Dan and I started this blog in 2003, three years into our smallholding life, and made it part of our website The internet was in its early days and social media didn’t exist, as it does today. Both of us contributed to the diary in the early days; later it became my baby, and a pretty much weekly routine.

In 2007, the forums were added to the website. Over the years, TASers (careful with the capitals) have shared their ups and downs, asked and answered questions and engaged in some robust discussion. We produced TAS T-shirts and badges with a very nifty design; there were local TAS meets. Social media, sadly, has diminished the forum activity but there is still a huge reservoir of information held there, and it will remain meantime.

Now that we have sold the cattle and the sheep, given up pig rearing and are now owners of just seven hens, we can no longer claim to be Accidental Smallholders – more deliberate retirees. So apart from reminding us of when we carried out some garden tasks, the diary doesn’t offer anything much to smallholders any more.

So time to retire it too. It’s been a blast.

Wishing smallholders everywhere all the very best,

Rosemary & Dan

The lovely autumn weather continues with sun, broken cloud and blue skies

Dan had his first curling match of the season at the Bonspiel.

Tuesday 7^th October

Murdo was here today. He finished manuring the polytunnel, then he and Dan made a start on the bird boxes – taking down, cleaning and replacing. All the ones they took down today had been used, which is good.

Wednesday 8^th October

I took Linda and Mickey to the vet then collected (finally), Calum’s watch. It’s now ready to go in the post tomorrow.

Lorna and I had a pleasant, if blustery, walk along the front.

Thursday 9^th October

Off to Hampden for Scotland v Greece. Very happy with three points; if only it was fun to watch, rather than purgatory. The smile on Lyndon Dykes’ face when he scored kind of made up for it though.

Friday 10^th October

Knackered this morning; we got in about 1.30am. I can’t do late nights. I had a walk with Lorna, but Crafternoon / Gaelic had to make do with shop-bought biscuits.

Low tide at Arbroath.

Saturday 11^th October

Early start as Pauline and I attended the first day of the SNP Conference in Aberdeen.

Carnoustie seafront.

We now have a strategy for the 2026 ScotParl election. Now we have to make it work.

Sunday 12^th October

Back to Hampden for Scotland v Belarus. Jings, it was worse than Thursday, but another three points. So jammy. At least it was a 5pm kick-off, so home at 10pm. Dan's not feeling 100% - two 90 minutes sessions in the Hampden stands might not have helped.

Monday 13^th October

Another lovely start to the day. Dan’s caught a heavy cold and is feeling awful. I am offering TLC. I’m really tired too, and my brain feels like cotton wool, so ploughing through a few mindless tasks including baking for the event at the hub tomorrow – Chocolate ginger muffins and Mini fruit cakes.

Tuesday 14^th October

Scott, our Farrier, was out to trim Mickey’s feet. The dogs were pests, trying to grab bits of hoof. Smokey is much more productive than Mickey, but they have six weeks to wait for that.

Murdo was here, so he started weeding the fruit garden. I carried on with my cleaning – that’s upstairs done now and the hall and stairs. Planning on doing the living room tomorrow.

Dan’s still not well, but did a couple of hours work before going back to bed.

Wednesday 15^th October

Lorna and I had a walk along the front. Dan was well enough to go curling.

Thursday 16^th October

Now I have the lurgy. Feel awful so staying in bed. Must be right for the Festival.

Friday 17^th October

The sheep went home today. I will miss their wee faces at the gate; won’t miss Stinky Pickles though. I don’t remember our Ryeland tips smelling like that - at least not as strongly.

I had planned to travel down to Edinburgh today, for the Festival tomorrow but felt too rubbish. Sore throat gone, replaced by a chesty cough.

Saturday 18^th October

Brilliant day at the Scottish Smallholder Festival. We did our talk, had a lovely lunch, met loads of folk, I judged the pig fancy dress - handler and pig dressed up. What a grand event. It's such a shame that more smallholders don't come along and support it - and a few volunteers for the organising team wouldn't go amiss. But a brilliant job was done - just a bit stressful. Even I was stressed - must be my annual trigger.

Sunday 19^th October

Prepared the hens winter quarters; we’ll move them Monday night so they’re settled before we go on holiday. Drifted around not doing very much until Dan gave me access to a file of 19,000+ photos dating back to 2001. Down the rabbithole!

