Menu of the Day and Chat

The first photo shows a heap of kittens, they usually sleep all bundled up together.
The second pic is Gwen with her rubber ring. She loves playing 'fetch' then tug of war. I've discovered that if you blow on a dog's face, then they immediately leg go of whatever they were holding.
The last pic is Gwen standing on an old battery with her face peeking over the board to watch the kittens.

Since they're 4 weeks old, I thought I'd try them on some kitten food. I put some down, softened with milk and it was scoffed by one of the tabbies, the one with a ginger patch on her forehead.
I then found her snaffling Minnies food, which is up on a shelf! They are scrambling all over the place now and can climb up the shelves, though I have to help them down.

I think that there's only one male, one of the gingers, the rest being female, which I'm glad about, I think people want females more than males as they don't spray, don't howl, don't fight, and are generally easier to have around. Bit like people really.....

The bedroom is on stop at the mo as Mr A is too busy with work and sorting the firewood which he'll have for sale later in the year. There's a dust sheet covering the new floor, walls are primed, ready for colouring in. We have yet to agree on the colours. It will be a compromise, I'd like a deep dusky pink in there somewhere, it'll probably be around the windows, with the walls a light neutral colour.

I've had a niggling toothache for a few weeks now. I can't have anything cold or hot near it as it sets off a dull ache, so I'm chewing one sided for now. I hate going to the dentists, dread, more like as I've had some awful experiences, (shudder.)

LAST NIGHTS DINNER
Cauliflower Curry with homegrown Coriander
Side Salads of Tomatoes with homegrown Fresh Basil
Our own Hard Boiled Eggs
Feta Cheese and Cucumber

Basmati Rice

Morrisons Maple Walnut Ice Cream - no, not nearly as good as Walnut Dream but it'll do...

TONIGHT'S DINNER
Tonight Matthew, we are having 2 dinners.

Dinner 1.
Pizza with Beechsmoked Honey Ham
Side Salads like last night

Dinner 2.
Braised Beef Casserole with Fresh Homemade Bread

Being such a miserable, wet day, I thought some warming stew would be nice, but it takes a while, so I thought the pizzas would do to stop the hunger pangs. The casserole should last a few days as well.

Mr A is going away tomorrow for yet another stag do. This is the 3rd one he's been on this year! They are going to be camping again, this time in Snowdonia. I just hope the weather dries up.
The countdown is on for our weekend away in Cornwall to attend a friends wedding. I saw some lovely clothes in M&S. I think I'll get a skirt and jacket in a particularly nice shade of light green. Then I need a haircut. I'll think I'll get it cut quite short.
Whilst delivering meals to the elderly on thursday, I wore my hair up. A couple of clients thought I'd cut it and said how nice it looked, so I'll go with their opinions.

Reading a Ruth Rendell book, Talking to Strange Men. I think I've seen it before on tv, as the story seems familiar. I don't think I've read it, but it's quite an old book. She does create some weird characters.....

LAST NIGHTS DINNER
Fresh Rainbow Trout, complete with heads and tails, dipped in flour and fried
New Potatoes
Lots of Peas and Purple Sprouting Broccolli from the Garden

Haagen Das Baileys Ice Cream

The fish is fresh, you can see freshness with the eyes. If they are sunken and dull looking then they aren't fresh. These had shining eyes, but didn't wink at me thankfully....

TONIGHTS DINNER
Welsh Spring Lamb Chops
New Potatoes
Peas from the Garden

Vanilla Ice Cream

I haven't heard back from Morrisons yet, after writing about missing the Walnut Dream Ice Cream they used to stock. I'm hoping it's going to be good news one way or the other.

The kittens will be 4 weeks old on friday, I'll start feeding them kitten food then. They are playing together and wandering around their run. There's straw on the ground so it wont be cold for them. They don't seem to make any mess, I guess that'll come when they start on solids.
Since I've been feeding Minnie on tinned cat food, her farts smell awful! She is looking quite thin as she's feeding them a lot still. I give her lots of milk too, she needs it with 5 suckling kittens to feed.

I introduced Gwen to the kittens by holding one of them to her so she could smell it and gave a gentle lick. Then I held her up to see them all wandering around, so it won't be a surprise when she comes across them later. There's a large wooden board across the lean to, fencing them in with some large batteries holding up the board. Gwen stands on the battery so her face just peeps over the top and watches them intently.
This morning, after Mr A got up and left the house, she got on the bed and slept next to me, I didn't realize she had till I got up and saw her there....cheeky madam!

Scarabella's having a bit of a holiday as Brenda's gone off touring Europe in their converted ambulance and Anna's gone to Portugal, as she does every year with friends. We will meet next week, maybe just 3 of us, but we want to keep the singing vibe going as we all love it so much.

