Greetings and salutations, everyone, and Happy New Year; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today just because I haven’t posted in a while. You may remember me from such posts as “The New Way”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. I was waiting to go on my walk, and the guy I live with was taking an awful lot of time getting ready.
Hardly anything has been happening. I know I say that a lot, but it’s true. There’s a lot of doing nothing, though I do go on my walks. (Not so much late at night, because it’s either been too chilly or there were firecrackers.)
You may notice, in the next picture, that the snow is still here. The guy I live with is very aggravated by this. It hasn’t been really cold, but it hasn’t been really warm, either. Just the same almost every day.
We see the owls, or at least one owl, every evening.
The owl sits on the same branch in the same tree every evening, except for one evening when it was chillier than usual, and there was a little wind. That time it was a bit higher in the tree.
Sometimes we see both of them, and sometimes they fly low over the field. It’s kind of spooky.
I guess the autumn-flowering snowdrops were an almost complete flop; only one species flowered. The others are up, but not doing much; I think because it was so dry in autumn, and then got cold too early.
There’s a lot to complain about where the weather is concerned.
But there are signs of life in the shade garden.
It’s funny that the soil has frozen in some parts of the garden, but not in the shade garden, where the sun never shines in the winter. The guy I live with has been trying to figure that out. There’s another shady spot, in the “way back”, on the north side of The Enclosure fence, but the soil is frozen there.
The guy I live with thinks that the soil in the “way back” wasn’t worked enough, like dug into, so that worms would aerate the soil. It’s kind of a mystery.
But the thing is, as he explained to me (I admit I sort of drifted off during this part), the autumn-flowering snowdrops were in the shade garden, and then they got moved into the frames; they probably would have done better in the shade garden. They’re going to be moved back there next summer.
Maybe there will be soil studies too. That should be exciting.
Well, anyway, that’s about it. Kind of a slow start to a new year.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
The owls always look angry. That one looks both angry and tired.
It just woke up.
Beautiful photos! Thank you for keeping up your blog, Mani.
Thanks.
Happy New Year!
Thanks; same to you.
Mew mew mew Mani you look so cute inn ferst foto…like yore purrayin fore yore Guy to hurry up!!
An Mistur squinty Owl must bee watchin over you both…..it has bin quiet here too. Wee had a non-Mew Yeer’ss Eve. Wee watched THE entire “BONES” seriess (well alot of them) an that was it. No ball drop; no off-key singin; nothin’!
Efurry day iss more or less THE same. LadyMew told mee THE werd fore that iss “Blursday” an it sure fitss….
At leest you get to out fore walkss to sorta keep a normal inn yore world. Mee bin out once fore 10 minuttss inn Condo…..too chilley even fore mee!
Mee an LadyMew hope 2021 iss a bettur yeeer an yore flowerss will grow an Covid will go away.
Wee jsut want sum Sun an normal back…
Yore frendss inn snowy Canada,
**purrss** BellaDharma an LadyMew too!
Thanks; Happy New Year to you two, as well.
It’s not so chilly here, but it does go below freezing every night.
The owls are usually still asleep when we walk by, so I think we wake them up when we look at them.
The guy I live with’s wife liked “Bones”.
Mee-yow iss gloomy an grey here again today Mani. Mee did go out inn Condo fore 20 minuttss…no one ’round…mee wuud even like to see an Owl….all mee birdie frendss have flown away. ChewyTwo Chipmunk iss hyeburrnatin. Fluffy Squirrel too…
LadyMew did not like “Boness” inn beeginnin butt once shee red a few of THE bookss shee started watchin an got hooked! THE merrython iss dun now. Wee watchin sumthin called :Star TreK:…alot of diffyrent showss….furry kewl!!! 😉
It was sunny and windy here, but chilly.
We have squirrels here, but no chipmunks. The guy I live with told me what they were.
There isn’t anything the guy I live with watches a lot of, except “Midsomer Murders”, and, late at night, “Q.I.”. He loves that show. It makes him laugh.
LadyMew watchess “Midsomer Murderss” too….
Wee not have “Q.I.” here tho’.
Today Fluffy squirrel came fore snax!!! Nice to see him! How iss yore Oel frend?
We didn’t see the owl last night. Maybe it was away hunting.
The guy I live with says you can get the early seasons of Q.I. on Tubi, which is free, and the later seasons are on BritBox, which is a channel you have to pay for.
We really like being able to stream movies and TV shows, though there isn’t all that much worth watching, sometimes.
LadyMew does not have enuff $$ to pay fore xtra stuff. So wee make due with what wee have! LadyMew sayss as long as she has “Coronation Street” & PBS channel an CTV Mewss Channel shee iss doin OKay!! 😉
Hope yore Owl comess back to vissit soon….
I think you can get Tubi, if you have a smart TV, or even on your computer. It’s free, though there are ads. (That’s why it’s free.)
The guy I live with mostly watches the same things over and over and over.
Mew mew mew same here Mani. LadyMew watchess ALO of Brisitsh comedy an dramass more than once! Shee will check out Tubi..thanx fore tellin us ’bout it.
Wee have sumthin called CBC Gem an wee can watch lots of Canadian an British showss there!
You’re welcome. There’s also something called Pluto TV, which is free, but we don’t know what they offer.
Pluto Tee V?? Wee must check this out Mani! Thanx!!
You’re welcome. I guess it’s an app you download, like tubi. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
LadyMew checked Pluto an Tubi butt furry limited here inn Catnada…….butt it was a guud thott Mani!!
Oh well.Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Happy, healthy New Year to both of you!
We are QI fans here, also:)
Thanks; same to you.
I bet I’ve watched every episode of Q.I. at least a zillion times. Maybe more.
Every now and then some seasons aren’t available, which is weird.
The guy I live with is sometimes irked when he watches it, like when they talked about Mike the Headless Chicken (kind of gross) and mispronounced the name of Fruita, like it was Italian or something. It’s Fruit-a. Because they grow a lot of fruit there. Peaches and things.