9 Mar 2009 5:08 AM

I awoke early, on Sunday moring, and waited until all nearby neighbours were 'pottering' around, before I went out into the front garden.  I am, slowly but surley-trying not to agrevate my ribs and shoulder-removing a shuttering board I erected round the front lawn before seeding the soil two years ago. 

The board works fine for it gives a defining edge to the lawn but, because my soil has dropped a little, after 'double digging' it before I seeded the area, the board is now higher than the lawn.  The height is minimal but it does mean that I have to use the strimmer much more than I aught to, so that I can trim round the lawn.  The more I use the strimmer, the more line I brake and, last year, I broke several reels of line. 

There are other areas, where the land has dropped, so I will have to look at those when the grass growning season starts 'in earnest.' 

I digress.

After getting all the tools out my shed, although it was cold, the morning turned into a beautiful one and, if it had not been a cold wind, I could have been forgiven for thinking that spring was here at last.

I had gone out into the front garden early for you can bet, as soon as I begin to do my work, I will be stopped by someone wishing to pass the time of day with me.  I reckon that I can do three times the work, in the back garden, than I can in the front due to chatting with passers by.

I had not been working for long when the first person, who wanted to chat to me, came by.  The lady, out walking her dog, asked me lots of questions and, before long-as is usually the case with me-the conversation soon changed into laughter.  This particular young lady, walking her now aging alsation dog, has her own sewing business and is doing very well even though we are all suffering the so called 'credit crunch.'

The next person to ask for my attention, was a young articulate lady who's gift was to talk for long periods of time without breaking off.  Having said that, her topics of conversation were anything but dull.

Several people, as I tried to get to grips with the task I had set myself, passed the time of day with me but soon walked on when they had managed to get to know what I was doing.

Once the wood had been removed, I layed out a straight line and dug out a narrow trench so that the lawn's edge was defined and, while I was on the last stretch of work, I noted there was a change in the weather.  It became bitterly cold and rain followed just as I was ready to clean and put my tools away.

Later, once I had warmed through-lucky old me-I was treated to a good old fashioned English dinner with lashings of thick gravey.  I rested for a time, after eating, then went into the kitchen to clean down the kitchen surfaces and all the utensils that were used to prepare the dinner.

I looked out of the kitchen window, out over the park, and noted that the sky was getting darker and darker.  It began to rain and then came sleet; the sleet turned to snow and it snowed so hard that it was dificult to see out of the window. 

The snow came down so hard that our green carpeted back lawn soon became white all over.  Thankfully, although it was impossible to see before, the snow gave way to more sunny periods but the white lawn soon turned green again but it remained very cold.

The weather is very unpredictable.

The weather is the main topic of my blog but it should be noted that more and more people are starting to stop and speak to one another and this point was raised by the articulate young lady I have already mentioned.

Her point was that, for two years now, she felt the community had begun to notice one another again after an absence of talking, for the sake of it, of about 30 yeaars.

What can be happening?  I ask myself.

P.S.

As a member of the U3A, my latest venture has been to join their singers' group.  My first session, I have to say, I felt as though I was out of my depth but, like the fool I am, I am going to go back for more. 

For those of you who have not sung in harmony, there are one or two things you may wish to know about in case you are thinking of going along to sings for yourself.

Before singing, we exercise by breathing from the diafram; this is for breath control, we then go through exercises to make the kneck, shouders and throat, relax and then we work on exercises that get our voices working properly again.

Before going into the class, I thought my voice was in the Bass range but, now I have been singing with this group, I am not so sure.

Anyway, for all those of you out there that can sing a little, if there is a place where you live, that organises singing; I recomend you give it a try for, along with the serious side of trying to harmonise with others, it is great fun and funny too for we are all making the same mistakes.

I will give you more information later.   

By for now,

John.

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9 Mar 2009 4:19 AM

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7 Mar 2009 6:33 AM

Today, Friday, after a very hard night frost, I watched, as the sun came up, and saw, through an azure blue sky, that it was, for the first time in a long time, going to be a beautiful day.  It was still very cold but the weather was too good to miss and I took my chances to go out into the garden and get close to nature.

