My house loves me

Well Mother Nature laid on an excellent solstice treat for me today. I had brekker to the end of a particulary gripping and quite gory silent witness then sat gazing out of the window hoping to see some critters on our bird feeders. Not a soul on them but with nose pressed against the glass of the kitchen window i got treated to two pairs of blackcaps, two wrens, a robin, 3 goldcrest (firecrest?), 17 yup, 17 blackbirds (who have been steaily removing all the berries from holly tree two over the past week, now there's just a few left on the ends of the branches), what looked very much like huge mistle thrush, a few ravens or the same two zooming backwads and forwards, a buzzard, a lesser spotted woodpecker, two jays and a single bluetit. In addition the mystery of the month, what looked like a group of fieldfares. Sort of bullfinch size with grey and pinkish breasts. I've never seen one before let along a couple of dozen and am still not sure what I saw. Also there were bumble bees, a bee-bee, grasshoppers and what we call a cabbage white butterfly. To round breakfast off Steph phoned and told me a joke. What a nice start to the day.
As i write the temperature is 21.2 degrees; T-shirt weather. The buds are a budding, the sap is a rising and we have a primrose; spring is here ladies and gentlemen courtesy of world pollution.
So after tricking the reluctant hound into sleeping in a kennel by building the kennel up around it in its sleeping spot over the last two weeks I have now finished it and it has a roof, walls, floor and narrow door opening. Now the dog spends it’s days curled up inside it and has become lazy. But better a warm lazy dog than a cold trembly one we had before. As we paid out for a real kennel when we got the creature I’m going to try tomorrow to trick the beastie (it truly is a thick beastie) into sleeping in that by lobbing a ball for it and switching the two kennels over. If it falls for it, I will just have to accept the fact that I have a thick dog and make the best of it. It’s pretty tired and shagged out at the moment as I have about 30 tennis balls which, with the new ball throwing stick, means it runs up and down the hillside 30 times a day before sleeping it off in the kennel. Here’s hoping.
Costantino came up to see me today and to feed his goats on the ivy on the downed plum tree and of course have a moan about my faggot making capabilities. He's right of course. Could do better if he tried. I do love his goats though.