Compare the Meerkat birthday card!

I know it's random, I'm away with migraine then back with a meerkat but bear with me, I haven't lost the plot just yet. This is for my father in law, every year I have to try and surpass last year's card which is getting tricky! He's absolutely mad on the Compare the Meerkats, I think he has all the toys and the book, so I thought I'd do him a card. Obviously meerkat stamps aren't available (to my knowledge) so this is my drawing in pen and ink, coloured in with pencils. All I'm saying is little bits of art take as much work as big ones and I know this card will be kept with the others.

One of the reasons I make cards is because in all honesty most of the ones in shops are awful, particularly for men. It's either an outdated watercolour of a cricket bat or something not very funny. This one took several hours so I only get time to do them for people I care about, but at least I know they're getting something much more personal than if I'd just purchased one off the shelf.

The perils of driving on rural roads

If I were to pick one downside of living where I do it would be the need to own a car and have to drive. I'm around 20 minutes away from the nearest town, and sadly in the time I've lived here the village has lost all it's amenities. We no longer have a shop, post office or pub, so even a hermit like me has to venture out into the wider world. I've been driving for around twenty years and honestly I think the standard on the road now is appalling. I'm not just talking about the cheap, infrequent maintenance either. The way people drive is downright dangerous. Until two years ago when I got injured I used to run 10km on the roads three or four times a week. Being responsible I always wore HiVis and ran towards the traffic as there are no pavements. It was always blatantly obvious when oncoming drivers weren't paying attention and hadn't seen me. Many times I was forced to jump into the bank to avoid being run over, and they looked surprised when they did se...

Some new arrivals!

I'm a little bit in love with Silkie chickens! They aren't a breed I'd ever kept until earlier this year when I was a bit spontaneous and bought two bantams at auction. Sadly I lost little Cappuccino but still have her sister Latte. Although Latte is gregarious she has spent a lot of time on her own over the summer so I thought it would be nice to get her a couple of friends. Enter Mocha and Milkshake, both a rather fetching chocolate colour with black pom-poms. Thankfully they seem to get on well with Latte, you can never tell, birds are no different to people in that they don't all gel or get on because they're the same species! After a bit of a quarantine period they've been gradually introduced to the rest of the flock and are fitting in nicely.

Merv on Monday

The little rascal hasn't been on for a while due to one thing and another. I'd like to say he's got better behaved in the interim but sadly that's not the case. He still thinks he's King of everything, and needs to keep the sheep in line. I try to reward him for standing on his platform, where he's out of the way and can't cause mischief, but he seems to have learned to jump up and get a treat, then jump off and butt sheep. The little blighter is always one step ahead of me, don't be fooled by the angelic face!

A Little Cottage in the Country

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