Sunny Days Tinged with a Little Sadness

The weather here is fab at the moment, hot, sunny, with clear skies and dewy mornings, perfect for my growing vegetables and topping up my tan!

The only things missing are my children who went off at 6am this morning for an extended holiday to the UK where they can see their friends and family members they've been missing. it's really strange them not being here and the place is far too quiet. You'd think there would be constant noise with all these animals around but it's not, well apart from the dogs barking right now and the crickets chirping!

Scruffy or Vasko the dog is still with us and has moved into the yard area, he's mainly quiet and happy to laze about all day. He's now wearing a lovely flea and tick collar and has been de-wormed along with the rest of the dogs so should start putting some weight on and generally feeling better in himself. He likes to follow me about in case I have any food for him as I often sneak him a small treat lol. The pigs are doing great and have also had some treats today, our friend Jordani came round to say he had boxes of free food for the animals and we had to take the ex-camper van-now pick up to his to get it.....we came home with 10 boxes of pitta breads so they'll be shared out between the animals over the next week or so.

Tomorrow we have hay to collect from the field, more chillies to plant, animals to feed/water etc and hopefully there'll be time for a siesta too. With the temperatures rising daily it's now time to adopt the meditteranean (spelling?) afternoon snooze to get out of the heat and save getting burnt to a crisp. At least I don't have to worry about the kids getting heat stroke now or not applying sunscreen. I'll sign off for now but would like to ask if you like my new theme/background. I'm not sure if it's a little over the top and would like your opinion please.

Pass the Matchsticks Please

Just a short update tonight as I'm struggling to keep my eyes open.....getting up earlier is extending the time I can work in the garden but I keep forgetting to have an afternoon siesta so am feeling shattered today. Burning the candle at both ends only works for so long then I need to chill, sleep and recoup some strength.

Scruffy the dog who decided he wanted to stay here is now asleep outside the front door - which is a big step for him as he's been sleeping outside of the gate since he arrived. We've had some interesting news about him and he's really called Vasko. He was/is owned by our village policeman who lives 12 km's away and said the dog went missing. He laughed when he realised the dog was here, got in his car and left without the dog, so it looks like Scruffy Vasko is here to stay! He's getting so much friendlier and looks forward to us opening the door and giving him some attention. He barks at people passing by and seems to get on well with the other dogs and Snotty the cat.

Well that's it for today folks. Feel free to comment and tell me what you've been doing and what you have planned for the summer. I'm off to bed as it's wayyyy past my bedtime and I'm definitely in need to some beauty sleep!

A Week Off

As the title suggests I've had an unexpected week off from blogging and the internet. Our connection here is via a wireless router on a digital wireless network and the router stopped working properly meaning we were incommunicado until today when the operator gave us a new router.

This has meant that I've spent more time in the garden and have finally managed to get my raised beds finished and an extra one built that has yet to be planted but will have my tomato plants in later today, once the weather cools down a little.

I've still been out with the camera as the flowers are wonderful this year. some of the food crops are flowering too and my courgettes are starting to fruit nicely. I've added more peppers and chillies to the garden and pulled the last of the radishes out before they bolted, the chickens enjoyed them immensely. The beech Marten has stopped it's nightly raids so we haven't lost any more birds and one of the missing bantams is sitting on eggs and keeps popping out of her hidey hole for food and water.

I've got to admit that having no internet for a week has made me work harder in the garden, but I have felt a bit cut off and missed reading other blogs, tweets and facebook posts, it will take me a while to catch up with everything. Strange how the internet quickly becomes a part of daily life.

Here's a pic of the dog that has decided to live here, I strongly feel that he's probably been dumped by an owner and he's not in the greatest of shape but starting to look a little better each day. He seems to be quite friendly but a little scared at times and looks forward to the gate opening at tea time! He's been named Scruffy for obvious reasons.