The New Year

The record warm November temperatures fall off a cliff sharply to leave us with a December that is much colder than it should be. We woke to -30c this morning and the world seems like the ice age has set in for the season. Of course this is the New Year, when the 'death' of the year and much that is upon it, brings promises and celebration of new life to come. Doesn't make it any easier though when you have icicles on your nose.
Saw some robins yesterday. Poor confused things must wonder why the heck they are still here. We do! Extra bird food going out this week to keep the birds and squirrels happier than they would have been, but still many will die.
Of course this week is the start of the Copenhagen summit on climate change and we can expect nothing from this as usual. Going through the motions is all there is. Canada's prime minister will be there to shame Canada once again in the eyes of the world.

Didn't get the chance to get rid of all the fallen leaves this year, but most of them are gone. We won't see them again until the Spring anyway, and that seems an awfully long way off.
Everything else is done as much as it is going to be and apart from shoveling snow, not much else will happen outside.

Our poor little cat has developed diabetes and is being treated twice daily with insulin. I hope for the best here and d all we can for him. Diabetes in cats is a purely man made disease. Reason being that we feed them on dry 'kibbles,' which are rich in carbohydrates. Cats are meat protein exclusive, they are just made that way and of course we neglect that at our (or the cat's) peril.
I strongly advise anyone who cares for cats to switch them to a protein rich, low carb diet. For myself, I wish I had done this a long time ago and researched feline diabetes before we experienced it.

So enough soap-boxing. The Christmas holidays approach when everyone will get involved with huge over commercialization and yet more re-runs on the tele. Well, having said humbug, I now want to wish all those that know me and read this ditty a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from me, Helen and of course Tubs. XX

A New Home

Welcome to our new Blog home. As I said in my last post, I was not happy with Yahoo profiles, so thanks to my nephew Steve I found this one here at Google. I'd appreciate any feedback such as bugs found etc so I can make it better for anyone that might be bored enough to want to read my blogs.

So the 30 degree September days are gone and what's left in it's place are damp, windy days with less than half that temperature. To be honest, its more like Autumn now.

The picture above is a Northern Flicker, a kind of woodpecker. Just lately we've been seeing a few of these scuttling around our lawns. Normally we don't see them much, but a couple of times a year we get them passing through. Nice to see them as they are such a pretty bird.
Plenty of hawks around at the moment too. Think they are off to milder climes although some hardy souls do stay and brave out the Winter.

Soon will come the wonderful job of picking up leaves. I usually leave it until there are plenty on the ground to try and minimize the number of times I have to do it. It's a laborious job, but made easier by our lawn sweeper which picks up loads and allows me to dump in bulk.

OK, I'll keep this short as it's our first post here and I really only wanted to test it out.
We'll be back come the Winter to let you know how things are going.
Oh, by the way. If any of you remember a previous post about Clementine, the cat we rescued. You will be glad to know that she has been adopted by a loving family. So nice to see that this story at least has a happy ending.