More news from the garden

There is another baby in the garden, much to my surprise it is a Robin. They are usually the last to appear.

The first time I noticed him/her it was a very shy appearance.



A quick peep round the side of the water bath.

The next in full view and what a beauty the baby is.

There are no other babies yet, they seem to be very slow this year. I am not sure any Blue Tits will appear from the nest box on the sycamore tree. Since the new school opened they seem to have disappeared.


Squirrel found the new hiding place for nuts, I think it is a new squirrel too.

S/he seems to just launch themselves over the wall and into the sink.

The nuts do seem to be appreciated though, they look quite comfy in there.

Then of course the squirrel just had to make sure I had seen that the nuts had been found. Just so I would leave some more.

We have two beautiful Song Thrushes visiting the garden at the moment.

We also have a Mistle Thrush but I have not managed to capture that on film yet.

Baby Robin is taking flying lessons but forgets to let go of the branch!

We have Mr and Mrs Woodpecker calling in so we hope to see young ones soon.

Until the next time....

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...