PHONE SNOW

Early yesterday morning started like this. I was transporting Trigger and struggling with headcollar, dog leads and camera has not gone well in the past. Therefore, these pictures were taken on my phone. So much for Spring.

I don't know if you remember me talking about my friend who had her baby very prematurely back in October. He was very unwell and died after two weeks in ICU. I didn't mention his death at the time as it was their business and just too raw. He died from a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia; something I had never heard of but which affects 1 in 2500 live births in the UK. Tomorrow we are going to a fundraising event for CDH UK, the charity that supports those affected and research into treatment and prevention. http://www.cdhuk.org.uk/ . From there we will be hotfooting it over to the Tourettes meeting - a busy day. OB's vocal ticks have been minimal for a while now which has been such a relief for him. After the heated meeting with the Paediatrician, we have now miraculously got the referral to Great Ormond Street Hospital we have been fighting for for over a year now. We've also heard from CAMHS regarding an official diagnosis of Aspergers after months of silence and what is quoted as an 18 month wait. Amazing what standing up to the system can achieve. Just a quick one today. Hail is crashing down everywhere and Trigger's hooves are due to be trimmed in an hour which promises to be an unpleasant experience for all. So until next time, another snowy view. Let's hope it's the last one until next winter. 

BITS AND PIECES 8

It's been a while since I did one of these but I noticed a build up of pictures in my 'BLOGPICS' folder on the desktop that I hadn't deleted but hadn't used either. Lots of birds. Here goes, starting with the Blue Tit obviously.....

Great Spotted Woodpecker..............hungry

Great Tits................I do worry about the kind of seedy visiting traffic that phrase might attract...

Lady Blackbird, trying to look like a Thrush:

A Brambling - thanks so much to Margaret Adamson for the identification (http://birdingforpleasure.blogspot.co.uk/) - not a strange Chaffinch. I've never seen one before and am so excited to have one in the garden:

Sparrows waiting their turn for the seed feeder:

Robin takes a big mouthful and............

...........Again, thanks to Margaret who tells me this is a male feeding the female.

Lonely Crow:

Meadow Pippet rising high and singing;

An incongruous pair of Mallards wandering around on the fringe of the moor close to home. Escapees from our neighbour's pond looking for a nest site perhaps. Not a great idea doing it here as two little black dogs will have their ducklings for breakfast:

Last year's Foal number 3 scratching his bum on a rock:

Wind parted hair:

Stormy skies at the corner of Fernworthy Forest:

Ponies grazing in the distance. Tornado is the second from right:

Walls into the distance:

Somebody needs a haircut:

The cards have arrived and they're fantastic. I'll try and sort them out tomorrow so I can let you see them. The printers have done a fabulous job. They actually look like ones you would buy in a shop. Better go as someone is up who shouldn't be. The lights went out at 8.00pm and I can hear footsteps............hmmmm. So until next time, here are those dogs looking upon their domain.

WEEKEND SNOW

M was working today, so we all got up at the usual weekday time of 6.30am. It started to snow as I got downstairs and let the dogs out and by the time I took them out for their morning walk at 7.30 it had stopped and settled. No more words required really.

By 9.00am it was all gone and when I went out later it was looking grim again and I got drenched by hail and rain:

Today was beautiful again and bitterly cold. I walked over to the charred area where the swailing took place last week:

This pony seemed to be finding it quite tasty:

We were pretty busy this weekend and I fed Trigger later than usual this evening meaning I got the benefit of this lovely sunset in his field:

After months of emails and proofs backwards and forwards from the printers, I am hoping to receive the finished cards that you voted on next week. So much for them being ready for Christmas. I hope you'll like them. I can't believe how long it's taken - absolutely ridiculous but at least I've used a local-ish company and they really have done a great job or at least I think they have from the samples they sent. Time will tell. So until next time, here is Jack being chased by Snippet today at some considerable speed as you can see from his angle, banking.