Project 365+1: Days 231 - 244

I've been a very bad blogger this last couple of weeks. Things have been a bit busy here the last couple of weeks and I'm just about caught up now. I can't actually remember why I didn't get around to posting last week, apparently by the time I was finished doing whatever it was I was doing instead of blogging, it was time to go home.

The good news is, I'm all caught up now. I'll apologise for the boring photos I've been taking this week. The weather's not been particularly nice up here (as you'll see below) so I've been avoiding taking my DSLR out, this kind of led to it getting put safely away so I didn't use it at all. Quite a few of these pictures are taken by iPhone (or of iPhones) because I've been a bit lazy.

Day 231: Moo Cow

We've got a bunch of cows on the estate now. My favourite farmyard beastie is probably the sheep, but cows are pretty cool too. The walk to the front gate now passes two fields of cows which are really interested in Tara and so usually walk over to the fence or gate to say hello. Tara's pretty interested in them too.

This little guy came right up to the gate while Mr Click and I were walking Tara one evening. I was kind of hoping to rub his nose, but he wasn't keen on me getting too close. He was also a little bit shy and so it was tricky to get a good photo of him. His friend was a little more photogenic, but iPhones don't photograph pure black cows very well.

Day 232: Wallpapered

Uh, yeah, as I said, lots of photos of iPhones this week. I updated my wallpaper on my iPhone to make Mr Click's graduation picture into my wallpaper and screensaver. One of the funniest things about this is that when I open my 'Social Networking' folder the top of his head seems to open (because the picture divides in two) and Twitter seems to pop out the top of his head, hehe. Apparently I'm easily amused.

Day 233: Rainbow

We've been seeing plenty of these recently, lots and lots of rainbows. Some days the weather has been so changeable it's been hard to decide what to wear out the front door. We've left the house to brilliant sunshine, so warm that you don't need a coat; by the afternoon the wind's gotten up and it's very blowy, and I've been glad to be shut in at work where it's warm and dry; then by the evening it'll be hammering down, usually just in time to make sure we get throroughly drenched during Tara's bedtime walk.

On the plus side, there's lots of pretty rainbows. This one was just the tiniest little smudge of a rainbow, it looked as though it was coming out of one cloud and going into another. As we were driving along Mr Click offered to stop so I could get a photo, I'd told him not to bother, before we came around a corner and I saw this and I decided that actually, I would take a snap of it. It's just a shame I didn't have my fancy camera with me at the time.

Day 234: Birthday Girl

Tara recently turned a year old, so I decided that we needed to have a little photoshoot. I had planned to make a little party hat to stick on her head while she had her picture taken, but I ran out of time to make one, so I grabbed a scarf instead. It was all flowery and festive looking anyway. I tied it in a big bow which Tara was most put out about.

You can practically see the embarrassment in her eyes there, she's thinking 'this picture is going to end up on the internet, isn't it?' Still, I think it's cute. Tara's probably just glad that she only has one birthday a year... just wait until Christmas!

Day 235: Nice and New

Mr Click's new phone showed up, which he was very pleased about, understandably. I was going to take a quick snap of them side by side but there was a bunch of junk of the table and I couldn't be bothered to clear it all away to make room. So here's a very quick picture of his phone in the case he ordered for it and has subsequently changed for a flippy style case that covers the front of the phone as well.

We've been very happy with Vodafone's service. It would have been all set up and ready to go the day after it was received (as he was keeping his number and had to wait for the micro sim to arrive) except we were a little bit too slow to get it set up and their phone line closed at 8pm. They've been really good about getting everything all sorted (though I still have to call up to get their parental control lock thing taken off my phone). Funnily enough I've tended to avoid Vodafone in the past, having been happy with O2 and (later) Tesco Mobile, but they've been so good with getting these phones that they've definitely made a loyal Vodafone customer out of me.

Day 236: Nosy Dog

I'd been trying to get a photo of Tara and one of the ratties nose to nose, but the ratties in question we're so keen on getting their photos taken so always ended up just out of frame (or just out of focus). The rats and the dog are very good with each other. The rats don't generally try to nip at Tara and Tara tends to just lie down and watch what's going on, occasionally sticking her nose up against the cage. Sometimes she woofs at them if she doesn't think they're doing anything interesting, or nudges the cage if she's thinking they should get up.

Sadly we discovered a lump on one of our rats, little (or not so little) Bell. She's had a squishy bit in a little roll of skin by her front left arm but it suddenly became very noticeable. Of course, that happened over the bank holiday weekend, my pets never get ill at convenient times. Bell didn't seem to notice it at all, she was still eating fine, climbing fine, moving fine, so we held off. First chance after the bank holiday we headed to the vet with Bell (and Carol as a travel companion, because she loves to travel and acts as a calming influence on the other three in stressful situations).

