Bits of this and bits of that.

Hello folks!  Hope you are all well.

Firstly, I'd like to say a big hello and welcome to my new followers (waves) it's great to see new faces here, and though my posting is somewhat intermittent I hope you enjoy them!
(I do try to contact you personally, but sometimes there isn't a link I can use.)

The weather has been lovely for the past couple of weeks and there has been a lot of catching up on jobs going on here at home.  There have been visits to the doctors with Mom - still no news of when the Memory Clinic will FINALLY be in touch, but again they've been chased up.  She is in much the same condition with her memory (or, lack of it!) and the battle continues as to weather or not daily tablets have been taken :o(

Life seems to pass by in a whirl with no time to sit and enjoy...anyway, I have managed to find a few bargains.  It's been so long since I found them I've forgotten the cost, but I do know that none were over £3 (and I think Mom has problems!)

There was this dear mirror mosaic bird which stands around 4" tall

and

A Portmierion candlestick

Surprisingly, I found some Willow Pattern too ;o)

This 4" high sugar bowl (?) without a lid, soon to be filled with a small plant.

and finally..

You know I love glass...

A stained glass window hanger around 6" diameter,

and yes I do remember it cost me £1.50.

* * *

We have been feeding/caring for our hedgehogs as always, and we are having on average six visiting each night - and have had as many as eight!  I'm afraid I have been remiss and not took many photos, but here's one I thought you may like.

She (Mavis) peeping round one of my compost bins.

All of the released hogs are visiting, and Archie is the one that comes every night...we hear his loud snuffling long before we see him!

The Bark butter I make for the birds is gobbled up in record time, especially by the starlings - BUT I do have a warning for you should you decide to make it too...

I have a sneaky feeling that it contains some sort of Starling Viagra, as last Sunday morning I was woken up early (5.35am) by the sound of loud, raucous birds calling and chattering in the garden.  I decided to get up as it was SO loud, and greeting my eyes when I opened he blinds were SEVENTEEN young starlings and their parents - all tucking in to the bark butter!  It was not unlike Hitchcock's The Birds ;o) 

Here are just a few I managed to snap a few days later..

Of course, what comes with having so many birds visiting the garden?

This is two days worth :o(

UGH!  You should(n't) see some of the plants...

Plans are afoot though, the bench has to be rebuilt as a lot of the wood has rotted, once done I have a cover for it so that we can always find a clean seat!   The chair (2nd photo) has totally had it and is bound for the tip!

The house martins have finally arrived :o)  We thought they were going to build a nest at the apex of the roof, but it wasn't to be.  Here they are checking it out though.

They have nested on quite a few of the houses in the Crescent, so we can still enjoy their aerobatic swoops over the garden as they feed :o)

I also have frequent visits by a couple of Jackdaws who are certainly camera shy, I did however manage to get a couple of shots off the other morning through the bedroom window.

but it looks like this one is suffering from Avian Pox like the Great Tit I used to have visiting :o(

I shall report it to the RSPB as requested.

* * *

I'm glad to say that the resident Frogs are back in the pond.  I have had some (huge) problems with the dreaded Blanket Weed, but have discovered a natural killer that works without harming the pond life.  Cloverleaf Blanket Answer and then followed up with Pure Pond soft bio-degradable balls placed inside the filter once the water had cleared, both products were recommended by the aquatics centre I use .  I will add the products to my new 'Recommended by me'  page.

* * *

There have been lovely, warm evening when we've 'escaped' for a few hours over Cannock Chase

(just 4 miles from our home) and spotted some wildlife...

Sika Deer

Fallow Deer

Fallow Deer

A lonesome Rabbit

The best view I could get of a (rarely seen around here) Jay.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy these trips, they soothe the soul.

Well, that's it folks!   All for now.

Best wishes

xxx

P.S.

Thank you for all your comments, I do love to receive them and read them all :o)

A project, a mouse and a beach.

Though overcast it isn't raining (yet), but I had occasion to pop outside in the downpour yesterday and guess who was sitting sheltering by the pond and looking totally fed-up with the weather?

 He made me laugh out loud!
(focus not too good as it was howling down)

Do any of you remember the cream painted wash board I got from Dagfields around a year ago?

Well I've FINALLY done what I was thinking of doing with it, hanging it on the laundry door (with a little tweaking!)

(Sorry there's no natural light here in the back hall way.)

I've given the wash board a couple of coats of light blue emulsion and a dry brush over with grey.

I've had the wash tongues for years, and I've been on the look out for the 'Laundry rules' at a bargain price - finally found on e-bay for a song.

(If only they worked!)  I just added a couple of pegs and Bob's your Uncle :o)

As you know it was my birthday, and (lovely) Hubs had ordered my gift that arrived this week.

The tissue paper may be a clue?

Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson :o))

Now the word 'furniture' may be a little misleading, because what I wanted was...

a breadboard, with it's signature mouse and adz marks - it is after all hand made. 

Isn't he cute? It's going to be a real family heirloom.

  I have followed the directions and lightly oiled it with sunflower oil ready for use,

that's if I can bring myself to cut on it!

Hope the little chap cheers you up as much as it did me.

