Wet Squirrels and The Many Faces of Willow.

Tony has made a new nut box for the squirrels out of a spare nesting box. He has put it on the wooden frame outside the garden hide. The squirrels soon found it, they discovered they could take the nuts from the hole that Tony had not covered on the front. The squirrel carried on taking the nuts from the hole until he could not reach them. So we thought they will lift the lid now like they do on the other nut box. Oh no, this squirrel decided it was going to try and make the hole bigger, so he began chewing the wood around the hole. After a while, he must have become fed up with that and lifted the lid. The next day it was absolutely throwing it down with rain, I thought nothing will be in the garden today. However, this is a couple of pictures that Tony took.

A Very Wet Squirrel.

There is just nothing to say to this...

We had a ride to Barnsley to take a card for Joanne because it was her birthday. It was raining but the sun was trying to shine too. the sky was not very blue but there was a very bright rainbow

A Very Bright Rainbow.

When we arrived at Barnsley all the children including Logan were at school, which meant that Willow would get all the attention.

Willow is growing into a really cheeky little madame.

The Many Faces of Willow.

Lynsey is still enjoying working, she rings me every evening to tell me about it. 

Mum is doing well, Oliver is keeping her busy throwing his ball for him. She goes out with friends for shopping trips and lunch. 

Mum, Tony and I are all looking forward to going to watch and cheer Russell on when he runs the Yorkshire Marathon.

If you would like to help Russell raise money for a charity you can do this by going to either of these websites,

uk.virginmoneygiving.com/bassman99

www.goraise.co.uk/bassman99

If you shop online a lot then the second website might interest you because every time you shop online you can raise money without it costing you anything.

Until the next time... 

The op went well, the surgeon told me in all the 30 years he has been doing this operation he has never seen a gallbladder so full of stones or so thick. I was just glad it was gone. The pain had gone and I felt so much better straight away. I had three small holes and a slightly larger one where a drain had been inserted. I  had to stay in overnight but I didn't really care about that either. Lynsey had told me all the horror stories about the pain I would get in my shoulders from the gas they would pump into me, well I waited for it dreading how bad this pain was going to be. I am pleased to say weeks after I am still waiting so I don't think it is going to happen now.
I am still having problems with my teeth another one broke the other day, it broke eating a jelly bean. I have been told the only way to stop it is to stop taking my meds. I think I will put up with the breaking teeth for now.
The garden has been fairly quiet, I think it was too hot for a while. I have never known it to be so hot for so long. But I have a few photos for you.

The squirrels find places to stop and stare at me.

Different Bugs in the garden & shed.

Bees on the lavender

I keep trying but I haven't got a picture I am happy with yet.

Oliver is very well behaved when he wants something.

That's not fair really Oliver behaves very well most of the time. I think Mum would be lost without him now.

May (Tony's sister) came from America for a visit.

She stayed with us for two weeks. It was very nice to see her, we took her to Knaresborough, Harrogate and Elvira took May & me to Roundhay Park.

We picked May up & dropped her off at Manchester airport.

It was nice to see her, but it was nice when she went home too, although after a few days we did begin to miss her a little.

We always keep a lookout for strange things.

We spotted this car whilst we were out one day, Tony always sees old cars before me so I don't always manage to get pictures of them. This time though I was lucky. Tony told me what the car was but as I am writing this I simply cannot remember what he said!

This last photo is one that Tony took, I think it was partly to prove that I am going a tiny bit daft or to show you how friendly the birds in the garden can be.

My friend the Robin.

I crushed some peanuts & put them on the wooden frame for the Robin. Every time I go into the garden now the Robin is waiting for his peanuts crushing. I also noticed two young blue tits peeping out of the hedge to see if the peanuts were there. I don't know what will happen if I run out of peanuts. I guess they will just have to go and mug a squirrel.

I have had a face to face assessment for my pip, to see if the powers that be still think I need it. I am not holding my breath, Lynsey had hers stopped because some dim wit said she wasn't unconscious when she had a fit. Luckily for Lynsey, she has managed to find a job and it a job in the industry she wanted.

Until the next time...

A date for my op and a date for a PIP assessment.

 I finally have a date for my op to have my gallbladder removed, 23rd July. That is, of course, providing they don't change it again.
This morning I received the dreaded letter saying my filled in application for my PIP renewal was not enough, I have to attend a face to face assessment on 30th July. This is so they can see if what have put on the form fits with what they think. I should have a good day just a week after the op. Oh and just to make things more inconvenient, I have to travel to Barnsley, it would be too simple for them to do it in Wakefield.

Since I last wrote there has been a couple of changes!

Lynsey has managed to succeed in securing herself a job. She started today, she knew a couple of weeks ago the job was hers and has been very excited about it.

 I have a new shed!
It stands where the greenhouse used to stand. The school bought it for me. This is because of one of the boys at the school decided it would be a fantastic idea to smash our greenhouse. The school headteacher was very apologetic and was very quick to replace the greenhouse. Tony asked if we could have a shed instead because it would be harder for the boy to smash the next time.

My New Shed/Hide.

It took Tony quite a while to put the shed together, it had a few teething problems, the door didn't fit properly, there were knotholes the size of a bottle cork (luckily we had some of those!).
As you can see Tony has done a very good job and I have a new place to sit and watch the garden.
We have at the last count 6 young squirrels who are not quite sure what to make of the new shed.

