Pottering

I woke naturally today at around 7.15 and the sun was doing its best to make an appearance. After a couple coffees and feeding Sassy who was thumping her cage earlier than usual, it was off out to see what Rambo was up to. I walked out onto the porch with his bowl of food and no sign of him. I started to walk towards his enclosure and he had obviously only made it half way there before he needed a rest. Lazy sod. I think he thinks he's a lizard; he's forever sunbathing.

Halfway collapse

He did actually get up when he smelled the food coming up behind him, or maybe he smelled me, who knows? As I sat waiting for him to eat, perched on the entrance step to his house I noticed that the plants containing the burrs that used to get caught up in Ralf's fur  were huge. The burrs themselves are also big this year and they are nasty! They just get stuck in everything, including my socks and clothing.

Burrs

However, there are some more pleasant plant life and all throughout the garden and the back bank are patches of lovely meadow flowers like this. The garden is alive with bees this year which is fantastic.

Summer meadow flowers

Every now and again Rambo turns around to see what I'm up to. I had just taken a photo and he looked up looking so sad that I had to capture it. I hope he isn't sad. Perhaps he misses the Mr? Nah..... Can't be that! :)

Inexplicably sad Rambo

He did cheer up after he had finished his breakfast and we played "you throw the Kong and I will pretend to bring it back to you and run away when you hold your hand out for it" for about a half an hour and until my shoulder could throw no more. I had set myself a task today to try and block the way in for the swallows as I keep finding them down in the garage area and they build nests so fast! They were getting in through the gap at the top. I caught one the other day as I was walking up from the bottom gate.

Bird entrance

I first of all had to select the right size piece of wood to hammer on there, which was the east bit. The hard bit was hammering the nails in. I got one in, tried a couple more, bashed my finger with the hammer, not only once, but twice and then gave up. The hammer went on the floor and I used brute force and ignorance to wedge bits of wood into the holes. I found this worked quite well and if they get in now, I will accept that I am sharing the house with swallows over summer, it's fine.

No entrance

I was inspecting it all from the outside when Rambo joined me and the birds that I had put out when I started were still swooping around the window. I took Rambo further back and we watched. Ok, I watched, he went ballistic if they flew too close to him. I am sure he thinks he will catch one of them one day. He hates them. We watched a couple of attempts at trying to get in, a couple of confused faces and then I snapped them, huffing on the wires.

Huffing birds

Rambo and Sassy fed and the bird proofing done, kind of and I realised I hadn't eaten anything yet. No wonder my tummy was rumbling, it was after 11am. I had been shopping yesterday and picked up some bits and pieces to whet my appetite again. I had smoked salmon and omelette. And it may not be presented in the best manner, but it sure was tasty!

Brunch

I took a bit of a break when I was called by the Little Lady again for coffee. Her son and his family must have stopped over last night and so when I arrived, the whole clan were there again, including the Kmet's children who were trying out their new roller boots! I was so jealous!! We sat for quite a long time again, chatting in whatever small quantities I could about Rambo's ticks, the Mr and when he was coming back and I was even asked about my brother, who they have presumably seen on Facebook. It was lovely, again. It was almost 1.30pm when I got back, time had really flown. I set into my next task which was starting a side gate so that the land is secure enough for the puppies when they arrive. We have a metal gate currently, but Rambo can squeeze through the gap if he pushes hard enough on it. I measured, measured again and went out to look at it and visualise it in my head.  Now, I am sure the Mr will be screwing when he realises that I did not do a drawing and carefully plan it all with a design, but I cannot be bothered with all of that. That's blue work. I don't think it turned out too bad.

Side-gate frame

What you don't see are the deep holes that have been drilled already for the screws to be fixed.  I had planned to treat the wood too before I screwed it together but first I couldn't find the paint brush and then when I finally did, it was rock solid because we didn't manage to get the white paint off it last year when I painted the window frames for the raised beds. That was a pain. I will need to go tomorrow and get another couple and some more screws so that I can finish it off until I find some suitable planks. It will be grand in the end!

I parked myself on the sofa and switched on the snooker, just catching the end of the first semi-final. A great end to a great day. Finally, after all the bashing of hammers, fingers and birds nests I thought I had better have a shower and clean up a bit. It's difficult to stay clean in this place. I had a bit of a pamper session with all my lotions and potions and am now sitting with a beer (empty currently) and wondering what to snack on for dinner; perhaps some more smoked salmon and some blue cheese and then the next semi-final will be on and I will watch that until my eyes refuse to stay open, again.

Leka nosht.

A xx