.... I'd better put a quick entry in before you get worried about my silence ...
No, we weren't lost for what to do with ourselves post Wimbledon - wasn't it brilliant that Andy Murray won, and in such style! - we were catching up with gardening work most of the time.
Apart from Wednesday which had some clouds hanging over us and made it 10 degrees colder the weather all week has been sunny and hot, of course nothing like what friend Pam has to put up with in Arizona:
On Monday afternoon we took Dotty to the vet's in Loughborough and she had the outside wires taken off. There is still a wire inside her thigh bone, and that will be removed in eight weeks' time at the beginning of September.
To my delight I can see that Dotty can move her mended left leg a tiny bit better every day but can't quite put her weight on it. She swims in her little pool when she feels like it and fights me when I try and put her in at night.
Ducks enjoying the shade on Monday 8.7.13
On Tuesday friends Brian and Sue came to get in their harvest of hay, and with the gate to the field being open our troupe of ducks and drakes were keen to get in there:
In the afternoon I decided to pick the first lot of red currants inside the fruit cage while keeping an eye on Dotty and throwing her a worm now and again [which she picked up eagerly]. So that I wouldn't have to strip the berries off the stalks later I picked them singly, very carefully. After an hour I got worried about getting sunburn, so went into the house to boil up 2 lbs of the currants, saving some to eat as they were with a bit of sugar - I'd only picked about 3 lbs. I let the juice drip through a sieve overnight.
On Wednesday morning I put the juice into my best big saucepan, added the right amount of sugar, stirred and put it to boil - thankfully [considering what happened] only on medium heat as I went to hang the washing out while the juice heated up. John was out all day [car MOT], and after I'd finished with the washing I'd completely forgotten about the saucepan on the stove and decided to tackle the overgrown old chicken run, filling a wheelbarrow and a huge builders' bag with nettles, wilted cow parsley and shrub trimmings. About three hours later I felt thirsty and went into the house -------------------------- to be greeted with huge clouds of smoke and a burned smell which is still hanging in my nostrils now! The smoke alarm must be defective, I never heard a thing.
After tearing open all the windows in the house I put the poor burnt saucepan outside:
Fear not, I managed to clean it up again, just shame about the wasted currants, sugar and effort:
Thursday and Friday lots more gardening.
At one point yesterday I could see cat Lucy lying smack in the middle of the gate to the old chicken run, waving her tail angrily. Most of our ducks and drakes were standing in a line facing her, but by the time I'd got the camera ducks were on their way to the front garden, Lucy 1, ducks 0! Lucy has been coming every day lately we've sighted a couple of rats running from under John's shed to the ducks' food and back again. The food is no longer put there and a couple of sachets of rat poisoning were safely positioned under the shed ...
The boys are still exerting their dominance, but it's not as bad as it used to be. No chance yet, though, to let all 19 run together. Honey, on the left of the ducks in the photo above, is as bad as ever with her laboured walk, the implant didn't do her much good.
The roses are doing wonderfully well at the moment, here are just three of them pictured:
The floppy old-fashioned rose which the previous owner of our house left in the garden.
On the left here is the rambler rose Albertine which I brought with me from my house in Desford. I think the golden hop looks lovely with it.
This is a rose which I transplanted from a dark corner into the sun, and whose name I could never remember. I was ashamed to find out it was called "Remember Me"!
And this is something else I'm thrilled about, the orchid Maria and Gerd sent me some time ago is starting to flower for the second time:
The orchid is developing nicely, this photo is from 21.7.2013
It is Saturday morning now. I'm going to get Michael and Pine's room ready and then look forward to their arrival [for a week] on Monday morning!
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