Sunny.

After so long waiting it's suddenly all go on the house move front. Barring a major mishap we will be moving on November 10th. With such short notice it's going to be a hectic couple of weeks. The original moving firm couldn't do that date so we've had somebody from another local firm come to look around today and are waiting for his estimate.

Today the countryside has been bathed in sunlight. The sun shone brightly on the front of the house and also lit up a couple of the acers outside. However one of the drawbacks to living in a valley is that at this time of year most of the garden remains in dark, cold shade.  

Now that the cats are about to become town cats they need to be micro-shipped and vaccinated. Living in this isolated valley I've never bothered before, the cats have been healthy and I've saved myself a lot of money. This afternoon I packed the 2 of them up and drove to the vet's. I put Speedy in the white travel cage thinking he'd be better where he could have a bit of room while I stuffed Patch into the carrier that looks like a shoulder bag. Poor Speedy was completely freaked out, he kept emitting the sort of wails that sounded as if he was really in distress. In the vet's waiting room he jumped at every street noise and ignored the piece of cheese I gave him. Patch on the other hand was quite calm and happily ate all the cheese almost taking off my fingers. It turns out that Patch is 15 years old (I asked the receptionist) while Speedy is around 9. The vet agreed that Patch is a little on the thin side something we had noticed recently but when he weighed him he is only 200gms less than he was 11 years ago. I have been giving Patch extra food in the mornings and the vet said it could just be his age. The vet also noticed a heart murmur but with no other symptoms we don't need to do more than keep an eye on him. They actually took the cats away to microchip them as it is not so simple in older cats. Eventually they were returned to me, with Speedy in the closed carrier. All that was left was to pay the enormous bill and make another appointment for 3 weeks' time for their boosters. Once back home they got the ultimate treat of tinned cat food for their supper instead of the dry stuff.

The dog crate that I ordered arrived today. The delivery man seemed a bit bemused when I told him I didn't have a dog and he probably thought I was bonkers when I told him it was for my cats. That's another thing on my list that can be ticked off. This evening I also baked a banana loaf which smells delicious as it cools down on the counter. We're both looking forward to having 'real' cooker where you can adjust the cooking temperature.

Ponies in the field and a couple of riders going up the hill.