The mornings are so much darker now, we should get a bit of a reprieve when the clocks go back at the weekend, but it won't last for long. It's not a bad thing for me I don't have to travel for work, so I find the dark mornings quite soothing.
I get up while it's pitch black, let the dogs out for a toilet break ... not all take me up on the offer, Suky has the bladder of a hippopotamus. Then the kettle goes on, and while I wash my hair it comes to the boil ready for that first reviving cuppa of the day. I feel no guilt sitting over a leisurely coffee (or two) on these dark mornings. No jobs can be done outside, and with the dogs back in their beds and snoozing it would be so wrong to do any inside and disturb them wouldn't it ;-)
At the first glimmer of light I go over and open up the henhouse, sometimes they complain as they consider me late, other mornings all I get is the odd one coming down the ramp with much stretching of legs and wings, glad to be off the perch and back in action.
To see a chicken having a good stretch and eager to get out and about to catch the early morning worms and bugs is good for the soul, how much different are their lives to those of caged birds and even commercial free range birds who's doors are not opened until much later when eggs have been laid on the conveyor belts to make it easier for the farmer.
After a doggy (and pussycat) breakfast we roam the paddock checking all is still well with our little slice of the world. The dogs dashing here, there and everywhere. Rosy caught another rabbit yesterday, her third in three days, she despatched it quickly but left the body where it had fallen, so soon after breakfast no doubt there was no room for a rabbity feast (phew). As we left the house this morning I spied the buzzard taking flight with a section of bunny, and by the time we walked over all that was left were picked clean bones and a flurry of fur. The wild birds ate well yesterday thanks to our over zealous Jack Russell.
It's blogging about these little aspects of our days that fixes them into our memories ... vital for Lovely Hubby who has the memory span of a gnat with amnesia ... but also lovely for me when so much is whizzing through my head on a daily basis, to have things in black and white, and the minutiae of our days recorded for posterity, with pictures.
We went into Betws y Coed the other weekend, Lovely Hubby treated himself to a ridiculously expensive bar of chocolate ..... so I got a pair of jugs from the little vintage stall. They didn't cost much more than the chocolate ... but as you can see they lasted longer!!
Sue xx
