Internet!!

Yay!! We have fully working internet at home! At last!!

Although we've managed without any wifi since getting home from holiday on 8th March, it was good to see all the green lights on last night and be able to use the internet without having to worry about how much data we were using. DD spent a bit of time catching up on YouTube on the blogs that she watches, and I was just quite happy to browse. Because I could! 

Finally. 

A busy weekend

Yet another weekend has gone by.

Yesterday's weather was pretty awful with lots of rain and wind. So after careful consideration of all the rain that we've had, we decided to stay local and try and find somewhere that wasn't completely water logged. Easier said than done.

We ended up just heading out to Darwen Moor - local and usually quite quite. Today wasn't though - it appeared that a walking group was out at the same time, going the opposite direction to us, so we had loads of people walking passed us. I've put some more information about this walk on the Walks page, along with some photo's.

Thankfully I'd set up the slow cooker for tea so I didn't have to start thinking about what to make when we got back. However, as there'd been so much mud around on the walk, both dogs came back pretty mucky, so we ended up having to bath both of them. They're now sleeping peacefully (and probably pretty tired) after walking nearly 7 miles, being bathed, been fed and been brushed - what a life!

Oscar

I've been told tonight that I have a well behaved dog!

I took Oscar out for his walk tonight along the usual route which is next to the main road. He was being really well-behaved, walking to heel, when he spotted a cyclist coming behind us. As is normal for Oscar, he not only sits while the cyclists go passed, but he sometimes lies down and waits for them to pass. That's what he did as the cyclist got nearer. So, as the cyclist went passed us he commented 'that's a really well behaved dog you've got there'.

They have no idea how good that feels. With all the problems that we have with Oscar it means such a lot when somebody says something positive about him. He's extremely nervous and wary with strangers, hates other dogs (he's scared of other dogs and comes across as being aggressive as he barks at them and appears to be lunging after them), he doesn't like loud noises or sudden movements, and taking him out for walks anywhere new can sometimes be a bit of an ordeal depending on whether we meet other people or dogs while we're out.

But that's Oscar. Despite his behavioural issues we love him to bits.

Holiday update and internet problems

I finally found time to update my holiday page and have included a couple of links to just a couple of the lovely places we found while we were out and about in Dumfries and Galloway. It's a lovely area of Scotland, one that we don't visit often enough really as we're always too busy heading further north. 

Our internet still isn't sorted properly so I'm still a little wary of using it too much. Hopefully by the end of next week we should be up and running fully so I won't have to worry about how much it's being used.

I've also done some more book reviews and some photo's of some of the walks we did while we were on holiday.

Just have a browse. 

First holiday walk and a pub lunch.

We had to take DD to Sheffield today to try on her bridesmaids dress - her Auntie is getting married later this year and DD is the bridesmaid. So, with DD dropped off, we had a few hours to fill, but not quite long enough to go for a decent walk (frustrating really when there are so many good walking routes in that area). As it was lunch-time we headed back out towards Ladybower Reservoir and went for a pub lunch, to The Yorkshire Bridge Inn. The food was really good - highly recommended if you're ever in the area. We hardly ever eat out so it was lovely to just spend a bit of time doing not much, waiting until it was time to head back and collect DD and head home.

Thankfully I'd made the decision to put a chicken in a pot in the oven to cook while we were out, so we got home to a lovely smell in the kitchen! A bit of salad thrown together and some bread, and there you have it - a tasty tea!

I've also just added some photos of the first walk we did while we were on our last holiday, round Loch Trool. I'll add some more over the next fews days when I get chance.

Miranda Hart and our holiday Part One!!

Yay! We have a bit of technology at last!!!! Although we still haven't got any broadband connection (thanks to a complete let down by the provider, no names mentioned here but we will probably doing the necessary complaint letter to the relevant department at some point), we have been provided with a limited back-up wi-fi device until we get sorted. Who knew that you relied on the internet so much?

So I can at least update this blog a bit better for the next few days, and hopefully catch up on a bit of our holiday, and the books I've read as well.

This afternoon, however, I didn't have time to do any catching up online as we all went to see Miranda Hart in Manchester. For those of you who haven't seen her, go - she was so funny and involved the audience far more that I thought she would. I haven't laughed as much for quite a while.

I've added one book review for now, by Mark Wallington - one of the books I read while we were on holiday.

Ah yes, the holiday….. Feels like a lifetime ago already and yet it's only been a week since we got home. Up to South-West Scotland - Gatehouse-of-Fleet - to a lovely cottage overlooking farmland and hills. It was lovely. Apart from the weather. After arriving on the Saturday as it was going dark, it started raining and continued raining throughout the whole of the first day there.

Monday, however, was a completely different day - blue sky and sun! So we all went off to Glen Trool for a lovely walk round Loch Trool. A beautiful day, which I'll write more about on my walks page. All I'll say for now is that we took longer than we thought we would to get round, mainly delayed by the amount of Geocaches we managed to find.

Then Tuesday was also quite a good day to start with, so DH and myself took Oscar out for a walk on our own - DD wanted to stay in the cottage and chill, so we left her with Molly, to give Molly a bit of a rest. We headed out to walk up Cairnsmore of Fleet - all 711m (or 2332 ft) of it!! The book that the walk is in described it as not difficult. Really?! I can only describe it as one of the hardest walks we've done - no rest on the climb at all, and so cold at the top!! But we did it, and I'll put photos up soon.

Wednesday and Thursday were very wet days - rain, drizzle, more rain, more drizzle - so all we did was drive round in the hope we could catch a dry spell, although we found some lovely places to keep dry in, which I shall explain in Part Two.

On that note, I shall leave it for today and hopefully be able to add Part Two of our holiday tomorrow night …….

Cats medication!

I ended up taking two of the cats to the vets this afternoon. Both of them appear to have a few issues using the toilet, to put it politely. But just how much medication do you need?!!

So the bank is a bit lighter, and I have twice daily medication to give both of them for the next few days......

Wish me luck!! 

(But, for the record, they're both so worth the money). 

A blip in technology!

Over the last week we've had, what can only be described as, a bit of a blip in technology. 

I knew with being off work and going on holiday that I might not be able to blog much, but to not blog at all has been quite frustrating. All of us have been on holiday - myself, DH and DD - all together in a wonderful little cottage in the south west of Scotland. Very little phone signal or internet. Almost cut off from the outside world! This has been bliss for most of the time. Until you decide to check something, and you can't because you've no internet. Or I want to update my blog but can't, because there's no signal. You don't realise just how many times a day you use the internet, until it's not there. 

As soon as we have the internet I can put up some lovely photos of where we've been. We've had some sun, rain and hail, wind and more rain. But overall it was a week to chill. Which I think we all did. Apart from the technology issue. 

So, a week away to catch up on, on here. Lots to tell. Walks to describe. Book reviews to do. 

But not today. Due to internet problems. Again. We haven't any wi-fi at home due to a glitch with switching providers. And it won't be fixed for nearly a week at least we've been told. This is all really frustrating as I've got a week to catch up on with having no internet last week either!! 

Technology is a wonderful thing. When it works.......

Another book review

It's the 1st March already! This year is just flying by.

I finished yet another book yesterday so I've done another review. Now all I have to do is to decide which book to read next! So much choice!