Hide and seek!

This week I have had the pleasure of my own ongoing wildlife comedy show right outside the kitchen window. The super stars are Squidge and Squish the squirrels and the tiny woodmouse, I've called him Willie, but they never appear together.
It all started when I refilled the squirrel's nut box earlier this week. Now when I do this and Squidge comes down, he thinks there's going to be a shortage any time soon so he eats two and buries one. This goes on for a considerable time while Squish sits on the fence and watches him.
Once squidge has finished and left the premises, Squish comes down and eats a few nuts from the box and digs up some of the ones that Squidge has buried.
Later in the morning when the squirrels have gone home, Willie comes along and he too digs up one or two nuts, he must smell where they are. These are almost as big as him, then dashes off with them and disappears under the edge of the fence where I think he has a little hole down into his burrow.
The next day when Squidge comes into the garden, he has a few nuts from the box then goes to dig up some of the ones he buried the day before. It's quite amusing to see him dig where he thinks he left one, but can't find it. Eventually, he'll dig up a few if he can find them and eat them.
I sometimes wonder whether the squirrels realise that the nut box never gets empty. Perhaps if they did, they wouldn't bother to bury any for another day and besides, I've never understood why they dig them up the day after they have buried them anyway.

Ten things I want you to know

I would like to dispel some of the misguided beliefs that a lot of people and all government departments, councils and various other authorititive bodies hold about someone who has retired.
1. My brains did NOT fall out the day I retired, they are still functioning perfectly well and I can complete crosswords and other mind tasks with no problems at all.
2. There is nothing wrong with my hearing even at ten good paces so don't talk about me as if I am not there.
3. My eyesight is 20/20 with my contact lenses in. I bought up two children so I also have eyes in the back of my head and therefore can see the faces and gestures you make behind my back.
4. I have every right to walk at my own pace when crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing and while the pips are going don't you dare toot at me.
5. Shopping trolleys are not a nuisance, they're quite trendy.
6. Wait until you have arthritis in your hands, then you too will hold up the queue in the supermarket (even young people can have it).
7. My generation was properly brought up and educated so we find conversations peppered with 'f' words totally unnecessary and not nice to hear.
8. We also know how to use 'please' and 'thankyou'. These words don't hurt and cost nothing.
9. I will catnap whenever I want to.
10. I don't need anyone to feed me, blow my nose or wipe my bum thankyou. I can still manage the same as you.
I hope that's clear!

Success (at last)!!!!!

After many months of trying to lose weight I have at last succeeded! It's starting to go and what's even more amazing is that over the last week or so I have eaten quite a lot more too. Some of the medication that I was prescribed a year ago made be blow up like a hot air balloon and I can tell you it doesn't do any good for one's morale to be told that there is no alternative. At the same time my diet had to be amended slightly and I had to give up my early morning glass of orange juice and biscuits (of which I ate very few).
Now I have lost about seven pounds in a little over a week but there is still a long way to go. However, at least I no longer feel that I'm pursuing a hopeless dream and you may well ask how I did it. I don't believe in slimming clubs because I don't see why I should pay money each week to be weighed and to discuss my eating habits with someone who has probably never had a weight problem. It's too expensive anyway when you're on a limited income.
All I have done is halve my portion sizes of carbohydrates, reduced fats to an absolute minimum by using olive oil reduced fat spreads for cooking or dry fry spray and I have doubled up on the fruit and veggies (except potatoes). If I fancy eating pasta or rice, I keep the whole day vegetarian and I keep a few cold hard boiled eggs in the fridge which I can snack on if the hunger pangs won't go away after a drink. I shall stick to this and let you know if it still works in a few months time.

