With apologies and excuses

The drizzle this morning turned into copious rain.  Most sensible persons - like me :-) would shelter indoors, not this lot:

 

 

Only two days ago it was hot and sunny, and I found out who was making those large holes in the ground near the stile:

My apologies for leaving you [who like to read] without White Gables news since Pearl's birthday visit, but I have been busy, HONEST!  I've had lots of visitors, new neighbours, done too much in the garden and had to rest up for days after.  Just like yesterday, really, when tree surgeon came to inspect the next job to be done, then I picked lots of Bramley apples for my visitors, did lots of hedge cutting and then emptied, cleaned and re-filled the two ponds in the duck run, and I finished up by doing weeding and trimming excess growth until 18.30.  So I'm quite glad the rain is giving me an excuse today to stay indoors and catch up on this blog.  I'm sorry it's going to be a bit long, but a lot has happened!

In early August I had started to remove one bit of separating fence after another as the two groups of ducks had accepted each other.  They don't like each other very much, pinch each others' food although it is the same and put out at the same time, and my "big ones" have taken to hanging around near the gate, so as to drive the little ones in when they've ventured out into the bigger world - which they LOVE to do!

I noticed through the kitchen window that it does not take long for the Calls to be driven back through the gate when they have ventured too far for the runners' liking.

 

  

My 'big ones' like the area close to the garage as well, Winnie and Caramel have taken to laying an egg there now and again.

I can't remember if I posted pictures other than on Facebook of the paddle pool I bought for the call ducks, thinking it would make my life easier in reducing the mud in the duck run [no, it doesn't]. You can see quite clearly in the photo below how Pato steps onto her own feet which makes her stumble.  Several times I found her in the hut of the bigger ducks, so one night I put her in there with the others - which panicked them and I had a job to round them up and put them in again.  Pato couldn't have enjoyed the experience very much, because the following night I found she had already retired into the hut of the little ones!

                                       
The conservatory has gone "bananas", when you think how it looked in November and at the end of April this year ...

 

I LOVE Nicotiana Sylvestris! 

The greenhouse has done spectacularly well, too, with two harvests of broad beans, one of sugar snap peas, raspberries that had crept in from the outside, then several kinds of tomatoes and now grapes; I've been able to give lots of produce away to friends and family.

I've taken up my knitting again [a throw for the blue chair that was once a bed], but have made no more blankets since Sarah's pink and Eleanor's blue and white one.

 

 

On Bank Holiday Monday Carl, Val and Alfie came to see me, and as Carl had spotted some fish gasping for air in the overgrown-with-water-lilies fish pond he started pulling and cutting out clumps of leaves and lilies and I helped.  It's hard to describe how difficult it was and how dozens of broken tiles had been entangled in the roots which cut our hands to ribbons.  Carl is a strong chap, but even he struggled with the weight of those plants.  Well, we got nearly all out, it brought lots of 'grunge' to the top, and hopefully the fish now have oxygen as I haven't seen any near the top since Tuesday!