At last, a picture !

Taken of the front bed, a lemony conifer and some shrubs ! The shrubs to the right were already planted, but lemony and the one to it's immediate right were put in yesterday.

LC is confined within a bottomless pot so hopefully will restrict it's growth.

At least we had some sun ! Hoorah !!!

I can see clearly now the rain has gone

but for how long ?

Will have a little walk around the estate later and see what's drowning and what's not.

Had to move some black buckets into the g/h as the rain just wasn't draining anywhere.

Got two Ben Hope blackcurrant twigs to plant today. A friend won a voucher in a Ribena compy earlier in the year and gave me her prize winning ticket. I'd forgotten all about my free bush until a twig dropped through the letterbox last weekend, and then another one when i got home from work last night.

Mr Robin has learned how to hang on to the feeders at last. He only ever hopped about the floor picking up the sparras left overs, but now he's found the knack of hopping from the ballustrade onto a feeder. Clever chap.

Was advised by work yesterday that the results of the interview won't be out till this week due to "delays". It was no less than expected (given that i know what the delays are) but slightly disappointing nevertheless.

Tuesday night saw me racing off to the quacks with a manky foot that was swelling up to the point that my slightly loose shoe was straining under the pressure. Doctor took one look, recoiled in horror and said "best you get up A&E, it looks like an abscess". So off I toddled to the hospital was back home within 2 hours. It wasn't an absess of course, just a really nasty blister, but ended up on antibiotics with a very sore foot. At least the swelling is down now. The surgery nurse couldn't fit me in until Monday so I did a DIY dressing change last night. I was quite pleased with my handiwork if i do say so myself. Rather a professional job and just a bit of stinging. So a big thanks to the staff at the Southern General ! Box of chocs coming your way.

Moral of the story, always dry between your toes but DON'T scratch that itch !

Christmas shopping today, so wish me luck !

And yet another day of rain

Me and the OH are sitting here talking about the weather. :-O

How ridiculous the weather we are having at the moment is. It hasn't stopped since we left for London. It's just shockly bad. Now the window frames in the office and bathroom are leaking, and i've given up worrying what's going on outside ages ago. You get through one day unscathed, only to find the next one is worse. lmao

Ah dearie dearie, you gotta laugh ain't ya ? :-)

Watch the birdie !

Weather same as a couple of hours ago. Sitting here watching the birdies take off from the feeders, getting blown sideways a couple of foot before being blown back again towards the fat balls.

Bless their feathered feet.

Lost and found and found again !

I had a good search of the garden for the aluminium strut to no avail and I was hoping it hadn't pierced someone's beloved cat or child !

So I put my mind to other things and potted up the hollyhocks, and alstroemeria, watered everything in the greenhouses, forked one of the borders and was on my way back indoors when I spied a bit of a glint off something tucked under the step from the veggie plot to the deck ! One aluminium strut ! Hoorah !!!!! So fixed the coldrame and put it's lid back on but looking out there this morning I wonder if I should have bothered. It's looking ghastly and is predicting heavy rain and 20 mph winds today.

To make matters worse, I don't think I closed the g/h vent last night. So fingers crossed it's still attached. I can see the big g/h heater from where I sit and the flames seem consistant and still there which would indicate no gale force winds blowing around inside the g/h. So let's join hands and all hope together eh ?

OH and me both had to visit the post office yesterday, arms full of ebay goodies to send off and after that we were going to B&Q to get paraffin and spray paint to stencil the bins (two weeks ago our nice new green bin was inadvertently knicked by them wot is next door and we got a crappy beaten up one with a bashed lid in it's place so when we got our new one back I thought it was time to ID the bins - sad eh ?).

Anyway, parrafin in the local store was £5.99 for 4 litres, and in B&Q £4.99. Opposite the post office was yet another hardware store (they keep jumping out at me now) so I popped in there and found it for £4.50 for 4 litres! Bargain and saved us a trip to B&Q to boot. Also got the spray acrylic paint in there too. I love local shops.

I thought I'd better get the OH insured in the jalopy as I didn't fancy driving all the way to London over Christmas, so he had his first trip behind a wheel for about 6 months and didn't kill anything or anyone. A good sign!

As today is so rubbish, I'm going to write some chrissy cards and do other indoor things that are sitting on the "must do" pile. Why does that pile never get any smaller ?? Anyone know ?

No pics of the garden taken recently unless you want to see more rain so I might treat you softie southerners to some of that later, just to remind you what it's like. :-)

Well blow me down with a strong wind !

And who hasn't had them this week eh ?

It's been another manic week so let's cut to the chase:

Plastic greenhouse fixed Friday morning before we flew to London, the OH got out of his pit just as the last screw was going in. It was so much easier in the daylight :-)

London was just superb. Had a fantastic weekend with my dear dear penshuner pal for her 60th birthday. Met up with some old football mates, and met some new ones. We had a riot.

Got back on Monday and the MIL warned me to prepare for the worst in the garden. They'd had shocking weather all weekend, so when I looked out and only found the cold frame damaged, I was made up ! I seem to have lost one of the bits of the cold frame lid frame, but haven't managed to look for it in daylight so I'm hoping it will be tucked behind a pot somewhere !

Work has been totally chaotic again but managed to squeeze in the promotion interview on Wednesday. Now I've either missed the point completely and totally bolloxed it, or I've done quite well and I almost enjoyed the experience lol. Don't think I'll have to wait very long for the results, as I think they're quite keen to get these jobs filled, so hopefully by next weekend, I'll know. To top it off, I have been temporarily promoted in my own department today as my boss is having to go and help out in another department for a while until two jobs are filled there ! You can tell we're organised can't you !

In the greenhouses I can see some peas have germinated and my poor wee lettuces were dying for a drink. I don't know how many have suffered, some were looking pretty droopy.

A couple of bear's breeches are germinating in the bedroom and the hollyhocks have to be potted up at the weekend.

The broad beans seems to have survived the gales despite losing their lid, but a few of them have been chomped a bit by A.N.Other slug ....... desperate measures are going to be taken tomorrow !

Right, off to lie down in a darkened room and read a magazine.

Hope all your roofs have stayed on, and that you battened down the hatches.

I think it will get worse before it gets better !!!

Disaster averted

Feeder found splat in the middle of the onion bed. Seeds all over the place so no doubt the onions and garlic will be sharing with some new neighbours soon !

Strategic pots saved the day and no further damage done to the g/h.

There's a clear blue sky so out I go with screwdriver and spanner in hand to make some repairs. At least it wasn't the glass g/h that took the hit.

One of my feeders is missing !

I use the bird feeders as a bit of a guide as to how hard the wind is blowing. This morning, even in the pitch black, I can see that one of them is missing in action. :-0 Guess it was blowy out there last night !

Just waiting for dawn to break before heading out to try and tackle the g/h.

If I'm not back in a few hours, send out the search parties. :-)