there was no smoke.....

Am I continuing in my whiny phase? Quite possibly. This is because I am not at all thrilled at the Universe right now. I need to get back some balance and perspective but first let me rant and then I will come round to solace.

My beloved work horse of a laptop has finally given up. A brief message about the C drive burning (which alarmed me and made me check the sockets for smoke) and it was done for.

I have always been careful about saving photos onto a portable hard drive, but there were many little bits and pieces I had saved on there for some reason or other and now it looks as though I am unlikely to see them again.

On a brighter note, it makes me all the more thankful for delights such as Flickr, Pinterest and my trusty Google Reader, because without these magic clouds, I would be stuffed, not to mention isolated.

Our internet connection has always been poor, and it has become normal to have to pop up every ten minutes to reset the router, which is why I am always thankful to those of you who write long posts, as I get more sitting down time.

I found it hard not having a mobile signal at first, and in the first couple of weeks I fairly panicked at not being able to contact the outside world. Now we have a landline, and I can always stick my head in the brambles if it’s a dire situation.

Now, laptop-less, I am feeling bereft, and fully willing to own up to the fact that I am an internet addict. I don’t watch TV, but I do love a good blog. I want to see what all of you lovely people have been up to, I want to check the weather before I go to bed, I want to see if there are any free books for my Kindle.

I can only sneak onto Mr Wah’s old work laptop that has no letter ‘T’ and spend my time writing a post in word, that I can then upload when I am next near a working computer.

I will put the whining behind me now, and tell you that happily, the weather was fine this afternoon, so we spent it raking up leaves, removing yellow frogs to safety and jumping in the piles (of leaves, not frogs). Sycamore leaves may be my very favourite leaves to jump in.

I heard on Radio Four today that in order to ascertain whether Autumn is early you need to watch an Oak tree, which should be in it’s full Autumnal splendour by the end of October but not now...Oaks should be a way off yet if Nature is not playing tricks. I’m pleased to report that ours has not turned yet, and has weedy little acorns still. The Horse Chestnut, Sycamores and Hazels aren’t doing so well though, and I have also spied lots of jagged edged Sweet Chestnut leaves underneath it’s parent tree. The weather it is safe to say, is cooling and the evenings are drawing in, so it feels that Autumn is underway, whether it is supposed to be or not.

The swallows – except for two – have gone, and I am spending too much time worrying about the two that have yet to leave. I think they are the babies of the second brood who have not long fledged. You need to make your move soon little ones, and stop playing Spitfires with each other.

We have named some of the sheep. The favourite being Captain White, because his fleece is so much brighter than any one else’s in the field. We believe he secretly takes himself off to the launderette in the dead of night to keep himself so Persil White. (Other brands are available.)

I also want to record the turning of tables on the crow. All Summer I have seen these birds mob the Kites and Buzzards, and never once have I seen the bigger birds retaliate. Today a Buzzard was wheeling over head, when an Adult Crow passed by some distance below him. Silent and swift, the Buzzard turned tightly and dive bombed the Crow, knocking him off his flight path and sending him tumbling. I’m not sure if the Crow left the sky completely, or was just temporally wrong footed, as both disappeared over the ridge of the hill, but I think I will take a walk over that way tomorrow if the weather holds, and see if there is any sign of Crow, or indeed Mr Buzzard. I took a picture of the Buzzard seconds before it attacked, which I will upload if I ever get a laptop that works again.

So here is the silver lining to my laptop-less cloud. I may have lost one source of entertainment, but there are plenty others out there.