Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Day trip to Anglesey today for a last tidy up, new tennant moves in on the 11 th

[Wendyf]

Slowly building up my activity level and trying to get some tidying done outside and in the barn. I'm expecting a delivery of hay this morning, so yesterday I had a pile of loose old stuff to move. (Remembered to use a face mask to keep dust inhalation down!)
The dogs & cats haven't sussed out that the clock has gone back yet...I can cope with the cat walking on my back, and the occasional cold nose being thrust under the duvet but it's the repetitive sound of Bertie licking his legs that drives me out of bed...it's like Chinese water torture!

[Stanley]

Jack has the same affect on me when he occasionally gets under the duvet and appears to feel the need to scratch his ear with his hind paw....
You're quite right to remember the mask when moving old hay. 'Farmer's Lung' is very common and is caused by fungal spores on the hay. Once you get it in your lungs you are stuck with it for life! In fact it's a recognised Industrial Disease....

[Marilyn]

Fingers crossed you have better luck with this one, Sue..
Luck of the draw I am afraid...
( a recent visit by a tradesman to fix a glass shower door on our property had him describe what he found as "a typical rental property with lack of care by those paying the rent"..."filthy showere/tiles/etc"...) always presentable enough when we do inspections but obviously they don't bother in between!)

[Marilyn]

...and you have made me so glad not to be a pet owner...( have considered it since having son's dog last week... But I do enjoy waking up naturally...and it seems something worth hanging on to...)

[Wendyf]

I would just love to be allowed to wake up in my own time!

[BBvideo 425,350]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q[/BBvideo]

[Marilyn]

We shut our door when Abby visits and the worst she has done is lay at our door and sigh. ( and puff air under the door)
When she stayed with us last week, I was up before her every morning, pulling curtains open and popping the kettle on while she stumbled from our leather couch, stretching and blinking. I put covers on the couch for her. ( she sleeps on the couch at home). Every morning I fed her and she ate/did what she had to outside...then I went back to bed with my coffee and she returned to the couch...all before 6.45 am.
Good dog. No puppy stuff...suits me!

[Cathy]

Every time I press the extra snooze button on my alarm clock my cat 'has her say' . She is a good 10yrs old now and I'm quite sure that I can understand exactly what she is saying . What annoys me is when I get up and feed her and find she still has plenty of biscuits left in her bowl!! and she would have been perfectly fine and I could have snoozed a little longer.

[PanBiker]

House sitting, smart meter guy is due at our Jacks. He has the 10am - 2pm slot so I will have a wander down shortly. I may get a portable lunch in the guise of a pie from Hutchinsons on the way past.

[Wendyf]

It's Feebie the large, fluffy cat who kicks everything off here, she sleeps at my feet and when she decides it's wakey wakey time she jumps off the bed with a huge thump then noisily sharpens her claws on the wicker linen basket. That wakes Bertie who has a bed in our room, and as soon as he starts wandering around Bruce arrives from downstairs where he has slept peacefully on the settee. The worst thing is when Feebie leaps back up and lands on my bladder! I get up (usually about 6.30am) let dogs out, put the kettle on for a cuppa, feed cats, let dogs back in, feed dogs then head back to bed with a cuppa. All animals settle back down to sleep. Yesterday they got me up at about 5.45, today I ignored them till just after 6.00....so by the end of the week we should have adjusted!

[Marilyn]

Back when I owned a cat and dog of my own, I suspect the cat woke the dog. The dog came to wake me...never hubby.
The dog was diabetic so had to rouse myself enough to measure her insulin injection and inject her, before feeding her and making sure she ate her breakfast.
By then I was well awake. Only went back to bed with coffee on weekends, but never got much space, as both dog and cat got beside hubby before I could...hogging the bed. So darn happy they were. I nearly froze to death just trying to get a flap of covering.
the things you do for pets!...

[PanBiker]

As it turned out I didn't need my portable lunch. Meter guy turned up at 10.05 and was all sorted by 11.30, so a short house sit.

[Stanley]

That was quick Ian, they must be getting better at it!
Jack sleeps downstairs on the sofa in the front room for most of the night but comes up and gets on the bed without wakening me. He takes his lead from me, he never stirs until I do. Apart from the hairs he is a perfect house dog...... When we come down I take him out for a pee and then he gets into the rocking chair and stays there until I put my boots on to go for a walk. Routine is all!

[PanBiker]

Invigilating a GCSE exam, my first day working for the new Academy. LCC have already told me that I am no longer on the payroll.

[Stanley]

Boring I know but these days comms are all.... Whatsapp has been red hot this morning, I could be in Perth and know less about what is going on. Even the fact that Shane Warne has just entered the commentary box at the cricket ground......
I shall get an hour in the shed come what may!

[Sue]

Busy making a toile for Erins bridesmaid dress. Claire and Adam are getting married in March. Also I will be paying a visit to the cemetery. Tomorrow is 15 years since my mum died and 13 years since Bobs mum died. It is now a happy day as it is also Brionys birthday

[PanBiker]

Picking Sally up from the station.

[Stanley]

Comms, butcher's, reading the BET and posting Stanley's View and if possible, an hour in the shed! It's all go......

[Sue]

Art class thus morning and an afternoon oil painting in my friends studio

[Stanley]

As is the case these days my main focus is 10,000 miles away in Perth. My habit of early rising comes in handy. So, as usual, communications and shed to take my mind off the realities.... It's a funny old world!

[Stanley]

I never got in the shed yesterday! Must do better today.....

[Sue]

We went to Skipton yesterday for a bit of a day out. We remarked on how green the trees still are in your neck of the woods compared to up here near Healey Dell, Rochdale. We had a nice walk around, morning coffee and later lunch in some very nice tea rooms. This was followed by a quick trip to Empress Mill on Colne to buy an essential loop turner to make rouleau loops for Erins bridesmaid dress. The toile is now finished and waiting for her to try it on. Meanwhile I can get on with some of the things that won't change if/ when she grows over the next three months. I shall also be making a little matching fabric bag for her to carry . My mind has been active during the night working out the best way to do it and as usual the problems have been solved and the pattern drawn in my head. I may get that made today when Bob is out at the model railway.

[Marilyn]

Sue, you gave me a memory of making those ties, for my foster mother, when I was about 8-9 years old. Done with a tiny pin back then, and the equivalent of a satay stick. Happy memories, for we connected over sewing and cooking.
Correct me if I am wrong, but these are sewn on the bias to give extra stretch.
I made some bridesmaids dresses that required them ( some time ago) and I remember sewing them on the bias.
I recently came across photos of that wedding and can't believe how lovely the dresses looked.

[Stanley]

My mind has been active during the night working out the best way to do it and as usual the problems have been solved and the pattern drawn in my head.
You've got a Design Committee Sue just like mine.....
Comms and shed...... Sounds boring but it isn't!

[Marilyn]

Having been in many caravan ablution blocks, with great variation on standard of facilities, I am trying to design a hold all that will work in the worst of them. Some shower stalls offer 2 hooks (great! Cos I'm taking stuff off and need to put other stuff on!)...others only have ONE hook. Have only been in one establishment that had a shower curtain to stop everything getting wet. I take a rubberised mat to stop any chance of getting Athlete's Foot. Sometimes, things are so narrow that it is difficult to get dressed in dry clothes.
My big patchwork bag works well enough in better situations, but sometimes I get half way through proceedings and get fed up digging about and rearranging things. I need something I can hang over a door and everything is in order of need.
Not to mention, I wonder how older or obese folk cope in some of these shower stalls, as I have found I cannot bend to dry my feet in some. You have to kind of prop yourself up against a damp wall to drag your knickers on!