I'll be booking my ticket for my annual camping holiday with Women in Tune (WIT.) I played there last year and had a great time, this year I'll just be a punter which takes the pressure off having to rehearse rather than just enjoy the workshops and performances. I'll be meeting up with friends that I just see once a year and catch up. That's part of the reason for going, I don't feel like I'm with strangers as the women who go are into making music or enjoy listening to it. I just hope the weather stays good. Camping in the cold and wet isn't my idea of a fun holiday. I actually live within driving distance, about an hour away, so can always go home to sleep if it gets too miserable.

I've booked the B&B for 14th and 15th August in Cornwall, when we are going to a wedding. Mr A will ask his parents to have Gwen for the weekend and our neighbours can put out food for Minnie in the lean to. He hasn't asked them yet and I've been nagging at him to do so, otherwise we'll be a bit stuck or have to put her in a kennels. Gwen's been to my inlaws place a few times, so it won't be strange for her. There's lots of space, being a smallholding up a hill overlooking the beach.

Mr A is still delighted at getting his own tractor. It's orange and has a see through cab. It didn't come with a front loader, so he's hauling timber around with it for now. The front loader is those big arms, attached at the sides. You can put all sorts of gubbings on them so that you can work with things in front of you, rather than just at the back. He has a large order for firewood from the local garage so that's what he's doing with it at the moment.

Last night's tv is about the best in the week. I enjoyed 'On Thin Ice,' the story about 3 Briton's walking to the South Pole. It's taken them a month of walking 16 hours a day to come 2nd in a race. Some Norwegians came first. It was harrowing at times, watching them suffer with the tiredness and the extreme cold. They all had beards and the beards had icicles on them. 2 of them got frostbite.
Top Gear is always good and finally, the new Family Guy. I think Family Guy is better than the Simpsons. It's witty, adult and funny with great characters in it.

It's now 8pm so Mr A will be coming in soon. He did say earlier about firing up the barbie for the chops but I think it might be too late. I've got to go and pick some peas now....

One of the ginger kittens bravely left the confines of the box and wandered out, wobbling on little legs and spotted by Gwen, (small light brown dog.) Gwen just looked, no barking or noise at all, wondering what this much smaller and ginger version of Minnie was all about.
They are starting to play with each other now. I've bought 4 plastic balls with bells in, hoping that they will play with them when older, with the possibility of driving Mr A potty.....

I know I'm repeating myself, but the colour on the ginger kittens is amazing, very vibrant and bright, almost luminous. The tabbies markings are very handsome, mini tigers in the making.
I can't wait for them to come out properly and see the different personalities. I think I'll want to keep one....

Right. That's the kitten news done.
I finally posted my letter off to Morrisons, asking them to reinstate the Walnut Dream Ice Cream, handwritten for the personal touch.
I mentioned that I write as 'Menu of the Day,' on a popular blog site and have recommended that ice cream. I may have exaggerated the readership numbers a little, (ahem.)
I hope I won't have to resort to a protest, holding a banner outside Morrisons. Possible banners.....

'Bring back the Walnut Dream!'

'2, 4, 6, 8, reinstate!'

and of course, the ever popular chants....

'What do we want!' 'Walnut Dream Ice Cream!' 'When do we want it! 'Now!'

Just spotted a Wire in the Blood programme on ITV3 at 9, it's 2 hours long so it should be a good 'un.

Mr A back tomorrow - Horray!

DINNER
Quorn Cottage Pie
Fresh Asparagus

Baileys Cream Haagan Das Ice Cream - not bad, not bad, but not as good as Walnut Dream.

There's still some soup left from the enormous pot Mr A made at the weekend, but after 4 helpings I've reached my soup saturation point. I gave it to Gwen who ate it up eagerly. Probably the braised beef in it made the vegetables more palatable to her.

Minnie is getting through loads of food plus extras like sardines. Poor old Gwen can smell it and keeps looking longingly at the shelf it's on. She has to do with the dried food, but she does get treats and leftovers, so not completely missing out.

I got the keyboards out today and had a good old play on them. Some time, when the rooms are sorted and decorated, I'm going to buy a real piano. It'll have to be a small one as there isn't the room for an upright. I love to play boogie woogie and it isn't the same on an electric keyboard, the keys are too light. Boogie woogie is played by hammering the keys, getting the hands to really work hard to achieve that honky tonk kind of sound.

Well, I've finished my dinner, had my hot chocolate, it's almost time for Wire in the Blood, so enjoy the kitten pix, I'll post more when they've got bigger.

