙂 Next Tuesday I’ll go to a place where I’ve applied for a job and have a tour of the factory 🙂 I have no idea if I am one of several people doing this or if it means I got the job but just to be able to actually go to a work place feels good.

This place makes coffins and back in the days Falköping had six such makers, today I think this is the only one left. I just took a little look on Google and it seems it’s the only one in the entire country, can be wrong but it looks that way. So I need You all to hold Your thumbs and cross Your fingers next Tuesday 🙂 Very little has happened here otherwise, Cranes fly above our heads all day long and they are so many down by the lake that the sound from them is like a wall of sound 🙂 Even though it is hard to tell that sound comes from Cranes I still like to hear it in the morning 🙂

It is time for a cup of tea and then go outside for a while before the sun sets and it gets a bit chilly again. Yesterday I placed a couple apricot tree, a peach tree and  four quince trees from the cellar out in the patio. I would have brought out more if it wasn’t for the monster kitten and Malkolm rushing through there when they chase each other 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll see if I can moves things around to get some extra space for a couple of more trees 🙂

Have a great day!

 

Spring is sprung.

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Still rather cold nights but after follows sunny and spring warm days. It was supposed to be windy all day but it seems the wind lost its breath after noon, so both me and my neighbours have been outside in the garden today and when my neighbours are outside none of the dogs can hear my voice or understand what I’m saying 🙂 🙂 🙂 Not even the monsterkitten was interesting enough for Malkolm to keep an eye on 🙂 🙂 Then again she mostly lays on the kitchen stairs sleeping in the sunshine 🙂

It was just above 0C (32F) when we went out for our morning walk and there was still frost on the trees and snow on the ground where the sun can’t reach it. Cranes flew above us and the small birds in the forest sang their spring songs. We saw a deer out on the bog but it was too far away for Alma to start screaming 🙂 🙂 🙂 I didn’t mind 🙂 she screamed enough when we passed the new neighbours 🙂 🙂

I’ve been busy in the garden for three days now and I must admit that I have some training sourness all over my body 🙂 🙂 I’ve done the first more serious weeding both in the vegetablegarden and the bigger one that used to be for vegetables as well but I last year decided should be a sort of flower meadow. Well I failed badly last year but can see signs that it might be better this year. If I had wanted it to be filled with only our wild flowers it would take lots of year to be successful, so instead I’ll have any kind of annuals bees like and also a few perennials. Plus I have lots of garlic growing in there as well 🙂 Perhaps mice, voles and deer will stay away from it if I have 🙂 🙂

So I’ve now filled my composts till maximum and I still have more to remove, well that’s a problem for later. I have lots of vegetable seeds but perhaps I need a few more flower seeds, annuals.  Still lots of time for that since nights will continue to stay below 0C (32F) for quite some time more and one never knows what April will be like, could be anything from summer warm to snow storms. So my body is aching but in a sort of good way 🙂 I slept unusually well these two last nights though 🙂

Last years model, new one is approaching soon.

Since something bit off big parts of my Pawpaw seedlings last autumn I bought five more seeds this winter and they arrived three days ago. These seeds are really tricky and even though I managed to get five small trees last year means nothing, I’ve read that not even in nature are the success rate higher than 25%. So all I can do is to hold my thumbs and cross my fingers because they might just as well rot instead. If any start to grow I have no idea how to make them survive next winter since what ever it was that bit them off did it in my cellar. To be honest it could just as well has been a certain monsterkitten that did that job 🙂 🙂 🙂 She will not be permitted to be in the cellar next winter 🙂 🙂 🙂

I know I’ll have to weed it soon again but the big job is at least done. I’ll have potatoes, some kind of cabbage, beans and most likely some peas in there as well.

The coming meadow, I hope I’ll get a better result this year. Why the fence You might ask? Dogs I’ll answer 🙂

The garlic seems to like it, these are just a few of them.

This is a perennial Hollyhock and I do hope more will show as spring is going forward.

It is time for that last cup of tea and perhaps I’ll have one of the newly baked french rolls just waiting in the kitchen 🙂

Have a great day!

Cranes.

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There’s nothing like a bath in icy cold water 🙂

I wasn’t going to post anything today since very little was supposed to happen but then I needed to go to the supermarket to do some shopping.  We did have our morning walk before I left though and it was a really nice walk. Just above 0C (32F), no wind and sunshine so it warmed up pretty quickly. The Jays were arguing and we had lots of Ravens above us, something must have died nearby so they didn’t have to fly to the roads to see if they could find something there.

