It has been dry here.

If you are wondering why there has been no Blog it is simple - nothing has been getting done. It has been so dry that the grass doesn’t need cutting and the borders are withering in the heat. And there was Model Railway work to do. 

So here are some pictures of how dry it is.

The borders are suffering too. 

But some areas look fine - this is the long ditch which has no water but must be damp at least. 

Today was the first day that it has been cool enough to do some work. 

While I trimmed the tree house Kate pruned the creeper on the summer house. 

On the model railway front several exciting this have happened. 

I managed to get the Australian layout working enough to take to Llandovery Station for the Heart of Wales 150th anniversary celebration and it was admired by lots of visitors. As the only DCC layout in the club it sparked a lot of interest. 

It was also much admired by another visitor a few days later. 

I have also acquired a live steam engine - a reproduction of Stephenson’s Rocket. It runs on 3 1/2” gauge track and we plan to make a garden run for it. 

More work.

Stuff is getting done in the garden. 

This branch has been hanging around for a while. 

Elsewhere things keep growing. 

And the Australian layout is progressing, ready for a show on 1st July. 

This is what happens if you go away too often.

Back to cutting the grass. But lots of loveliness too. This peony is a delight. 

But we are in drought conditions and the big pond is the only one with any water in, all the others have dried up. The overflow pipe should have water all around it. 

It looked as if someone was trying to talk the clouds in to raining on us but it didn’t work. 

Back after our week away.

We have just returned from a week in Cumbria with Arthur. He continues well,  it failing memory and failing mobility slows him down. It doesn’t stop him smiling though. 

This is what I did, working on the Roller Coaster for the layout. 

Today was back to grass cutting and weeding and admiring the scenery. 

I also managed to get in the local press!

Tree work.

This crab apple fell down during the storm earlier in the year because it had rotted at the base. It is in the way of cutting the grass on the Bracken field so needed to be gone.

 

The tractor came in very hand dragging the stuff away to the bonfire. 

And soon it was all gone. 

Elsewhere..... the lupins are coming on nicely. 

I’m forever playing catch up.

Life continues as hectic as ever. After five days in Scotland and five days in Reading, which I can’t talk about, i ahve been trying to catch up with emails, websites and gardening. We head off to Cumbria on Thursday so time is short.  The good weather has meant that i have beeen able to get on with cutting the grass but even that has had challenges - the steering arm broke on the mower which required some ingenuity to get going again and a stuck valve on the strimmer required a strip down of the engine. In the picture you can see that one valve is sitting flush but the other is not.   

 Everything else is going and growing.  

 

 

 

 

Super catch up.

After six weeks in Australia it has been difficult getting back into the system. And another ten day adventure starts on Monday. I did manage to get the grass cut yesterday. But everything is growing and looking good. 

Molehills are Mountains!

The pesky moles are only slightly less irritating than the rabbits!

 

The neighbours were kind enough to remove all the brambles from their side of the fence down the side of the lane to their field. Unfortunately the brambles were holding up the fence so I am doing some work to fix it. 

 

And when it rains, which it does, more is getting done on the Aussie layout. 

   

 

 

Still here

We were meant to be in Cumbria this week but the weather suggested we stay home. It is clearing now but the forecast for the North looks bad again.  So here we are. Most of the snow has gone but the pond is still frozen - it must have frozen very deep.

 

Today has been mainly a Quaker day, writing Data Protection Policies. Grrrr.

Some modeling is getting done. 

The goods crane got rusted, to look like a derelict, unused, unloved piece of machinery. Salt and paint!

 

And work has started on the roller coaster.

Very little snow here.

In fact the same lot of snow just seems to get blown around

This was Thursday

 

and this was today.

  Lots of starlings about, mini-murmuring. 

And a small amount of modeling getting done.  This is the model and the prototype.