In the garden in the sunshine.

More gardening. Moving shrubs and dividing flags. 

And the magnolias have started to flower. 

Spring is all around.

And the lupins are filling out nicely. 

I have been splitting logs all day ready for next winter!

The chairs in the doorway are to stop the sheep coming in - their food supplies are kept in the stable. 

Back in the garden.

We have been in Cumbria for a week visiting Arthur. The weather was good but cold. We had some trips out to various lakes but mainly stayed in the warm. 

Bassenthwaite Lake

Out in the garden the grass is still quite yellow from its waterlogging over winter but everything else is starting to grow. 

More rabbit protection

And seed planting. 

A lovely day for cutting the grass.

And everybody benefits. 

They are eating the grass cuttings. 

This is the home-made bulk grass collector. 

Working hard.

We have fitted a key safe to the garage now - a lot safer than hiding a key in a shed!

See if you can guess what the number is! There will be a prize for the first correct answer. 

Clearing fallen branches and scrub trees from the sheep field. 

And work on the next bed to get the rabbit treatment. This one will have flowers for the house.

A different kind of rail.

No, not a different gauge, a different species! The rail reappeared on the pond today. It was early and the light was poor but very exciting to see this rare water bird back in the garden. 

What is not so rare in the garden is pesky rabbits. So today I started making more rabbit-proof beds, today's is for plants grown from cuttings that have over wintered in the polytunnel. 

An indoor day... Even though the sun was shining occasionally.

A washing machine day. Out with the old, in with the new. But only after drama! The stop valve on the cold water feed had failed which led to water, water everywhere until I got to the outside stop tap. 

And then a little light varnishing - renewing the coating on a couple of doors. 

Plus some walling for a model on the club layout. 

Weekend away.

We have been away since Friday, visiting friends in Great Witley (near Kidderminster) then on to Birmingham so Kate could see Helen on Mothers' Day. 

Some catch up jobs in the garden including potting up some bushes that Kate was given as Mothers' Day presents. 

Not gardening weather.

So a few days of odds and ends. Mending things and not mending things I.e.the washing machine. 

We had a murmuration of starlings - this is just a small portion of the flock. 

A certain amount of modelling too. This is a mine for the layout at the railway model club. 

Mainly built from kits but cobbled together. 

Working.

Today was 'turn over the compost heap day'. Not everyone celebrates it but round here we like to join in. 

The sheep enjoy eating the broom plants that I am trying to make a hedge out of. They reach through the fencing and tear off branches. So I have come up with a cunning plan to stop them. Chicken wire. We will see if it works!

Furry logs!

Some of the logs have an extraordinary coating of moss!

But they still get sawn up.

But the moss, when shredded in the blender, looks like a pretty good grass substitute for the layout. 

Still a lumberjack...

Chopping logs. 

I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok ...etc.etc.

Chainsawing logs - some of this is the tall pine we felled at Glyncoed and the rest is from the tree felling we did with Neville. 

There is a rhyme about a child

That goes something like ' when she is good she is very, very good but when she is bad she is awful'. The weather here is a bit like that. 

A good day to prune the apple trees. 

And a little light scenery for relaxation. 

Busy and engaged!

Busy. 

We had a busy week with Helen, Steve, Immie and Jack for the weekend. Then Bella and the three boys during the week. Unfortunately both Kate and I came down with a tummy bug...

But this week we are much better! No gardening but a little light modelling.