How much should we give away?

Sometimes it's hard to know how much to say on a blog. How much truth do we put into our posts and who reads our words other than those who comment? It's been a tough couple of weeks for sure and it's been hard not to give in to self pity. I get dragged down just as much as the next person, but living here, it's hard to be down for long.  So although I could do with a good moan about stress and difficult animals, I won't. I'll focus on the positives.

The weather was damp but warm so I set to clearing the front borders and pruned the roses back hard. I hope soon to give them some magic muck from the field and maybe I'll have a lovely rose garden above my herbs and dye flowers.

 One of the joys of this little plot is that I unexpectedly own my own tiny woodland. At the top of the field, there is a triangle of trees that border three properties. Part of this belongs to me :D

 I looked it over briefly before signing all the papers, but decided to spend some time meditating and looking for a good spot to draw and paint. There are lots of dark little nooks to explore.

 And this deep, slate lined hollow is where we could dig down to reach a natural spring. I think it would be worth putting in a bore hole so that the ponies can have fresh, free water.

 At the top of this rise, I can look down over my fields and those of my neighbours. It's utterly silent here. There were, however, many spiders all rushing away from my feet, a little like the scene from Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. Thankfully I'm not scared of spiders or I may well have had a Ron Weasley meltdown!

 On the way back to the house, the new cat, Dexter, came out of the cornfield and I was surprised by Bambam's reaction. She's been a bit put out to find herself not the only Tuxedo cat in the village. She allowed the smelly boy to greet her.

Next, Finn came out of the corn to show me that ginger cats are the best, of course.

Then Cotton allowed Dexter to greet her. She's One of the Mama cats, so is pretty much boss among the others. I think Dexter is being allowed a chance because he's so young and very deferential to all of the cats. He likes it with us and doesn't want to muck up his chances. I got wormers and flea treatment for him from the vet and she said he's very lucky to have found a home. Well, it wasn't like we had a choice, he just wouldn't go away!

Back inside the house, the Shower room is almost done. Just a few more panels to be fitted and then I can paint it.

 The wall outside was bashed down

and then the boys cut out the ceiling to make room for a staircase up to the loft. Manchee was not impressed! And that's where I'll leave you. My weird little internet device is playing up and yet again our promised Broadband connection has failed to appear. I've been told that I have to pay for an Engineer to come out, so of course, I'll be giving Orange an earful as they've had two months rent from me for nothing! When I last phoned and complained, the operator suddenly developed a line difficulty and hung up! It's a pain in the behind!!!