What A Change!

What a change indeed, quite dark and grey today. Very windy and cool, you would not think it was the same country as last week when we were sweltering in the heat.  Actually I have just put my jacket on again because it is definitely cooler.!

Jane rang up before she was on a break. She said that the tiny terrors had woken her up at four this morning because they didn't like the thunderstorms and were miaowing enough to wake her . She got up and gave them a few biscuits and they went off only to come back again a little while later to go to sleep on her bed! Oh the joys of cat ownership. 

We have a cat calendar by the side of the bed which was a Christmas present from a neighbour, and it has a different picture of a cat every day. They are gorgeous too, but at the top is a little saying or caption at the top of each day. Today's is lovely, it shows a cat photographed up a tree looking at the camera, and the caption says,"I am not stuck up this tree, i just can't get down!" can't argue with that logic really. 

We haven't had much thunder here but ourr Jessie doesn't seem bothered anyway, thank goodness. She was a bit later waking Vin up this morning because it was darker,

 Look at that little face! Aaaah!

Another little face!

Raom At Last!

At last after weeks without, this morning itis raining. At least that will do the gardens good, doesn't seem to be lasting though and will blow over i think because the sky is looking blue. Definitely cooler this morning though. The hot weather of last week was hard going, very difficult to sleep at night, very muggy. Knocked Jessie out a couple of days she just lolled about trying to get cool I think.

Jane's two continue to keep her on her toes, she rang up earlier to say that they woke her up at half past four this morning which is a tad early really.  One of them jumping up and down on her laptop, not a good idea i don;t think. 

Vin has gone off to Tesco to get his normal weekly shop, he goes off with hislist, so nothing is forgotten. He is also on the search for a door handle for the back door because the spring has gone apparently. Mr fixit will get going on that i assume.

 Two storey living!

Jessie on "her" footstool! I am allowedto use it for a little while on a Monday morning with her permission!

Monday!

Still quite hot, supposed to be having rainy showers and thunderstorms but no sign of any up here at all, in fact not even much of a breeze either. Jessie was quite knocked out for a few days, just lying around, and trying to keep in the shade. Must be hard with a big furry coat.  

Olympics on at the moment over in Japan in Tokyo. Keep seeing bits aqnd bobs on the TV but not really interested, it is hard to get involved really.  No audiences apart from the coaches and some locals but not the crowds that we are used to.  

Covid still causing problems and although the numbers of cases are dropping apparently the cases of younger ones getting it do not seem to be falling. On the radio just now they were taliking about a study from a Bristol hospital saying that the average age is now 40ish rather than the 80ish at the beginning of the pandemic. It appears that the ones who are in hospital mostly not jabbed at all. Can't see the sense of that. Now a pingdemic where people are being pinged if they have been in contact with a case, but many ignoring them so they do not have to self-isolate! 

Jane's two little tiny terrors still being gorgeous. They are so lovely, last night she got home from her eight eight day shift, and and they hear her car coming so jump up on the window sill waiting for her. Then they jump down disappear to wait for her to get through the door so they can be fed. Aaah!

Somebody else looking very pretty!

Waiting for their tea!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

It is very warm here at thye moment. Temperatures are uncomfortable for us, andpoorittle Jessie is spending her day just flopping about really. People are out and about doing stupid things like diving into riversswimming in placeswhere they shouldn't be swimming, and there is a raft of people drowning every day it seems. Yesterday even on Crosby beach somebody drowned  which is really sad and not a usual occurence so don't know what happened there. 

Very hard to sleep at themoment,Vin inparticular keeps getting up to wash his face down to cool down. Also the helicopters are doing night training over our village too coming from the army camp and at night time sounds really loud. Doesn't bother me because I take the ear-blockers out so don't hear anything but Vin said they were going till quite late. Also last night there was a terrible smell coming from the compost place over the by-pass. Phew it was horrible, but went later at bedtime, must have been the way the air was moving. The joys of ruralish living!

