Rain?

First of all thanks for all the kind comments on Cindy the cat. At 6:00 am I found her rolled up sleeping on the horse's hay in the stables. She responded well, which means in her normal complaining way. Picked her up and gave her a cuddle and the purr machine started. Indoors we continued the stroking and she seemed to be in good shape. On the floor, she was able to walk well, not perfectly though. Her rear end still a bit stiff. However, we had a nap on the sofa and she then went out on the terrace where I could see her.

During the day she seemed to get more and more agile and by midday, it was almost impossible to spot anything untoward. And of course the best sign, her complaining rate grew rapidly and she seems to have got back to being the boss in the house. So that was good news.

Looking up cats ages on the internet, you get as many different answers as sites you look up - at 15, she seems to be between 80 and somewhere around 120 (14-year-old outdoor cat, the table didn't do 15). Same applies to dogs when looking up Flash who is 14.5. I liked one answer "Geriatric" and I think that will do.

Busy day as I needed to do the bees as the weather is due to break and so may be the last time for a week to catch as many as possible out at work and thus easier to inspect. Took quite some time but eventually done and hope all now OK. The third tier "honey box" on the top was not as well filled as I would have expected given the weather of the last two weeks. I think MrBs recommendation of the last years is probably right to stick to two layers. However, in this case, I had little choice. Will try to reduce them before the "honeydew" harvest starts as it's not good honey for the bees to overwinter on. Strangely better for them to convert bought sugar in the form of fondant into winter food. Honeydew has lots of minerals that can cause the runs in bees and thus a problem in winter when they can't fly out to do their business.

At about 15:00 (having seen the 1st lap of Formula 1, I was forced out to do some mowing. I was informed thunderstorms on their way and indeed it looked cloudy. Only had one small field to do and as can be seen in the photo, the rain did indeed start (see the dark spots on the tractor).

The "rain" never really started and I continued as Angie also wanted the sand school smartened up. Normally I would have taken off the mower and used a roller but as I was now feeling the wetness through my T-shirt, used the small roller on the mower to do a quite passable job. The sand is so dry that it was easy to scrape and flatten it.

However, that was it for outdoors and came in for a change of clothing and relaxed late afternoon. And then the sun came out again! Looked up the digital rain gauge- 1 millimetre! So did a few minor things outdoors and as Angie had prepared an early dinner, gave up. However at around 8:00 pm the thunder and lightning came but only briefly and only a few more drops.

Not given up hope of more rain in next three days or so and it looks like the maximum temperatures will stay below 20°C for the first time in weeks.