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New quilt! ♥Apr. 9th, 2019 // 06:47 pm♥ [Tags | craft, ducks, pictures ] Mike bought me a stack of fabric for Christmas, and I've been making a somewhat experimental* quilt with it: More pics. * It's pieced wrong sides together, and then I've snipped the seams. It's also got three layers of poly batting, and is hand tied, so it's incredibly soft and poofy. Zu Zu tried to go for me when I was cleaning out their house yesterday; she's been squeaking and occasionally hissing at me all along, so I'm hoping that this is a good sign that she's feeling movement in the eggs, but it's made me realise that, in retrospect, I probably should have been at least stroking her every day to keep her used to being handled, 'cause she's not going to be happy when I start picking up the babies.... Link 5 kisses // Who loves you?

New things ♥Apr. 5th, 2019 // 07:40 pm♥ [Tags | family, food, house, pictures ] My Grandad, who in his younger days was often to be found with a paint brush in his hand*, left me a bit of money, so I decided that we'd (pay some people to) do some decorating in his memory. * From my uncle's funeral speech: Grandad, a draftsman, was off work once with an eye problem that meant he couldn't do close-work. The Big Boss wanted to consult with him about something, and another colleague had once been to their house so offered to show the Big Boss how to find it. They travelled in separate cars, and the colleague parked slightly closer to the house than the Big Boss. He got to the house only to see, through the window, Grandad up a ladder painting the ceiling. Furious gesticulation occurred, and when Big Boss knocked on the door he was greeted by Grandma, hair in curlers, wearing Grandad's paint-spattered coverall and holding a paintbrush (possibly for the first and last time in her life), while Grandad lay on the sofa looking stricken. I've never been terribly keen on the (old, and so both worn and inherently less good than modern) laminate floor in there, so we've had a new floor and then the walls painted. (By the same people who did the living room, as they both did good jobs.) (We kept the old curtains, because they're fine and that many curtains is expensive even if I make them myself. We were going to have them dry-cleaned, but the chap came to do them today and looked dubious, which turned out to be the right reaction after he did a patch test and they discoloured; he also advised against water, so steam cleaning is out. So I guess we'll just give them a good vacuuming.) Anyway, new dining room is new: A month or so after we moved here, we signed up to a local veg box scheme. It was a particularly local one, as everything (except mushrooms and sweet potatoes) came from within ten miles of their farm; it's a lot easier to do that in Kent than in many places, especially if the UK's largest greenhouse is within those ten miles. A couple of weeks ago, we had an email saying that they were going to close down: parents wanted to retire, and keeping it and the other businesses going would have involved hiring a manager, at which point it wouldn't pay. I suspect that last summer had something to do with it as well: the effects are still very clear, with shortages of some veg and incredibly tiny onions for the last month or so. They sold their customer list to a larger and slightly-less-local company (that uses many of the same suppliers), and this week was the first delivery from them. It was supposed to happen yesterday, but this morning the rather apologetic owner arrived, explaining that he followed the road sign (and a half-remembered instruction from Old Veg Box Guy) rather than his sat nav and turned the wrong way at the end of our road. Hopefully that will be a one-off thing, because so far we're pretty impressed: we're allowed four do-not-wants (bye bye beetroot, and probably also courgettes because we generate plenty of those by ourselves when they're in season), and we're not guaranteed carrots every week. We're also not guaranteed onions, which is a slight problem as we get through a lot. The kale we got this week is nicer-looking than we've been used to, as well. Hopefully it'll continue to be good once they're no longer trying to woo us! Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Schrodinger's Ducklings ♥Apr. 2nd, 2019 // 05:31 pm♥ [Tags | ducks ] ZuZu is still faithfully brooding her clutch, and doesn't seem to have thrown any of them out of the nest, so I've taken a leap of faith and ordered duckling feed* and a puppy pen today. * Hmmm. Wonder how much ducklings eat? All these websites are rubbish, they just say 'ad lib', 20kg sounds like a huge amount for just the first three weeks of their life, should I just buy 5kg on eBay? Ah, this thread looks good: "We are getting 4 runner ducklings [...] on the advice of the guy working there, we ended up with a fifty pound bag [...] seems excessive for four ducklings"... - They eat like crazy - They eat a lot! And produce 100 X the amount of food they eat in poo. - Ducklings eat their weight every day. Iam pretty sure. - we bought one 50 lb bag of duck feed when we got our four ducklings (two pekin, two mallards) six weeks ago. I just finished off the end of the bag this morning. Ok, 20kg bag ordered. Link 6 kisses // Who loves you?

Experimental dog walking ♥Mar. 22nd, 2019 // 12:06 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog ] Someone I slightly know from the internet messaged me recently to ask about fabric shops in the area, as she was coming over for a trip with her other half and dog. I idly suggested dog walking, but warned her what Bob is like around most other dogs, and she was entirely up for it, so we've just got back from an experimental dog walk. Normally, if Bob sees another dog then it's either one of the handful he's fine with (in which case I stop to chat to the owners for a bit) or it's a strange or Known Evil dog (in which case we go a different way / get off the path so that they can get past us ASAP). Today, we met up in the woods and waited while he tried to kill her. She wandered off (Newfoundland x, chill as anything, reminded me a lot of a more-confident Jodie) and he calmed down a bit. Over the following 45 minutes or so, they mostly ignored each other (she was having a great time roaming around the woods, while he was on the lead as usual. They had a couple of dubious sniffs at each other. Three times he suddenly lunged at her and got his mouth around her head while growling, but he didn't actually hurt her, and by the third time both owners were of the view that it was definitely getting more playful. So I *think* that with time and supervision he could learn to get on with other dogs (on an individual basis), at least ones that are incredibly chilled out and neither aggressive back nor afraid of him. And my internet acquaintance got to see at least four bluebells, after I'd said not to get her hopes up, so she was happy [g]. Link 7 kisses // Who loves you?