From the small side window, I can look out onto the birdbath. A female sparrow landed on it and took a drink, I took a photo. She must have heard the shutter. The sparrow glanced over her shoulder, did a double take then realised she was being watched and flew away into the bushes.

Sparrow is taken by surprise.

Also from the small side window, I can see the sunflower heart feeder. The young blue tits and goldfinches love this feeder and there are usually two or three on there. The young blue tit almost copied the sparrow move by move. It glanced at me, did a double take, then flew away into the bushes.

Young Blue Tit is taken by surprise.

The hot weather is not my favourite weather, it makes me swell and ache but I have managed to go into the garden a few times.

I keep trying to get some shots of bees and butterflies, I have managed to get some but I think I will keep trying to improve.

Hoverfly on an Aster.

The butterflies were easier to photograph than the hoverflies because they kept still longer.

Small White.

I have seen these Small White butterflies in the garden on many occasions.

Comma.

I have not seen one of these in the garden before, although it is said to be widespread and common.

We have had a bit of sad news in the family, Mums partner Trevor died at the end of June. She is coping extremely well and has the full support of her family. 

Oliver, the dog is also coming to terms with the disappearance of his friend. He is happy so long as he gets his food, has a bed to sleep on and the right ball thrown. I have never known a dog with so many tennis balls. Oliver decides which one he is playing with and if you try to throw the wrong one he will not play. He is certainly a little dog with a big character.

Until the next time...

Surprise...

Well here I am, it's been a while but like the proverbial bad penny, I am back.

I have a few photos for you to see, some are good (if I say so myself), some are a little bit gruesome, some will make you go awww and some might make you think wow.

So let's begin...

In Scotland they had 

Very Cheeky Coos

Very Very Cheeky Coos.

However, in my brothers garden, we spotted a very cute badger.

A Badger in the garden at The Rural Retreat.

Back home we discovered a feeding frenzy going on in the garden.

Robin was busy collecting food for the chicks ( which we haven't seen yet)! He flew down to the table, landed gently on the box of mealworms, then grabbed a beakful and away he flew.

Robins landing on the box of mealworms.

Then across the garden, I spotted the Sparrows, both the male and the females were busy feeding the young.

The Male Sparrow feeding one of the young

The Female Sparrow feeding another.

It didn't end there for all of a sudden a great hullabaloo could be heard in the garden as the Starling flew down from the rooftops and trees.

 Young Starlings being fed all over the garden.

From time to time we get unexpected things in our garden. We had a Green Parakeet a couple of years ago, a Pheasant unusual for where we live, this time Tony looked out of the window and shouted: "quick come and look at this".

Three Mallards in the garden.

One female and two males were sitting in the garden looking perfectly happy as if it was the place you would expect to find them. Every so often they would have a wander about eat some seed off the floor then settle down again before suddenly disappearing again.

This happened over the next couple of days, we never saw them come and we never saw them go. Tony put out a wheel cover so there was more water for them so he was very pleased when he looked outside and saw this...

Drake goes for a swim.

Well, it was more of a paddle really, it wasn't big enough for a proper swim. Tony was really pleased that one of the ducks had used his pond!

The next time I spotted the ducks I was in the shed, they were on the top of a roof on one of the houses behind the school.

Upon the roof.

Talking of upon the roof the school has still been having children climbing on the roof and wall at the bottom of the garden. I phoned the police one day because I was worried for the boy up there. He was jumping about like a gazelle, none of the staff were watching him or even anywhere near in case he fell. The police came out very quickly I don't think the school was very happy that they had been called. We have had a little bit of success with the school the fence along the wall at the bottom of the garden has been extended to 10 feet. This makes me feel a bit safer when I am in the garden, there is less chance of abuse from the children now.



It's that time of year again when Gypsies travel for miles around to take part in the biggest and best horse fair in the world. Appleby in Westmoreland is simply taken over by this every year on the first Thursday in June, the busiest days, of course, are the Saturday and Sunday.

Gypsies on the road to Appleby.

Bow Top Caravans camping on the way to Appleby.

I have never been to the horse fair, I like to go and try to get pictures as the Gypsies travel to and from the fair. I could not stand the thought of being in the middle of all those thousands of people that flock there every year.

We had a ride to Grange Over Sands while we were over that way. Tony likes a pie shop there (although not as much now the prices have increased). We always like to have a walk around the pond in the gardens because there is always something unusual on it, or cute.

A Bar Headed Gosling.

This is cute.

Bar Headed Geese with Gosling.

This is also cute.

Mallard Duck with ducklings.

This is cute too.

The next pictures are gruesome you have been warned.

Every so often we get a Sparrow Hawk in the garden, it often leaves without catching anything.

On this visit, however,

it caught a sparrow!

The Sparrow Hawk caught a Male Sparrow.

The Sparrow Hawk sat on the fence and ate it.

 The Sparrow Hawk made a meal of it.

The Sparrow Hawk did not leave until he had eaten all the Sparrow.

A little bit too gruesome for you?

I thought they might be so here's a picture of Biscuit to make you feel better.

Lynsey's cat Biscuit.

He doesn't like to leave her side for long even when she is in the bathroom!


Until the next time...