Plus!

It was +2.9 when I left the house this morning... much warmer than it has been for ages - our lowest that I saw was -6 one morning *shock* although I think that it had gone much colder during the night. It's cloudy though and a little misty so I'm not sure that we will see much daylight today... shame as I am looking forward to more sunshine to cheer us all up.

I made a big batch of Chilli the other day and froze it all (why is it always better for being frozen?), I'm having some for lunch today, so will see what it's like. It's interesting that you can make the same recipe regularly and it always turns out slightly different each time.

We've got a busy rest of the week and weekend planned: last but one puppy training class tonight - she's doing quite well, but lacks concentration and is easily distracted (who said that dogs are like their owners?). The classes have been very good and she's made some lovely friends too, we usually get goodie bags at the end of each session. They are left by dog food reps that call to their shop... brilliant as I haven't had to buy any kibble yet!
Ruby has kibble with live yoghurt in the morning, kibble with minced raw, free range meat at lunchtime, and the same again in the evening. Sometimes she has tinned pilchards in tomato sauce instead of the meat - they are very good for her, but make her breath a bit fishy! She gets a treat each day after lunch of a raw free range chicken wing or two to gnaw on - this is very good for her teeth and digestion; it's important that the meat is raw to avoid any bones splintering. Once a week I whip a raw egg from one of our girls into her food, shell and all... she loves this and makes the most digusting slurping noises when she eats it. A fellow pup owner commented the other day on how healthy she looks and asked whether I supplement her food; in her morning food (when I remember) she has a small pinch each of Dorwest Herbs Easygreens powder, garlic powder, kelp powder and a drop of cod liver oil. I have all these for the other animals anyway and I don't always remember to put any or all of them in!

At the weekend, Rosie and I have to pop into Stratford on Saturday to get some shopping. Clean out the animals when we get back, then we need to get Rosie to her friends house ready for a birthday party at Pizza Hut and a sleepover. I shall miss having her around on Saturday afternoon and evening, but we will use the Pizza Express 2 for 1 voucher and treat ourselves to a meal out. On Sunday, I will be collecting Rosie pre-10am, then taking the hound for a very long walk in Great Tew. After lunch, we're heading up to Birmingham to collect a wormery that a friend is kindly giving us.

Here are some photos of the local area in the recent snow

I had my first blue egg of the year yesterday and I was sure that it wasn't from Dolly, my old Araucana cross - she usually lays much bigger eggs. Phil thought that he'd seen one of the new araucanas from last year going into the cube, but couldn't be sure whether it was the grey or white one. I am now pretty sure that it was Bunty, my white araucana, although I'd have put my money on it being the other one as Dizzy is older. Bunty crouched today, so it is likely to be her - must try to watch and see who is using the nest box!