Eggses! ♥Mar. 15th, 2019 // 05:46 pm♥ [Tags | ducks ] The eggs arrived today, which meant that I then spent the rest of the day popping outside every half hour hoping to catch Zuzu off the nest (she comes off once or twice a day, to eat, poo and have a bath). When she came out, I dashed over and swapped the fake eggs for the real ones, and she was back on the nest as usual when I went out just now to put the animals to bed. All being well, they'll hatch out a week before the start of Eastercon: not great timing, but better than a week later would have been. Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Duck plottings ♥Mar. 12th, 2019 // 08:01 pm♥ [Tags | ducks ] I had been planning on waiting until Ella got broody before I bought some eggs: she's very good about laying indoors, and spent a good month last year trying to hatch a fake egg (until I took it away), whereas Erzulie kept sneaking off into the garden to make nests under bushes, and never really got broody. It turns out that Erzulie really likes the raised nest box that I made, ready for Ella to use out of the way of the Runners: she started laying in it a bit over a week ago, and she's spent the last couple of days industriously brooding the fake eggs I've been swapping for the last few that she's laid. So this morning we ordered some eggs, which should be with us by the end of the week. And then we wait. (Letice is doing much better with the others, now: barely any feather pulling from the grown-ups, which is good.) Link Who loves you?

Meet Letice ♥Mar. 1st, 2019 // 04:27 pm♥ [Tags | ducks, garden, pictures ] No longer will we be able to refer to Magrat as "the little white duck" (although Letice will probably end up bigger, given the size of her parents). DW cup third opinion was "No more than £500", for those who are interested. Shortly after getting home from that trip out, Mr Up The Hill phoned to say that he'd just popped home from work for five minutes and seen a dog running around the boy's summer field and howling like mad. We headed up there with a lead and a handful of kibble, thinking it would be a five minute job, and half an hour later managed to get close enough to her for Mike to take a blurry photo of the address side of her tags. Fortunately, when Mike phoned our vet they had the address in their records and phoned the owners to give them Mike's number, so shortly after her owner appeared and took her home. As I suspected when I first saw her, she's one of the three whippets I've seen a few times charging around the woods with no owner in sight; I hope that this scares the owner into keeping them under closer control, because they terrify me in case they come too close and Bob goes for them before I can react. Then I pruned the apple tree, and now I'm tired. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Things I have been doing rather than update DW ♥Feb. 28th, 2019 // 07:55 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, craft, ducks, eastercon, fandom, fanzines, garden, pictures, quilts, riding ] - Setting up a Top Sekrit Grow Room in the study. The tomatoes are doing well, but the germination rates for the chillis have been pretty bad (we're now experimenting with soaking them overnight in camomile tea, which apparently both softens them and is mildly anti-fungal). - Eating duck eggs! Zu Zu started laying last week. Hurrah! Poached eggs, and tasty pasta, and yellow cakes! (This is daylight-related, rather than temperature, although I'm sure the sunny days helped with the light levels.) - Hatching (ho ho) a plot: muscovies are supposed to be good mothers (as opposed to runners, who just lay an egg wherever they have to be, including in the pond); fertile runner duck eggs are about a pound a pop on eBay. Ella was particularly dutiful in her attempts to hatch a fake egg last year (I had to take it off her in the end), so I'm going to wait until she starts getting broody and then order her some eggs. - Writing, with lots of help from various people, biographies of past-Doc Weir winners, with varying degrees of difficulty: some of the early women winners are almost cyphers, some of the early men required a huge amount of editing of their many recorded achievements. On the other hand, many of the recent winners, who I thought would be easy ("I know her!") are actually quite tricky to write anything substantive about ("And the only fannish thing that she does is faithfully do that one job every year without fail or fault"). See the recent Eastercon PR if you'd like a paper copy of it. - (Possibly) destroying Doc Weir mythology: a decade or so back, the cup was valued at about £4000 (because you can't buy an equivalent today and so would have to get it custom made; a source of some stress to winners as they then had to pay to add it to their insurance). The paperwork was lost, though, so I contacted a local auction house to ask if they could do a valuation. When I sent some photos and the history of it, their silver expert said he could buy one tomorrow for £250-£350 so it wasn't worth paying for a formal valuation. - Riding in the weird weather: very odd to be going out, shivering in a t-shirt, to the frost-covered school and being too hot fifteen minutes later when the sun finishes rising. Benny and I went down the lane and back, for the first time since I had that fall. Planning a tiny little hack on Saturday. Benny is shedding (this is also daylight rather than temperature); on recent form, that means GB will start shedding some time in about June. - Doing a bit of gardening, mostly tidying up last year's dead perennial growth. The wild garlic is just starting to poke leaves up, and the early irises are now just about over but were lovely a week or so ago: - Taking Bob to the vet, where he unsuccessfully tried to fake the vet out and pretend that he didn't have a limp on his front left leg (worried I'd leave him there if he showed weakness, maybe?). Nothing obvious wrong, so metacam and rest, and trying not to identify too many parallels with this time last year. - Working on an experimental quilt. I have no idea if it will completely fall apart, or just look crap, or actually work as planned. - Failing at email (sorry, Carl, Juliet and others not on DW). Tomorrow, we're going to take the DW cup to another auction house for a third opinion and then collect a new, white runner, provisionally called Letice (but better suggestions are welcome: I don't remember any of the witches being famous for dressing all in white, does anyone else? One day I will find someone to sell me a pure black duck, and she will be called Tiffany). Link 10 kisses // Who loves you?

