A milestone for Tony...

Hello I know it's been a while again, but there has been a go slow in the garden, we have not been out much and we have both been suffering with aches & pains.

Hopefully things will liven up a bit now there is a change in the air.

First things first.

Tony has reached a milestone in his life...

Tony is 70years young today.

There is life in the garden again, we have our first baby of the year.

Welcome Baby Blackbird.

S/he is very shy and didn't want to have a photo taken.

Making life very difficult for dad, he could never find baby when he returned with a beak full of mealworms.

The mealworms are dried, but I will treat them to some live ones now I know babies are about.

Tony took a photo of a very large Thrush we have visiting the garden, we are not sure if it is a Mistle or a Song Thrush.

We called through to Barnsley on Saturday morning. Christopher asked us to call so he could give Tony his birthday present.(A watch & cufflinks). Logan has begun to speak a bit more now, he calls me nanan. On this vist he was calling Tony Grandad.

Christopher with Logan.

Logan is a real rough and tumble little boy, he loves to be out doors on his boing-boing, (a big trampoline ). He usually has a new bruise or scratch to show when we visit. However he is happy and always smiles even if it is an unusual smile. I don't have a picture of his smile to show you at the moment but when I have I will show you it.

Before I go I will leave you with a quote I happened upon a few days ago. I had to agree with it, it summed life up quite well.

Until the next time ...

A day of doing nothing much.

Today after a trip to Sainsburys, B&Q then to drop a card off for Claire, (she is 40 tomorrow),Emma's girlfriend. The day was spent indoors.
I spent a lot of it sitting down or laying down because at the moment my back and hips are extremely painful.
My Tinnitus has been playing up a lot over the last couple of weeks as well. I hear sounds like a radio playing music, or an orchestra tuning up sometimes as well as buzzes and whistles. I discovered today that when people who have Tinnitus hear music it is a rare form of Tinnitus called "Musical Hallucinations". I found out on a newsletter I recieve from "Action on hearing loss".

Tony is re-arranging the office, then decorating it. He has bought a blue cabinet so is going to be painting something blue to match it. He has told me but I can't remember what. The wall opposite the window is going to be green, (I think,). Anyhow it should look good when it is finished it usually does when Tony decorates. Tony usually has a few bumps and bruises after he finishes working. The shelves or cupboard doors have a habit of attacking him.

At the moment there are boxes filled with bits and peices waiting to be put away but until the office is finished I don't know where to put them.
Tony took time off from his decorating today to make some lasagne and some bolognese which will be frozen until it is needed. There are 12 meals for about 60p a meal, Tony is very happy with that, he likes to make the money stretch.
Today though we are having cauliflower cheese with bacon and onion. Mmmm it is making my mouth water just thinking about it. I always look forward to Tonys cauliflower cheese.



I have been putting a playlist together to put on my Sony Player for tonight to block out the Tinnitus, so maybe I will sleep a little better. That might mean I will be able to do more tomorrow, I might even get down to the shed again. I get really frustrated when I can't do the things I want to do!

Hopefully tomorrow I will be fit enough to do some baking. I want to make some flapjacks, peanutbutter cookies and some bread. Then if I have time and I can manage it I might make a jam roly-poly.

Until the next time...

Blackbirds are busy...

Hello do you remember me?
It's been a while but here I am again popping up like the proverbial bad penny.

Things have been quiet around the flat and garden, the weather has not been the sort that has tempted me to stray outdoors. So all in all I have had nothing really to talk about.

However when I did finally venture into the garden I found the Blackbirds busy,

Mrs Blackbird was up on the school roof collecting leaves to build and line the nest.

While Mr Blackbird was busy supervising.

We had some old visitors back with us who I hope will be staying a while.

Beautiful Goldfinches back in the garden.

There are several Dunnocks flying round the garden chasing each other waving wings and whistling.

Dunnock in the hedge

The Jews Ear fungi is still on the drift wood but as you can see it has dried out. It resembles an ear more now.

Jews Ears

Of course no visit to the garden would be complete without a mention of Squirrels!
They are still around. Hopefully they will be coming more often soon. There are only one or two calling at the moment, but I have a feeling that one of the others could be up a tree in a drey somewhere not too far away, with a tummy full of babies.

Squirrels still calling but numbers are down.

Until the next time...

Ears at the bottom of the garden!!!

The weather is slowly improving, the work in the school seems to have come to an end. Hopefully the garden will begin to get back to normal soon.

The main visitors are still the Blackbirds,

There has been some Squirrel activity over the last few days I am pleased to say, I was getting a little bit worried about them. So it was good to know they are still around and still as cheeky as ever.

Trying to sneak down for a nut without being seen.



















But not quite quick enough.
                                               

A quick look,

 A bit of a suck to get it closer,

 Grab the nut and make a quick exit.

In the garden we have some bushes that have been there ever since we moved here 7 years ago. I have never seen berries on them before, however today they have bright red berries on.

I also noticed we have a few flowers in the garden, does this mean it is nearly time for the lawnmower to make an appearance?

One more thing that has appeared in the garden is some fungi. Tony has a piece of driftwood in the garden. I cannot remember where it came from, it just seems to have always been there. All of a sudden it has fungi growing on it. All I can think is it must be the strange weather that has caused these strange growths in the garden.

I think the fungi is 

Jews Ears.

Until the next time...

A very tall cat

The garden is still very quiet, there is only one squirrel calling at the moment. There are a few blackbirds fighting over territory, the robin has found his mate and the sparrows are gathering in the bushes. However nothing stays in the garden very long at all. The tabby cat is still to be seen but the one to watch at the moment is the big ginger and white tom cat. He is there first thing on a morning as it gets light and last thing on an afternoon as dusk falls.
So unfortunately I have no pictures from the garden I have taken none in the last couple of weeks. I did spend three days in bed with a stomach bug, but I am fine now.
I spent another two and a half days filling in a form to claim the new PIP benefit which is taking over from the DLA. They do try to make things difficult, 40 pages long and the same questions repeated in different ways to try and catch you out. It is a good job I have Tony to help me or I think it would probably have taken me 2 and a half months then I would have missed the deadline and would have been left with nothing.

