paths

Ok make that 14 feet of dug up concrete... and we've relaid about 10 feet of sandstone path.

(you can just see the remnant of the old concrete path at the end there.)

That's about 125 Kg cement, and 500 Kgs sand, plus 16 sandstone slabs of varying size, and weight.

That's a LOT of lifting. We really know how to enjoy ourselves at the weekend. Remind me why we are doing this again? And no - there will not be any more flower beds... we have a LOT of flower beds...

Front garden 2003 - first year after we moved in. And had the entire drain run dug up. And dug the vegie patches.


Front garden this afternoon.


Ok I lie - just one teensy one next the garage...I might put herbs in there as it's close to the kitchen. Maybe underplanted with tete-a-tetes and windflowers. *sigh*

Sun.

Oh dear, for the first time in ages we have a sunny day. This is nice, sort of. But what it does mean is that we need to carry on with the path laying. If I'm lucky and have any energy left I may just get to do some gardening.

I've just dug up 8 feet of concrete. There's only another 50 to go. Still, it's a good way to clear a post cold bunged up head. Bit drastic but what the hell.

Where's that rain when you need it?

Still coughing

Which has to be a good sign because I must still be breathing.

I had a very enthusiastic a damp wolfhound sitting on my lap after our walk today (in the rain of course). I don't mind being sat on by a 70 Kg dog, as long as he keeps those paws and claws to himself (I have some scars from a previous enthusiastic encounter and have learned to duck), but a DAMP soggy wolfhound is a bit much. He was very frisky, not sure why, but at least Brian is home tomorrow and can take his share of KuBrin greetings.


I picked peas tonight, this year I've grown a tall variety and it's doing very well. There's nothing like picking damp peas in the rain, the rattling of the young pods, the snap of the stems.

One of my earliest memories of my grandfather is being sat on the floor (me not him) shelling peas from his vegetable garden (where us kiddies were forbidden to go - gave it a "magic garden" appeal). Peas in the pod always make me think of him.

Friday tomorrow. Phew.

Breakfast for the be-lurgified

Breakfast for the be-lurgified:

In the juicer:
1 small melon
2 apples
2 satsumas
1 tomato

used to wash down extra vitamins. I will get rid of this lurgy. I've now had three days off work and I'm still running a fever, we are not amused. Driving Sam to Brize probably did not help either, but had to be done. He must have left the Ascension Islands by now and be on the last leg down to MPA.

This morning's cucumber pick:


The other good thing from this morning was the arrival of my monthly to "Kitchen Garden" magazine. My dad bought me a year's subscription for christmas. Funny though, I remember in my late teens staying with my aunt and uncle who were watching "Gardener's World" on tv and thinking that gardening was THE most boring topic in the universe.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Pass the border fork please.

Happiness is

An enthusiastic morning greeting from a geriatric deerhound. Megan tried her best to punch my lights out while I was rubbing her chest. She's on good form this morning. While I was loading the dishwasher I had to retrieve a purloined dog-food fork from her mouth.

Meanwhile I suspect the cookie thief was KuBrin, as he would not eat his breakfast then promptly threw up his pills. There's a magpie in the garden making the best of what's left.

The pilling thing is a bit complicated with a hypothyroid wolfie and an epileptic arthritic deerhound, plus Cleo has to be bribed to take her glucosamine:


I've promised Sam a cooked breakfast but it's now nearly 10AM and there are no signs of stirring from his pit. I'm hungry.

Lurgy

I am be-lurgified, the work virus has got me coughing up my lungs. But hey - this too shall pass. It's a shame though because my youngest brother Sam is on a flyby visit and I had taken tuesday as holiday so we could goof off together before whipping him off to Brize for the flight home the Falklands. He's just finished his second year at UNI and is away for a placement in Stanley. Lucky soul. Anyway I'm not the best company, maybe I will feel better tomorrow, Sam is always good fun to be around.

Meanwhile, on the gardening front, sadly I've had to curb the enthusiasm of the romping nasturtiums, in the veggie patch they were smothering the courgettes, in the GH they were choking the aubergines.

Still, given their enthusiasm, it's only a minor setback.

Hairy Black Caterpillar Invasion

During the great concrete and paving slab laying expedition of 2007 (still unfinished) we did at one point find a veritable swarm of hairy black caterpillars, in the hedges, in the garage, everywhere. Brian, being a fierce and intrepid pilot who can land crippled airplanes, ran away while I removed the little critters from the garage where we are storing cement.

Yesterday we found out where some of them have gone, our shed is hosting these:


I wonder what they will hatch out into?

Oh, and it's still raining,


the grass is getting longer and it's still too wet to do anything more than pick veggies. I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with baby broad beans, if I eat any more I will turn into one: