Friday 4th September

And there is a decided chill in the wind today that foretells of autumn I fear.

It would have been nice to have a summer to go before it but I think that is now not going to happen though weathermen have vaguely spoken of an Indian summer this month. I do hope it hurries up.

We had some rain this week though. My God did it rain. Tuesday I think was about the worst, so much rain that the drain at the back of the house to take the ditch run-off got blocked and I opened the door to the downstairs loo to find it swimming in water again. Well, I was wet anyway so another half hour or so clearing the ditch and drain didn't make all that much difference I guess. The good thing is that it has meant plenty of grass for the ponies that need it, the bad being that some of the ponies that don't need rich grass are a bit porkier than we would like to see. We never did get the hay field cut and of course that's gone now but maybe next year we will be successful.

I spent a lot of last weekend and this week clearing out my woodshed for the winter and cutting up all the stuff I could to make room for other wood to dry out. Every woman should have a woodshed, it is a very therapeutic place to be. I have my wind up radio and I potter in there moving bits around, rearranging so that I can find what I want when I want and generally forgetting about everything else. Good for the soul. I may be very glad I did because the wind feels quite keen and I may just decide to light the woodburner this evening. there won't be anywhere in the room to sit then as all available seating will be taken up by basking cats and dogs. I still have the better part of a bag of coal so should it be necessary, I have something put by as it were.

The sadness of the week was losing Sophie, one of our oldest cats. Last December we lost her mother Tula who just walked off one day and never came back. Sophie only about 6 months younger than her mother so we reckon about 14 but had a very bad start to her life, a wild cat born in a ditch in Suffolk. She was always just a bit timid, not very robust but a good little hunter. A month or so ago she started going down hill in the same way that her mother did, lost lots of weight despite always eating and being wormed, became more or less incontinent and wouldn't search for a litter tray or go outside and seemed to have lost the plot a bit though at other times she was the same old Sophie, purring away.

The crunch was on Wednesday, we made the decision and rather than have her wander off like her mother, we took Sophie to the vet for the final act of kindness. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I couldn't stay and watch. I can when one of the horses is dealt with but I just couldn't do it with Sophie.

But there you are, she had a good innings, was a good animal and we did the right thing.