Looks much like life, doesn’t it? everything goes straight and just like it should and then it takes a turn one didn’t expect but hopefuuly it will turn back to what it was before 🙂 🙂 🙂

This is actually how one can see if the mound is made by a vole or a mole, a mole makes these lumps while digging but a vole just push out the sand as it is.

I brought the camera with me this time and stopped by the lake. I checked the statistics and yesterday there were 3900 cranes by the lake. Lots of them in the fields as well but still far away to how many they can be 🙂 I’ll stop there again before the season is over. After that the ones without a partner will walk around in the fields around here so I’ll show photos of them all summer.

Soon there will be loads of these parked here and You always know when the Germans arrive because their mobile homes cost just as much as a house 🙂 🙂 🙂

The rest of the day we’ve been spending in the garden. The monsterkitten was a bit more brave and walked around to the other side of the cottage, not close to the gate though because Malkolm wouldn’t allow that 🙂 She’s still only walking around the cottage but that won’t last for long 🙂 and than I need to keep Malkolm close to me so he doesn’t follow her 🙂

It is time to make that last cup of tea for the day and to check the dinner for tomorrow, it’s cooking in the slow cooker right now and the cottage is filled with the smell 🙂

Have a great day!

A day outside for the monsterkitten.

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We’re having a really nice day here, a bit frosty in the morning but temperatures rose when the sun did. So today we’ve had 11C (51,8F) 🙂 There is a wind blowing but it isn’t that cold and like most days it can’t reach my garden.

We walked down to the creek and I must say that Alma is getting better and better walking well. Malkolm is just the opposite but that could be that I only notice it now when Alma has started to calm down 🙂 🙂 🙂 We could hear lots of cranes but couldn’t see any, the big migration north has just started and soon I’ll be able to see them flying over us as soon as we’re outside. The doves have arrived too, I do like their sound in the morning when we go outside.

I took a look at my small vegetable garden yesterday and since the weather is so nice I decided I would start removing all the weeds today. This early in spring I can only see the biennals and the perennial weeds and thankfully they grow big enough in autumn that they are easy to see now. It was mostly Aarons’ rod, a few dandelions and also small stinging nettles. The Aarons’rods grow so big that they need to be removed and I did remove most of the dandelions as well, left a couple since I like the leafs in a salad.

Also stinging nettles are nutritious but to be honest, they spread like wild fires and no matter what people say they do sting badly already as tiny plants. Wild raspberries is a bit of a problem here, they too spread fast but then again those berries are probably the tastiest one can find but not in my vegetable patch 🙂 🙂 I also found some carrots from last year so the dogs and I shared them 🙂 🙂 All these weeds filled up that small compost I bought last summer, the black one that one can and must spin around to make it work properly.

Where the Pawpaws grow. Doesn’t look much but they have survived the winter, all green beneath the bark 🙂

It was so so full now that I barely could spin it 🙂 🙂 It works amazingly good, it’s just made of some kind of plastic that also insulated really well. They say it works down to -11C (12,2F) and I believe them. It’s counted as a warm compost and during summer it gets really warm and I put my hands in it now when it was cold and I could still feel warmth in there. I’ll continue tomorrow with more weeding and thankfully I do have a big compost made from the same material that still has some space it it 🙂

She didn’t look too happy when she looked out the door 🙂

Malkolm never far behind.

The monsterkitten was allowed to walk out from the kitchen door by herself today. Can’t say she was especially enthusiastic in the beginning, lots of going in and out at the beginning 🙂 🙂 She did get more brave after a while but as soon as the dogs thought she had wandered a bit too far (4 meters as most wich is much the same in yards) they started to make sure she walked back to the door 🙂 🙂 🙂 We’ll have much the same temperatures the coming five days so she’ll have plsnty more times to explore the garden 🙂

Alma was also keeping an eye on her. An exciting day for the monster kitten and she’s been sleeping all afternoon 🙂

Time for dinner I think, have no clue what I’ll make but after that I’ll make a pot of tea 🙂

Have a great day!

