Deliveries in the rain

Apart from a respite on Tuesday the rain has been relentless, it's depressing even Pollyanna-like me.  The thick mud in the home ground of the youngsters is a danger to life and limb - if you don't have paddle feet like they do.

Lots of the morning photos I'm putting in today were shot through wet windows and are not very sharp ...


This is the group of youngsters who have ventured out of their muddy home ground to see if their neighbours have something tasty to steal.  They shouldn't have made any noise about it because the local 13 weren't far away, you can see some of them through the gap I made when I "slaughtered" the dogwood:

 It only took moments for the cavalry to arrive and to chase the 11 back through the gate:

                                                                         

John had ordered some slabs and sand to make a firm standing surface in the conservatory, and that was delivered yesterday, on a very wet Wednesday morning with a huge lorry  -- which frightened the young group into squashing themselves into the furthest distance from it:

 
                               The assembled menagerie on the upstairs window saw the lorry back off the premises -

 
With that frightening big monster gone the youngsters could relax in their muddy hole again [it's a lot worse than it looks in this photo, honest!]



And then there was another delivery, at lunchtime, my cordless Bosch hedge and grass trimmer [mainly for box balls and edging as recommended by my friend Pine] which I'd longed for since last Wednesday or Thursday - the Bank Holiday must have messed up deliveries. I put it on to charge right away, and by half past 4 it was fully charged.  Miraculously the sun had come out by then to warm up a soggy garden, and I went out armed with the trimmer and my camera.

John had already prepared the ground inside the conservatory where the slabs are going to be put down.  I was pleased to see the two banana trees doing well in there.
We've used quite a few of the peppers already, and look, the chilies are turning red now ..... the ducks you can see through the window are from the youngster group;

and through the opposite window some of the 13-group can be seen.  Isn't the calamondine you gave me doing well, Annie? 

I started trimming with my new cordless shears on the "caterpillar" at quarter to 5 and found it so great that I got carried away and cut the box balls, the yew pyramid, some of the box hedging and a couple of cotoneaster balls near the fallen ash.  When that ash fell, by the way, on 9th September 2005, it nearly flattened one of the weeping birches.  That same birch never grew much higher, but it spread wide instead and is now a favourite snoozing place for the 13-group.

 

 

           

 

By this time it was 5 to 6 and I'd spent 80 of the 100 minutes cutting time - but my thumb hurt as I couldn't get the safety catch to stick and had to hold it down with my thumb all the time - must investigate!

PS on Thursday afternoon:

I've sorted the safety catch now and trimmed down the thyme in front of the sun lounge, the rosemary, a lonicera and some grass edges - I think I got more than my 100 minutes cutting time.  The Bosch is back on charge now for me to tackle the beech hedge by the road tomorrow!

John has just about finished laying down the slabs, and to finish photos of 3 of Joseph's offspring developing black heads [not such a pretty boy, the reddy-brown one now, Carl!], and of the muddy enclosure with Gertie resting on the few blades of grass left in there ...