Chinook chasing UFO?

Last night, whilst putting the goats to bed I heard the unmistakable sound of a chinook helicopter coming across the woods. I stood in the field and as the sound got louder and louder, I was actually quite frightened when it eventually appeared through the trees, flew directly over my head and just missed the house by what looked like a couple of feet! Peahead said it shook the house. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me, so didn't get a picture but it was quite a sight. Later in the evening we heard the noise again and ran outside to see, but it must have been above the clouds.

I wondered whether anyone else spotted it and had taken pictures or whether there was any news on what a chinook was doing flying over my house, so I did a quick internet search. The only reference I found to chinooks in the area was a report about a sighting of one pursuing a UFO! Interestingly, there were also reports of recent UFO sightings very close to here - moving in exactly the same direction as the chinook last night. Perhaps then, it was in hot pursuit of a UFO? So tonight I'll be out hoping to catch sight of a UFOs as well as chinook!

I have had a cold for the last few days and unfortunately Kitty has caught it. She is in bed taking it easy but poor little thing has a really runny nose. I have been keeping an eye on her temperature and so far, so good. Despite her obviously discomfort, she is a good girl and is struggling on, laughing and giggling through the snot bubbles.

Atomic picnic

Another sunny Sunday, so after Peahead had chased down to the farm (again) to fetch the escaped goats, we decided to go on a picnic. This seemed like the ideal occasion for which to pick 'the apples'. They have taken three years to nurture and they are the only two to have survived, so it seemed only right they should be special picnic apples, rather than just everyday eat 'em in the kitchen apples.

As it was Kitty's first picnic, we went to one of our favourite spots - the atom at Wycollar.
















It was pretty windy inside the atom.





















Sunny on the hill.






















Enjoying the view.

Cuddle with mummy.





















Back at home, Kitty continues her efforts to crawl. She has also started to take a great interest in her feet over the last few days. The book says baby may start to look at her own hands, but Kitty is obsessed with looking and laughing at her feet as she wiggles her toes!

Little cutie

After everyone laughing at Kitty's fat-face photo, she has been practising looking cute for the camera. I think she has just about nailed it.

October sunshine

We had just given up on the chance of any more nice weather and started wearing our winter coats, hats and gloves when the sun came through and gave us one last day. Sunday was not just dry.....but warm and sunny too. We took the opportunity to get a few jobs done that desperately needed doing before winter sets in.......

I took loads of privet cuttings to over-winter so I'll be able to plant a nice little hedge at the front of the house next summer - for free!

A new window for the goat shed - the boys have been feeling the cold at night, but this new window that Peahead made should make things a whole lot more comfy for them.

Peahead also fixed the broken glass on my greenhouse (again). Probably won't be long before it's broken again. This has become an annual thing as the wind up here is just too much for my poor little greenhouse to stand. I'm sure one day we will wake up and find the whole thing has gone.

Kitty is getting bigger and stronger everyday. When I put her on her tummy, she almost looks like she is going to get up and start crawling already.

At almost 14lbs 9oz she is getting very heavy to carry around the house, so I made a fabric sling to help. I roughly followed the instructions on Jan's site. My French seam is a little messy, but it will do. You can wear it a couple of different ways. Kitty prefers to be upright (above) - even though this position is really for older babies. (excuse the 'bathroom mirror' pictures - but you get the idea!).

Today we went to the library in town to return the books I got from the mobile library. I missed it when it came last week. I was surprised to find a copy of 'The Crafter's Companion'.

We also found this cute 'paint your own piggy bank' in town (Home Bargains, 1.99). I have been looking for a piggy bank for Kitty for a while as she has lots of savings already. This will do nicely for her to keep her pennies until they transfer to a savings account. I haven't painted it as I quite like it white. I just gave it a face.

Brave Kitty

We took Kitty to the Heath Centre for her first set of injections today. She cried a little, but she was very brave and after a cuddle from mummy, was soon smiling again. As a precaution, we were given a dose of paracetamol to give her. Despite it being cherry flavoured, she wasn't too keen and spit most of it out.

As Kitty seemed fine, we took a trip out to Bradford with dad to look at a car for Uncle Darren. After, we had a walk around the shops in Leeds and got lunch at a noodle bar. Kitty was quite interested in the shops for a while, but soon got bored.

Tonight, she is sleeping well (not even any wind!). Despite warnings from everyone about how nasty the injections are, they don't seem to have bothered her too much.

For the last few weeks, Kitty has been suffering a little with wind after her milk. Grandma Pih suggested Gripe Water. I hadn't tried this as a doctor on the baby channel said it didn't really work. She said the only reason it used to work is that it originally contained alcohol. She suggested a glass of wine (for me not Kitty!) was more likely to help. This, I eagerly tried but without any noticeable improvement. Anyway, despite my concerns over the number of E-numbers Grape Water contains, I gave it a go yesterday. It didn't seem to work, but as so many people seem to swear by it I'll keep trying. I'll keep my eye out for an organic version though.

Back online...

We have had a few technical problems, so haven't posted for a week or so. While we were off-line Kitty has been getting up to all sorts........

She had a trip to London to see cousin Olive and help us pick up the lovely old wood burner we bought on ebay.

Kitty with dad at the services on the way down.

I love the wood burner and hopefully it will warm up the front room this winter. Should be good for drying nappies too.

It has a pretty flower pattern on the enamel which is repeated on the hot plate.

We also had a trip to Clitheroe to check out the shops and the textile exhibition at the Platform Gallery. Kitty got a new picture book from a charity shop and I got some nice chocolate from the new chocolatier - Coco Moyo .






















Kitty was very interested in all the nice shops. Me too!

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Textiles open exhibition was pretty good, though we didn't stay long as Kitty got a bit hungry. I really liked these 'hanging pockets' by Ellie Evans. I might have a go at making one - to keep hankies, hair grips, bubble-gum and whatnot.

Both sets of grandparents came to visit over the weekend. Mama and Grandad Simpson on Saturday - bringing with them a massive new kennel for the dogs.

Grandma and Grandad Pih and Darren, Nicky and Ben on Sunday - bringing with them still more presents for Kitty, from their recent holiday and from other friends and family.

Ben gave Kitty a cute rattle, which she really likes.

Since Kitty can't go to the pool yet, we have started swimming in the bath. This is currently her favourite activity. She likes the water nice and deep so she can float. I think by the time she actually gets to the pool she'll be swimming already!

Today it's pouring with rain, so we stayed in and played. We have been following some of the activities in the Dr Miriam Stoppard book, Baby's first skills. It's got some good ideas of games for us to play and Kitty is getting to know some of the activities now and gets excited when she recognises her favourites.

Music lesson

Tonight Kitty had her first music lesson. She gave her xylophone a good old bashing. She also managed to look remarkably like Patrick Moore.