winter proper

well into minuses in the last few days after a total lack of winter so far. Alan had his angiogram and was kept in the Heart Center, Pécs overnight, as he had another (no 4) stent put in. He feels great since - however, he was ordered back for the same heart cathetering in three months time. Jutka stayed with us for a few days, arriving with the snow of this cold front, it was exciting comings and goings, especially as on the eve of the heart control date hyppo suddenly let out half a tank of diesel, as it turned out, the tank filling pipe fossilized and cracked into two, probably due to the work done previous week on the springs (that is fixed well, as well the mobility of the spare wheel and the back lights) Luckily we ended up in a comfy and warm Shell filling station for this adventure, and with our all-in insurance the problem was solved without -any- inconvenience in an hour. Other than this nothing much to report, the street in the village is beautifully cleared and dry, but our drive-up and the roads out are a bit iffy.fresh winter photos as made yesterday.

Gus no more

Yes, lived 8 playful years, was the source of much pleasure for guests and wwoofers and when he wasn't leaving us any way he could, he was a loving dog, with the only aggression shown to poor old Bonzo at times. So the sad fairly shaggy dog story: just after a couple of days into the New Year, after a long period of being free and behaving good, he climbed out and only re-appeared after 2 days, muddy and limping. He had a bite in a front pow, after being washed and treated he seemed ok, we had to chain him again, of course. (he can climbe + jump all the fences, except when trying to get back in) But about a week later he started to pitifully howl day and night. It turned out that since New Years Eve there were 2 loose dogs around and Erika found their owners who were looking for them, from a neighbouring village, they run away when frightened of the fireworks on New Year Eve. They were duly caught and collected last Friday if I remember correctly. I assumed one of those were the object of Gus's longing, but he howled on still afterwards. So I got fed up and let him off the chain - Alan claims he did, probably, to make me feel better. We thought he has a runaabout looking for the now returned female, and will be back as usual, this time with no need for fighting. He duly disappeared after pretending being good for half hour. And that's when we'd seen him last alive. Yesterday morning, as we started off for Pécs market with Erzsi and Tibi accompanying us, Gus's body was lying next to the gate. Didn't look hurt. No idea what happened, no sign of struggle, pain or poisoning. I think it was broken heart... We both feel awful and blame the vet who said there was no point de-sexing at the later times when he started his escapades - he was more than 3 years old then. Anyway, here we are without Gus.

slight cabin fever

Hardly into the main body of winter without proper cold whatsoever, so shouldn't complain. I haven't realized there had not been post from me this year yet - haven't been in the mood as we are in a mish-mash mood ... due to being sort of old and feeling more vulnerable and what to do next type of thing. We'd like to stay - love the place, nice to have animals and veggies, like to mess with them (most times) no tsunamis and not a lot of extreme weather, etc etc. However, we like to live in more lively places, too, with a walk away from med facilities - though so far we had no disadvantage in that area of worry. Maybe we just go half-way and spend more and more away - especially winters. See how it goes. we parttaken in the village New Year's Eve party - not a large crowd, but very pleasant, including Alan's first karaoke experience, he did well with a couple of (for me) obscure Elvis and something else. Everyone was impressed how well he sang. We jumped about a bit - the music was a bit more varied and not so loud. Stuffed cabbages and loads of other food and drink. After the midnight bubbly a large birthday cake appeared for Alan accompanied by "When I'm 64". Went home after 2am. Not a right lot happened since, a bit more telly than usual, as now we have HBO and Cinemax, we only have to pay 2000HUF/month for them, and we had a few decent movies and they are shown without ad interruptions. Alan plays his guitar and his tablet. Does quite a lot outside depending on the weather and his mood. I read a lot, e.g. my first Doris Lessing,The Golden Notebook - about the most serious stuff I read for ages, but I'm enjoying it, especially the British CP party stories. We had a few mysteries - coming back from our outing to Pécs we found a big bottle of pálinka and a kilo of shelled walnuts swinging in the bucket above the well. Couldn't figure out who was the fairy godmother with such gifts; then it turned out a week later, it was Lujo, whose still quite little ram stayed here longer, as there was accommodation problem for them. The new self-raised chickens as well as the oldies are laying like if there was no tomorrow, they must be thinking it's spring. We have an extra 5 muscovies, as Erzsi was fed up feeding them. They are a bit small and withered looking, but so far survived the change. Hm - I can't think of all the other things I wanted to say - I'll just add stuff if I remember. Quiz for those who are familiar with our kitchen - what is new on the attached photo. Others show Alan at ease with Drew's book which he finished and liked (The Do DO diet = Days On Days Off available on kindle as well now from Amazon) and in the luxurious dressing gown we bought (one for me, too) for our stay in Füred in November. The flowers - going now for two years continuously, which never happened to any of my indoor plants before. And the telly showing Al Jazeira which we also watch quite a lot. I find it quite a bit better than the BBC. Well, happy Newish Year to everyone!