Tuesday and Wednesday, 9th/10th October

                                                               

Annie, that mad pheasant hasn't been near me since you asked for a photo for painting him, and as he's a "one off" I don't believe that he could be one of these two I snapped from the upstairs window on Tuesday morning:

In the garden I've been working on tidying the area underneath the pine and cedar, just behind the round heather bed, it was horribly overgrown with couch grass and other "undesirables".  It took several days, and every time I turned up there with my garden forks I immediately gathered an eager crowd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-WVZOgTvjU

On Tuesday the black&white one from the 'new boys' got so close that I caught his beak with my little fork and made it bleed, I must have punctured it.  He didn't seem all that bothered, but went to the water bucket, washed and drank, and when he came back I could see no more blood, nor did it stop him from coming right up close again.  This photo was taken the following morning and I could see no trace of where I stabbed him on this side of his beak near the tip:









     

                                                                               

                                                                               
                                                                       
                                                                           


First time I've seen Jubilee with a dirty face!

                                                      

I'm rather pleased with the results of my labours in the conifer area - the wild flower bed behind needs tackling next!

                                                                 

When I finished working at this patch yesterday afternoon I went to chop down the buddleja in front of the kitchen window so that John can paint the house front.  On the way I noticed how well the new-sewn grass is doing:


Having cleared away half the buddleja I found something which explained why Bless was often disappearing under that bush in April:

John was busy mowing grass everywhere, and the duck mob decided it was better to get out of the way and visit the frog pond:

It's funny, this, whenever I try to take photos of them in the frog pond they all clear off out, as if they thought it was forbidden territory or something.

To finish for today a couple of photos from early yesterday morning of the chrysanth doing nicely in the veg patch near the duck pond .....

.... and from the late afternoon ramble of the ducks under the third big cherry tree ....

... and from last night of our bathroom hibiscus showing 3 flowers and 2 buds about to open  -  how is yours doing, Gerd?