Ice Ice Baby

There's been a fair amount of slipping and sliding on the frozen paths around here this week. It's starting to melt - but they've predicted more on the way.

But I'm not one to complain - as you know - despite my sad expression in this picture on the left.

The family braved the worst of the snow on Saturday night to go and watch a charity show organised by the Girl Of The House's boyfriend and his mates. I stayed tucked up in my bed thank you very much.

When they got home they found the family across the road building an igloo in front of their house. They were STILL building it when we all turned in for the night at half past midnight! It looked like this:

When we got up in the morning it was finished and lots of people wanted their pictures taken with it. It looked like this:

But the roof quickly caved in after all their hard work.

Yesterday, me and the Lady Of The House set off to see how the ducks and the swans were doing at Brook Hollows in the village of Rolleston (we thought we'd share the bread around after visiting the canal ducks last week).

The brook ducks were very pleased to see us. There was a lot of ice spreading out from the bank as you can see:

We were a bit worried about this swan that was sitting on the ice:

But we threw him/her some bread that landed near enough for him/her to get.

His/her mate was a bit more forward.

Ducks dancing on ice - and the LOTH gets all a-Twitter over Donny

It's January, it's cold, what did you expect in England at this time of year? A heatwave? I don't understand all this fuss the people make. I still LOVE going out on my walks (but to be honest I'm less keen on going out in the garden between times and I'm tending to cross my legs until I REALLY have to go).

But put my dog coat on, dress yourself up like an eskimo and I'll happily walk along the frozen canal towpaths with you for as long as you want.

Yesterday morning we were a bit worried about the ducks so the Lady Of The House raided the bread bin, put on goodness knows HOW many layers of clothes, and we set out to see what was happening out on the local canal.

I'd never seen it completely frozen before and we walked quite a long way before we found a little groups of ducks and moor hens who'd were hovering in a small patch of water under some trees near the canal bank.

The LOTH started tossing some crumbs to them and a couple of the bravest (probably most desperate) ducks came hopping out of the water and scuttling across the ice towards us. The LOTH tried to tell them to slow down a bit as she worrying about them hurting themselves as they slid around. But they seemed very keen to eat so we were glad we'd gone down.

The we heard a mighty honking and the LOTH and I looked up to see a pair of swans swooping gracefully through the air just above the frozen surface of the water. We held our breath as they lowered their legs to land and then crashed right through the ice sending large frozen chunks and slices hurtling through the air!! Yes, pictures would have been nice but we had our mouths open watching them in amazement so photography wasn't an option!

We thought they might boss the ducks and bully them out of the way, or march across the rest of the ice and mug us for our remaining crumbs, but they didn't. They sat very patiently in the little pool of water they had created (possibly slightly shocked by their dramatic landing) and let us throw some bread to them while the ducks carrying on skating for their breakfast.

On this picture below, we thought the swans were making quite a nice heart shape with their elegant necks. We love how a pair of swans stay together through thick and thin (including ice). A lesson to us all as Valentine's Day approaches.

Speaking of matters of the heart - there was a HUGE rumpus from the upstairs office last night while I was catching some zzz's downstairs in the living room. I thought the swans had flown in through a window, and the Boy Of The House ran up because he thought the LOTH was crying.

It turned out she was on Twitter and had seen Donny Osmond (the object of her affections since she was 10, apparently) tweeting about the Superbowl and how he was supporting the Giants because they had knocked his 49ers out, so the LOTH replied that she was a 49ers fan too, and DONNY REPLIED TO HER.

I write this in capital letters because apparently it is a big deal judging by the fuss that followed. The LOTH was taking screenshots and 'favouriting' the Tweet and generally behaving as if she'd won the lottery or something. She says I have to show you the evidence in case any of your mums and people are excited for her too.

So there you go. If you want a slice of the exciting life the LOTH leads, she says you are welcome to follow her @EllaJP

I think I need some more sensible pet friends, to get me away from this madness, so I'm taking part in the Saturday Pet Blog Hop hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

If you'd like to join in and make new pet blogger friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste this week's new Linky code into the html editor of your own blog. The list will automatically update on everyone's blogs as new sites add themselves over this weekend and we can all hop from blog to blog and find out everybody's news.

Thanks again to our three hosts for putting on the hop!

If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.

Wildlife adventures in the Hollows

Hope you are all having the sort of lovely sunny weather that we're enjoying at the moment. I'm loving my walks in the sunshine.

We went down to Brook Hollows in Rolleston the other day. There were lots of ducks as usual - but I don't bother them, I'm too busy sniffing all the great smells.

The Lady Of The House was straining to get a picture of this lovely heron who was right over the other side of the water. She had her phoney-camera thing on bigify but this was the best she could manage.

While she was distracted with that, and I was busy sniffing, I heard a hissing noise and looked round.

Ooo-err! This swan had swum at top-speed right across the water to make sure we weren't going anywhere near his partner's nest. We weren't, because it was a long way across the water (like the heron) and we know they like to be left alone - but we didn't stay around to explain to him in case he came out of the water at us. He sounded very angry.

When we came out of the woods and on to the pavement, a couple of people out with their grandchildren asked the LOTH if we had seen a big black creature in the Hollows. They said they had seen it and it looked far too big to be a cat and far too slinky in its movements to be a loose dog. The man said he thought it might have been a panther (Ooo-err again!). But we think he was joking.

Even if it was a panther, I think Mr Swan might have been a match for him.

Love is in the air

Spring my be the traditional time for falling in love - but in my opinion some young couples pick some very strange places to set up their love nests.

Take these two who I nearly trod on during yesterday's walk.

But even more risky is the home chosen by a pair of swans. If we walk through our village and down on to the canal and the Kingfisher Trail you come across these two who have made their nest on a little patch of ground in the middle of a housing estate.

The lady swan - on the right - is already sitting on her nest and her fella is keeping guard. I wisely kept my distance. Swans are beautiful but I wouldn't want to frighten them or make them cross.

The Lady Of The House tells me this couple have nested here for a few years now and local people keep their eye out for them to make sure they are left in peace.

Personally I prefer my home comforts at the end of a walk. I'm glad I don't have to live outside.