My wife, when the weather was too bad to go out into the garden, explained that we had a plant, in the front garden, that needed to come out and because my ribs and shoulder were not as painful, I decided to have a go at pulling out the plant that was starting to be invasive

Out came the cutters I had taken time out to prevent from rusting over when I had finished gardening before the onslaught of winter set in.  With lots of effort and using the house wall to push the cutter levers into, for I could not get the grip and force I wanted, I began to cut away at the plant.  I managed to get the wood down to the soil level but knew that it would be pointless to try and dig the root system out.  The digging out will have to be achieved by my son for I am still in the bone mending process. 

After a short rest, I felt so good, about being able to achieve something in the garden,  I decided to do more work in the back garden.  The air felt good, the frost had melted, my breath could no longer be seen and I began to move soil away from one edge of a lawn that looked as though it was nearly ready for its first cut of the year.

Down went the kneeling pad, out came my smallest trowel and down I went, on all fours.  While I was down on my knees, I suddenly became aware of the peacefulness and tranquillity of the garden. 

Chaffinch were calling and two Collard Doves dropped out of a nearby tree directly behind where I was working.  The quiet 'swish,' from a slow moving car tyres, could be heard now and again and the sound of my trowel, as it struck a small stone in the ground I was moving, played a part in opening my senses.  If that was not good enough, the church bells began a 'peel.' 

Although these moments are now no longer rare for me, for I am now very lucky to live where I live, the sounds, as they mingled, produced a satisfying feeling, inside of me, I could not wait to share with you all.

When I started out, in the garden, I had decided to try to work for half an hour so that I did not over tax myself but, when I later found out what the time was, I had been working for over four hours and I had no idea where the time had gone.  For me at least, gardening seems to eat up time. 

When we first came to live in the house we are now in, the gardens were in a dreadful state and, when I began to double dig the front garden, to get out all the builders rubble, cement and  fly tipping, I was reported for keeping 'an untidy garden.'  Two years on, I have been asked if I will enter the local best garden competition.  There is more to be done to the front garden before I can submit it for any garden competition.  Having said that, for we have not had a decent sized garden before, I think we have done exceptionally well to be able to get as far as we have so far.

Credit must go to my son for he also did lots of the backbreaking work, to get the soil in good condition for growing things.

One of the plants, still in good condition, in the back garden, is a double headed pink flowering Camellia.  This time, last year, the flowers, of this shrub, were fully out but this year, more in tune with the season we should be getting, the buds are still not bursting open. 

Camellias, once they are established, need little attention apart from covering in extreme cold weather, trimming once the flowering season has finished and giving the shrub a very good watering in the autumn. 

Yesterday, due to there being a very keen frost, I brought out a roll of gardener's fleece I prepared before the winter set in.  I attached several lengths of string and, after throwing the fleece over the bush, I tied the strings to what ever was handy.

This morning, the fleece was still in tact but needed some refinements and by the time I had done the refinements, in the evening, it had become so cold I felt the need to go indoors but not before looking round the garden to see how the Daffodils had progressed since they had first pushed out of the soil. 

March, as is the case for nature, is a wonderful time for the gardener as new life begins to shoot out of the soil after a dormancy of at least four months.

By for now,

John 

           


     

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6 Mar 2009 11:14 PM

Ben strikes again.

Trying to keep everybody happy, I drove my wife to town and took my son to where he wanted to be before I went off with Ben.  Ben and I  went to a location I used to go to with my father who was a keen fisherman.

When I was a small boy, this particular area was devoid of housing stock but, when I took Ben, there were houses in close proximity to the pond we were going to.  In fact, there were two ponds for one was used as an overflow pond.  Rumour has it that one of the ponds was bottomless but I later learned that it was not true. 

The larger of the two ponds could be fished by about 20 anglers and the overflow pond, the smaller of the two, could be fished by about ten fishermen.
Knowing that the fishermen would not think too kindly of me if I let Ben off so that he could run where he wanted, I kept him on a short lead until we had passed the two ponds.  Once out of the way, there were open areas where Ben could run to his heart's content.  The area we were in had not been touched for years, I think it may have been common land, and there were horses grazing.  I had no idea how Ben would react to seeing horses so I kept my distance but, to my pleasant surprise, he just looked up at the horses and then ignored them and carried on his way. 