And *then* she.... ♥Jan. 14th, 2019 // 12:52 pm♥ [Tags | family, neighbours ] My uncle has been staying with us for a few days, which was nice - he lives in Australia, so I rarely get to spend time with him. I was telling him stories about TWWOTV and her various evil deeds. I hadn't realised, spread over five years, just how many there were. Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Vanity sizing ♥Jan. 8th, 2019 // 08:02 pm♥ [Tags | clothes, family ] I've just been rooting in my least-used wardrobe, looking for a smart black coat. I found two good heavy wool coats, of the kind I basically haven't worn since I worked in the City. Still look in great condition, still fit in a slightly-big-so-you-can-wear-a-big-jumper-under-them way. So apparently a 15-ish year old size 14 is only slightly larger than a current size 10, at least in M&S sizes. I also found my much-beloved long black velvet coat, which my mother bought me when I was doing my A-levels 20-ish years ago: size 14, fits me like a glove. Sadly the velvet is little worn on one shoulder from bag straps, so I don't think I can wear it. It may be time to accept that it no longer owes me anything at all. (I am in need of a smart black coat for the first time in many years because I'm off to the Frozen North on Thursday, for my Grandad's funeral. I'm glad I got to see him briefly eighteen months ago, when he was still somewhat responsive and able to tell to people the next day that I had been to see him; it was for the best.) Link 5 kisses // Who loves you?

Ah, dogs.... ♥Dec. 29th, 2018 // 02:54 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog ] The normal morning routine is that I put Bob's breakfast down for him and then go outside to see to the ducks and horses. (Bob used to come with us, but when the weather got autumnal he decided that the sofa was a better bet.) This morning, I was slightly delayed going outside, so I was there and able to open the back door when he started retching. He went outside, threw up, and then promptly ate it again (chewing this time) before coming back in and heading for the sofa as though nothing had happened. I can't help but wonder how often he does this without my being there to let him into the garden. And I think I might get him one of those bowls that slows down the eating speed.... Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Not How Botany Works ♥Dec. 25th, 2018 // 09:57 pm♥ [Tags | books ] I'm reading The Boy On The Bridge, which is the written-afterwards prequel-to the very good The Girl With All The Gifts by MR Carey. It's not as good as the first one, because the first one pretty well spoilers the whole of the prequel, but it's not bad. However. ( Very slight spoiler for the first chapter or two of TGWATG, and t ) Merry Christmas, though! Link 7 kisses // Who loves you?

Dreams... ♥Dec. 22nd, 2018 // 08:09 pm♥ [Tags | cooking, dreams ] I don't know what I dreamt about last night, but I woke up with a sore shoulder, experienced phantom-broken-nail sensations, was surprised to get dressed and find my jodhpurs didn't have tears in them, and, as I started to ride this morning, remembered that I'd made an inexplicable and unnecessary mental note to buy a new riding hat. Also, Mike has a new sous vide machine. It does lovely things to rump steak. Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Unexpected ♥Nov. 21st, 2018 // 03:29 pm♥ [Tags | pictures, weather ] We woke up to a little bit of snow this morning: (As you can see, we've been working on circles recently!) Only a very little bit, but we've never had snow nearly this early before. Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Minor mystery resolved ♥Nov. 18th, 2018 // 09:41 pm♥ [Tags | cooking, pictures ] A couple of months ago, I made my usual apple and sloe jelly. It took me three bloody goes to get a set: I ended up sticking pectin in it (FFS!), and that eventually did it. Two days ago, my medlars were finally bletted: (Crafty Day folks, I suspect that if I'd hunted around then I could have found a bletted one for you to try. You'll have to come back around the same time next year.) So yesterday I boiled up the medlar jelly and this morning... no set. Some experimentation with a pan of boiling water revealed that my jam thermometer is reading a degree too high. All is now explained. Although I fear that, in my attempts to be over-cautious, extracting the re-boiled medlar jelly from the jar may need a sharp knife rather than a tea spoon. Especially as I've just seen in my diary that I didn't bother with pectin last time. Link 7 kisses // Who loves you?

