I am not cold,.....

Hi there. Am cold. Message to self. Stop moaning. It is healthy not having any heating on. You could switch the electric fire on.... but you won't. So smile. Visualize inner hotness. Feel the sweat rise up. See! Not working yet? Try harder. You are hot, hot, hot, crikey but you will be glad when it gets colder so you can cool down. Phew! 

Ah that's better. 

Maz and Blue, our two young rottweillers. Who said rotties are horrid dogs, because these two are the sweetest things going. But they have been removed from the kitchen to the hallway now, as have Boolie and Gus. It was always my intention to have a dog free zone in the kitchen for those times when I need to  be animal free, like when I am prepping our meat, or cooking at the stove, or when I just need space from bodies which are glued to my every step, or eyes which are observing my every movement, and this I now have. 

It is also nice not to be immediately embraced by puppy piddles and poos in the middle of the night when one tumbles into the kitchen from the Half Barn, and by the time one has clambered over the temporary piece of wood which is wedged across the door opening between kitchen and hallway, there not being an actual door in residence at the moment, one has become sufficiently awake enough to watch for any immediate 'accidents' that should any be lying in wait for one's foot as one proceeds into the bathroom. 

At first I felt guilty about putting the puppies out there, but they had learnt that if they whined at the Half Barn door during the night, that I would get up and take them out to toilet. Oh they were quite good about going back to sleep, but it was getting silly because they were doing this little trick of getting attention more and more frequently as the days progressed. It had to stop. As soon as the builders had finished this phase of work, out they went, plus the other two. 

And it has worked a treat. For a start, the four of them are now bonded in a group, and there is hardly any 'accidents' being done during the night. However, Maz did a woof at 4am this morning, so I got up because I thought she might want to go to the loo. No, she didn't. She wouldn't get up, but her sister did, so did Bools and Gussy who then cleared off into the night. It was quite lovely standing in the cold moonlight, but for all of two minutes, at which point my toes started freezing and I got irritated. Blue came back, it being too cold for her, and indoors she went. No sign of the other two. They were out for ages, by which point the cold air had woken me up and there was no chance of me being able to go back to sleep. 

So is Maz woofing to try out her voice, or is she telling me she needs something, and do I respond again if she tries this out again tonight. Nope. No chance!

Otherwise, all is peaceful here. Lucy, the kitten, is out in the house now, having been evicted from her full time residence in the Half Barn after she got into the habit of having a manic half an hour just as I was trying to get to sleep at night. Hearing her scratching at our leather settees was most unsettling. But it has taken her about five days to get acquainted with the house, and now she holds prime position in the kitchen and is busy trying out her skills as 'Boss in chief' of the dogs, which she is managing very well. This morning she held all four of them at bay by baiting them from the kitchen chair, until all four huddled round me so I could protect them from this hissing fiend. Oh yes, she is going to do very well here. 

Two more lambs born this morning. They look spindly but alright. It has not been a happy lambing season for us or the sheep, the weather being detrimental to their overall well being. But everyone else if managing this end of winter cold weather. 

Hope you are keeping warm. I am hot, now all I have to do is tell my hands, ears, and toes that they are toasty warm, which, I think, might be a bit of a task! Might be better to go and find a puppy to hug for a warm up!

They are not supposed to be up on the chairs, 

but they were tucked up on my cardi and scarf!

Blue on the left, Maz on the right. 

And the now concreted stairs....just waiting for them to dry,

and then the wood will come off...

...and the dead tractor in quite a tidy Courtyard!

Saying bye for now.....