Getting there!

Lennie is gradually getting the fence up, weather permitting! He had to have a day off yesterday due to back strain, but he is back out there today, dodging the showers! The posts and gravel boards weigh over 9 stone each, and that is a lot of dead weight to keep shifting about! As you can see, some of the posts are in, but we are waiting for Gary, our son in law to come and help put the panels in, as they are very large and have to be lifted above head height to get them in the grooves. I did one with Lennie, but my daughter Sindie was not happy about it! Here are a couple of pictures taken between showers.










Once Lennie gets past the patio and on to the grass, things will become a lot easier and faster for him. At the moment he is having to dig very deep holes through rocks and concrete to set the posts in, but once on the grass it will be mainly earth. He thinks the digging of the holes on his knees was the main cause of his back problem.

The weather for tomorrow seems a little more promising, so we shall have to see how much he can get done then.

Injury!

This is what happened to Lennies arms shifting just one concrete post. At this rate he will be in shreds when he has shifted all 20 of them!!

More as it happens:0)

Our New Project

Those of you who know us, are aware that we live on a very windy corner, and are always having trouble with our fences blowing over and crushing our neighbours plants and solar lights! After a couple of embarrassing years, tying the fence to the other side of the garden using bright blue towing ropes to try and hold the fence up during gales, we decided enough was enough, and we would have to lay out for new fencing. This is what the fence looks like now.

As you can see, it rests directly on the grass and if one part gets blown over it takes a lot more with it!

The fence is 90 feet long, and we have decided to buy the sort of fence that has panels seperated by concrete posts, so that if there is any damage, we just have to slide the broken panel out and replace it with another, rather than dig up the huge wooden posts and replace them as well. The fence will rest on concrete gravel posts, all of which have been delivered now, and deposited in various parts of the garden by Len and my son Chris. It was thought that while he was here visiting for a while, he would help Len put them close to where they will be needed, as they are extremely heavy, and Len is no spring chicken!

Work started this morning, digging the hole for the first post. As this is the one that is adjacent to next doors gate, it was the one most worrying Lennie. He says once this is sorted out he should be able to get on with the rest of it okay.

Thank goodness this will see an end to poor Lennie, on his hands and knees in icy, windy conditions, digging holes and mixing cement to replace broken fence posts!

I will update this project as it moves on.

As usual, one post in and rain stopped play!!!!

Dear Old Tom

I was sitting thinking of years gone by, when my late father-in-law, Tom, came to mind. He was a lovely chap, and was always smiling. His wife totally and absolutely spoilt him, and all he ever did in the house, apart from DIY, was wiping up and making a pot of tea! Of course, when his dear wife died, he couldn't realistically look after himself, and as we owned a retirement home in Kent, he came to live with us there. We lived on the top floor for a while, and on Tom's request, we gave him his own room amongst the residents. He loved looking in on them to say goodnight, and thoroughly enjoyed the weekly parties we held for them all. He adored the homes dog, Pickles, and they were inseperable. He also had his girlfriend, Doris, a resident. He was very much loved by residents and staff alike, and had his little jobs that he liked to do to help the staff, like helping the gardener, and seeing that all the kitchen waste was securely tied up etc.,.



After he had lived with us for 5 years, he sadly got prostate cancer and died. This is a poem that I made up and gave out to the staff.



TOM



He always had a smile for you,

He always had a joke,

Happy in his own small world,

With his home, his wife and 'smoke'.



For miles around they knew him,

That kind and helpful man,

He'd clean their windows, mend their things,

And often an errand ran.



He always helped the old folk,

The helpless and the poor,

He had his wife and children,

And would never ask for more.



As years passed by he slowly aged,

But was a familiar sight,

Carrying peoples bags for them,

(But now his hair was white!).



His world it fell apart one day,

When he lost his treasured wife,

Suddenly she wasn't there,

He'd lost part of his life.



He needed looking after,

So came to live with us,

And tried to settle down here,

With the minimum of fuss.



The tables began turning,

He was 'useful' once again,

As he helped the ladies and the staff,

In his own little domain.



He had his faithful Pickles,

Doris, and the staff,

His garden and his rubbish bags,

He always liked a laugh.



You made him feel so needed,

You made him feel so proud,

As he helped you in the kitchen,

And joined in with 'the crowd'.



At parties he would hold the mike,

And sing with all his heart,

I think he was his happiest,

When he heard the music start.



But sadly Tom became unwell,

And illness took it's toll,

He couldn't help us any more,

He couldn't play 'his role'.



His garden patch grew weedy,

The rubbish piled up high,

His strength it fast was fading,

To see him made us cry.