Not-Novacon ♥Nov. 14th, 2018 // 08:39 pm♥ [Tags | cons, craft, ducks, pilates, weather ] It was Novacon last weekend, but Mike went without me: November sucks, I'd rather stay at home in the torrential rain. No, wait, hang on. Anyway: sorry to anyone who was hoping to see me there. Instead of Novacon, we had a very select Crafty Day here, which featured Bob barking furiously for five minutes and then spending the rest of the day trying to climb onto people's laps and/or steal their food. Thank you to the people who came, braving the flooded roads and ferocious hound! Having spent the last few sessions fiddling with various wonkinesses, my Pilates instructor decided yesterday that we were going to actually do some work. I am now sore. Must get back into doing more at home. On Friday, on the way out to the Kent quilt show, I put my coat on and something jabbed me in the arm. I assumed it was a bit of hay caught on my top, although I couldn't find it. Half an hour later, I had a big red lump on my arm, and it's still slightly itchy/sore. Can only assume it was a solitary bee or wasp that came into the porch and decided my coat made a good place to hibernate. I'll have to remember to shake them out before putting them on in future. Magrat is very unhappy about the reduced number of minions, and is spending a lot of time shouting her complaints. Unfortunately, Ella has taken the opportunity, now that the muscovies are no longer outnumbered, to assert herself, and keeps chasing poor Maggers out of the house every evening when they go to bed. Fortunately, they're not hens and the associated pecking is pretty ineffectual. Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Definitely autumn now ♥Nov. 4th, 2018 // 03:13 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, garden, weather ] We had a couple of -3-4C nights this week, so even the tomatoes in the polytunnel got frosted. The dining table's now covered in green tomatoes, some of which have started to change colour enough that they will ripen over the next week or so, and this afternoon we've taken the cover off the polytunnel for the winter. Today we also took Bob to a training session for reactive dogs, with two other dogs, which might have been moderately useful if we only ever walked him by ambling around in a large, path-less field in which all the other dogs kept a good distance away and were on leads. I struggle to think of how that would be a normal dog-walking situation. The trainer pretty much ignored everything we said about Bob and how / when he reacts, and showed us a *marvellous* method for keeping his attention, which worked brilliantly but also got him so hyped up that he drew blood pawing at her hand and then started to jump up at her, like we've spent six months training him not to do. Oh, and only worked if you were in a large, path-less field, and wouldn't actually be useful if the thing you were trying to do was 'walk past the other dog', you know, like people have to do when they're walking down the road or along a path. I don't think we'll be back. Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Esk ♥Nov. 2nd, 2018 // 03:17 pm♥ [Tags | ducks ] I decided yesterday that I wanted to get a vet's take on Esk's falling down. Our vet doesn't have a bird person any more, which is annoying, but they suggested a place down in Dover, who fitted us in yesterday evening. The vet thought that the most likely problem was aspergillosis, a fungal condition that’s present in a lot of healthy ducks but can cause problems if they get poorly or run down. It’s usually a lung / air sac problem, but as it progresses then it can also start to cause nerve damage. (She didn’t have any visible trouble breathing, but sounded raspy when the vet listened.) She went back to the vet this morning for x-rays, and they showed significant plaque formation on the lungs, enlargement of her heart, and signs of a bacterial infection as well. The vet did give the option of 2 months of antifungals and antibiotics, but said that even if they worked she’d be left with scarring and damage and would never really be healthy, so we agreed that it would be best to not wake her up. So we're back down to two runners again, and I must make more of an effort to get some more in the spring. Link 6 kisses // Who loves you?

The lighting doesn't matter on the radio.... ♥Oct. 31st, 2018 // 03:45 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, ducks, going out, pictures, radio ] Last night, we went to see a recording of The Kitchen Cabinet, in the banqueting hall at Dover Castle. Fortunately, the lighting doesn't matter on the radio: The show will air on Saturday week, and neither of us appears on it (except in the background noise). It was fun to see the recording, well worth the £0 ticket price. We really must actually go to Dover Castle some time to look around. Today (boo, hiss, I got caught for customs charges, which are fine except that the handling fee is larger than the actual tax), Bob's onesie arrived from Australia (the woman half an hour away who'd said she could make him one having then gone silent). It's a good fit (I ended up getting it from Aus because I was pretty sure none of the many greyhound / whippet ones would fit him, and I could only find two people who were doing customised ones with more than a couple of measurements), but quite difficult to put on and take off, presumably because of the extra bulk in his chest compared to the standard pattern. I've ordered some velcro, so I just need to decide whether to put the cut on his back or his chest. Chest seems more logical (as I can cut straight through -- it leaves his belly bare), but the struggle is getting his front legs in / out, so back might give more extra play. (And, now I've got it, I can make myself a pattern to make some more....) There's Something Wrong with Esk, who's taken to faceplanting while running along, and seems a bit subdued generally. Vet in a few days if she doesn't improve, I guess. Link Who loves you?

Double trouble.... ♥Oct. 28th, 2018 // 10:05 am♥ [Tags | birdies, family ] I've just been told off my my mother for not updating here enough. Hi Mum! Then I looked out of the window and saw a grumpy goldfinch checking out the bird feeders, one by one. I guess it's time to start filling them up. Sorry, Mr Goldfinch! There are snacks there for you now. Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Swans! ♥Oct. 19th, 2018 // 08:04 pm♥ [Tags | craft, pictures ] After something like 40 hours of quilting, the swans are finished! More pics: https://imgur.com/a/bu4dxks Link 25 kisses // Who loves you?

Grapes! ♥Sep. 10th, 2018 // 06:05 pm♥ [Tags | garden, pictures ] After the birds got through the netting (and then got stuck in it) last year, this year the grapes went inside paper bags. Seems to have worked! Link Who loves you?

Swallow success! ♥Sep. 2nd, 2018 // 01:17 pm♥ [Tags | birdies, garden ] Our swallows have beaten the weather and successfully raised a second brood of chicks this summer. They were flying around in Benny's stable this morning, trying to figure out that whole 'flying through the door' thing, and then after a few minutes they all made it outside and the family had flying practice together. I suspect that they'll be coming back to the nest for a few more days, and then they'll be off for the winter. Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

The sloes are early this year ♥Aug. 25th, 2018 // 02:40 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, craft, foraging, horses, pictures ] The swans are sewn, now I just need to wait for the backing fabric and get quilting: (I'll also have to rearrange the living room to get enough floor space to pin the layers together, it doesn't fit in the study!) GB has crossed some sort of watershed: he's not quite finished shedding last year's winter coat (the long, paler hairs that you can see against the black) but he's already starting to fuzz up with this year's growth (which you can see against the white): Still, not bad for an old man. Even if he does spend half of his time with his willy hanging out a bit these days.... I had a lovely long session on Benny this morning, the weather was just right: sunny, bit of a breeze, and enough of a chill in the air that we didn't overheat. Much more satisfactory weather than lately. Link 7 kisses // Who loves you?

It's almost like people know me, or something... ♥Aug. 24th, 2018 // 01:50 pm♥ [Tags | birthday, pictures ] From three different people: Link 7 kisses // Who loves you?

