JUST ONE DAY OF SUN

And what a day. I took lots of pictures but most contained the friends we went for a walk with and I'm just not comfortable publishing them online. Trigger had his coat off, although not here - it was still minus one this early on our way to see the Madams. Our shadows look like I'm standing with a camel :

The dogs were ecstatic to be out for so long.......... 

........and with their friend Bracken too:

The birds were feeling frisky

I love this one with number three coming in to land:

She did peck him and he did fly off:

Porridge beak:

A Nuthatch too tall for the camera.......

..........who found a rogue peanut amongst the seeds:

Mrs GSW is disappointed with the lack of vertical porridge:

I woke in the night to the hammering of rain on the windows and a feeling of inevitability. At least I didn't have to go and check if we were flooded. I had to take these with my phone, not wishing to risk the camera. They are taken at the bottom of the drive with the stream close to breaking point AGAIN and water pouring off the moor into it. 

I'm trying to hang on to what it was like yesterday:

It's half term. Wasn't it just Christmas? OB and friend are shrieking upstairs as I write this and the dogs are fighting over a plastic frisbee thing. There are bits of the frisbee all over the floor. I don't know why I bother hoovering. Snippet is pulling Jack along the floor by the ear now. They need to get out. I did walk them after lunch and we all came back completely drenched. Jack can now outrun Snippet with ease. Poor Snip. He has to try and get his own back I suppose. Until next time, here they are (phone pic) looking innocent. We know better.

DRAW RESULT AT LAST

We have the internet, the phone AND the Polo back, all on the same day. Things are looking up. I've felt bereft without the internet - far more than the phone, which is rather worrying. I realise I do pretty much everything online. I had to go down into Chagford on Tuesday to use my Mum's i-pad for the grocery shopping rather than actually make the journey to the shop. In my defense, the shop is over twenty miles away. I'm sceptical as to how long the internet will last so I'm getting a quick post in before it disappears again. 

This morning OB wrote a sweet little sign in his rather eccentric handwriting, and drew out the winner who is...........

Congratulations Cait (http://caitsphotos.blogspot.co.uk/), the cards will be on their way as soon as you send me your address. Shameful fraying on OB's school jumper; he shreds it with his teeth during lessons and I haven't got round to hemming it yet. He is not alone in doing this I'm glad to say.

While I've been away, there have been few opportunities to take pictures thanks to the weather. I have rarely been so glad to live on high ground. We may be getting the same amount of rain or snow, but at least it drains down into the streams and rivers. We are so lucky not to be flooded as so many are. Water can be such a force for calm and yet so destructive too. I did happen to have the camera with me as I set out on a seemingly sunny afternoon. Ten minutes later, this happened:

Ten minutes after that:

I took these in Trigger's paddock one evening. Incidentally, I just had a phone call from our neighbours who own said paddock, telling me he seemed to have escaped into the next door field. My fault.....I forgot to close the gate properly last night....oops.

One day in the week, I can't remember which, we had a sunny walk with no rain whatsoever. Miraculous. The paths were still like streams though:

Very strong winds visible only through the medium of Snippet's fur:

Someone was lost and making a lot of noise about it:

The kitchen window has been streaming with water most of the time, so only a few bird pics:

As I've got out of the habit of taking the camera this week, I have forgotten it on a couple of occasions and suddenly remembered the smart phone (which has been a godsend in the absence of other means of communication) and its camera. Because it runs on Android, I can access them on the laptop in a way I've never been able to with previous phones. I think they're a bit weird but see what you think:

Hmmm - not for me. I've done nothing to them and I think they need quit a lot doing to them, particularly that first one - the colour reminds me of an old Polaroid.

We've had power cuts, another plumbing emergency involving a valve under the kitchen sink and LOTS of snow, but I still feel lucky and very excited to have the internet back. I'm off to search for yet another new phone as the lightning fried our nice cordless one.....AGAIN. So, until next time, lovely to be back, happy valentines if you celebrate such things, thanks for your comments while I was out of action and here are those boys trotting down a fairly dry looking path.

NO INTERNET!

Hello everybody....so sorry....lightning strike on Saturday morning means we have no internet. Am writing this on my mobile leaning against bedroom window. Not ideal. No draw yet I'm afraid. Sorry.... No pictures. Hate to think what this will look like when I press 'publish'! Hope I'll be back soon and able to answer your comments. Em x

CALM BEFORE ANOTHER STORM

The last couple of days have been almost okay. Yesterday was misty and rainy, but not torrential and today was glorious for a few hours. Tomorrow is set to be terrible again but here are some images for me to hang on to as we are battered again.

This bronze age hut circle seems to be having some persistent flooding issues:

This one too:

Even when the rain has stopped, the ponies' coats dry in clumps as though still wet:

Actually, I think this one still is wet:

Tornado:

Tornado sizes up Snippet:

I love the different shades of grey in this:

Exercise while you can....

Or not:

Okay - if you say so:

The light today was extraordinary, and picked out all the contours in the landscape

Jack found a sheep's horn

We had a crow in the garden which is very unusual - they usually stick to the moor:

Trigger had the day down with the Madams and we all got out more than expected which was lovely, in preparation for hiding inside tomorrow. Who'd be a pony eh?

We had yet another bad night, with a power cut yesterday evening coinciding with an impromptu plumbing emergency. One of the in-line valves under the kitchen sink failed and was spurting water out into the flickering torchlight. M came home to find me in a state of some panic whilst OB sat calmly doing a sudoku puzzle with a candle at the table. Power back by about 8.00pm and water flow stemmed, I was delighted to get to bed. I hate to even ask the question - what next?

Keep safe all of you in the throws of bad weather and don't forget, if you want to be entered into the draw, leave a comment on the last post. Many of you have already and OB will draw the name out on Sunday or Monday, depending when I have time to write all the names on scraps of paper. So, until next time, here's naughty Jack with his sheep's horn.