Saturday night, well, sunday morning, around 2.30am, Mr A and I were woken to the sound of voices coming from the road below our house. Usually the voices fade away as they walk past, but these voices stayed. So Mr A got up and dressed to go and have a look at what was happening.
A car had crashed, landing on its side in the stream that runs along the road in front of our house. The driver, a young girl, was driving too fast and was drunk as she crashed. Luckily no one was hurt. There were 2 cars of young people, the crashed car had 3 people in. Not all of them were drunk, and one of them called the police, ambulance and fire brigade, acting responsibly and sorting it out. Mr A came up to get some blankets as the people in the crashed car were wet, cold and shocked. He told me briefly as he came up that everything was under control, that there had been a car accident, then left with the blankets.
Lots of noise then, with the police radios belting out talk, then a fire engine's loud noise, along with an ambulance. The fire engine couldn't move the car, so a recovery vehicle came to tow it out of the stream, the whole thing took about 2 hours. Mr A came back to bed at 4.30am after everyone had gone.
The car that crashed had come round the bed too fast, seen our parked cars and veered to far over to the left side of the road where the stream is and turned over onto it's side, so the passengers had to clamber out that way and got wet in the process as the stream was quite full with all the rain we've had recently.
Mr A smelt alcohol on the driver and she was in shock too but the paramedics let her go with the police to be charged at the station for drunk driving. After they had gone, Mr A found quite a lot of stuff at the scene that had been left behind, including bottles of booze, cd's and a sleeping bag, all soaking wet.
Again, they were really lucky that they werent' badly hurt. One of the passengers had a cut on her head but refused to go with the paramedics to A&E to get it treated.

We managed to get back to sleep for a few hours, then Mr A's sister arrived with her 3 children for a visit. Mr A had made a huge pan of soup the night before so we didn't have to prepare any food for lunch. His sister lives in Switzerland and was over for a weeks visiting, we don't see them that often, usually at family get togethers. Mr A got quite jealous to learn that her husband was at Lords, watching the cricket, live, while they were here.

SUNDAY LUNCH
Soup, with homegrown veg - Broad Beans, Peas, Turnips, and the Carrots, Onions and whatever else he added from the shops. I'd bought some Braised Beef, so that was fried on it's own, then added. Lots of Parsley gave it extra flavour.
He made enough soup to last a few days, I've just had another bowl tonight, and there's enough for another bowl tomorrow. No, I'm not getting tired of it because it's delicious.

The kittens still haven't ventured out of their box but are getting bigger and looking more like kittens. The colour of the ginger ones is really bright, I'm looking forward to when they come out so I can get a better look at them. Minnie is eating loads! I've been getting her tins of food rather than just the dry food she normally has. She's getting through a tin a day and loads of milk. I don't mind at all as I want her to continue being well fed and healthy. It must take it out of her feeding 5 kittens so often.

Gwen was naughty today. We were outside and she heard someone walking past and ran down the stairs, ignoring my calls for her to come back. It was a man walking his dog, and when I got there, she was all over this huge Staffy dog. I didn't want to go near it and called her till she came within grabbing distance. She knows she was bad, and I ignored her when we got home after telling her off. Otherwise, she's a good dog, but she can't resist company if she hears it, especially with another dog. Usually if it's just people walking by then she'll stay with me if I tell her to, I guess she couldn't resist meeting another dog....

Scarabella had a gig on saturday for a wedding reception. The place was right on the beach, and we had a fantastic view facing the sea as we sung. It was quite cold though and our 'costumes' are short sleeved, but we warmed up after a couple of songs, what with the moves we now do....People seemed to like the set and we got some nice compliments and the crowd stayed outside to watch us even when it started to rain. That's an ego booster for a start! There was a tango band on before us. No, not the orange fizzy drink, the Latin American dance Tango. A trio of accordian, double bass and guitar. They were very good and it was a shame that no one was dancing to their music.

Mr A is away till wednesday, so it's just me, Gwen, Minnie and the kittens.
Some mornings I stay in bed fairly late. Gwen and Minnie are very good about letting me sleep in, and when I get up, they are usually waiting for me patiently in the front room, to sort out their food. In the mornings they get on well, rubbing against each other affectionately. Gwen still sometimes chases Minnie when she's in the mood, but they are getting on well most of the time.

There's nothing on tv I want to watch tonight, so I'll see what programmes are available online to watch. I'm reading and Ian Rankin Inspector Rebus book called 'Set in Darkness.' I thought I'd read all the series but found one I hadn't, a real treat.

Well, that's my catchup news. I worked 4 days last week delivering meals on wheels, so didn't blog as much as usual.

I've put 2 of the same photo down and can't seem to delete just the one, so I'll just post them all anyway. You can see how they've grown and what lovely markings they have.
1 of the ginger kittens has white socks and paws, really cute!