Bloody animals.... (Insects are animals too, right?) ♥Aug. 24th, 2018 // 10:03 am♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, ducks, horses, owie, pictures ] On Wednesday evening, as I was leading the boys in from the field, Benny decided that he was sick of having to walk as slowly as GB does and started rearing in protest. The first three times weren't really an issue, but on the fourth he managed to hook one of his forelegs over my arm as he came down: My back also felt rather peculiar, so Mike played it safe and told work that he wouldn't be at the company away-day yesterday (he was devastated, especially at the prospect of not having to go out at 6:30 to drive there). As it turns out, it wasn't too bad (although I skipped our riding lesson yesterday afternoon and let Mike have a longer session), and he's off in London today. As well as my various scrapes and bruises from Benny, I'm covered in mozzie bites. I seem to be getting half a dozen a night, and am not sleeping well as a result, so I'm quite pleased that it's going to be chilly tonight so that I can spray the bedroom and, with the windows closed, hopefully not get nibbled on. Even Mike has had two or three bites over the last week.... I think I prefer horse fly season. Grump. GB is also suffering from the insect life, getting nibbled on his feet and face by harvest mites, which appear in the grass at this time of year. The poor things has some horrible open sores on his feet, and is terribly itchy. Actually, I think that Benny's getting a bit bothered by them, too, which might explain the grumpiness the other day. Still, it was *lovely* to be out first thing this morning and feel a bit of an autumnal chill to the air, even if it did warm up fairly quickly. We're actually going to close the polytunnel tonight (which will at least stop Bob from stealing the tomatoes...), and maybe put light rugs on the horses! In good animal news, I'm very happy to report that Ella, the new muscovy, has started laying (I guess they mature more slowly than mallards), and is doing so in the duck house. Even better, Erzulie has taken the hint and is now also laying inside, rather than in one of her hidden nests. Of course, this means that she refuses to come out of the house in the mornings, so that I have to tuck her under my arm and carry her to breakfast, but I'd rather that than the alternative. Must post more often! Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Shiny clean ♥Aug. 11th, 2018 // 06:25 pm♥ [Tags | house ] This morning, the window cleaning chaps came to clean all the guttering and window frames, as well as the windows. After they'd done part of the outside of the conservatory, I said "Yeah, do the inside as well", and given that that meant I was moving the furniture, I've done a proper clean in there as well. They also did the inside of the porch, and it's now looking fab and clean. I wish I'd taken a 'before' photo of the conservatory, I hadn't really realised how grimy it had got. Of course, when they'd done all that it became obvious how dirty the insides of all the glass doors were, so then I went around and cleaned all of those. And now I'm knackered and my hands are sore from wringing out cloths.... Still, it's something knocked off my to-do list for next week, although I have no doubt that the conservatory will be full of dead flies again by next weekend. Link Who loves you?

Three months on... ♥Aug. 8th, 2018 // 10:12 am♥ [Tags | garden, pictures, weather ] Today, it is not stupidly hot! It is still a little on the warm side, but it's definitely an improvement. Last night's forecast thunderstorms scooted off up the channel instead, so we just got an hour or so of light rain, but hopefully tomorrow's rain will be as good as the forecast says.... In the veg bed, I've given up entirely on the peas. The French beans are doing very well, the runners and borlotti's not so good. The butternut squash are loving it, the courgettes are doing ok (we have enough for us, but we're not giving them away like we usually do). The sweetcorn is doing ok but not brilliantly, which I suspect is because we chose the wrong spot for it (too shaded). The tomatoes are doing great, and the peppers are just starting to ripen. We've had one aubergine so far, but there are some more that are getting close to ripe. Link 6 kisses // Who loves you?

Before and after ♥Jul. 29th, 2018 // 03:03 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, cooking, garden, pictures, weather ] I've also been taking advantage of the Aga being back on to grill some courgette slices to go in the fridge and make some courgette goop. It's mostly been raining here, today, just what the grass needs. I even put a jumper on for a little while this morning: bliss! I am a bit concerned about the wind, though. I've already picked up one blown-over tomato plant on the patio, and I had to do a lot of re-tying in the polytunnel last night, so we've closed it up for the first time in months. GB's celebrating high summer by finally getting rid of his winter coat. I expect he'll start growing a new one in a couple of weeks. Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Water! From the sky! ♥Jul. 27th, 2018 // 11:10 pm♥ And it's not splashing from the hosepipe! Link Who loves you?

Hurrah! ♥Jul. 27th, 2018 // 07:44 pm♥ [Tags | weather ] We've had a whole 1.5mm of rain since 6 June. Hopefully this storm will stick around for a bit and make up for it. Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Sleeping experiments ♥Jul. 27th, 2018 // 09:47 am♥ Last night, I went from the relatively cool and breezy living room up to bed, lay down for five minutes, got backup and went to sleep in the hammock. I can now see why padded hammocks are a thing: my top side was nicely warm with a quilt over me, but my bottom half was a bit chilly even with one under me. Still, I nodded off nicely. Woke up at about 4am, feeling rather clammy as the dew started to gather, and went back to bed for a few more hours. Hopefully, this won't be an option tonight: we're promised heavy rain. Mike's just gone and set up the air con unit, which we've not used since we moved here, to see if it can make much difference in the bedroom. I can't sleep with it on, but if we can use it to cool the room down before we go to bed.... Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

34.5C ♥Jul. 26th, 2018 // 04:58 pm♥ [Tags | weather ] Hot. After finishing off the peas, Zu Zu ate my spring-sown sweetpeas, just as they were finding their feet. Would be contemplating duck soup but have turned Aga off. Have small mountain of tomatoes. Would be making passata but have turned Aga off. Have no brain. Too hot. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

I may never recover from this ♥Jul. 20th, 2018 // 12:40 pm♥ The little piggy who goes to market? He's not popping out to do a bit of shopping, is he? Link 8 kisses // Who loves you?