But Tom was totally unaware,

Of what lay in store for him,

He relished all the love you gave,

And returned it with a grin.



Tom didn't suffer any pain,

You gave him so much care,

And when time came for him to leave,

Again, you all were there.



Our lives are all the richer,

For knowing dear old Tom,

And we owe so much to all of you,

For making him 'belong'.



I know he's not too far away,

I feel him everywhere,

And when next we have our party,

Don't be fooled, 'cos he'll be there!



And in all our future summers,

If you would like a treat,

I'm sure you'll feel him sitting,

In his 'personal' garden seat.



You show love and understanding,

In everything you do,

So from Lennie, Sandie and Pickles,

Our heartfelt thanks to you.



This is a picture of Tom and his lovely wife Flo.

Garden visitor

Just thought I would show you this photograph of one of our regular garden visitors:0) This squirrel is now being joined on it's forages by a baby. They are digging little holes all over the lawn and burying the peanuts! Click photo's to enlarge.

Twitterings

It is quite a while since I posted, because, as most of you know, Sindie has been poorly and has been staying with me. However, she was well enough to return home at the weekend, so I thought I would sit at my computer and update my blog.



Firstly, the diet is going well, and I have now lost a total of 1stone 1 pound. Sindie has also lost this amount, but unfortunately for her, the steroids she is on have made her face balloon out, and the weight loss is not so evident until you look at the rest of her! Thankfully, she is now cutting down on the steroids, so we have high hopes of her facial swelling going down, albeit slowly.



Now, I haven't mentioned this before, but we are very keen amateur bird watchers (in our garden, that is!) We feed them constantly, and have a lot of regular birds visit us. One day we had a Jay, a blackbird, a mouse and a squirrel, all eating together on dry porridge oats that we left out:0) We have a very scruffy blackbird that is always fighting to protect his territory. Whenever I put food out, he is there, chasing off the other birds! We call him Sid, and he was here last year as well, making his home in the large bushes in our front garden. The lady next door calls him Scruff. He always has disheveled feathers, and feathers sticking out! Hence the name given by the lady next door:0) He is not at all nervous of us, and has three babies in the front garden, and although they try and chase him off, he still feeds them regularly. When they were very young, he used to dive bomb us whenever we went on to the drive!



We were looking out of out kitchen window into the back garden, watching the birds, when we saw what at first glance, we thought was a Jay. It was half hidden behind a shrub. We noticed it was eating strangely, and on closer inspection we saw that it was a beautiful Merlin! But he was busy eating one of my garden birds! All we could see of the bird he was eating were the skinny black legs sticking up in the air, and our first thought was of Sid:0( After our initial shock, we got the binoculars out, and studied it more carefully, and prayed that it wasn't Sid. The Merlin stayed in the garden, eating this bird for at least 15 minutes, then it picked it up an flew away with the remains. It definitely looked black.



We went down the garden and inspected the feathers, and they were dark grey. We still were not sure what colour legs our blackbird had, and were on edge for ages, until, who should we see come hopping into the back garden, but Sid! We have decided that the unfortunate bird was probably a young starling.



I have attached a phot of a Merlin in the middle of a meal, and you can see what a beautiful bird it is. http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/raptors/Merlin.html



I now spend ages scanning the sky in case he returns. If he does, I hope I see him in time to warn all my little feathered friends! (Click photo to enlarge)

Diet Week 3

Just a quick update on my diet. Things improved this week with a further loss of three pounds. That's half a stone in 3 weeks! I really have a good feeling about this Rosemary Conley diet. I have spent years starving myself and going without, in an attempt to lose weight, and was always being told that I needed to eat more if I wanted my diets to work. I scoffed at this idea, frightened to eat properly for fear of a ballooning weight.

Anyhow, after being recommended this diet, I thought I would have a go, and honestly, I have never eaten so much for as long as I can remember! I was very nervous about it, but after my 4lb weight loss the first week, I was rearing to go! Tonight I had chicken curry with rice, and I was only able to eat half of the rice because there was so much. Two ounces of Basmati rice cooks up to a huge plateful. Far too much for me to eat.

We had our first BBQ of the year yesterday, and it was very easy to stick to the diet. I had three low fat apple and pork sausages, a 175g jacket potato, and unlimited salad with lettuce, peppers, mushrooms, beetroot, celery and tomatoes. I was drinking sugar free bitter lemon, which is all I ever drink anyway:0) This was followed by my usual baked apple and yoghurt. Yes, I can heartily recommend this diet:0)

Let's hope next week I have another weight loss. Sindie and Leeta are doing really well as well.