It's been a wet day and I've been delivering meals to the elderly for my meals on wheels stint. Mr A will be back tomorrow night from working away this week. I'll be glad when he's back! The novelty of being on my own, doing what I want, watching what I want on tv is wearing off and I want company.
The animals are some company, but I'm not one of those people who talk to their pets all the time.
One house where I deliver meals to is an elderly lady who has a small dog called 'Angel.' She says;
'Come to mummy, Angel!' I'll not state the obvious, but my conversation with Gwen is a million miles away from that sort of baby talk.
Gwen's still scratching away like mad, the dose of Front Line I gave her the other night doesn't seem to be giving her relief, and I deflead the house too....

The kittens now have their eyes open and are looking more like kittens than blind mice now. I'll take some more photos, as they are so cute now. The tabbies also have ginger patches on them, but the ginger ones are mostly ginger with white socks and white underneath.
I haven't taken them all out for a good look at them yet, leaving them undisturbed till they are a bit bigger and eyes open, that'll be now then....

DINNER
Readymade Cheese and Tomato Cannelloni

Maple and Walnut Ice Cream. Very ordinary but getting used to it now.

O dear. I saw a flea on Gwen yesterday. The cheeky little bugger stood out on her fur, and I noticed that she'd been scratching throughout the day.
Right. Where's that Frontline flea treatment?
We had one pipette left of the treatment, which I gave to Gwen. It's easy to apply on the back of the neck.
I got some flea powder from Morrisons and sprinkled it liberally over the carpet, cushions and Gwen's bedding, left it half an hour, then hoovered it up.
I've still got my socks tucked into my trousers.
The kittens have got their eyes open and look more like kittens and less like blind mice now. The ginger ones are very ginger, with white socks. I haven't looked at them properly yet to see what's underneath. The ginger colour is vibrant and gorgeous. The tabbies are so sweet, they have ginger patches. Their mum, Minnie has a ginger patch on the top of her heat between her ears, looks like the tabbies have the same.
More photos soon.

Another boiling hot day. Meals on Wheels rang to ask if I could do friday as the regular driver couldn't do it. I said yes, so that's 4 days this week I'm delivering.
Rhiannon rang to ask if I could do a gig on saturday. The band that were playing have had to pull out. Apparently the bassist was made an offer he couldn't refuse. A free trip to Spain.
So I've agreed, we can meet earlier on the saturday and have a go through before performing as we haven't sung the whole set for a while, concentrating on the dvd.

Tractor News:
Yes! Mr A is going to buy the Kubota tractor next week, he put a deposit down today. He's thrilled, and I'm happy for him. I don't expect for one minute that I'll drive the thing. I've seen a video of these tractors, and inside there's loads of controls and gear boxes, looking very complicated.
That means we can get rid of my old Ford Fiesta Diesel. Mr A was using the engine to turn the log splitter. The engines's still good.
I think if I put it on ebay as spares of repair, it'll sell as Fiestas are popular cars.
Whadja think?

That's a bit of an exaggeration, it was the internet connection. I couldn't get online, a message came up saying that a remote Firewall was blocking my access.
So, I switched off the computer and rebooted for a start.
Got the same thing, so I pressed a button on the wireless box, shut down the computer and tried again.
Same thing, couldn't get connected.
Tried this a few times then had the bright idea of turning off the wireless box.
I did this and shut down the laptop - again, and waited before turning it all back on.
Voila! Success!
Here I am.

LAST NIGHTS DINNER
Veggie Curry, Cauliflower, Broad Beans, Peas, Garlic from the Garden
Basmati Rice
Salad a la Moi

Morrisons Maple and Walnut Ice Cream - ok but not as good as, (sigh) Walnut Dream

TONIGHTS DINNER
Leftovers from last night reheated.

Gwen has been driving me bonkers tonight. Mr A is away for the week, so it's just her, me Minnie and the kittens.
She comes up to me, taps me for attention and looks like she wants to go out. So I take her out, 3 times now I've done this as she's been so insistant. I thought she wanted to have a wee, but she didn't go while we were out.
The third time I took her out she led me up the steps through the garden, to the greenhouse. I checked it and saw that it needed watering. I then saw that she had a slug in her mouth.
As Mr A usually takes her out for a nightime slug hunt, maybe she was telling me that we needed to go out slug hunting. I dunno. Maybe, like Lassie, off the films, she was telling me to water the greenhouse and check for slugs.
The film's just started but she's still standing, looking up at me, trying to communicate something, but I don't know what.
I've stocked her food and water, given her a Bonio, stroked her a bit and hope she'll settle.
This isn't her usual behaviour, she settles in front of the Rayburn for the night, or sits on Mr A's lap.
Thank goodness, she's settled in front of the Raybur now. She looks a bit miffed, so whatever was bugging her is bugging her less.

