Cheap Upcycling And Growing

 What a lovely sunny day it was yesterday. Youngest daughter finally got to sunbathe on the sun lounger. It was really cold first thing though and I stayed inside finishing off the step for the caravan. It looks much nicer now and I won't be embarrassed to have it at the caravan door any more. After I had sanded it down I painted it with black metal polish and covered the step with a piece of oil cloth that was for a tablecloth. The whole large piece only cost £4 and I have lots left over to replace if it gets tatty and the black metal paint was in the shed from when I painted the garden railings so it was a really cheap upcycle.

I planted some Cosmos seeds in the greenhouse after lunch and repotted all my little echinops plants that I have grown from seeds I collected in my Dad's garden. I love growing things from seeds I have collected and am already planning what to collect and try later this year. I love the fact it is totally free and it almost seems like magic when they grow from just little seeds collected. It also saves a fortune! More sun like this will bring everything on very quickly. 

I still have several trays of collected seeds that have done nothing yet. I check them every day and today I was really pleased to see that one of my Tree Peony seeds has started to grow. We have a beautiful yellow Tree Peony that was in place when we moved into the house, it never flowers very well though. I have tried to take cuttings from it but that hasn't worked and last year I saved some seeds. I would love to plant one somewhere in the garden a bit sunnier so it would do a bit better. I'm hoping it does well and I may even get a few more. I've run out of compost now so until Tom is off and we get some more on Tuesday or Wednesday there will be no more planting for a day or two. 

 

Now the weather has improved Cleo our cat has changed her busy day time schedule from sleeping on our bed or youngest daughter's bed to sleeping in the garden. I can always tell when spring is finally here! Yesterday I could see her all day stretched out by the aviary in a little piece of sunlight. When I was in the kitchen I looked out and the male fox walked next to her and stood having a drink from one of the bird baths. They were inches apart and he stood and drank and drank. Cleo just watched him, then stretched and yawned in a very relaxed way. He finished drinking and carried on his journey into next door's garden. So many people worry about foxes attacking cats, but over the years it has not been our experience at all. If anything the foxes are more wary of the cats and it is only because our foxes have worked out Cleo is too lazy to move they are relaxed with her. Even our old male cat Archie who loved a good punch up when ever possible would sleep on the shed roof next to them as they slept in the sun too. I find it fascinating watching the interaction between all the animals. I'm going to set up my wildlife camera and see if I can catch some of it. This however is my usual kind of photo of Cleo!

It's another sunny day today and youngest son and daughter are both back at work. Tom is on his final late shift before his days off and I am going to see my Dad to do his shopping. I have got to get on with some work before I go but it will be nice to be out and about on such a sunny day. Dad has been working hard in his garden in this nice weather and my sister is coming too so we will be able to sit in the garden and admire it all. I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever you plans. xx

Royal Memories And A Nosy Cat

The main news in this country yesterday was the death of Prince Philip, the Queen's husband. I am not really a Royalist but I always admire the Queen and Prince Philip for the way they get on and almost without exception, nothing phases them. Talking to my old school friends in our Whats App group last  night we remembered a day we saw him around 1974. We were told in assembly that Prince Phillip would be driving along the by-pass near our school and if we wanted to, we could take flags the school had bought and we could line the road to see him and wave out flags. A typical bunch of surly teenagers we all said "We're not going!" Then we realised it coincided with a double maths lesson and we all suddenly became staunch royalists and off we all went flags in hand. We walked through the fields to the bypass, if we stood there today we would be bang in the middle of the M25, and waited. We all said it was so much more exciting than we expected and when his big black chauffeur driven car appeared with the royal standard on the front, it slowed right down and he wound down his window as it drove by. Of course no one took photos in those day we just waved our flags and cheered and he waved back. We all quite enjoyed the morning and I can remember us all walking back to school arguing about who he had been looking at as he waved. Much more fun than double maths! 

One man in our group who used to own a pub in the 1980s told us a tale that happenend there, He had just openend at 11am and the pub was still empty. In walked Prince Philip on his own an ordered a pint! My friend said "Would you like it in a glass or a jug sir?" to which Prince Philip replied "You can put it in a bucket for all I care!" He drank his pint, looked all around the pub at the photos on the wall, and then said goodbye and left. He said it was the only time his wife had ever seen him speechless! As my friend so typically said at the end of the tale, and I could hear his cockney accent as I read it, "God Bless him, may he Rest in Peace".

