Gardening

Good evening. Today was the Mr's Happy Birthday, so make sure you raise a glass!

Happy birthday, my lovely xx

As I sat with my early morning coffee the phone rang and it was Bekir to tell me that they would not be working today. As I was off work myself, this suited me and it meant that I could get some things done whilst the weather was good. I took my time in setting myself up for the day and stuck around to speak to the boss and to wish him a happy birthday. I finally went for a nice, hot, long shower at around 9.30 and then went to feed Rambo, taking a coffee with me and enjoyed sitting listening to the birds while he ate.

My first task was to do the humanure. Again, no photos as it is a messy business but it went well. I think I am getting the hang of it.

I had just sat down after feeding Sassy and Little Lady was at the gate shouting for me. I went down to see what the matter was and she was holding a piece of cake and said to tell the Mr "Happy Birthday", bless her. It was her son's birthday yesterday which I didn't realise, so presumably this was his cake.

Birthday cake

I decided today that I would potter around outside and dig, plant and enjoy the sun. I went out to water the lettuce boxes and saw they were coming along slowly and the other box had been blown over, so I will need to replant that. How annoying.

Lettuce babies

The remainder of the bed where we planted beets and turnips last year still needed dug through and weeded so that was my task and I went to gather up all my gardening bits when I spotted this little fella, again.  he has been hanging around a lot lately and I am not sure if he is the new sheep dog, I hope not as the sheep had long since gone first thing. Rambo wasn't quite sure whether to sniff him or bark at him through the fence and after much marking of territory, one inside the fence and one outside, he wandered off. He's a friendly little thing and when he wags his tail his whole bum wiggles like he dances!

Visitor

The little Chihuahua then appeared down the lane and Rambo was unintentionally teasing it by following it inside the fence up and down the lane. What a racket from such a small dog. It definitely had little dog syndrome though. As I went up to get Rambo I saw him sniffing at something and managed to get him away from it. Poor pigeon.

Poor pigeon

I set to work on the bed and it was now a whole lot later in the day than I had imagined - typical of being here though, you just seem to lose time with so much going on. It was hotting up and it was hard work as the soil was hard from very little rain but here we have it, clear.

Bed cleared

In this bed I then planted some peas and broad beans. Just as I had finished watering them over the Little Lady and her Daughter in Law came to say hello and look at the onions and potatoes that are now starting to shoot up. I then showed them the seeds of what was planted in the other pots and raised beds. They really do take a big interest and look after me. As we were looking in all the pots we noticed that the sunflowers were making a show too. How exciting!

Sunflower

I was getting quite hot outside and it was then time for a drink and to rest. I didn't sit for long though and headed up to the top bank to where the older silver birch is and the flower bed.  I dug it through and planted some bee friendly blue flowers - hopefully they will look really good.  As I was up there and throwing the Kong for Rambo I spotted two birds flying around and gliding low to the ground. They were fairly big and I couldn't quite see what they were and hoped they would be a hawk of some kind, but I was later told that these are actually cuckoos. I really should learn more about birds if I am going to photograph them!

Cuckoo

The School roof looked great from up there and I just wanted to get a good shot of it to show you.

Roof looks great

In the midst of me kneeling and crawling on the ground trying to get a photo of the perching bird I had to tell Rambo to go away, so here he is huffing.

Rambo huffing

I rested on the terrace in the afternoon with a beer and my book. Just me this time. After a short while I dozed off and woke around half an hour later, I was quite drowsy and the sun was hot. I could feel my skin beginning to burn and so I went back in. The rest of the day has been spent doing a burn, preparing dinner - which I am about to eat and really just messing around and pottering.  The fire is lit to help the sunburn shivers and I am planning to watch a movie. Hopefully tomorrow will be productive as I tackle one or maybe two of the back rooms and clear them out.

Leka nosht.

A x