I've booked both Gwen and Minnie in at the vets to get spayed. The vet pointed out that even if Minnie does get pregnant again before I take her in, the procedure will terminate any pregnancy. That's a relief as she's been out and about the past couple of days. She was using underneath the house where the floor is up, in the bedroom. We insulated it yesterday and it's now covered over. She was most puzzled when she went in for a quick wee. There was no where for her to go! She's been good about using her tray, but I've had to clean it out after every use as it stinks. It's not a problem as I use dirt, which is plentifull around here.

Just finished reading Mark Billinghams book 'Lifeless,' a good read. I'm glad I took the plunge and got his books from the library, he writes similar to Ian Rankin.

Did meals on wheels today, got 2 extra shifts this week. I had to collect the money for the week today, a job I don't enjoy. I ended up with more cash than I should have somehow! There was £10 more than accounted for, so someone must have given me an extra tenner. It's better that there was more money rather than less.

Last night I cooked a braised beef casserole, adding lots of veg, thinking it would last for the weekend.
Well, not quite. 2 bowls full to the brim and it was gone.
Tonight will be whatever I can find, including garden veg and eggs from the hens. We're getting 4 a day, so one of them is slacking a bit.

Minnie has got out, the back door was left open. She's hanging around, so I think she'll be ok in the daytime, but definitely keep her in at night.
She was longing to go outside as she spent most of her time outside before the kittens.
I've been using dirt from the garden in her litter tray. As it's been wet though, I've had to try and dry it out first, then I chop it with a shovel to a fine dust.

It's a lovely day, I'm feeling a bit tired, my get up and go has got up and gone.
Mr A goes away for the week tomorrow, so it's going to me keeping all the animals and stuff together. I've got extra meals on wheels next week so Gwen will have to put up with being in the house on her own a bit more. She's usually pretty good and doesn't bark or whine when left alone.

I've also got Scarabella coming for rehearsal here next week. So I've got to hoover around and tidy up, which I need to do anyway. (Yawn yawn.)

Mr A and I spent a pleasant hour or so looking at Kubota tractors online, comparing the prices with the one he has his eye on. It's a good price, as they fetch more online, it's also near and comes with a low loader. That's the 2 big arms on either side with attach to a bucket or whatever.
Several people have asked if it was Mr A who was the winner of 'Shed of the Year.' The winner has the same surname, and Mr A could easily have been that shed builder - but he wasn't. He does have plans to build a shed but he reckons it will be better than the one that won, more imaginative with less straight lines.

The kittens are just opening their eyes, still sleeping mostly, huddled together. It's going to be mad when they start to roam, mad but cute.

DINNER - TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

Braised Beef Casserole with lots of veg from the Garden

Morrisons Maple Walnut Ice Cream. (I still haven't written complaining about them taking Walnut Dream from their stock. Must do it soon.)

If I can dig out any red wine, (fat chance with Mr A here,) then I'll put a splosh in.
I use Organic Beef stock cubes and sometimes just the vegetable ones. This is a hefty piece of braising beef, so it'll be tasty without stock anyway. The fatty bits I'll chop off and give to Gwen and Minnie.

I've taken to buying tinned cat food for Minnie while she's feeding. She loves it and is getting through half a tin a day. Gwen can smell it, you can see her nose twitching in the direction of the food bowl. It's on a shelf out of her reach.

Gwen has been naughty. I think most dogs have this disgusting habit of sticking their nose in other animals poo, and she does it when we are out on a walk - I have to drag her away from it.
Anyway. Minnie had been creeping into the bedroom, which is a wreck at the mo with no floor, just the earth underneath the house, and going under the next rooms's floor for her toilet break. I've put a door up to stop her and keep her litter tray clean, so she uses it now.
I caught Gwen, with cobwebs on her whiskers, coming out from under the floor, where Minnie had been, obviously sniffing out the poo there. Eucchh!

It's pouring with rain and Mr A is outside working in the woods. He just can't sit down and relax in the daytime. His mother is the same, she rarely sits down but always doing something. Not like me! I don't watch daytime tv though, if I started doing that I might as well buy in larger size sweat pants and wait for a spot on Jeremy Kyle, along the lines of;
'My brain stopped functioning after watching shows like this one.'

This is 3 weddings and 2 anniversaries year. We have 3 wedding invitations. I have yet to book b&b for the one in Cornwall in August. Better get on with that and soon....
It's my inlaws 50th anniversary in October. When Mr A and I got married, we didn't realise that our wedding was the day after his parents anniversary. So it's going to be a family do for their anniversary and a toast to our 23rd anniversary the next day.

