Design

The repair work continues, the kitchen wall only needs a final skim and the hall is ready to start being plastered. Only one problem, Fred has done something strange when replacing the board under the stairs and made a sort of ledge which I really don't like. As it is straight in line of sight as you walk through the door I'm going to have to ask him to redo that bit so that it is the same as it was before. Apart from that everything is going well. Out in the scree garden the grasses are beginning to flower making everything look delicate and full of movement. It was so lovely to be able to take 10 mins sitting peacefully out in the garden before checking the last few reports. Hopefully that is the last of them because they have taken such a long time to do. Elwen has just returned home after being missing for a few days. We weren't too worried, guessing that she had gone off in a huff over Speedy's introduction to the cat menage. She's being extra friendly an...

It has been another changeable day, sunny and hot one minute and cold torrential rain the next. Perhaps our temperate climate is turning into a monsoon climate. Speedy has been leaping all over the place finding golf balls and his tail to play with but his fun came to an end when he bounced into the middle of the pond and had to swim to the bank. Laughing merrily I chased a dripping cat into the house, wiped the worst off with an old towel and left him to dry off under the coffee table. I don't think he'll be making the same mistake again.

Last night's blogging was interrupted by a power cut, it was only brief but as a precaution the pcs were unplugged for the rest of the evening. Friday was looking good, a whole morning in the staffroom sorting out final inputting onto our on-line pupil tracker followed by a relaxed afternoon in class, handwriting followed by Golden Time. Instead it turned into a frantic nightmare. Half-way through the morning I found out that I had missed out large sections on the tracker so that was more work piling up. Then at 11.30 we were told that our end of year data needed to be on the tracker NOW. Got that done before rushing into town at lunchtime as I had to go to the bank. Had just settled into class with the children when a series of messages came about missing data. I thought that maybe in my rush I had forgotten to press the save button but then I got suspicious. When I checked the tracker using my log-in the data was all there but for some reason the office couldn't pick it up on...

Lots of bright sunny spells today, warm in the sun but rather chilly when the clouds took over. The children were fairly quiet today after such an active time at the beach yesterday. In the afternoon it was the second of our shuffle-up days when my class went over to the junior school and I had next year's class for a relaxed afternoon of choosing activities and a bit of painting with watercolours. I will be teaching those children 1 or 2 afternoons each week (depending if it is week 1 or week 2), so it was good to have a chance to get to know them. The new cat is still very scared of the other cats who keep looking at him through the windows which sets him off into a panic. At the moment I am only letting Squeaky, who is the lowest ranking of our cats, stay in the house with him. There has been some growling and tail lashing and a few slashes with the claws as they approach each other but that is to be expected. I am now typing one-handed because one small loudly purring cat...

Although yesterday was the hottest day of the year (33C) in the south-east it was cooler here with rain in the afternoon and a little thunder in the evening. (Hence no Internet as everything was unplugged.) There were reports of strange tidal surges all around the south west including up some rivers. This is being put down to a mini tsunami caused not by an earthquake but by an undersea landslide off the continental shelf. Today we were back to sunny weather, perfect for our whole school trip to the beach. It was sunny but with a cooling breeze and we had a wonderful time. All except for a very unpleasant couple who own/rent the line of beach huts. We had put all our stuff down not close to but in front of these huts. First the man and then his partner came and very rudely demanded that we move away from the huts as we were costing them business. I tried to explain that we hadn't wanted to go much further down the beach as we had to walk back to the car park for the ...

Late yesterday evening there was a commotion coming from the conservatory. When I went to investigate there was that fat cat Patch with a poor duck clutched in his jaws. He had carried it in through a small high window and only reluctantly (aided by a good shaking) let go of the terrified call duck. I threw Patch out, with a good telling off and went back to check on the duck. There was blood on it from a neck wound so I gave it some bread and water and left it in a box for the night. This morning it was looking quite lively so I took it out to the stream where it could make its way back to the lake and rejoin the other 9 call ducks that live there. Hopefully it will make a full recovery . There are quite a few mallard and wild geese on the lake now as well. I know there are many people who dislike cats because they kill small creatures but that is one good reason to have cats when you live in the country. Our cats keep the mice and other small creatures out of the house and many is t...

