To Blog or Not?

I must admit to being a bit haphazard lately and my blogging has taken the brunt of it. Hopefully I can get back to a regular routine and on a much more even keel soon. Some days I just can't find much to write about and I'm sure this happens to other bloggers too. Today is not one of those days!

Hubby and I have both been down to the weekly market/coffee in the village cafe this morning for a change. Usually he doesn't come along due to other committments so it was nice to see him chatting with one of our neighbours over a strong espresso even if they did sit at another table away from "The ladies".

As usual there were bargains to be had at the "Drip Shop" or nearly new clothes stall and today I bought us all something to wear. Hubby got a lined fleece jacket, daughter a pair of jeans, son a winter jacket and I bought myself a padded waistcoat. All for the pricely sum of 10 leva (£4.29ish) brilliant! They'll come in handy as the weather continues to get cooler and the nights are drawing in. And as Autumn is officially here we've started draining the pool today so it can be cleaned and stored for the winter.

My remaining crops are due to be harvested this month and the plants all pulled out so the garden will be looking bare again. I made a start at removing the dead flowering plants today and already the garden is looking very different. I need to decide whether it is worth trying to plant peas at this time of year and have bought a packet just in case, but may hang onto them until spring. There are the house plants to bring back inside and find space for, a lemon, olive and avocado tree (ok so they're only small trees) and lots of geraniums that I'm going to butcher for cuttings to plant next spring. I WILL have a beautiful garden next year!

Another job for today was to vaccinate and seperate the piglets from their mum. Poor Charlotte has lost a fair amount of weight now feeding 10 hungry babies and is starting to look a bit poor, plus she seems to be slightly under the weather (although that could be due to a food change as our usual pellets were out of stock) so we've moved her into the back of the barn and let the piglets in with their older female sibling. There has been a good amount of squealing but everything is quiet now and hopefully within a couple of days they will all settle down. Charlotte will be getting extra attention and rations to help her gain some weight.

The chicks we were given a few days ago are not doing well either, in fact they are dying and I've no idea why. They're warm, fed, have water and a clean box to stay in but one by one they are getting poorly and very quickly dying on us. Tonight we have only 4 left and it's quite upsetting. Vasko is also a little under the weather, as I've said before he's an old Bulgarian hunting dog and not in the best of health. He has more than likely been abused/mistreated and never fed correctly for his whole life and although he has made improvements since coming to live here we are worried how the winter and cold will affect him. He's already opting to spend longer in his kennel during the day than last month and is not eating as well as he has been. In fact he's barely even putting on any weight and I'm quite worried that a lifetime of neglect is finally catching up with him. Maybe it's kinder to have him put to sleep before the bad weather really appears and while he's relatively pain free. What do you think?

Arggghh so much to think about and what with hubby and sister in law heading off in the next few days I'll be stuck home on my own for a large part of the day with too much time to dwell on things.