First touch of frost, not first thing – it was fine at 7am, but slightly crispy at 8.30am.

Morning mist.

Took a photo of the sycamores along the ditch this morning to compare with the one I took last Wednesday.

Ditch trees.

Brushed Bertie; he has some matted bits, so I’m trying to brush them out while his coat is changing anyway. He was not a happy cat. I need prawns, to distract / reward him.

Tuesday 30^th September

Murdo was here today. He finished emptying the polytunnel, apart from the chili peppers, and got most of it manured. All the sweet peppers are harvested. Not sure what we’re going to do with them. Ana gazillion pears.

Pears and peppers.

Today was the last day of trading of Rosedean Group Ltd. The end of an era. It’ll take us a few weeks to sort out the last of the invoices in and out, the last VAT return (Hallelujah) and get the books off to the accountant.

I took Lorna for a walk and did the monthly shopping, but not in that order.

Brushed Bertie again. He hates me.

Wednesday 1^st October

Thought it was time to start the autumn cleaning. Started with the bathroom. Pulled out all the furniture, cleaned the window, pictures, washed the floor. One down, several to go.

I was in the audience for BBC Debate Night, which was in Dundee. Ross Greer was excellent. Michael Marra reminds me on The Simpsons Mr Burns.

Thursday 2^nd October

Dan, Andy, Pauline, John and I off on the train to the Scottish Parliament for FMQ and lunch with Evelyn and Ahsan. Got our photo taken with Nicola.

Friday 3^rd October

Decided to bake Chocolate Ginger Muffins. No recipe, so standard muffin recipe with 2tsp ground ginger, 100g chopped preserved ginger in syrup and a wee bag of dark chocolate chips. They were pretty good. Will certainly make again.

Took Lorna for a quick walk along the front. Sea was a bit grey and choppy.

High tide and a bit choppy.

Carol came for lunch and to view the garden. Braw.

And we welcomed Storm Amy. Thankfully, Carol got home before the Tay Bridge shut; heavy rain and strong winds, but I think we missed the worst here in the east.

Saturday 4^th October

No storm damage apart from a couple of branches broken, which Dan took down with the chainsaw. The wind ramped up again towards evening; the wind had cleared puddles during the day.

I moved the sheep to Sheepfold today. Loads of grass in there, which should see them out until they go home. That’s two weeks since the first tupping; Pickles now has red raddle, so I’ll be on the lookout for any red bums this week. Fingers crossed for none.

Sheep in Sheepfold.

Ponies now have the run of the two Top and two Ditch paddocks, 5 acres. Loads of grass there too.

I cleaned Lorna’s room, then we had a visit from our friend Cath, who is an Army medic and was at Barry Buddon. Haven’t seen her for ages and it was good to catch up.

I thought I might keep a diary in Gaelic. Good idea, but maybe not.

Sunday 5^th October

Dan, Andy, Andrew and Joanne were pressing apples this morning. We now have 65l of apple juice put by; Dan reckons we need 120l to do a year of breakfasts.

It’s Lorna’s birthday, so she and Linda came for tea. Dan made a delicious lasagne and I made a pretty good tiramisu. Dan actually made two big lasagnes. Lidl do Scotch grass-fed beef mince, which is good. So we have lots of lasagne in the freezer. He reckoned we got 20 portions from ingredients costing £28, which isn't bad.

Delighted to see the SNP and Believe in Scotland joining forces to work for Scottish Independence.

We’ve got a busy week next week, ending with the SNP Conference on Saturday and Monday 13^th, two football internationals at Hampden, Dan starts curling tomorrow night.

I started watching “The Gilded Age”. It's good, but it's not "Downton Abbey.

Monday was the autumn equinox, the Festival of Mabon. Cold at 6.30am – I thought we had a light frost, but not quite. Then the sun came out.

Mabon.

Six yellow bums on Monday morning; one to go. Then the long wait to see if they all hold. And seven by teatime. And Pickles was all done in. Honestly, I thought he was dead.

Is Pickles dead?

Tuesday, another lovely day. Good walk with Lorna along the front; never seen the tide so far out. Baked two batches of muffins – Raspberry & dark chocolate, and Apple and cinnamon. It’s only the second time I’ve made the latter and they are much better than the first lot.

Tide out at Arbroath.