Bell got a relatively clean bill of health. The vet declared the lump somewhat squishy and that it was still moving around. She was still healthy, if a little over weight. Carol was declared to be healthy. Right now we're just watching it to see if it gets any bigger or if it starts bothering her. The ratties are also on a bit of a diet because Holly is very fat, Bell is fatty, Carol's not exactly slim and Ivy is about right. They really like breakfast cereal so we've cut back on that and are reducing their treats. They're not exactly impressed with this.

Day 237: A Game of Thrones

This was one of those 'Oops, I'm in bed reading and I've forgotten to take a picture today'. I couldn't be bothered to get up and find something to snap and grabbed a quick photo of my view at that particular moment. I maybe should have turned to a different page before taking the photo; Daenarys in labour doesn't make the prettiest of photos. Also, the lamp didn't provide much light so it's a little bit noisy. That'll teach me.

Day 238: We're Watching You

This is what I meant earlier when I said that the cows came over to the fence to watch us. These cows actually started out virtually at the other end of the field but one by one they followed us along the fence as Tara and I walked past. We stopped so I could take a photo and as we carried on they walked right up to the very far corner of the field and watched us go. Tara kept on pulling back to see them. She's always so excited when we go past this field, I've got to take my camera when the weather is dry so I can get a photo of her reaction to the cows.

Day 239: The Rain, Rain, Rain...

... came down, down, down!

As I may have mentioned before, it's been chucking it down more often than not the last few weeks. This is as close as I could get to a rainy day picture, that's just outside the back lobby, under the porch (so my camera stayed dry). The rain was pouring off the roof, out the gutters; look at those splashes!

There was one day in particular where it didn't stop raining all day, except when we took Tara for walk, then it HAMMERED it down! Without fail, when we left the house it would start raining, getting steadily heavier as we went along. By the time we got home it would be just starting to dry off, as though it was doing it on purpose. Still, there's something about being out in heavy rain that makes hot chocolate taste so much nicer when you get home and dry.

Day 240: Seven Lovely Men

I've been running low on clothes... well, I will when I have a clearout to donate some of the clothes I don't wear any more to charity. Mr Click made a good find during the week though, as you can see above, from one of our local charity shops. It's Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, all sparkly and sequined with the words 'Seven Lovely Men' on it.

It's my kind of colour and just the right length for the style I like. I like tops that don't ride up at the back and this comes right down to cover my bum, which is great. Mr Click also ordered me a bunch of new socks this week as well, which arrived just the very next day. They're all stripey and funky looking; all the same length and perfect for mixing and matching.

Day 241: Morse Code

A couple of years ago I bought the complete set of Colin Dexter's Morse books for Mr Click, he's finally started reading them this year, so of course I've had to read them too. I'll write a proper review for it at some point, but I'll just say here, it's been interesting reading a police/crime book set back in the seventies, seeing how things are different.

Speaking of books, I took part in a reading challenge this summer on HTV. We all enjoyed it so much that we've gone for a year long one this time around. I can't wait, it only started yesterday and I went to bed early (partly to miss all the Doctor Who chatter online) mostly with the intention of reading. I'm on the second Game of Thrones book just now: A Clash of Kings and I'm really enjoying it.

Day 242: Shower time

This is Tara lying on the bathroom floor, probably wondering why I wanted to take a photo of her lying on the bathroom floor. She normally comes up with us when we have a showers after taking her on her last walk. By that time she's usually pretty tired and ready for bed so she just flops wherever she stops. Unfortunately the floor is wooden and she goes down with quite a bang. It's just lucky that we don't live in a flat what with Thunderpaws thumping around everywhere, hehe.

Day 243: Cuddles

We were up and ready to go quite early on Friday because some men came round to put up our washing line. There was lots of drilling and banging going on at the back of the house and Tara was a little bit unsettled by it, so she climbed up onto the sofa with Mr Click for some reassurance.

Of course, when we got her we, and my in-laws, had some rules about dogs on the furniture. Naturally, all these went out the window when we she settled herself in. Now she invites herself up onto the bed in the middle of the night, happily settles on the sofa for a cuddle while we're watching TV and generally breaks all the doggy rules that we'd made up. But when you've got a sleepy, snuggly labrador on your tummy snoring away while she's dreaming, the rules seem kind of silly.

Day 244: Lap Dog

And to end this rather epic photopost (seriously, I was going to do half now and half later in the week but I couldn't decide where the best place to split the post would be so I just kept going, I'm very sorry), here's yet another cute picture of my dog pretending she's really the size of a Yorkshire Terrier.

I love how the fact that she's leaning forward in this picture makes her look much bigger - this is how big she feels when she's on your lap, even though she curls up quite small. Until I got my camera out she was all curled up fast asleep looking cute - Mr Click did not really appreciate her waking up and fidgeting when I startly clicking away. Oops.

Next week I will try to take some more interesting photos, maybe one or two actually outside if the weather improves. I'm also hoping to get lots of reading done to give me a good head start at the reading challenge, might even get some book reviews written and posted as well, so look out for those.