Janes' two little tiny terrors as she calls them are continuingto amuse her. They are really sweet little things, Dipsy likes jumping up and down on her laptop on her bed and waking her up at five in the morning looking for a feed isuppose. She was talking to me on her phone when driving home last night and they were in the window waiting for her. Aaah! isn't that sweet.

Vin has gone off to Tesco as usual  for the weeks shopping,  he has also taken his netbook to a computer shop in formby to see if there is anything that cn be done to get it going. He thought the item he had orddered would work but nothing was happening so this is his last hope really. Worth a try.

 Just Chilling!

Freedom Day!

Today July 19th is supposed to be the day when the rules are relaxed not so much social distancing and masks to be worn only on public transport  systems.  Trouble is that there were 48,000 new Covid cases reported in this country which is the highest in the world apparently.  Vin says he is going to still be wearing his in places like shops and supermarkets also.  

Poor Jessie, double whammy this ,orning. Firstly Mark came at around a quarter to ten , she normally does her disppearing act upstairs but it seem like she couldn't be bothered and she remained in the front room on the rug becuse Vin had removed what is now regarded as her footstool so mark could do my foot. he finally got a little look at her, he said hello and she raised her head and then flopped down again. mark said she looks like she has had a night on the tiles!  Then the doorbell went and it was finally Vin's parcel from China. He has been waiting for that for an age and the tracking had it at heathrow Gateway for an age, then last nght it suddenly moved to liverpool. It is a gadget to get his little netbook working, so he is now waiting for the battery to charge on said netbook.

The weather at the moment is extremely hot, bright sunshine and very wrm at night making it hard to get to sleep. Vin tried to get a draught going but not much doing really. Not a fan of this hot weather at all, didn't mind when we were in Florida you just got on with it but it isn't the same here homehow!

 Morning after the night before!

Feeding time in Jane's house!

Thursday!

I like Thursdays, Vin gets my new weekly magazines from the shop on a Thursday, so I can start again with the puzzles. Just about finished last weeks ones, so will begin these lateron.  I do all of the puzzles in the Take a Break and Chat ones and they are entered each week but never win anything despite having done them for years. Oh well you live in hope.! same with the lottery, we do this religiously each week but have never had anything more than four nmbers and that only about twice, and small amounts. 

Supposed to be getting warm as the weekend approaches but it did start cloudy, clearing up now though and getting sunnier.  Still a huge amount of confusion about the holiday industry, some countries on the green list turning amberwhich means quarantining when you return for ten days. You do wonder if it is worth it really and then there is the cost. Especially for a family all that extra cost.  Vin was telling me about one family who should have been going to Malta and have now cancelled that and are going to Llandudno instead.Not quitethe same though is it?

Jane rang us earlier on her way to ASDA to do her shopping, she had sent some pictures of Ips and Dips, they are such pretty cats and very photogenic and the photos are lovely. No wonder she is besotted. 

Mind you so is our Jessie so maybe all cats are photogenic?

Our little Madam!

Waiting in the window for their Mummy!
 

Football!!!!

Thank the Lord that is all over for the time being, the final on Sunday which England lost on penalties, so Italy took the trophy. It wasn't coming home after all! That is over and so is the tennis which I did enjoy, Both of the finals matches were good matches and well worth watching. Next thing coming up is the Olympicas although how exactly they will go is anybody's guess, in Japan this time and postponed from last year becaus of  you know what. 

The weather is clearing up a little,at least it is brighter and sunnier, Not xactly hot yet though but certainly brighter. 

Nothing much happening here at the moment, no podiatry this week and only one parcel expected, my coffee pods from Amazon due tomorrow. Vin is waiting for a parcel which is coming from China, Apparently Hermes do have it somewhere but goodness knows where. Oh well it will arrive sometime, till then he can't use his netbook which s annoying for him as he uses that a lot. 