I spent quite a bit of time out in the garden yesterday and when the sun came out it was quite warm, so much more is coming up, and I was delighted to see many of the acorns I planted last year from my Dad's oak tree have started to sprout and are just poking above the surface. It's as if they are all in communication with each other all appearing on the same day. The blossom on our cherry tree at the end of the garden is looking very pretty and each year I try and get a photo of it at it's very best, it's not quite there yet.

I had to laugh at Cleo our cat as I was out working. Our next door neighbours were out in the garden too and she couldn't hide her nosiness in what is going on.

I went up into the loft yesterday evening and got a couple of boxes down as there is still a bit of room in the boxes we are going to take to the charity show room next week. So much will be opening up on Monday, it is going to seem strange. Tom say's as he is driving along in his bus every pub he passes, staff are out scrubbing down the fronts and busy setting up tables outside which of course is the only place people will be allowed to sit. He said it is lovely to see so much activity after all these months. 

I'm going to spend part of the day sorting through the boxes I brought down from the loft deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. I'm on a roll with my clearing out so can't wait until next week when the stuff can finally go. I hope everyone has a lovely Saturday what ever you are doing. xx

Shop Games And Missing Cats

 Yesterday when Scarlett arrived she started talking about the "Bakery Shop" straight away. She was planning what cake to to choose, from 7.30 in the morning. It was all I could do to put off our visit until later on in the morning. The queue stretched right round the corner and down the road, but that didn't matter to Scarlett, she would have queued for an hour, I'm sure. She had nearly learned how to spell bakery by the time we went in! I brought my bread and she chose her cake. She chatted all the way home about the wonderful bakers.

After we had eaten our lunch she wanted to play bakers. She set up her little shop with her table and her till and I had to be the customer while she made the cakes in her pan and then served them to me. This game went on for hours, prolonged even more as I had to stand outside the "shop" for ages waiting to be called in. I'm surprised she didn't make me wear a mask! 

After she had left I phoned my Dad before we had our evening meal to see how he was and for a little chat. He said he had a really stressful afternoon as Millie his cat had gone missing. After all the months she spent as a stray cat, she is now most definitely a house cat. For a long time my Dad was so worried about her straying again he kept her in and now she shows no interest in going out at all. After a whole winter of evading capture in eldest son's yard where she hung around as a stray, she has no intention of venturing out again. She knows exactly where she would rather be and that is lounging on my Dad's settee or his bed and the most adventurous she usually gets is sitting on the windowsill watching the world go by. 

Today however she had disappeared. My Dad had been in and out going into the garden and was so worried he may have left the door open at some point. I was just starting to reassure him that I was sure she wouldn't wander far when he told me it was alright she had been found. After searching the house from top to bottom he noticed his wardrobe door was a tiny bit ajar. When he looked in, there she was on the top shelf, sound asleep amongst all his ties. To my dad's dismay all his beautiful collection of silk ties were unmarked but one tie had been ripped and scratched to shreds, his Liverpool FC one. "She must be a Chelsea fan!" said my Dad.

The 1970s fabric I bought on ebay arrrived yesterday and it is enormous! I vaguely thought that sounds large when I read the description but not being any good at coverting cm to inches I wasn't preapred for the massive parcel that arrived. I will be able to make the toilet curtains and hopefully matching curtains for the awning too. It may even stretch to a few cushion covers if I plan it carefully. I'm not going to waste a bit.

Today is lovely and bright and I'm determined to get a bit of gardening done as our garden is so wild (natural I like to call it) if I don't keep on top of it, it quickly runs away from me. There is lots to be done. I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever your plans. xx

Waifs And Strays

 I went out to check yesterday and decided it was much to cold for gardening. I will check again tomorrow but I think it may be a case of a few more days inside in the warm. There's not much we are able to do until the weather warms up but we thought we may redo our duck run in the next few weeks. Our female duck Scoot laid the first egg of 2021 yesterday and I think she deserves a bit of extra love and care.

The whole neighbourhood knows we take in waifs and strays. I have lost count of the number of knocks on the door we have had with neighbours asking if we can take in this baby blackbird, budgie found on the allotments, ducklings or chickens from school hatching projects even lost dogs that are dropped at our door with the parting comment "I thought you would know what to do". The lost dog was reunited with a heartbroken owner a few roads  away and we managed to find homes for the ducklings at a local farm we used to buy our chicken feed from. The budgie lived for years more in our aviary and the baby blackbird was released in the wild after being hand reared. It is something I enjoy so much. If I can't manage the situation there is always someone to turn to who will help, with care or rehoming.

Eldest son is exactly the same. He spent months catching Millie my Dad's cat who was virtually feral when he found her. I remember trying to get her into a cat basket to take her to the vet, she was totally wild! Now all this time later she will barely shift off my Dad's sofa! Injured seagulls and pigeons, they all have spent time in boxes in his kitchen. He like us can't turn his back on anything. 