Bah ♥Jul. 19th, 2018 // 10:11 am♥ Went to That There London on Monday. Have plague now. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Hanging around with Bob ♥Jul. 17th, 2018 // 07:50 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, pictures ] Too hot! Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

A culprit.... ♥Jul. 11th, 2018 // 07:44 pm♥ [Tags | ducks, garden ] For the last month or so, we've been blaming the rabbits for eating the young leaves off our pea plants, but it turns out we were wrong: I just caught the muscovies at it. I guess we're too used to the runners, because it never crossed our minds. Now we'll have to figure out some way of keeping them out of that part of the veg garden.... Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Things, unsuccessfully, attempted in the last week ♥Jul. 10th, 2018 // 08:34 pm♥ [Tags | cooking, garden, weather ] 1) Doing anything in the hot weather (today, gardening, horse-riding and dog-walking were done for the first time in a week). Bob seemed utterly unconcerned by this, and didn't even run around the field more than usual in the evenings. Benny thought it was a marvellous idea, and was quite put out this morning when his tack made an appearance; the hot-foot thing seems to have been a red herring, and I now suspect that he caught it jumping into the field as it's not happened again since. 2) Growing asparagus peas (well, they actually grew just fine, it was the eating part that didn't work out: not a bad flavour, but an utterly horrible mouth-feel. Have pulled them up and put regular peas in their place. Which the rabbits ate the tops off. Sigh). 3) Eating all the courgettes (note to self: must start making courgette goop to freeze. We did try courgette fritters, as apparently you can freeze the grated courgette with no problems, but they were kind of bland in both taste and texture). 4) Making a tasty drink by putting cherries in white wine for a week, decanting and adding a splash of vodka (works wonderfully with cherry leaves in wine, or fruit in vodka; fruit in wine leaves both the liquid and the fruit almost entirely tasteless. Very pretty colour liquid, though). 5) Mike going to work (he Did Something to his back a few weeks ago, and it was a bit sore (physio said he'd strained a muscle and to give it time), but then last week he Did Something More and had to take to his bed for a couple of days. NHS Minor Injuries, in a fit of evidence-based medical advice, told him to go and see a chiropractor. He's much better now, though, so hopefully if he's careful then he'll be back to normal soon). 6) Eating the first tomato of the season (bah, blossom end rot. It doesn't seem to be too widespread, though, so I'll be making passata soon). Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Busy busy ♥Jun. 27th, 2018 // 01:57 pm♥ [Tags | benny, bob the dog, carpal, family, horses, pictures, riding, visitors, weather ] We had Mike's family visiting over the weekend, so it's all been a bit busy. Still, it seemed to go well. Bob did very well, once he'd settled down after people arrived. He's very noticeably more barky at men, especially if they have beards. Fortunately, the dog-phobic visitor found the combination of howling and wagging tail to be very amusing, and even brought herself to feed him a treat, so that was good. The kids made a huge fuss of him, which he seemed to enjoy tremendously (at least, he didn't get up and walk off after a few minutes, like Jo would have). ( The Bob theorising bit ) ( The horse theorising bit ) Before that, I'd ridden Benny in the school, just some dressage basics in walk. He was being a bit of an idiot about going into one corner, by the orchard, which makes me wonder if our grass snake is back. I'm very pleased if so, because it can help the little owl to keep the rodent population down: (Ok, it's a bit Sammy The Brown Pixel, but he's quite shy so I took that from the house! Click to embiggen. Which is now a word!) After I'd ridden, while we were waiting for the Back Lady, I shut the gates to the field and the road and left them by the school, where the grass is in need of a trim. When I went back half an hour later to get them, GB was mooching around in the school (he quite likes to have a little run around in there for old times' sake, and he *loves* to have a good roll on the nice big, flat, soft surface) and Benny was... standing in the middle of the field eating grass. I suppose, if he's going to jump the gate, it's better that he goes into the field rather than out of it...? (I'm reminded of the way he tried to jump into the field when we first got him.) Other things? I've been saying for a good year that there's something wrong with a couple of keys on my Macbook keyboard, and a couple of weeks ago the spacebar started to go iffy as well, which is good timing as apparently they've now admitted that it's a Thing and will (hopefully, as this is the original and worst design) give me a new keyboard: handy, as I've now had this for long enough that the keycaps are wearing off! My wrists are misbehaving. They were really bad a couple of weeks ago (I always struggle at this time of year, from weeding), but seemed to have improved. I am finding that my right hand is going numb whenever I drive or ride, which is annoying. I've been off the sewing, because of this (and visitors), but have done two swans so far. My mother said the other day (from Greece) that my sister said that their lawn was all brown, because it had been so dry. I woke up today to the news that the moors are burning, so I guess it really has been dry there. Hope they manage to get it under control. I'm quite glad that my brother-in-law is retired from the fire service. Link 9 kisses // Who loves you?