Jessie was lovely when we got home on Saturday night, she was sat in the doorway miaowing quite loudly in greeting. Aaah!

 One way she wakes Vin up in the morning reaches out with a very gentle paw and strokes his cheek till he moves. Crafty little beggars aren't they?

The Royal Visit!

Well yesterday we went of to see our Jane in Manchester again, unbelievably it is five weeks since the last time we went. She had some jobs for Vin to do. I had a great time watching the Wimbledon tennis Ladies final which turned out to be a really good match in the end with an Australian girl winning for the first time since Evonne Goolsgong nearly forty years ago.

Vin worked his socks off and did a lot of jobs in the end. He... fixed her bee pictures over her sofa which look great, fixed up her camera in the little cats room so she can see what they are getting up to. mended a window frame which was faulty. They both went off to B&Q for a shower hose to fix the one which was faulty, she now has a smashing shower . He did the  bathroom cabinet she had bought for her upstairs toilet too, which now hangs over her washbasin and is really useful there.   Hung a picture at the top of the stairs which looks absolutely great.  Also he tried to tempt the two tiny terrors to come to him but they are very tentative and will come and sniff round you but won't yet get too close. I did get a few strokes though when jane lifted Dipsy up whilost cuddling her. They are really sweet though and are always together which is good.  It seems to be quite a catty close where she lives we saw loads when we were leaving including a ginger one which was sat in the middle of the road when we were leaving. 

Took us an hour to get there and the same to get back, although the traffic was busy there were no hold-ups so we made good time. Think Jane was happy with all the jobs done. The only thing he could not do yesterday was to hang her bug picture over the fireplace. It turned out to be very heavy although a lovely picture and Vin wanted to look it up before hanging it to make sure that it is done right.  Think that will be quite a job on its own really, you wouldn't want it to fall and get damaged or fall on the cats or jjane. The picture is really lovely and needs special hanging. 

All in all a very productive day and Vin was a star. 

 Our not so tiny terror greeted us at the door when we came home, miaowed very loudly and ran off into the kitchen ready for feeding!

This is Jane's picture and is really lovely, much nicer in real life!

Always together having a nosey!

Friday!

Friday again, another weekend coming on and tomorrow we are off to see our Jane over in Manchester. Vin has some jobs to do for her, mainly hanging pictures and a bathroom cabinet that wants fixing on the bathroom wall for her. She did have a mirror there but that fell down one day so she bought a nice slim cabinet for there instead. 

Spoke to her yesterday and she has a few jobs to be done. Finally she has got round to using her washing machine and her tumble dryer also her Hoover which is a Shark not a Hoover! which her cats didn't like by the way. Mind, I don't remember any cat we have had that liked Hoovers, they have all done a runner when it is used. Suppose it must look like a monster to them. Hope the little cats aren't too scared by us being there, but Jane says they are very nosy, so maybe they will be ok. Last time we went they had only newly arrived so i think they were wary of everything.

Just turned the radio off, it is the Jeremy Vine show and is wall to wall football! How I hate football. It is the final on Sunday afternoon and is England vs italy, and it seems the country has gone mad. Also the tennis finals at Wimbledon the women's on Saturday and the men's on Sunday.

We shall have to leave our Jessie tomorrow but she was fine last time we went. Vin made sure she has biscuits and plenty of water so she had enough to keep her going, nice quiet day ahead for our Jessie!

 My bee picture which was a present from jane for Christmas, she has four of these  (not the same, they are different) and she wants them in a line above her sofa. Hope they won't be too hard to fix up.

Look at those eyes!

July 7th !

 Reason for the heading is that it is exactly one year today since our John died. My how the year has flown by. Here we are, Ann has moved house in that time, our Jane has bought her own house too and acquired two little "tiny terrors". We still have the Covid quite badly in this country and the rules are being relaxed  on Monday 19th to start reopening things again.  Hence  a lot of changes but not a huge amount of progress really. 