Our latest addition is called Dottie. A few months ago, on the way home from work, Tom found a little white dove lying at the side of the road. With a bloodied wing and unable to fly she would probably not have survived the night. She was exhausted and starving. She was so thin I didn't think she would survive. We have fed her up and kept her warm and now she has completely recovered. She is a domestic dove, not a wild one, and we have tried to find her owners. Lots of people have said  they have lost doves but they all have had rings on their legs which Dottie doesn't . It looks as if she is staying with us and we are already planning an aviary for her. She is adorable, she really interacts with us, making lovely cooing noises. Scarlett, after initially being horrified by her bright red legs, now loves her too and chats away to her. 

Well it's Valentine's Day today. Tom and I don't do Valentines Day at all, we used to send each other cards when we were younger but it has all become so commercialised and another reason for us to be manipulated into spending more money. Oh dear don't I sound a misery! I did get a Valentine card, from my adopted donkey Bonnie! I have put that up on the dresser and no doubt it will give us a laugh today which I think is what it's all about. 

I hear warmer weather is just around the corner, which is exciting in itself. Have a lovely day everyone what ever you are doing. xx

Not The Best Of Days

Yesterday was not the best of days. My Dad's hospital appointment dragged on and the doctors decided to admit him while waiting for tests on Monday. He was in good spirits but unhappy at being in hospital. We are hoping after Monday he will be home again.
 My sister and I went to his house to feed Millie who was sitting on the stairs looking accusingly at us, as if the whole problem was our fault. She was totally unappreciative that we had left my Dad waiting in casualty, driven through heavy traffic in the pouring rain struggled around Pets At Home to find her favourite Felix in gravy pouches and Go Cat for in between meals. We drove back to the hospital to reassure my Dad, who by now had been transferred to a ward, that she had eaten and was fine and that yes that we had left the heating on for her in the morning and evening and the hall light on for her overnight so she could see were she was going!

  I have decided it is hardly any wonder she misses him. As we all do.

The Last Roses Of Summer

  I left again in the rain to meet my sister and go and visit our Dad yesterday. It seems to never stop raining when I am sitting around at railways stations at the moment. There were a couple of jobs we had to get done there yesterday.  One was to climb up and prune the large rose hips on a climbing rose at the front of the house. It is a beautiful old rose and this summer has been a picture of red flowers. Looking at this photo in June it makes me sad to think summer has gone for another year.

    My Dad has an old photo of the house at the turn of the century and you can clearly see the climbing rose in the photo. I love to think of all those years of people enjoying this beautiful rose. There are a few blooms left on it but has mainly now turned into rose hips high up. I manged to save several healthy looking ones and this weekend I am going to try to take out the seeds and hopefully over the winter grow some new rose bushes from them. I have never tried this before but have been carefully reading up on it so fingers crossed it will work.
   The second job was to give Millie, my Dad's rescue cat her flea treatment. Now poor little Millie has had a very bad start in life. A stray for a long time around the yard where my eldest son keeps his vehicles she evaded all forms of capture for months. If he drove back late at night he would see her in his headlamps ripping apart rubbish bags but always ran when he tried to catch her. With obvious deteriorating condition, he set about in a concerted effort to corner her and early this summer he was successful. Filthy and with her eyes stuck together she meekly accepted her fate as he bathed and cleaned her. A trip to the vet showed she had no microcchip and despite days of depressing  internet searches and asking all around the neighbourhood no owner was found. Eldest son decided it was meant to be and this little lost cat was the perfect friend for his lonely Grandad. She was spayed and the vet told him that despite being barely a year old she had already had a litter of kittens. Poor Millie what a start in life.
  She is an adorable little cat and she and my Dad are inseperable. She rules the house and I think cannot believe her luck at the comfort she now lives in. However her early start has made her very wary and when trying to pick her up or carry out any procedure you take your life your hands! A joint effort by my sister and I succeeeded and flea treatment was safely administerred but Millie wouldn't talk to us for the rest of the day.

  Finally in my ongoing conker washing liquid experiment I washed one of the dogs duvets yesterday. They have a couple of nice big duvets we put down on the floor everynight for them and they can get quite smelly so I thought it was worth a try to see how it worked. I couldn't believe, not the slightest smell of dog left on it. I am so impressed I have been out collecting more conkers to add to my next batch. Although I do have to try it on something really quite dirty to see how it works yet, I am definitely going to keep using it on less dirty items. 

  Well I can't believe another weekend is upon us already. I hope everyone has a lovely one what ever you are doing. xx