Mr A has a large family, unlike mine. I just have my sister and one cousin left, oo and an aunt, though I never see them. He is one of 3 and his mother one of 5 and his dad one of 3, so there's lots of aunties and uncles and cousins who all meet up at family do's.
The last time they all got together was for Mr A's father's 70th birthday. There were about 50 people who came and claimed membership of the clan.
As I've been married a long time to Mr A, I've seen children grow up who are now part of the workforce in this country. They all seem to have done well, most have gone to university.

Having witnessed Mr A's love affair with tractors over the years, I knew the day would come when he wanted one of his own. He's used and fixed his dad's tractor for years, which is an old one, without a cab, I posted a photo of it as it's bright red, as a tractor should be.
The one he has his eye on is second hand, has a cab and is a 4 wheel drive. It's around £4000. Gulp. So he's talking about getting a loan to buy it. He'll use it in the woods for hauling and the attachments will split logs, so it will be useful. It just sounds a lot of money. I've forgotten the name, something Japanese. So I'll be trawling the net seeing if I can find a cheaper one...Not wanting to brag, but I do have an eye for a bargain, but I suspect that the one he's seen is the one he wants.
Most men of his age would want a speedy 2 seater roadster, or a powerful motorbike, so I guess I'm lucky his sights are on a tractor..........

DINNER
Homegrown Beetroot
Some Leftover Sushi Rolls from tuesday...
Salad a la Moi

Maple Walnut Ice Cream. It's ok, not great though.

Mr A has gone over to his parents house to replace a few tiles on the roof and will be fed there. I bought some Sushi when I went for a Scarabella rehearsal on tuesday and there's some left.
We tried out 'How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You,' the Marvin Gaye/James Taylor song with Rhiannon singing the lead. We found some backing that fits, but I think it's going to take a while. We all have different approaches when learning songs, depending on who brings the song. Most of the rest of us have firmer ideas of the backing and teach it to the others. Sometimes it's a free for all, just see what happens though. That can be good, allowing for everyone to be creative. It can also mean a long time getting a song together as no one is sure what they are doing...

We moved the kittens out of the bass drum into a partitioned off section in the lean to. There's straw on the floor so it's soft, and a cardboard box on its side with a pair of my old sweat pants for them to lie on.
At first, Minnie was panicky, she picked up one of the tabbies by the scruff of the neck and tried to take it out, back to the drum. After a few goes, I sat with her, stroked her and explained what we were doing and that her kittens are staying with her. I think she thought that she would be separated from them. She quietened down, relaxed, then adopted the feeding mother mode in the box.
Thank goodness she's a reasonable cat! She seems to understand what's said to her, or maybe she got the gist and that there was nothing to worry about.
There's a big board cutting off the kitten area from the rest of the lean to so that Gwen can't get in there and poke her nose in. We go in and out of the lean to throughout the day, so there's some boards hiding them from view, but space enough for them to get out, when they start walking.
Jackieblog has kittens too and helpfully gave a timescale. Eyes open 7-10 days, a week later starting to move around more.

I just tried the Rose Petal Turkish Delight. Mmmmm! Delicious! Haven't yet tried the Rose Petal Jam.

I did my meals on wheels deliveries today. There's one house, it's huge, with a large conservatory on the front, where we have to walk all around the outside of the house to deliver at the back door.
I saw the woman (it's a couple I deliver to) in the conservatory and thought that I'd ask her if I could deliver the meals through there. However, she disappeared into the back of the house before I could ask.
So when I went through the back door and asked if it would be possible to deliver meals via the conservatory (rather than going all the way round the house.)
She said no, as she had a white carpet there. The inference was that any 'tradesperson' would stomp muddy boots into it. I did say that I'd take my shoes off, but I could see that she thought I shouldn't even ask and stick to the tradesmens entrance.

I then tried some diplomacy, something I'm not always good at, and said that I understood, not wanting her to feel bad about making me walk all the way round her huge house, often in the pouring rain, holding 2 hot dinners when it would be much easier to go through the front of the house.
I then lied, saying that my shoes were hurting, which is why I asked. Why did I lie? I don't know but it seemed a good idea to have a reason today for not wanting to walk all around her huge house to the back door.
So it'll still be the tradesmens entrance then.....

Been watching Torwood, along with millions of others this week. It's been good, just as well as there's bugger all else to watch that's interesting.

I'm expecting a call back from the vet, I rang to ask some questions earlier when they were busy and said they'd ring me back. I'm going to ask:
1. When can Minnie get spayed?
2. When can Gwen get spayed?
3. When can the kittens start on solid food?
I've kept Minnie in, not wanting her to get pregnant again. I told Brenda, who said that happened to her cat, she'd just had kittens, went out and got pregnant again. So I told Minnie she'd have to use the litter tray and she has. She's a good cat.
Not so good when I'm woken up at 6am though....
She doesn't wake me early when Mr A is away working...only when he's here. I suppose she knows that he gets up early anyway and I don't.