We had a trip to Hull last Sunday to visit Lynsey.

She was so cute when she was little

Biscuit was not very pleased to see us at first,

I am not coming out until you go away!

Pepper wasn't bothered he just took no notice at all,

One of Pepper's favourite spots

Biscuit moved from under the table to the bathroom,
He hid down the side of the toilet.

                                                        
                                                       He was such a wussy puss.

Pepper got up to have a look where Biscuit had gone.

Pepper was amazed

Pepper wanted to know "how had Biscuit fitted into that tiny space?" after all,

Biscuit still has another year or more of growing to do! As you can see he already stands as tall as the dining table now, so how tall will he be in a year? When Biscuit and Pepper stand side by side Biscuit is about twice as long as Pepper. 

Biscuit is only a baby, he wants to play with Pepper. Pepper is getting a bit old to play so is a bit grumpy at times. Biscuit tries to play and is too boisterous because of his size which scares Pepper a little. Lynsey tries to accommodate them both but often has problems. Peppers answer is to spray everything insight especially the electrical things which is quite expensive for Lynsey. Biscuit just runs round the house like a lunatic, sliding round the laminate floor and pouncing on Pepper or Lynsey.

I am sure peace will descend on the household before too long.

Until the next time...

When will the weather get better?

Life is very quite at the moment, the weather is still not good. This week it is "Storm Gertrude" to blame. The winds have been strong, the rain has been bouncing and today it is trying to snow again.

Yesterday (Friday) Tony and I had a ride over to Barnsley to visit Logan, Christopher and Joanne. Joanne's sister was there doing Joanne's nails. They were going out for the night for a spa and to stay in a hotel for Joannes sisters birthday( I cannot remember her name sorry).
Christopher had taken the day off work to look after the four children, he sounded suitably happy. He had the night planned out, film and goodies. It sounded like it would be watch, eat and sleep where they drop.
While we were there in his eagerness to show us something, Logan tripped and bumped his head. As usual Logan managed to hit the worst place possible, this time being the corner of the wall, which is quite sharp.

Logan's bump.

It looks a lot worse than it was, by the time we left it had gone down and was hardly noticeable.

On our way home Tony had to call to the doctors to collect a prescription for some cream and tubigrip for his leg. As we pulled up there was a beautiful rainbow over Aldi. I tried to take a photo of it, but no matter how I tried I could not get it in one shot. I took two and joined them together the best I could, it is not perfect but here is the result.

Rainbow over Aldi.

It was only later I realised I could have taken it on my phone. 

Lynsey very kindly gave Tony a phone because the phone that he has had for the past 10 years or more has begun to fail on him. He is not very technically minded where phones are concerned, so he now has my phone and I have the one Lynsey brought. 

The phone has a camera that takes panoramic pictures, that would have been ideal for taking the rainbow. Isn't hind sight a wonderful thing!

I came across something on the Internet the other day that amused me. It also made me think of my friend Elvira. Elvira sends me emails quite often, they make me laugh, sometimes they make say awwww! and sometimes they bring a tear to my eye. 

So this is for you Elvira

I just could not resist. XX

Until the next time...

Donkey, dog and a couple of cats.

I am still hibernating most of the time, however I had to go out on Thursday to attend the hospital. I am happy to say I got the all clear, everything went as planned and "Mr Assassa" told me I could now get back to normal. Both Tony and I found this highly amusing, I have never been normal in my life and I certainly don't intend to start now.

The workmen in the school playground seem to have got a sudden spurt on, I think they must be nearing completion date. They have laid some imitation grass on part of the playground, that wont last long once the squirrels see it. I can imagine they will be burying nuts under there before too long.
The squirrels are playing chase around the tree again, that means more babies in spring.

We had the first snow of the year, Tony took this very quaint view from the window.

The view from the window.

The snow didn't last long, it was followed by more rain, as if we hadn't had enough of that. Although we were not as unfortunate as some people. 

The rain and snow didn't stop the birds in the garden

                                                                                                                                                                                   STARLINGS

 BLACKBIRD

ROBIN 

SPARROW

COAL TIT

However the Coal Tit never stays very long, it is a case of snatch a seed.












Then fly away.










Tony and I had a ride to Go Outdoors to purchase a new gas bottle for our heater, (a god send in this weather). In a field at the side of the car park we spotted a couple of donkeys, one of which was very friendly. Tony took a few photo's of it.

 Hello,

 

 Gis' a kiss,

Alright then, don't.

Mum and Trevor lost their dog Happy at the end of last year as some of you know. Well Mum has always had a dog. When we were growing up there was always a dog in the family as far as I can remember.
So a few days ago Mum and Trevor welcomed a new dog into their home.

Meet Oliver.

Oliver is a rescue dog from York R.S.P.C.A.

He could not have found a better home than with Mum and Trevor.

An update on Lynsey's cats,

Pepper and Biscuit are getting on a little better. They will sit side by side to eat dinner sometimes.

As you can see Biscuit is still growing and is now slightly bigger than Pepper.

Biscuit enjoys playing and is always trying his best to get Pepper to play with him. Pepper is a good bit older than Biscuit so doesn't always want to play. Biscuit even goes to the extent of pleading Pepper to play.

Even on his knees holding up his paws begging Pepper will not play.

Well I am going back into hibernation, back into my onsie ,or my polar bear suit as Tony calls it.

Until next time...