Dan dug out two of the four perennial sweet peas that covered two of the arches this year. We’ve bought four roses, Goldfinch, from David Austin, to replace them. I wanted different colours, but Dan insisted that they had to be the same.

Good meeting at the hub, talking about Scotland’s Energy Future.

Wednesday, Murdo here and manuring lots of beds in the vegetable garden. He and Dan made a start on the polytunnel.

Preparation for next year.

Putting the garden to bed.

I finished my seed orders. And tidied out the old seeds, some of which I’d left in the greenhouse and wasps took the paper for nests. Lesson learned to keep them in the box in future.

Rescued a wren from Cooper.

Thursday, sunny and very still. Dan was off to Edinburgh on the 6.18am train, for a conference event on software. Yawn. It was, too.

I weeded another two beds; one is going to be a second heather bed but is currently heavily populated with silver birch saplings.

Silver Birch saplings.

The heather bed we planted this spring (or last autumn?) is looking lovely. There are a couple of varieties just coming into flower that are the most amazing red.

Heather bed.

Heathers.

Heathers.

Vet was here this afternoon to give Mickey his tetanus booster; Smokey is due his in February, so I’ll see if I can get both done at the same time, along with their teeth. Since they were in, I fed them and shut the gate, to save me a job when I come back from Gaelic.

Friday, the good weather is holding. Lorna and I went walking. Lindsay delivered six bales of hay, which should do us over the winter, pretty much.

Winter forage.

The apple harvest is in full swing. I only eat apples at this time of year. We’ve cooked and frozen loads and juiced a lot too. Today I ate St Edmund’s Russet.

St Edmund's Russet.

And Lord Lambourne. Katy is also on the go just now.

Lord Lambourne.

There is something digging in the field.

Who's digging?

Saturday, we were off to Edinburgh on the Ember bus, which is fab and MUCH cheaper than the train. I can’t read on the bus though, or I feel sick.

The purpose was to see the retrospective exhibition for Jim Dunbar and the Scottish Arts Club, in Rutland Square. It was wonderful. What a talent he was! Then off to the Scottish National Gallery, where we had lunch (disappointing) and viewed the Scottish galleries there. Or at least I did. Dan sat in the foyer and read his book.

Ponies wouldn’t come in so left them out. Wee devils.

Sunday, glorious day. Blue skies, sunshine, still and warm. Perfect autumn day.

Dan, Kate, Astrid and Mike were pressing apples. And pears. I cleaned out the hens, mucked out the ponies and brushed them. Poor neglected boys. They came in at 6pm, so they stayed in.

Of all our cats, Diesel sleeps in the oddest places. He was asleep in this pile of compost, in the greenhouse but was too shy to have his photo taken.

Diesel's bed.

Dan weeded Far Ditch, in the formal garden. What a difference. Not minded to cut stuff back yet – leaving it for the beasties. We’ve had such a population of ladybirds this year.

I gave the hen house extension a first coat of preservative. I’ll get a second on tomorrow, before the weather breaks.

And a couple of random garden photos.

Flower bed.

Flower bed.

It’s been a reasonable week weatherwise. VERY windy on Thursday; we had to cancel our Bridges4Indy event, for fear of activists resembling Mary Poppins.  Regularly 15C but much cooler overnight. We lit the stove one night, and then were roasting. Good forecast for the coming week too.

Pickles is now raddled and the CIDRs are being removed from the ewes. Three on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. There was one yellow bum on Saturday morning and three on Sunday, so he’s getting on with the job. God, he stinks though. I think Alistair will let the ewes have one return in 17 days, then take the tup out.

Tupping time.

Dottie helped Dan in the office.

The joy of sleep.

Wednesday, Lorna and i had our walk along the front at Arbroath. It was a bit  grey, but not cold.

Grey sea at Arbroath.

Murdo was here on Thursday; he cleared out the sunken garden. Now Dan will put DPC at the back of the sleepers to protect them and back fill with soil. I still favour slabbing the base. It’s 25 square meters though, so it won’t be cheap.

Sunken Garden cleared.

Murdo also manured Bed 2, or most of it, so we’ll get that covered in the next few days. It’s still quite warm, so the weeds are still growing. And so is the grass. Dan cut the back grass on Thursday but I fear it won’t be the last cut.

I made the first Christmas cakes – just a fruit cake, really. Mini ones using Delia’s Quick Mincemeat Cake. And apple and cinnamon muffins, but they were a bit disappointing. I’ll try them again, but add more cinnamon and put a dollop of stewed apple in the middle.

