Three Dogs and a Hedgehog

As you will know, if you read my blog, I have lots of animals, including 3 dogs. Metro is a 10 year old collie who I re-homed from a rescue centre 8 years ago. He is the loveliest, sweetest, gentlest dog you could ever imagine, who prefers sleeping on the sofa to running around in the field, hates getting wet, hates being muddy even more and he sleeps with me on my bed at night. 

Then there is Levi. He's a 7 year old Dalmation who we got as a cute little teeny puppy. He's mad and boisterous and his tail never stops wagging. He's an incredibly sweet natured dog who loves to play fetch although it's somewhat hit and miss as to whether or not he will actually bring the ball back to you, he will chase after it for hours. He has only 2 speeds, 8,000 miles an hour or fast asleep and has the attention span of a gnat!!

Photos with Levi in them are always a blur I can never get him to sit still long enough to get a decent picture 

Indie and his bestest buddy Levi .... another blur :-)

Lastly, there is Indie. A 4 year old Alaskan Malamute. He is cuddly and affectionate, doesn't know his own strength, regularly falls over his big, hairy feet and for such a big dog with a massive bark he's a big old scaredy cat, scared of his own shadow.

Indie loves water ..... especially bubbly bath water 

Now, last night, as I took the dogs out for their final trot around the garden before bed, I discovered the cutest little hedgehog sitting on the patio. Amazingly, the dogs all reacted differently to the little hedgehog but all acted true to their nature. Metro wandered over and gently licked the startled hedgehog on the end of it's nose just as it curled up into a tight little ball, Levi charged past it, ran round in circles for a couple of minutes and then charged off having been distracted by a bat flying overhead and Indie took one look at it, tucked his tail under his bum and ran back inside, refusing to come out until I had relocated the big, scary, spikey thing to the top of the garden.

Cute, isn't he :-)

Foul Weather Alert!

It's official ...... I think Autumn has really arrived. It's not cold but the weather is absolutely awful. It's windy, it's bucketing down with rain and has been for the last three days, and I'm miserable. I don't mind cold weather, I don't mind windy weather but I really don't like wet weather. There is nothing worse than squelching through the mud to feed the animals with rain dripping down your neck. Perfect weather really for being indoors so, while the weather has been so bad, I have been sewing like a maniac to put things on my table at the market. I have also finally given into demand and I have put a few Christmas things on there too. I have mixed feelings about it really but if people want to buy Christmas stuff and I don't supply it someone else will so I might as well make a few extra pounds. 

 Christmas Bunting

 Christmas Cards

Spice Scented Christmas Decorations

On one of the few nice days we have had recently, I was taking some things out of the boot of the car which was parked on my driveway in front of my shed and out of the corner of my eye I spotted something in the grass. it turned out to be this little chap.

I grabbed my camera, which being the sad person I am I always have in my bag, but by the time I had got it he had tucked his head in and was just a little ball of spikes. I crouched in the grass behind my car and sat quietly waiting for him to pop his head out and as I was doing my very best David Attenborough impression in the undergrowth I spotted another little ball of prickles.

I know that we have had hedgehogs living under my shed for a few years now and I'm guessing that these could be this years babies. They were sooooooo cute. I sat and watched them for about 10 minutes until they both snuffled off under the shed. There seems to be an awful lot of wildlife around at the moment. There are buzzards in the trees across the river which the llamas eye with great suspicion and there are cute little toads hopping around all over the place. I keep a pile of rotting logs on top of an old pallet as a toady hotel and they seem to love it. They return the favour by munching all the slugs on my patio and garden and in my opinion, that's a very agreeable arrangement. The bats that live in the wall at the back of my house are still very active at night, swooping around and eating all the bugs that are attracted to the porch light when I take the dogs out and the owls are hooting up a storm each night as they glide down the valley hunting for their supper. 

One of the good things about the weather getting cold and the nights drawing in is that I now have the perfect excuse to cook comforting casseroles and delicious rib-sticking pies. I'm also baking bread every day and this time of year, all my favourite winter veg is now on sale at the market. Food-wise, I love this time of year ...... weather-wise ...... NOT :-)

Chilli Stuffed Marrow 

Freshly Baked Bread