Had to post a picture of my 'home-made' tree which I rather like though I could do with a chunkier star on the top. It is making the sitting room smell really nice, no need for pine scented candles or room sprays. And just for fun some typical views of my kitchen Rayburn festooned with drying clothes & shoes. The cats have been taking it in turns to occupy the warmer oven and the boots were there to be made a bit more flexible by the heat. Elwen doesn't usually get a chance to occupy this prize position and is making the most of it.

Despite, or perhaps because of the unceasing rain it has been quite a relaxed day. It had been arranged that half of each Year 2 class would walk up to Rock Park for a Schools' Remembrance Day ceremony at the war memorial. They were going to place a poppy wreath there that they had made themselves. There is a marine base at Chivenor and we have a number of children whose fathers are on active services so it is especially relevant. Yesterday (Armistice Day) the children took part in the 2 minute silence at 11.00 while we were at the swimming pool. One little girl told me her Daddy cried because a friend of his had been killed. How do you cope with that? Anyway, it was decided not to take the children out in the rain for nearly 2 hours so we had longer to get on with the writing task I had planned for the children to do. My class are very creative and once they had written their instructions for making a Diva they were only too happy to do their own creative activities. They get th...

Very bright but rather cold today. As I drove home the the sun was disappearing from the valleys but still lighting up the hill tops. Coming round the corner into our valley I had to stop for a while because a group of riders were leading their horses back to the stables. Sarah usually gets her rides to dismount as the road is so steep and the horses could easily slip on the tarmac. The nosy foals, Ben and Doris always have to see what's going on. At home I noticed that Smudge had wet looking legs and smelt strongly of kerosene . He must have got into something at the stables next door. So into a sink of warm soapy water he went, apart from the smell kerosene is probably not very good for the skin or being licked. Luckily none of my cats ever make too much fuss about being washed and apart from the occasional wail Smudge stood there quite calmly. When Big Cat (no longer with us) first started living wild he spent a fortnight living on/by the carcass of a sheep and and was sticky...

It's true! Last week I kept discovering cats in the Rayburn warmer oven when I was drying out the work gloves and I took some cute pictures. But when I looked closely at the pictures no way was I going to publish them. I may have been successful in getting my sons to cook but cleaning up their spills obviously doesn't occur to them. So on one of those many rainy days I set to with sponges and soap. The Rayburn is awful to clean because it is always hot, every spill bakes on and the enamel surfaces will scratch if you are too vigorous with your cleaning. I can see I've missed some spots but it was much worse. Then I had to make sure the floor and mat were hoovered as well and of course the hoover just kept on going until most of the downstairs was done. ( Not being at work all day also helps with the housework). Squeeky has spent most of the day 'cooking' herself in the warmer. Going to work this morning it was grey and wet. Coming home coincided with a sunny ...

Rainclouds over Exmoor . Yep, it's still raining. The wood across the road worked and even though we had 20mm of rain in the night the drive is still intact. They have been putting out weather warnings again on the radio saying we may get a month's worth of rain in the next 2 days. Radio4 announced the other day that we've had the gloomiest August since weather records began. Let me introduce you to my gang of thieves. They like boxes. This is Birthday, the boss cat. About 4 years ago he left home to live in the fields and is away for weeks at a time. He is definitely not staying with any of the neighbours but comes home in excellent condition with rabbit shaped bulges. When he does come home he is the cuddliest of cats and likes to lie upside down in your lap or draped across your shoulder whilst purring very loudly. Smudge is at the bottom of the pecking order but is very clever at opening cupboards to steal food. He was even able to open the last fridge we had. These...