Andy and Dan have built a smashing extension to the hen’s Winter Palace, so that they have more room this year. I’ll get a coat or two of preservative on it this week. Maybe.

Winter Palace extension.

I treated us to brushed cotton bottom sheets for our bed. And new, heavier curtains for the two front bedrooms. They’re a red tartan, so will be replaced by the sage green gingham in the summer. Hark at me!! Banjo Beale look out. Once the garden is put to bed, I’ll give the house a bit of a deep clean. That’s the plan, anyway

Sunday morning, started mincemeat. Made a complete hash of measuring the dried fruit, so ended up making a batch and a half. Won’t go wrong though. Dan popped into Dundee to pick up wood to finish the Winter Palace, so also popped to the supermarket for chopped mixed peel and suet. £2.72 for a packet of suet. Help ma boab!

Lorna was here for tea, so we had Balgove pork chops. And the last Christmas pudding from 2024. Delicious.

The last 2024 Christmas pudding.

I’m writing this Sunday night. It’s 8.50pm, pitch dark, bucketing rain and Mickey was an absolute ass about coming in tonight. Smokey is always happy to come in, but Mickey blocks him (being the boss) so I had to walk up the field and lead them down. Once in, Mickey wouldn’t come to be tied up. Grrrr. Most nights he’s fine but he picked a fine one to be an utter dick. I am quite wet.

Weather this week has been changeable, as you’d expect. Showers, some heavy; but warm sunny spells too. It’s cool in the mornings too. Fleece has been in use for the morning round.

Misty morning.

Which has been traumatic due to the rat infestation in the feed store. How did I manage to kid myself that there was ONE rat? When is there ever ONE rat? Anyway, Dan shot a few, then pulled out everything, found the hole and blocked it (and baited it before he blocked it). Traps in and we’ll put bait in the roof space. Buggers. Hate ‘em.

As you can see, the cats are working hard. Bertie and Cooper seem to be buddies, but you can’t tell with Bertie.

Cooper (back) and Bertie.

And Dot was locked in the workshop. By accident. She soon let us know she was stuck.

For a small cat, she can make a lot of noise.

Alistair brought Pickles the tup up. The CIDRS don’t come out until next weekend, but his presence with tease them a bit and they’ll be nice and settled as a flock but the time he has to work. Pickles is no the brawest; his ear is a funny shape and he damaged his head in a fight years ago and has a wee growth in the middle of his head, which makes him look like an ugly unicorn. Still, his laydees like him and that’s all that matters. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

Pickles and his girls.

We’re getting on with putting the vegetable garden to bed for the winter. We’ve weeded, manured and covered one of the six and should get another two done this week. Beds I & 6 have perennial plants, so will be manured but not covered and Bed 4 has the over wintering leeks and brassicas.

Dan’s using the squash crop for weight training and curing them in the polytunnel. Still more to be picked yet, so a good crop this year.

Dan, weight training with squashes.

Squashes curing.

I feel like I’ve been up all night. Diesel brought in a “snack” about 3am and crunched it under the bed. Then at about 5am, he and Bertie had a really, really loud fight, again under the bed. Shattered.

Rain this morning, but not cold. The sun came out at lunchtime and brought a brisk breeze.

First of the month, so “big shop” day, that includes tidying the cupboards, while I make a list. Checked the date of the spices – some are virtually antique, but I can’t throw them out without consultation, so a few were returned to the pantry.

The ponies are settling into their new routine. An acquaintance was picking up a surplus freezer from ours at 8pm, and the ponies were in, so I fed them and shut them in.

Kirsty, who was picking up the freezer, is a butcher and has set up her own business. Honestly, I am so in awe of her. I hope she does really well. We didn’t want anything for the freezer, but she gave us some Highland beef. Looking forward to trying it.

Gwenna has tapeworm. She and Bryn had their monthly pill today, but it doesn’t do tapeworm, so I’m picking up a second pill tomorrow, one each. If she’s got it, it’s unlikely he doesn’t.

Tuesday 2^nd September.

The farrier was here at 8am, to trim Smokey and Mickey. He’s so good and so reliable.

Murdo was here for his first day this week. He was mainly banging in fence posts.

Lorna and I had our usual walk along the front.