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It was cold this morning when the dogs, monster kitten and I woke up. -14C (6,8F) but there was no wind at all so when I walked out in to the shine from the rising sun it actually felt rather nice even though I only wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants. It didn’t take long before I could hear drops dripping from the roof.

Still I can’t say that the snow did a lot of melting during the day even though it did become rather warm. Today the birds started to sing again and I could hear cranes from fields not too far away. I could also hear Alma the entire walk because today she decided that whining in a high pitched tone would make us all happy 🙂 🙂 🙂 She did behave very well otherwise. Instead I had to scold Malkolm because he decided that if Alma was supposed to walk without pulling the leash someone else had to 🙂 🙂 🙂

I haven’t done much today though, applied for some jobs and been outside in the garden every now and again. The snow is slowly melting around the early spring bulbs but that’s it. This is the time of year when newly plants die, the ones planted last autumn that is. Their roots haven’t spread down properly  in to the ground so if the ground still is frozen they’ll dry out pretty quickly when the warmer weather comes, that little soil that they brought with them from the pot will dry out really quickly and since the ground is frozen it can’t get any moisture from it. So just before the cold weather would arrive I was outside watering everything I planted last autumn and those plants that live on the border to what they can manage. All I can do now is to wish that I watered enough.

Everything down in the cool cellar are now getting tiny leafs, rather annoying since I can’t bring anything of it outside and since one of the plant lights I had broke so it is a bit too dark down there now. Can’t do much about it though, not until the nights a get warmer. As soon as they’ve gotten used to be outside they usually can take a night or two in a row without getting damaged. Doesn’t look like that will happen in the closest seven day 🙂 🙂 🙂 I think I have one peach tree, five apricots, two red mulberries and lots of quince seedlings and even though mice? (could also be a monster kitten 🙂 ) have chewed on all the giant sequoias it still looks like four of them have survived, cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs for good luck 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I hope that it will warm up quickly tomorrow morning (after a pretty cold night again) so I don’t have to scrape ice from the car before I’ll go to the supermarket 🙂

Have a great day!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

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The snow started to fall already yesterday afternoon, just tiny flakes but with time they grew bigger and multiplied as well. I’m not surprised because this always happens after the first crane has arrived 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m not a fan of it though, I would have preferred it to stay green and nice. The weather sites seems to agree that this is the last snow for this time and from Thursday and eight days into the future we’ll have cold nights but fairly warm and sunny days, none of us will believe that’ll happen until it does 🙂 🙂 🙂

The wind today is a bit nasty so we had our morning walk in the forest where it couldn’t reach us. All birds were quiet, even the jays and ravens seems to have thought this weather was just too much 🙂 Yes I admit that it does look pretty with snow everywhere but it is enough to see it in photos and post cards 🙂 Back in the days warm weather like we had just a day ago was quite unusual in March. March was sort of the last winter month and April could go either way. Just around 21 years ago we still had winter the first of May when I opened my garden centre. It was so cold that I couldn’t bring out any spring flowers.

Now days it’s rather unusual to have winter at all in April, the only exception in recent years was last April when I brought home Malkolm, we had had spring temperatures for quite some time when easter came and Malkolm as well plus a snowstorm we haven’t had in years 🙂 🙂 🙂 40cm (16 inches) of snow here but not far away they had 90cm (36 inches) during one day 🙂 🙂 🙂  I don’t miss the old winters but they were more predictable. Winter now days seems to be shorter but more intense when they come.

Since the wind can’t reach my garden I thought it would be a good idea to let the monster kitten meet snow for the first time 🙂 Well I would be lying if I said I think she likes it 🙂 🙂 🙂 She just stood still looking at all this white garbage on the ground and falling from the sky. So I brought her to the apple tree where she was the last time she was outside with the rest of us, she didn’t like that either and suddenly she started to shiver so I put her inside my jacket and brought her inside again. I think I honestly can say that there’s at the moment no risk she freely would go outside again until the snow is gone 🙂 🙂 🙂

Spring flowers are thankfully used to setbacks in the weather but I was surprised to see this spring iris in bloom now.

It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps read a book or see if they show any interesting re-run on tv. I can also take a nap even though last night was the first night in some time that I slept really well.

Have a great day!

Another wonderful spring day.

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So any photo with sunshine is from yesterday.

