The Old Barn

As we thought about breakfast the sun started to break through, as promised, and we decided to do a walk first. As walks go it wasn't long but I was also organising for Jan to take a new picture of me, for my Blipfoto avatar. (The old one showed me with much longer hair, which went a good while back!)
When we got home it was with mixed feelings - the walk was lovely, the sun shone even more brightly, I got this blip of the old barn, and we fixed a few photos for my avatar (extra), but...    We saw a newly dead badger on the track, no obvious cause of death, and we saw the local farmer loading his cattle into the abbatoir truck.  I'm not generally distressed by such things, which are part of the natural way, but it did turn the mood a little sombre.
Anyway, breakfast and yet more sun bought me back into equilibrium. I worked a while in the garden, raking a lot of leaves, creating leaf cover for my frames. Then I decided to use the warmer day to start preparing the camper van for winter. I drained the water from the living area of the van, and dried the tank. Then I removed the fuse from the water pump so I could leave the taps open. That means when the remaining water in the pipes freezes it probably won't do any damage. Finally I drained the boiler. So on our last few trips before we put the van to bed for the winter it'll be water containers, and the kettle will be used to produce warm water for washing and washing up.
Actually there's still no sign of frost, which is fairly surprising for October in this part of the world, but it seems good to be prepared, rather than rush madly around when the forecast suddenly declares "minus 10 tomorrow morning".