Wednesday 3^rd September

The cooking apples are coming thick and fast. Two batches a day being cooked and frozen, so lots of mincemeat required.

Cooking apples.

We have a rat in the feed store. Same one as last week. I think. I let it go again with a warning (it was in an empty feed bin).

We have the best yield of potatoes ever, I think. Dan only plated one row in the 4ft wide bed, instead of two. Fewer potatoes, but MUCH bigger, and good quality.

Good sized potatoes this year.

Thursday 4^th September

Trees starting to change.

Plenty haws this year.

Dan was up first; the rat was in the feed bin. Dan shot it. It should have listened to me.

Murdo was here and Dan didn’t have to be at his desk, so they got on with the sunken garden. That’s all the sleepers in; next job is to clear it, then infill behind the sleepers. I favour slabbing over the bricks, because I think they’ll be a pain to maintain. Dan thinks otherwise.

Progress in the sunken garden.

It’s certainly better than 2022.

2022.

I weeded. The broccoli has flowered and is covered with bees. Hard to be sad about that.

Flowering broccoli.

Our cabbages are monster. We’ll have to share with friends.

Monster cabbage.

Bryn loves to lie in the long grass.

Bryn's spot.

Friday 5^th September

This morning.

Good weather continues.

Cooper likes sheep feed.

Cooper eating sheep nuts.

Dottie likes the feed store. I wish the two of them would focus on the day job.

Dot.

Saturday 6^th September

Dan was away to Glasgow for the day to attend a natural dyeing workshop run by Jules Billings of Woollenflower. He had a great time and came back with some beautiful naturally dyed yarn the group produced on the day. These are samples from previous workshops:

Naturally dyed yarn.

Looks like Ratty had a chum. Cannot see where it’s getting in. Only a sorry end lies in the future.

We have an intruder.

Sunday 7^th September

Cool (16C), grey and drizzly for the most part. Really feels like autumn now. The rain came on in earnest about 4pm. I persuaded Dan to light the stove. Comforting but very hot.

We ate our first sprouts of teh season, with Guardswell Shetland beef cottage pie. Followed by spiced treacle cake and custard. YUm.

Dan, Kate and Astrid were apple pressing. Well, Kate and Dan were. Astrid was sailing her “boat”. The wasps were loving it. The apples, not the boat.

Wonderful Discovery apple juice.

Lovely morning; cool but sunny. The sheep let themselves into Near Top yesterday, so that’s where they’ll be for the next week at least. The troughs are in the field shelter, so I don’t get trampled when I’m feeding them. And all the feed goes in the troughs.

There was a mouse in one of the bins in the feed store. Dan suggested I get Cooper to deal with it, but I felt that was unsporting, so I let it go into the rock pile, with a stern warning not to return. Had it been a rat, I would have got Cooper.

Morning at the hub, then off to Harbro this afternoon.

Tuesday 26^th August

The weather is changing as summer turns to autumn. The change of season – winter to spring and summer to autumn always bring an urge to tidy and clean. In this case, preparation for winter. It’s been an amazing summer. I hope we don’t pay for it over the next six months.

Wednesday 27^th August

Heavy showers today. Dan filled the hole in the feed store through which the rodent is gaining entry. We also leave the door open during the day, as that’s where Dottie’s food is. We should probably put in a cat flap – which would have the added advantage of allowing the big cats, Bertie and Diesel, access overnight, when the kittens are in bed.

Thursday 28^th August

Rain overnight.

Kate and I are going to collaborate on seeds for next year. I checked my box today – the first seed catalogue landed on the doormat this morning, so I'm raring to go.

I’ve ordered Sweet Million and Sungold tomatoes and Kate’s ordering a plum tomato that she’s had good results from. I also ordered Mini Muncher cucumber seeds to share and shallots (Red Sun and Golden Moon, which were terrific this year) and garlic for us..

Friday 29^th August

Nice photo of the sitooterie. I didn’t get the pots right this summer. Must do better over winter.

The sitooterie, catching the afternoon rays

Four hens in bed and these three, up a tree. It's a Leghorn thing.

Saturday 30^th August

Lovely sunrise this morning.

6.49am.

Lorna and I walked along Arbroath sea front – perfect morning for it, warm and sunny but with a cooling breeze.

One of Arbroath's beaches.