Choose Your Own Dog Walking Adventure ♥Jun. 17th, 2018 // 11:57 am♥ [Tags | bob the dog ] You are walking in the woods with your four large dogs pottering along around you. One of them barks, causing you to look around and see two people and a dog a little way behind you. The people are standing with their backs to you, between you and their dog, but you can see that they are talking to it and getting it to sit. Do you: a) think "They don't want their dog to meet other dogs, for whatever reason," call your dogs and and keep walking; or b) turn back and go to have a chat with them. You chose b! As you and your dogs get closer to the people and their dog, you see that they are having increasing difficulty keeping their dog sitting quietly. You make a vague and fruitless attempt to call your dogs to you but also, reassuringly, tell the other people that your dogs are all friendly. When the people reply to tell you that their dog is not good with other dogs, do you: a) call your dogs, turn around and keep walking; or b) see if you can start a conversation with them about their dog. You chose b! The people seem a bit short with you, and more interested in making their dog sit and pay attention to them than in having a chat. You put one of your dogs on a lead, explaining that you're walking it for a friend, but leave the others where they are, creeping closer and closer to the strange dog and occasionally barking and growling at it. Suddenly and without warning, the strange dog leaps, snarling and with teeth bared, at the closest of your dogs (the one that was growling, as it happens) and is only stopped by the owner hanging grimly on to the lead and then grabbing the dog's head. At this point, the other people turn around and quickly take their dog back in the opposite direction. Do you think: a) "Oh dear, maybe I should have made different decisions earlier"; or b) "They weren't terribly friendly, were they? And you'd think they'd do something about stopping their dog trying to go for other dogs!" Sigh. Still, no harm done, other than to my trousers (which Bob tore a hole in with a stray claw). In fact, Bob is doing really well. Today, for example, I was watering the plants in the back garden and he was pottering around with me. There were people talking next door, but he didn't bark at them. When I was weeding the front garden, TWWOTV came outside with her noisy rats pugs, and while he *did* go over to the gate to bark at them it wasn't as full on as it has been, and not only did he come when I called him but did so straight past the runners, who were running around in a flustered fashion at the time. We also seem to be making progress on the doorbell: while I was out in the garden and he was inside, I rang it a couple of times and Mike reports that he barked and ran to the door but then just sat quietly. I've also tracked down a nest belonging to Zu Zu and containing two eggs. I'm carefully not saying "Zu Zu's nest," because there's every chance that she's got several, but I'll keep an eye on it.... Link 4 kisses // Who loves you?

Antihistamine time ♥Jun. 14th, 2018 // 06:33 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, horses ] The horse flies have arrived for the summer, which is as delightful as ever. Mutter. This afternoon, we went to get things ready in the summer field, ready to move the boys up there tomorrow. It went much faster with Mike's giant new strimmer, but I fear that the woods are starting to encroach on the edge of the field: brambles and saplings are starting to appear, mixed in with the ever-present nettles and thistles. Bob is also on the antihistamines: he had a lovely time in the field, charging around the undergrowth sniffing for bunnies, just like Jo used to. Unfortunately, Jo had a substantially thicker coat than he does, and those nettles I mentioned...? He's a bit uncomfortable still, but at least he's stopped charging around the house at full speed trying to find the perfect surface to roll on and stop the stinging. Poor lad! Something, probably the same black and white something that was digging up the squash plants, has now dug up the slug traps as well. Which, I suppose, is preferable, if likely to lead to a hung-over badger! Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Veggies! ♥Jun. 12th, 2018 // 05:39 pm♥ [Tags | garden, pictures ] And the cherry lady has arrived in her lay-by, so we have cherries (and peaches)! We took Bob up to the vet today, to have that bit of suture taken out, and the nurse pulled on the end of it and it just kept coming. In the end, she cut it off and left the end of it to dissolve, but hopefully it'll finish healing up properly now. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Well that explains that.... ♥Jun. 11th, 2018 // 10:15 am♥ [Tags | bob the dog, pictures ] Even though it's well over a week since Bob had his stitches out, we'd still been putting his pooch pants on him because he kept worrying at the scabs. We did stop using the cone a few days ago, with no problem, and last night he managed to get his pants off but didn't do anything too drastic, so we left him to it. He was having a bit of a lick at it this morning, while I was mucking out, and when I went to check he wasn't doing any damage I saw that he'd got the scab off and revealed this: ( Almost entirely non-gory picture of Bob's almost entirely healed wound, just pink skin and a little scab ) Which explains why he's still been fussing at it. He's now re-empanted, and we're back to the vets tomorrow to have the remaining stitch removed.... Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Tomatoes ♥Jun. 7th, 2018 // 04:40 pm♥ [Tags | pictures ] Supermarket vs veg box: Link Who loves you?

Bits and Bobs ♥Jun. 6th, 2018 // 04:37 pm♥ [Tags | benny, bob the dog, garden, riding ] Bits: - We have tomatoes in the polytunnel! Nowhere near ripe, yet, but there are plenty of fruit starting to set. Since those first two courgettes, we've not had any more (they didn't like the grey damp weather), but there are now a few mange tout and a couple of pods of peas, and the runner beans are shooting up. - My leg is now almost entirely back to being leg-coloured but is still very swollen, so I still can't fasten my riding boots properly. On the plus side, it's much less sore, and I'm pretty much back to normal riding again, because... - ... Benny is getting over his pulled whatever-it-is much more quickly this time, presumably because he was more muscled up in general, and is now almost back to normal. and Bobs: - Bob's leg is healing nicely, although not as nicely as it would be doing if he didn't keep catching one of the scabs when he's rolling around in the grass. For now, he's still wearing pooch pants, but only because of that little surface wound. He's back to walking, zooming and jumping over stiles as normal. - We had a good session with the doggy shrink last week (although I got rather sunburned: I'm used to walking in the woods, not at the seaside!), and she gave us various tips for getting / keeping his attention when there are other dogs around or when people come to the house. - Over the weekend, Bob walked to the pub and met lots of dogs, often very abruptly, on the way but was good with all of them. - He's also improving with people around the house, but he's by no means where we want him to be. We had visitors at weekend, and he got a bit over-excited when they were arriving, but nothing too bad and he calmed down after a zoom in the field. - Today, we've had a visit from a man to look at the boiler and another to read the electricity. The first didn't even merit a huff, the second he barked at constantly until he was off the property. I suspect that the difference was largely because we were on the drive waiting when the boiler man pulled up (he'd phoned me, twice, fifteen minutes apart, from the same spot, to get directions. And then drove straight past the house...) but the electricity man rang the doorbell. This suggests an obvious training opportunity! Link Who loves you?