A bit of Iceland

Today I decided to clean the windows at the back of the house. The front ones were done inside a few weeks ago when I was spring cleaning and the window cleaner comes every fortnight to do the outsides.
I took down the net curtains and put them in the washing machine and cleaned the outsides first. Now I know I only do these twice a year because I have to climb out of the bathroom window onto the flat kitchen roof in order to do the back bedroom and bathroom windows. Then I have to get the steps out to do the dining room one and I don't like heights especially when the steps wobble.
These windows were cleaned in November last year but the builders made a mess of them when they worked on the side of the house in December but as they are not double glazed and get loads of condensation all through the winter, I tend to leave them until April.
Not only did I have the mess from the builders to wash off but there was something else which was far more disturbing...volcanic ash deposits. We haven't had that much rain since the eruption of the Icelandic volcano with the unpronouncable name, but we did have a couple of showers at the weekend and the wind has also been coming from right direction too. There doesn't seem to be any other explanation because when I did the small lights on the top of the front door I found the same fine, black dusty deposits and these were cleaned last Thursday.
Still, I must be thankful that it was only dust deposits and not great big lumps of lava or pumice!

I think we've all had enough

I am sure I am not alone in cursing this wretched forthcoming election. As an informed adult I know what each party is supposedly offering, although we know that when any party is elected the politicians soon forget the people who put them there and do the opposite to what they had said. Every time I turn on the radio or the television this is all we hear.
The election ruins every news programme and the schedules have been altered dramatically to accommodate the various party political broadcasts and debates. There must be a huge proportion of the population that feels the same as me and a lot of them won't even bother to vote. I will vote, because then when the new government comes up with some unpopular legislation I will be able to say "Don't blame me because I didn't put them there!"
I'm just hoping that the weather stays fine for the next week and a half so that I can sit outside and watch all the bedding plants grow that I put in today. At least it will be more entertaining.

Let down....

This afternoon I went with my friend Chris to the open day at Goldney Hall. This is a large house that was built by a wealthy Quaker in the early 1700's and has fairly extensive grounds, considering it is now in the middle of a city.
Back in the 1980's Chris worked there as a gardener for four years when she and her husband moved from London where she had been working at Kew gardens.
Today was a huge let down for both of us as the gardens had not been kept to the standards that they had been when Chris worked there. I am only an amateur gardener but even I could see the weeds, bad pruning and lack of lawn care. The planting also left a lot to be desired. Oh yes, some areas were attractive with wallflowers and tulips giving a colourful display as well as the trees and shrubs that are in flower, but even small gardens like mine are just as colourful at this time of year given the weather that we have had recently.
Chris and I were talking about the way that some gardens and parks departments have made so many cutbacks that they no longer provide the excellent displays that they once used to and that gave pleasure to so many people. Not so vey long ago they would all have extensive greenhouses where staff would propogate cuttings and grow plants from seed during the winter so that they were well stocked with bedding plants in the spring and then they would sell the excess plants once they had completed their display. These would last all through the summer fom April/May right through to October when bulbs would be planted for the spring.
It's such a pity that this has happened but I suppose it's all down to money again and councils have so many managers earning such large sums that cutbacks are made in all the wrong places in order to pay them.

Enough to give me palpitations!

This morning I got up early and went to collect my newspaper and on the way back it was my intention to have a peep in the garden centre as soon as they opened. The walk over the car park was enough to lift my soul with the birds that were singing. It's hard to believe that this is in the city centre but there was very little traffic noise as I suppose that most people weren't up even although it was 9am.
When I went into the garden centre the sight that awaited was enough to give me palpitations! They have just had a delivery of this season's plants. WOW!!!
There were loads of annuals, so many that I found it very hard to choose so I got a basket and wandered round. Then I wandered round again! At this rate I thought, I would be here most of the morning and I needed to come back later with my trolley because I wanted a bag of compost. So I selected a few plants to 'keep me going' and I also bought a couple of packets of seeds. I got some dwarf sunflowers and some Californian poppies which I love. They will seed themselves so that I have some for next year too.
I went back later and got the compost the spent the day finishing the work in the garden. All my little plants are in their new homes and I've already made a list of what else I will need although there isn't really a lot of room. I might buy a couple more perennials too.
Tomorrow I'm off to a garden open day at Goldney House with a friend who used to work there when she had got her horticultural degree. It only opens occasionally so I'm really looking forward to that and who knows, perhaps it will give me more ideas, or make me jealous!