With Molly, my grandaughter and Anna, her mum's help, we changed the bedding under the kittens as it was well manky from the birth. It was a pillow that Mr A had put in his bass drum to muffle the sound, which was only fit for the bin. I've put a dust sheet in there, so it doesn't matter how dirty it gets.
It was the first time that they had been handled (apart from 1 ginger from previous photo.)
We put them in a plastic tray while I changed their bedding. Some of them were trying to crawl out, even though their eyes aren't open yet, they are frisky little things.

Anna brought a big bag of cherries with her, as they are cherry picking, then apple picking in Kent for the summer. They are delicious! big and juicy, tasting lucious and sweet.

We had a lovely day, going through old family photos, so Molly could see her dad as a toddler to the punk he was at 14. There were family resemblences, Anna pointing out that my mother's chin was identical to my son's.
It was nice for me, cos they were both genuinely interested, not like some people who pretend to be but get bored easily. Even though my son hasn't been with Anna for many years, she is still part of the family, being the mother to 2 of my grandaughters, and we get on really well.

We watched Torchwood last night, then moaned about the fact that tonight's episode will be missed as we'll all be away from a t.v. These days though it's easy enough to catch up online to missed programmes.
Molly has a appointment at her orthodontist today to tighten her braces. I have to go to Swansea later for rehearsal with Scarabella, and show them the dvd of 'Blackbird.'
I showed Molly and Anna the dvd, and we had a laugh at how corny it is! With the green screen, any background is possible.
The woman who filmed us has chosen to show what we are singing about behind us, be it 'blue Sky,' 'blackbird,' 'garden,' or even 'future,' shown as a tall glass fronted building right next to an ancient ruin.
We haven't seen the other video yet. That'll be different as we didn't have a green screen for that, so it'll be just us in a studio. It would be hard to put in a background on a song sung in an unidentifiable foreign language in any case! Even we don't know what we are singing about! I just copied the words from the cd as they were pronounced.

My son came for a brief visit during his working day to see his daughter at my house. He doesn't see his daughters very often as they have moved to Kent for the summer for the fruit picking season.
He brought his 1yr old dog called Blue. Blue is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, not one of my favourite breeds as they have a reputation for being vicious. Blue is a softy though, all white and deaf, and well trained.
Blue took a shine to one of Gwens toys, a hard rubber bright orange bone. He had chewed off pieces in minutes, which showed just how strong his teeth are. I gave him the toy to take home as Gwen doesn't play with it, preferring either a scrap of 'Doggy' or her yellow soft rubber ring. We had to do it secretly as Gwen can be possessive about her things.

It's a warm but cloudy day. I lit the Rayburn last night as it was a tad colder. We didn't really need the heat, but it has the effect of making everything more cosy with the fire lit.
Gwen is now sparko, lying in front of the Rayburn as if she's had a very busy day. She's had a few short walks today.
When visitors arrive she goes over the top, jumping up at them and running round all excited, so I had to tie her up when my son came with Blue, it would have been too much. She does calm down after a bit, but has that terrier eagerness when it comes to people visiting.

I have to leave by 4pm, so that leaves 10 minutes to get ready to go.........

DINNER
Organic Pasta Twirls in a Tomato Sauce and vegetables
Broad Beans, cooked then cooled with Olive Oil, Chopped Red Onion and Lemon Juice

Morrisons Maple and Walnut Ice Cream. Not a patch on you-know-what

I have my ex daughter in law and grandaughter staying over till tomorrow. Mr A is away working till wednesday so will unfortunately miss them. They've oooooed and ahhhhhed over the kittens and Gwen is now nicely ensconced on Anna's lap, loving the extra attention she's getting.

Molly brought back some Rose Turkish Delight and Rose Jam from Bulgaria, where she went for 3 weeks recently for a holiday. It's always nice to get presents!

Minnie has been out for her toilet and meal break between feeding the kittens. She's a good mother, and very happy right now. I was told by the vet not to let her out after she has the kittens, just in case she gets pregnant again. Well, I did. She doesn't go out for long, and there aren't any male cats around at the moment, so I hope it doesn't happen. I should put the litter tray out for her in the lean to and maybe I should, but I left it out and it got wet in the rain....Thinking about it, it would be best to get it together and keep her in rather than risking her getting pregnant again.

Torchwood is on - gotta go!

Here's one of the 3 ginger and white kittens, I took her out into the light so you can her better.
The other photos I took inside the bass drum, where they were born, holding a torch as it's quite dark in there.
Minnie woke me up at 5am yesterday to have some food and go to her toilet. She woke me gently, tapping me on the face - it was really nice.
Today she didn't wake me up so I could sleep in. She hasn't left the kittens, so I put food, milk and water next to her, to keep her going.
She purrs away as she's feeding them, a very happy new mother.