I decided to change the ponies to daytime turnout and nights in the barn, so they came in this morning, had a feed and went back out. They were very excited to come in again at 9pm.

Dan weeded the heather bed and the stumpery. I think both look amazing. We’re going to create another heather bed to mirror the first, but much smaller in area.

The Stumpery.

The heather bed.

Sunday 31^st August

Autumn is coming – today, the headtorches were charged.

Robbie coming to shoot rabbits tonight, so decided to move the sheep into the two Ditch paddocks, where the ponies are. I decided to do this at 9pm. They were a bit spooked but love of food overcame fear of the headtorch. Eventually.

Ponies happy to come in at 9pm and be fed. They’re not long in working it out.

Jings, where did THAT week go?

Dan started lifting and drying the tatties, so the “tattie board” came into play.

The tattie board.

“Someone”, almost definitely feline, has inadvertently reduced my crop of wallflower.

Bloomin' cats.

It’s starting to feel like autumn. We’re getting a lot of leaf drop, maybe due to the dry weather; it’s cool in the mornings now and the light has changed. I think autumn is probably my favourite season. Well, it is for now.

Tuesday evening, autumn coming.

Thursday, I washed all the vet bed and took some to the Studio, so Bryn found a new spot.

.

Saturday, we got into the garden. I was weeding (as usual) and Dan cut the grass and strimmed the edges. What a difference. Dan finished lifting the tatties. Looks like a good crop of large potatoes.

Calum and Sandra are here for the weekend, so we ate at The Milton Inn. Very good, as usual.

Sunday, Andy was here and an extension to the hens’ winter accommodation is being planned.

Just as I turned off the sprinkler last night, the rain came on. Of course. Looks like there’s been a fair bit overnight, which is grand. Not windy, which is nice.

Moved the sheep into Home; the troughs are in the Spinney, so I Can get the feed in before letting them through. In the afternoon, we can just shut the gate to keep them in Home. Given the amount of herbage, I’ll leave them in there for two weeks.

Sheep in Home.

Alistair’s using CIDRs this year; he’ll put them in on the 8^th September and take them out on the 20^th, when the tup will go in. The tup is coming here a week earlier to do a bit of foreplay. Two of the young ewes, who are his daughters, will be going away then; they’ll go to the younger tup. All this will hopefully give a successful February lambing.

Tuesday 12^th August

Dan cut the shaws on the tattie bed, to avoid blight. He’ll start lifting the tatties for drying next week.

Tattie shaws cut down.

I sewed buttons on the duvet cover – not important, but it’s been on my list forever. Took me longer than I expected, but it’s done. Yay.

Wednesday 13^th August

Lorna and I went walking earlier than we have been doing – it’s too hot by 11.30am, our usual time. We set off at 10am, and it was really nice. Roasting by lunchtime.

We have our first home-grown melon ever, today. Would definitely do these again. Not big but loads of them.

Our very first melon.

Potted up some plants that I was given for my birthday and started to prick out the wallflower and the Sweet William, but I need to get compost.

Thursday 14^th August

We had a proper thunderstorm today. The thunder rolled for maybe a couple of hours, then the rain came about 2pm. It was torrential, with hail, then heavy, then off. Quite a bit of local flooding on the roads, but we were fine here and it was quickly absorbed into the soil.

Murdo was here today and progress was made with the sunken garden. There’s another layer of sleepers to go in, then it needs to be backfilled and a decision made about the “floor”. But progress is progress.

Progress in the sunken garden.

I started to clear the pea bed.

Friday 15^th August

Our little crop of green gages is coming ripe. One of the highlights of the year. Love them.

Defrosted Double Choc Chip muffins for Gaelic tonight – they were good. This is helpful, as I can now “batch bake” and freeze.

Lorna and I had a lovely walk along the front at Arbroath.

Saturday 16^th August

Nice and cool, and no wind. Litter picking this morning, then watched the football and did some Gaelic in the afternoon.

Sunday 17^th August

Dan was off strimming early doors then picked some apples. I had a bit of a lie-in. Dan actually brought me breakfast in bed. I’m reading Nicola Sturgeon’s autobiography.

At lunchtime, Dan took himself off to play football – well, not play, as he’s injured, but he’s the manager, too. I did my Monday office jobs as it was really hot and sunny, and tomorrow is to be cooler so better for outside jobs.

And Bertie. Just because he's such a cool cat. 

Love that paw.