Emm made tea for everyone while I got changed out of my smelly and dirty clothes, and it was lovely to sit in the sun having a chat with Val, Emm and Christine whom I hadn't seen in ages ...
Today is Saturday, I wrote that little bit above yesterday and stopped when I couldn't insert a couple of pictures I'd taken on my new iPad Air. Today I managed it via a couple of detours, from iPad into Facebook, copied from there into a document, from there into my Pictures Folder and from there, as usual, into here - whew!
We were out for supper last night and came back around 10 past 8 to put the duckies to bed - who'd all already gathered near their huts. We slipped and nearly fell down in all that mud, and I delayed going out to the ducks this morning until the rain eased off, it must have been coming down all night ....
I did take photos around the garden yesterday afternoon, in the rain:
I love these little tulips, they pop up every year in two places at the edge of the orchard, just above the checkerboard fritillaries and where the cowslips flowered before big wheels flattened them ..... I was thrilled this year, though, to see the cowslip leaves reappear.
The flowering crab apple in this photo looking towards Captain's hut was grown from a cutting of the crab apple "Red Sentinel" above right - but the apples from the cutting are three times as big and not red but green.
Most of the photos I took were of the last of the flowering daffodils and narcissi, I should have done it much, much earlier as it amazes me how many different colours and shapes we have - these are some of them:
Having started wet and grey this Saturday morning I was amazed to see the sun come out, little by little, and this afternoon it was sunny again - with the odd shower, proper April weather, what?
Look how similar the view from the window is through the years, left was mid-day today and right was April 2012 [I think].
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It must have been Easter Monday when I spotted the bare patch on Daisy's head and managed to catch her and put her into Dotty's enclosure. She stopped there day and night although she didn't really want to, she kept running to the gate and had complaining discussions with Tuts on the other side.
On Thursday I scared the four resident girls when I carried hoses, pump, pressure washer and broom into the enclosure in preparation for cleaning out the little pond, and opened both gates so they could run out. Dotty was too frightened and stayed near her favourite water bowl, but the other three went out and were "welcomed" by the three drakes. Dotty relaxed visibly when Gertie came back in and stopped with her. All went well while I was in the pond pumping out dirty water, thinning the gunge at the bottom with the pressure washer and pumping out again and again and throwing out sticks, grass, leaves, 3 frogs and 2 eggs. So when I got my surprise visitors I left the bottom few inches of dirty water with fresh water running in to go and get changed out of my filthy clothes, and when I went back to fetch the pump out Dotty had slithered somehow into that dirty water at the bottom. Well, there was nothing for it but leave her there until the pond was full again and she could get out - she did get company in the re-filling pond from the other three girls.
Our little toe-rag drake Tuts must have something of the gentleman in him after all. I think I wrote a little while ago that I had the impression he was actively looking after Dotty, who coincidentally has very similar markings to his own.
Today I had that impression again. Because of the quagmire in Dotty's enclosure I had opened the gate this morning so that the four girls could get out onto some grass. I met Dotty coming out of the gate shortly before lunch when I was putting the food containers out, the other three were already outside. As we were starting lunch I could see Dotty again, on her way down to the frog pond ...... accompanied by Tuts who was walking by her side at HER pace, while he usually dashes about like a maniac!
I dashed off quick to take a few photos of Dotty out with Tuts and the not-now-limping and healing Daisy. Dotty didn't stay out over long, she must get tired. I could see her making her way back to her little pond while Daisy stopped outside [I wonder which hut she will sleep in tonight?]
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