Watched the final between Serena and Venus Williams on catch up as I missed it yesterday.
Physically, they are so different. Venus is tall and lanky, while Serena is curvacious and shorter. She stands out (ahem) amongst the female tennis players for her voluptuous shape.

DINNER
Welsh Lamb Chops
New Potatoes
Salad a la Moi

Haagan Das Bailey's Ice Cream. I'm trying different ice creams in a quest to find one as satisfying as the Walnut Dream. This is a good one, though not up to the Dream standard.

On friday, Minnie had 5 kittens. There are 3 ginger and white, 2 tabbies. The tabbies have glorious markings, like little tigers!
She looked around for a safe place a few days before she had them, and chose Mr A's bass drum. It's safe, as there's a small hole in it where she climbed in. There was a cushion in it, (it helps muffle the sound)but I expect that will be chucked out when they move out.
They will all go out into the shed, outside in a few days, as Mr A says he doesn't want them in the house. I can see why, as they'll be peeing and pooing all over the place.
Gwen hasn't seen them yet, we're keeping them apart for a while.
Minnie's a great mum. She comes out about twice a day for food and toilet break. She stays out for about half an hour then goes back. I put a bowl of milk out for her which she laps up in between constant feeding. I've taken a photo, which I'll download and post later of one of the ginger kittens. I'm sure it's a male, his ears are mismatched and he has a tough looking face and is one of the largest kittens.

LAST NIGHTS DINNER
Fillet of Whiting fish
Oven chips

Mr A is away on a mates stag do, so it was dinner for one.

An evening watching crime on ITV3. Firstly Morse, Wycliffe, then Poirot. I didn't stay up for Sherlock Holmes at the end of the evening.
Reading Tanith Lee 'The Secret Book of Paradys.' A fantasty, sci-fi. Very gothic. I've read the first chapter, but found it a bit hard going....so I switched to the latest Simon Brett novel, Murder at the Hairdressers. Very easy to read and is another of the Feathering series. Not intellectually demanding though....

Mr A is due back today, he took his cricket gear, so I imagine they'll have a game today.

LAST NIGHTS DINNER
Homegrown Cauliflower, Broad Beans, Peas n Garlic made into Curry
Basmati Rice
Side Dish of Grated Carrot, Celery, n Red Onion
Tzattziki (not sure of spelling, but that Greek yoghurt thing)

Tinned Pineapple n Walnut Maple Ice Cream (boo!)

The last 2 meals have been meat free. In this hot weather, meat slows you down too much. There are rarely any fat vegetarians.....

Supposed to rehearse with Scarabella tonight but got a text from Anna, who missed her flight, returning from France and is absolutely knackered. She's teaching today and said she could hardly keep her eyes open. I remember those shifts, working when not had enough sleep, trying to hold it all together...the night shifts were the worst, round about 4am when energy was low but having to carry on regardless.....

I received the dvd of 'Blackbird.' We mimed to the song and it was filmed at the college where Silva (who videoed us) is studying, using top range equipment, yes, in H.D!
At the beginning of the song, I especially, look quite artificially happy! We were trying for the relaxed, 'O it doesn't matter that we're being filmed' look. It gets better towards the end of the song, when we look as if we are really enjoying the whole process.

Silva has put in a background of trees, flowers, and, of course, a Blackbird, as we filmed with a green screen. Mr A thought it was a bit unimaginative and corny. Well, yes it is, but at least we've done it! I got 2 dvds. One to play through the tv and the other for utube, but I'll have to ask advice on how to put it on as that dvd won't play through the tv so must have a different format.

It's a very hot day, I've spent most of it indoors....Gwen's outside tied on a long rope, Minnie's crashed out, lying next to the laptop on the table, which seems to be her favourite napping place.
She gave Gwen a bloody nose earlier when Gwen tried to get too friendly. There's no messing with this pregnant cat! It was just a scratch, but Gwen will keep her distance in future.....

So, as I'm home tonight, I'll be cooking. Mr A usually has something simple, like egg n chips when he comes home from work and I'm not in.
There's lots of veg in the garden right now. The broad beans are delicious when cold with olive oil and lemon juice. The peas are sweet and lovely eaten straight from the pod.

The Sweet William has been a resounding success this year. They are a mass of different shades of red and pink, with some white flowers, standing tall and sending out a lovely scent. I've just planted out some Hollyhocks, not having grown them before. The slugs almost had them, so I resorted to the dreaded slug pellets, putting a barrier around them until they are established.
We are trying to be organic and not use them, but I weakened, rather than see the Hollyhocks eaten away.

It's now time to get arse into gear. Shopping to do, chickens to feed and water, garden to refresh....the list goes on.