In the distance, I could see that there were a few grazing cows and, once again, until we were out of their way, I kept Ben on a tight lead.  Eventually, we came to an area where there were no animals grazing and I let my dog off for a run.  Once again, he ran this way and that, as if he was on the trail of something, and then he bolted.  No amount of calling could get him back and, in the end, I walked back to the car without him.

After some time, I began to think about what I might say to my family when I told them that I had lost our beloved dog and the thought began to trouble me a little.

I waited and waited and, after a long time, Ben came back to me as if he had done nothing wrong.  His tail was wagging but when I shouted at him, he cowered to the floor, with his belly as low as he could get, and began crawling towards me.
'Come here, you bad dog!' I shouted as I bent low to fasten his lead to the chocker, and then it hit me.  Ben had been up to his old tricks again for he had been rolling in fresh Cowpat and he stank to 'high heaven.' I had few choices open to me, I could leave the dog here or take him home.  Either way, I was going to be in bother so I took out some old material, out of the car boot, and tried to get the thick Cowpat off Ben before letting him lie down on an old blanket. 

I rubbed and rubbed at Ben's coat but it made very little difference and when I arrived home, my wife made me shampoo Ben.  I carried on washing him, until he smelled good again and I thought Ben may learn a lesson here for he did not like being shampooed all over especially if it was going to take more than one wash.

If this was to become a regular thing, there would have to be some re thinking to be undertaken.

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2 Mar 2009 4:59 AM

During the week, for I was getting restless, my wife suggested we might try to go for a short walk.  Although I was unsure as to whether or not to go out, I gave in and soon found myself driving down twisting and bending narrow lanes that would eventually lead me to a nature reserve that was flat and easy to walk round.

On close inspection, I noticed some shrubs were in the micro bud stage.  (They were just breaking out of the bark.)  And, to my astonishment, 'Hazel Catkins'  were hanging from the trees and so were 'Pussy Willows.'  Had I left it much longer, I would have missed these spring beauties.

We leisurely walked on to the side of a large lake and grazing geese made no attempt to move as we walked passed them.  I had my binoculars with me but, because the sun was at our backs, there was no need to use them.  In the clear air.  I could see the patch of the Goldeneye duck as clear as if the bird was only feet away from me. 

There were swathes of Dogwood; some of which had a hint of green coming through the yellow bark and there were still lots of red barked species to be seen. 

The sky was full of white fluffy clouds and there were, from time to time, patches of blue but the sun was short lived.  We were dressed for cold weather but there were lots of mature walkers wearing what may best be termed as 'town clothes.' 

Although I enjoyed the walk, we felt the need to cut it short for there was a change in the weather I did not like the look of.

It proved to be the right thing, to come home early, for we had not been home long for, while I was filling the kettle, at the kitchen sink, a Sparrow hawk visited our garden.
   

At last, the weather, this Sunday turned into a spring like day and, hurting bones or not, I was determined to go out into the garden and do something before new growth started to push itself out of the ground.

On went the old gardening clothes, that I had not been used since the beginning of the on coming winter, and out I went for the first real look round the garden in weeks. 

Snowdrops looked as though they had been out for some time, for they were already passed their best, and Daffodils were putting on height and looked as though they would open any time. 

Earlier, before I had my accident, I purchased some trelliswork I knew would open out to about 6 feet and it was at least 2 feet wide.  My intention was to try and put the wooden slats, at the side of a smaller trellis I erected last year but, as you might expect, there was not enough room so the old wooden slats had to be removed and relocated. 

Although the task was not a hard one to do, I felt the need to rest when it was completed but, to my surprise, when my dinner had settled, I felt like doing more work in the garden. 

Out came the old 'green stain paint' and before long all the trelliswork was painted in a lovely green colour.  Before starting the task of painting, I took the liberty of putting old sacking bags down over the plants I was hoping would soon work their way up the trellis. 

By the time I had finished painting, my arm was hurting but, apart from having problems with my arm, I felt good about myself and happy that I had managed to achieve something instead of sitting, quite still, waiting for my bones to repair themselves.

I cannot wait to go out into the garden again.

By for now,

John.         

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