Monday 11 January 2016

New Year is under way....

2016 has been very busy so far, both at home and at work.  Nothing in particular, just busy.  Part of the business at home has been that I now have a table in the bedroom where I can play small games with my Star Wars ships.  I have been able to experiment at odd moments with different combinations of ships and weapons.  Great fun.

We are still looking after Spot, my mum's dog, but on Saturdays I take him to her house for the day.  She is OK in the house, but still lacks the mobility to get out on her own, so this week I took her out in a wheelchair.  We took Spot to the park, where we saw this Mandarin Duck on the pond.



There was only the one, in with all of the other ducks, but he really stood out.  It seems that there are a few thousand of these in the wild in southern England these days.  Would be nice to see some more, and maybe some babies in the future.

Mrs RC has been doing more knitting and crochet.  One of her latest creations is this blanket that she made for my mum.  My mum loves it, and so does Garfield the cat!


The unseasonally warm weather has continued, and Mr Chuffington has failed to hibernate again.  He has not been very active, but he has come out of his bedroom each night to eat half a tin of dog food, and meal worms.  Tonight he was waiting for me to bring his bowl, so I snapped a pic.


I don't think he was very impressed...



7 comments:

Abby said...

What a beautiful duck. I bet all the girl ducks fight over him! When I'm at a restaurant that serves it, I like me some wild duck. But you may have just turned me into a vegetarian.
And the elusive Mr. Chuffington! Happy New Year to him!

ShadowRun300 said...

That duck hardly looks real! Beautiful! And great to see the elusive Mr. Chuffington. :)
Mrs. RC's talent continues to impress me! I'd love to be sitting under that blanket right now.
Glad to hear your new year is off to a great start!

Shammickite said...

I thought that must be a fake duck until I saw the second picture, quite a handsome fellow. Perhaps you could put Mr C in the fridge to encourage hibernation. We had mild weather until just after Christmas but now we are into winter.... -6C and snow today. Weather office is predicting horrible weather but actually its not all that bad.

agg79 said...

That is certainly is a beautiful duck. Very striking colors.

And Mrs RC did a great job with the crochet. Garfield looks happy with the results. I am actually surprised that you have unseasonably warm weather over there. I occasionally read the Daily Mail and it has you guys in another ice age.

Rock Chef said...

Agg79 - Don't believe anything you read in the Mail. I suspect they are talking about the threatened snow storm that might be coming, rather than anything that is currently happening. There have been floods in the north, though, due to warm, wet air coming across the Atlantic.

Shammickite - Put him in the fridge? Poor Chuffy!

ShadowRun - I must admit to having a bit of blanket envy myself...

Abby - Don't fall for the cute looks of ducks, they are very unpleasant really!

Riot Kitty said...

Mr Chuff! Still so adorable.

Tee said...

That is a beautiful duck. I asked the outdoorsmen at our house if they'd ever seen one. "Only in photos," they said.

Mrs. RC's blanket is gorgeous! Is there no end to her creative talents?