Masks will not be compulsory from that date but Vin reckons that he will continue to wear his in places like Tesco etc., don't blame him.We have both had our two jabs but the problem seems to be the Delta varient or the Indian one which is spreading quite fast.

Wall to wall football tonight on the box, England vs Denmark for a place in the cup apparently. The papers are full of it, very boring, and all the television schedule is altered. Thankfully Vin is not remotely interested in football so it isn't on in our house.

Jane's two catties are doing their mischief while she is on nights she said when she got home yesterday morning all of their things in their room were all over the place, they had clearly been running round during the night. Look forward to seeing them on Saturday when we go over to see her. 

Cat number one! Jessie posing!

House of mutiple occupancy!

Busy Monday!

Well it is for us anyway! This morning up earlyish because Mark is due to deal with the one remaining problem tootsie. Stubborn little cuss is getting there though so he dressed it and put another dressing on and he will be back in two weeks. So that is good, a week off in between. Jessie will be pleased about that, she hates the doorbell going and also the vacuum going too so it is a double whammy. 

Also today Vin had to do his Covid test. He was given a bunch of tests by the pharmasist and he has been doing those then he got a random test through the post which is done and today he had one final one to do and a courier comes to collect it. not been yet so he is waiting for that to arrive. Another doorbell for Jessie. Oh dear! Double whammy!

lastly today at twenty past one or thereabout I have a phone diabetic review from Aintree hospital, these are usually quite quick and don't cause trouble, we have been noting blood sugars for the last few days and they seem to be ok. mostly 7s in the morning and around 11s or 12s in the evening. Weight has gone up a bit but not bad considering. Should all be fine, fingers crossed. 

Weather has been changeable over the last few days, a bit sunny but not searing hot, just bright and some bad showers, enough to make the weeds grow. Jane was on the phone to us the other night and as she got out of her car and started the walk to her night shift the heavens opened. She said she got drenched. Oh dear! She is on the last of her three night shifts tonight then she has a few days off. Bet she is looking forward to those. Her two tiny terrors are doing fine, Dipsy is very friendly and will let her stroke and everything else but Ipsy is still a bit wary, will take time i suppose.

 Calm before the storm! 

This was her first sight on the RSPCA site where she lives and she was smitten. Dipsy on the left and Ipsy on the right.  A lot of her friends put comments on their website that they should let her adopt these two, and it worked. So they are now residing at home with her!

Friday!

Very quiet day today nothing coming by post or by delivery so no-one expected. Vin went out for the paper and then over the road to the pharmacy to put the prescription in for the month. The pharmacy owner is in the process of getting his ground ready for building a coffee shop, not sure how that will go given today's climate but he must know better.  Suppose it will be a mecca for all the walkers and cyclists we now get coming through the village.

The walkers are a funny bunch, sometimes they come all togged up in hiking boots and all the gear, and set off down the pavements. Don't know what that is about. Also the cyclists they tend to come round in droves at quite a high speed too.

Quite nice and sunny here today, not much of a breeze  Vin has been out weed burning to get the back garden looking right, takes a windless day to do that though or it doesn't work. little Jack was out there yesterday, he likes Jack he is a real character, the other cat his sister Milly doesn't tend to go near him but will come in the3 garden sometimes following jack.

Jane's two are beautiful little things. One will go to her and be very friendly but the other is more timid, but I am sure she will come round eventually, just takes time. I think we are due to go and see her on the 10th July, she has sme jobs for Vin, so it is anoth "royal visit"! It is a great little house and it will be nice to see her cats again, they were very new the last time we went, so very wary.

Jessie is enjoying the sunny spots in the house, she has her favourite spots and will go to those when she wants to, she just takes herself off and disappears off, or she will be found by Vin's side on the sofa. Never mine!!

 Ipsy is the lower one and Dipsy is on the upper stair.