Watching the wildlife

 I've been putting food out and topping up the water bowl every night since I noticed the hedgehog in our garden, imagine my surprise and excitement when one night there were two little babies 😁

Since then I haven't seen the two babies together but sometimes mummy comes too and they share the cat biscuits I put out,   

They visit our garden anytime between 9.30 and 10.15, not sure where they are living but behind the summer house and shed is a likely place as they wouldn't be disturbed there at all. I've bought a hog house for them for the Winter, just need to decide on the most suitable place to put it, It wouldn't fit behind the shed but I may be able to get it close.  Aren't they sweet though?

I was so pleased to see that the frog population in my wildlife pond has increased, we now have two little froggies 😁  After the sad fate of the frog and the crow a few months back seeing these two made me happy.

A couple weeks ago Mark replaced all the windows in the summer house and painted the outside, 

now I'm busy painting the inside this week.  The ceiling and walls are all done and I've put one coat on the floor this morning, hoping that each coat will dry quickly and I can get that job finished and everything back in today.  I can't wait to spend some quiet time in there

Hope you are all well and enjoying the lovely weather we are having here at the moment.

Take care

-X-

Day's out and making the most of the sun

 I've mentioned before that I look after my youngest grandson, Jacob, on Wednesdays.  Joanne drops him off around 8.45 on her way to work and after dropping Bonnie at school.  We usually try to get out somewhere, even if it's just to the park, as was the case today.  There's not always time for us to go out for the whole day as once Joanne has picked Bonnie up from school there is about an hour before she has to leave and take Jacob to Squirrels, where she is also one of the helpers. 

Even though we are well into the Summer months the weather hasn't been great, we've had the odd few days here and there and It just so happened that one of those rare hot sunny days was on a Wednesday, three weeks ago to be exact, memorable because since then temperatures haven't reach anywhere near what we had for those few days.  Of course we had to make the most of it and as you can see Jacob thoroughly enjoyed the trip to the local outdoor splash park.  

Last week Mark was off work and was able to come out with us, so we went a little further afield.

I've been to Llangollen many times, as a child and as an adult, it's a lovely little town, I've shared photos of some of my visits before, they are in the Labels section on the right hand side of my blog.  On this day though we were heading for a little place just outside Llangollen first, a place called Trevor which is home to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.  

It's been somewhere that I wanted to visit for a while and recently Margaret, who blogs at 

https://margaretmyblog.blogspot.com/  came to the UK with her sister and posted about their visit to Trevor and the viaduct and it reminded me that It really isn't that far, and we should go soon.

The plan had been to take the canal boat trip over the viaduct but after walking over it, very carefully and with me gripping onto Jacob with two hands, I decided that perhaps I wasn't brave enough that day after all.  The viaduct is 126feet high and the views are stunning, unfortunately I only managed to get a couple photos because I found that If I kept moving It wasn't so bad, standing still was a different matter.

After we'd had some lunch we drove the ten minutes into Llangollen.  We didn't know it but that day it was the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.  Apparently the festival started in 1947 "As a means of healing the wounds of WWII" and is held every July.  With 34 countries and 3,000 participants this year its a big event.  We saw the singers from Japan practicing on the River Dee, they were good, very very good.  Later in the afternoon there was a parade with those taking part in their national dress.  Unfortunately we had to set off for home before it started so missed out on seeing what must have been a great sight.  

I'll have to make it something I put on the calendar for next year.

We had a walk along the river Dee, stopping to feed the ducks and walk on the rocks on the way to the canal side, where we did get to have a ride in a barge, or banooke, as he still calls them.  We just managed to get on the last horse draw trip of the day along part of the Llangollen canal. 

The kids break up from school on Thursday so this week he had his graduation from nursery, Joanne sent me these photos of him in his cap and gown 

After several attempts he threw the cap up and it landed on his face, so funny!

 We only have one more Nanny and Jacob Wednesday because after the holidays he will start school, how fast the time goes.

-X-

Mrs Tiggywinkle

 We've had a cute little visitor for about a week now.  I was in the kitchen just as it was getting dark and there she was scurrying about on the grass, I called Mark and we watched as she made her way around the garden down the edge and across the patio.  She rummaged about in the tomato house and then made her way back up the path.   I'm saying she but of course I have no idea if Tiggy (that's what I've named her), is male for female, she is quite a size so definitely an adult.

My phone camera isn't the best in low light, Ill have to try with my camera to get some better photos.

I did put some mealworms out the night after I first saw her but then found out that these are not suitable as they are high in phosphorus and low in calcium and cause Metabolic Bone Disease.  Hedgehogs are on the Red list which apparently means they are considered to be at risk of local extinction.  It's recommended that if putting food out cat and dog food is ok, either wet or dry.  I put some cat biscuits out last night and she wolfed them down, I'm so happy she has chosen our garden as one of her feeding grounds 😁

Also from the garden this week, my first courgettes, peas and sweet peas.  I have been picking peas a while but Bonnie and Jacob raid them when they come, lol

More courgettes this morning, they are so much better than shop bought, not as watery.  Only me likes these, I have them in place of pasta or rice so they will get used up.

Hope you all have a great week

-X-

A shared venture

 We seem to have taken on an allotment!

My daughter, Joanne, has wanted one for a long time, and was on the council waiting list for years, council allotment waiting lists are notoriously long so it's no surprise she was never offered one.  But recently someone she works with has taken on a plot with Roots Allotments.  Roots is a fairly new idea and I think at the moment there are nine sites around the country.  Basically you rent a plot much the same way as you do with the council, but you get so much more.  All garden tools, watering cans etc are on site and free for all to use, the plots, if previously used, are cleared and put ready for the next user.  When you join you are given a box with seeds and various plug plants to get you started, so you can get growing right away.

There is lots of support too with both in person and online classes and tutorials, both fertilizer, wood chips and organic plant food is there for all to use as well as plant and produce sharing shelves.

These are some of the plots on the site

And below is ours.  There are various size plots from mini to group sizes, we have a starter plot which is  36 sqm.  I met the guy that had this plot before us on Sunday, he swapped it for a larger family plot and told me he he had recently put six barrow loads of fertilizer on there, so that saved us a job for now :-)

We spent all Sunday afternoon and a good few hours there on Monday so this is how it's looking now.

I created a little seating area on Monday and we have already planted peas, cauliflower, cabbage, baby corn, carrots, peppers, and a rhubarb plant.  Joanne has been down there this afternoon and planted sprouts and leeks, both of which were free plug plants from the site. 

Everyone we have met on site has been really friendly and helpful and I think I shall enjoy doing my bit, at least between the two of us the work and commitment will be shared, I'm not sure I would have wanted to take something like this on by myself but I'm already looking forward to seeing what results we will get from our planting.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, I'm really behind on my blog reading and commenting because I haven't been on my laptop a lot recently, I'll try and catch up this weekend and also get round to taking photos of my recent finishes. (I'm already very late sharing my stick6in2024 finish), but I do have a finish and will get round to posting about as soon as I can.

I'll be back soon

-X-