Variations on a theme ♥May. 31st, 2018 // 05:51 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, garden, pictures, weather ] Mike bought me some veg-box irises today, and I thought they'd look nice with some ox-eye daisies (which grow wild behind the barn, and are having a fabulous year). While I was out with my trug and scissors, I went to get the year's first vase of sweetpeas and picked a few other flowers for the house as well. It was only later that I realised I had a bit of a colour theme going! Also in the garden, Mike (fortunately) noticed this morning that something (probably a black and white something) had dug into the pile of manure that the squash are planted into, burying one of the plants. He excavated and re-planted it, and now we have our fingers crossed that it will survive. Bob's stitches came out this afternoon, and tomorrow we're going to see the doggy shrink behaviourist, to see if we can start to make some progress on the idea of not trying to kill Evil Dogs on sight. In fact, he was very good at the vet, even though there were plenty of other dogs in the waiting room, possibly because we made sure to keep him a good few feet away from them at all times. The weather here has been very odd this week: warm and foggy overnight and for much of the morning, occasional thunder showers, hot and steamy when the sun manages to burn through the clouds. I didn't ride this morning because I could barely see the far end of the school, and didn't ride this afternoon because we had a downpour so he'll be soggy. We've cancelled tomorrow morning's riding lesson, because the rain warning has been extended and even if it is dry then I'm sure that the fog will be back. Still, it's good grass-growing weather! Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

First fruits! ♥May. 25th, 2018 // 06:26 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, garden, pictures, sewing ] This evening, we're having courgettes for tea! (Also asparagus and the first new potatoes, from the veg box. My asparagus plants have produced about two spears each this year, but They Will Grow!) And I have been sewing: Bob was at the vet today, and we didn't get too much of a telling off for the way he's been fiddling with his stitches (he will keep licking at them, through the t-shirt). They're coming out at the end of next week, but he isn't allowed zoomies for a few days more after that: poor Bob! The Aga had a service today, and got a clean bill of health, which is good, but less good is that the door seal on the dishwasher has gone, so I'm going to have to wash up by hand until Thursday when they come to fix it: poot. Link 7 kisses // Who loves you?

GDPR ♥May. 25th, 2018 // 12:08 am♥ I'm finding it fascinating (as a person who uses site-specific email addresses) to see who has bought whose databases over the last few years. (Although, fair play, they've not spammed me in the interim, else I would have blocked emails to those addresses. Does make you wonder about the what the possible value of my details could be to them, though!) I'm also intrigued by the number of organisations (I'm looking at you, Kent Adult Education) who've sent me two emails per day for the last three days. Hint: not going to make me more likely to click on the 'yes, please spam me!' button, chaps. Mostly, though, given news reports from companies complaining that it's all too confusing for the poor little consumers to be getting so many emails all at once, and how they're only getting 10% acceptance rates, I have to wonder why so few none of them got off their arses and did it two or three months ago, when it was obviously coming and before people got sick of it. (I am also amused by the number of frantic emails I've been getting from my top 'once bought something from an eBay store I also run' spammer (I have, because I am like that, reported them to eBay with no results), and wondering if they will actually stop emailing me now. I doubt it, just like I doubt that my beloved Mike Barraclough will stop any time soon....) Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Encouraging animal news ♥May. 24th, 2018 // 01:25 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, bob the dog, ducks, horses ] This morning, after a couple of weeks off, I had a quick go on Benny and he was barely hopping at all, so fingers crossed that he's recovering much more quickly this time than he did last time. I didn't stay on for long, because my leg is still not right and -- based on last time -- he's always more hoppy when he's tired, so I didn't want to do too much. The vet popped in to give GB a blood test, and said he looks well. We did talk about his problems having a wee, and she agrees it probably is a bladder stone and therefore not something we can really fix. (Given that he takes months to heal a little scratch, cutting him open doesn't really seem viable.) He's happy in himself, though, and as long as he is we'll leave him be. We also had a phone call from Bob's vet, to say that the lab report on his lump is back and it's entirely benign, which is what we expected but is always nice to have confirmed. Bob's going a little loopy from lack of exercise, as he's still not allowed to have zoomies in the field, and indeed is currently wearing the Cone Of Shame as well as his pooch pants, because this morning he was zooming as much as he possibly could on the lunge line while we were getting the ragwort out of the field, and the wound is now oozing slightly again. I think we're going to have to go back to just the lead, as the lunge line lets him get up a bit too much speed. (Yesterday morning, while I was poo picking, I left him tied to the gate on the lunge line and turned around at one point just in time to see him do a mid-air forward roll as he reached the end of the slack....) I've given up on the bird 'flu rules: in the last few months, there's been nothing but a couple of dead buzzards two counties over, so I'm not sure why they're still keeping it going. Anyway, we're not feeding the garden birds any more so now that the adolescent crows have found the food bowl, the swallows have started nesting in the stables, and the wagtails are spending all day on the muck heap it's not like there are more wild birds in the garden than in the stableyard. We're still lucky to be getting one egg a day, usually from Magrat (traditionally the worst of the layers, which is very odd; Esk, our 'oh, I thought I'd lay two today' girl, still hasn't managed any that we've seen). If something *isn't* going in and stealing them before we let the girls out in the morning, hopefully the more varied diet will get the others going! Link Who loves you?

Couture de chien ♥May. 20th, 2018 // 03:46 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, pictures ] After several attempts to do things with darts, bits of string and safety pins, Bob continued to look like a teenage boy wearing trousers several sizes too big, complete with regularly tripping over them. I went for a more radical re-design, which has given him an oddly piratical air but seems to be working (even when he spent ten minutes rolling around on the lawn). Fingers crossed! Link 6 kisses // Who loves you?

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