Saturday 27 June 2015

A mystery!

I really need to get out and mow the lawn ... so while I get on with it, instead of a written post, let me offer you a mystery instead. I went to take down a bird fat feeder and inside was a snail shell. No occupant. And the shell was huge - too big to fit between the bars or through the hole at the bottom. Maybe it slithered in as a smaller snail and decided to stay: but in that case what on earth had it been living on to grow to that size, where it couldn't escape?
There's been nothing in that feeder for a year ...



Sunday 21 June 2015

In haste ...










In haste this week as I'm supposed to be finishing writing an article for Your Dog magazine - So I'll post instead a picture of one of my dog-friendly favourites - Sempervivums. Thrive on neglect, look lovely all year round and during the summer these lovely flowers appear on triffid-like stems. Love them. These pics really don't do them justice - one day I'll learn how to take a decent shot!

Friday 12 June 2015

A Thing of Beauty

The shed roof is finally finished, thanks to Bill the Builder, who also added new soffits and finials and replumbed the water butt to a more convenient place and then repaired the floor to the other shed as well. My contribution was to apply a bit of weatherproofing to the wooden bits, which took up most of the weekend. Anyway, three coats of Ronseal later and I was rather pleased with the final result. 
I fetched the camera to take a photo of it for posterity. 
The only thing that could make it look more beautiful, I thought, would be the addition of a couple of whippets in the snap. 
I looked round for them. Silly me .. they were far too busy harvesting the alpine strawberries to be interested in posing next to a garden shed!


Saturday 6 June 2015

Covering up

There comes a point where you just have to face the fact that you aren't going to get round
to sorting out some projects within a reasonable amount of time.
I was a bit embarrassed when I realised that the tarpaulin thrown hastily over the shed
roof when a leak was discovered had actually been there for over a year and a half.


On the plus side, the neighbourhood cats didn't seem to like walking on it let alone
doing any sunbathing. On the minus side, that leak wasn't getting fixed ... and after a while that blue tarp does become a bit of an eyesore.

What to do? Well I realised that realistically, even if I found the time to fix the
problem, I probably wasn't going to do a great job of it - more likely an
enthusiastic bodge which might be okay in the short term but was unlikely to last.
So, dear reader, I called in Bill (no relation to Bob) the Builder.
Archie and Angel agreed not to eat him on condition he shared his
slice of cake during a tea break,
They are still waiting for him to keep his side of the bargain.

He has done a brilliant job of fitting a corrugated roof - love those silvery stud thingys.
Looks like a very butch roof now.

In fact the only thing that could make it look even nicer is the addition of two whippets ...

Friday 5 June 2015

Another first

Full of firsts at the moment - this week it's the first gooseberries.
Archie has quality checked them and pronounced them
perfect for crumble.
So please excuse the brevity of this week's blog  - I have some topping and tailing to do!