Two days with temperatures above 10C (50F). Yesterday sunshine all day and today we weren’t supposed to have sunshine so it started to shine after we had come back from our morning walk and lasted almost until the sun was about to set. It has been so nice to being outside but colder weather is on the way. Tomorrow will be the last day with spring temperatures and after that it’ll cool down a lot.

However one isn’t getting any wiser by looking at the weather sites  because they show so different temperatures that it’s impossible to even guess 🙂 🙂 So I’ll do my best to enjoy tomorrow and the sunshine we’ll get.

Most of the cold is gone now but I still have the coughing and I know it most likely will stay for quite some time. I’ve either coughed so hard or sneezed, because I do that as well, that a new little muscle most likely is ruptured but now on my right back side. I know it isn’t Alma this time because she has behaved exemplary these last days. The only thing she still does that annoys me is the whining but actually less than normal. We have of course only walked where the risk of meeting anyone is minimal but I’m still impressed!

I drove to the grocery store yesterday and checked if I could see any Crane but no such luck, lots of different geese and what we call song swans (relatives to Trumpet swans). I think however that I heard a crane this morning but the sound was hard to hear because it was from a long distance. Still they will start arriving any day soon now 🙂

The first one I found today. The sun broke through and the croci opened up 🙂

Yesterday I also allowed Sara to be outside with us. The door was open because I was going in and out of it for a while and then she nonchalantly tried to walk outside not knowing I had my eyes on her the entire time 🙂 🙂 So I carried her around in the garden and then let her walk on the biggest branch of my biggest apple tree. I think she liked it but she wasn’t even close to want to go outside today, lots to so through for her I guess 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and then watch some tv I think 🙂

Have a great day!

Windy.

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More or less s storm outside and it will be worse during the night so we haven’t had any walk today, too dangerous to walk amongst trees in these winds. The steady wind isn’t that bad but the gusts are, we’ve spent a lot of time in the garden instead, not the same but better than nothing.

Alma is close to ending being in heat and Malcolm’s injection is close to sick in to a 100% so tonight Malkolm and I won’t be leashed together so all of You cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs for good luck and that my guess is right 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ll also go the the grocery store for the first time in a long time tomorrow and I’ll bring the dogs, Alma in the back seat so she has plenty of space to be tangled into the safety belts 🙂 🙂 🙂 and Malkolm beside me in the passenger seat. The winds will still be strong so it’ll be fun to drive to the top of the mountain with no shelter from the forest 🙂 No risk of tipping over in the gusts but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a bumpy ride 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is soon time to bring out the monster kitten to the garden, I’ll need to make some kind of harness because I don’t want her to walk away by her own already now. She’s too small to meet any of the bigger cats in the area on her own yet. It is so much easier in summer when the doors are open all day and she can walk in and out as she pleases and most likely won’t walk away too far, I can say that all she wants right now is to wander the world by her self and she’s really not prepared for that.

It is time for that last cup of tea and then watch some tv.

Have a great day!

Feeling better and spring’s approaching :-)

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We’ve had a couple of wonderful spring days here. Chilly nights perhaps but sunny and warm days. The birds are singing spring songs and I hear the drum rolls from woodpeckers all over the forest. Earlier in February I also heard the owls when it went dark and I do like that sound. Haven’t heard the foxes or the Lynx so far though.

The cold is slowly going away, it shows no hurry to do so though but it is easier to breathe now when the pain is almost gone but a too deep breath only starts the coughing again 🙂 🙂 🙂 It doesn’t feel like I’ve run a half marathon when we come back home after our walks either thankfully. By the way the photos You’ll see today can be from three days, two days ago or from today.

The monster-kitten is back to her evil ways, every day she attacks the dogs 🙂 🙂 Alma has finally started to react to it so the little monster has realised she’s best to use when napping and not playing 🙂 Malkolm still accepts that she chews on him but then again he’s just a year old yet so that might change. His shot has finally started to kick in while Alma slowly is going out of heat. Every now and again though they show that I still can’t trust them being alone for any longer period of time 🙂 🙂 🙂 I must say that being leashed to him during nights is working without any problems at all, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have said that if it was Alma who had to be leashed to me, she would have been dragging me on the floors all over the cottage 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I’ll have nothing to eat though, a good thing with this cold is that I haven’t been hungry at all, normally no sickness of any kind has dampened my appetite but this one has 🙂 I’ve been under surgery lots of time and every time I have woken up I’ve asked when I can have something to eat 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!