I did manage to get my feet in the sea last week and it did me a power of good.

We had a (wonderful) day out at Fairbourne Mid Wales on the opposite side of the estuary to Barmouth.

I really needed to re-charge my batteries.  Walking along the pebble beach for me is the ideal way to do it, and it's been too long since I'd done it.  Of course I bought a few more pebbles back for the pond ;o)

and found some interesting rocks - I love the different lichens.

I found a large number of shattered slate roof tiles, and crawling across the was a HUGE Fox moth caterpillar

Then on closer look there were more in the grass.

They were around 3" long and as thick as my little finger!

We watched as the Fairbourne Light Railway chugged past us :o)

Then we went a ride further down the coast - looking back along the coast road towards Barmouth

and then the view out to sea

Bardsey Island is on the far left of the photo, and looking out towards the Lleyn Peninsular.

Then on to Tywyn  to the sandy beach  

Where I had a paddle ;o)

and a view of the groynes

Aah, that's MUCH better!

Welcome to my latest followers - So pleased to see you here :o)

See you all soon, best wishes

Late addition - an apology

I'm sorry if I haven't been replying to emails to 'secondhandrose' address, I've only just discovered that there was a blip and I hadn't received any since Mid AUGUST!  I've sorted it out now (fingers crossed x)

Please accept my sincere apologies, I'll try and catch up this evening - but I've over 100 to go through.

Rose x

New Pond....eventually!

Hi Folks :o)

 

Had a busy couple of weeks again, finally the new pond is 'up and running' ;o)

 

Here's a before, the previous 'puddle' sized one - it holds around 50 gallons (200 litres)

 

 

I had to 'strip it down' ready for our builder to come and dig out the other 'half' of the hole for the new liner.  This is how it looked after I had removed the rocks and stones from around the edge and along the waterfall.  I went on to scrape back the gravel too as I wanted to re-use it.

 

 

(The blue ring, which is around 8" diameter is used for feeding - the floating fish food is placed within it's sections and prevents it floating all over the surface, this makes it easy to remove any uneaten food.)

 

We then had to empty out the pond, carefully saving the water so that after removing this liner we could replace the water in it for the one remaining fish to live in until the new pond was up and running.

 

 

This is a Ghost Koi Carp.  He's just a foot long!   We've had him for the last ten years - he was around 5" when we first had him.  We also removed 5 large frogs which we put back once the liner had been lifted and filled.

 

 

One had already made his escape into the garden by the time I took this.  The next one to make a break to freedom was the one on the far left - it's HUGE, around 4" across!  The one on the far right is almost golden in colour, and is by far the most vocal of the group.

 

 

The new liner sits next to the hole that the old liner was removed from.  The old liner is behind.

 

(Now, here's where I admit to not taking any photos of the rest of the hard work of digging- out.)

 

Mark, (our lovely, reliable builder who has done quite a few jobs for us over the last few years) arrived with his son Bradley on the arranged day - it was raining hard :o( A little later younger son Reece arrived too.

The mini-skip (dumpster) arrived on time, the only problem is that our house in in a crescent, and the houses are arranged in such a way that the road access is to the rear of the properties - the pond is positioned at the front, with only pedestrian access.  Poor Mark and Bradley had to wheel each wheel-barrow full of dirt around 500 yards to the skip!  There was a LOT of dirt to remove...

They worked on through the rain, (warmed by plentiful cups of steaming hot tea) and by around 1pm the new liner was in position.  Mark had placed 45 gallons of rainwater from my water butt into it to ensure it had bedded down correctly and was level.  (The new pond holds 150 gallons, 600 litres when full)  He tried very hard to clear up the mud from the paving - but as it was still raining, I told him not to worry about it and I would hose it off once the rain had stopped.  I settled the bill and Mark and Bradley left for home, I imagine to have a nice warm shower and get into some dry clothes as they were  both soaked through.  At around 3pm the rain had stopped, and of course I decided to hose down the paving before starting to replace the stones and gravel.  By the time I had finished I too was muddy and wet!  I tidied up a few other things, and watered the plants in the greenhouse and went indoors to get dry and change into clean clothes....BUT I didn't turn off the water supply to the hose pipe :o( 

To explain, the water wasn't actually 'running' when I left it -the end fitting on the hose is a 'gun' type, and the water is turned off unless the trigger is squeezed.  Hubs came home from work, had a quick look at the new pond, and was as happy with it as I was.  We sat and chatted for a while with a cuppa, then watched a TV programme I'd recorded.  Two hours passed before I went back into the garden. 

To my absolute horror the water pressure had built up and had pushed the fittings completely from the hose which had run for around an hour and a half unchecked.  The garden was flooded, in fact part of next doors garden was flooded too, and the new pond liner with its 45 gallons of water was floating 8" above ground level instead of sitting snugly in it :o(  I was rendered speechless!

We decided the best plan of action was to leave well alone for an hour or two, to allow the water to soak away before starting to tackle the problem - the hole that Mark had so carefully dug and shaped had caved in around the sides, so that the liner would not just 'drop back' into once the water had soaked away.

We went back out after another couple of hours, the flood in the garden had soaked away, but the water in the hole had only dropped 4", so the liner was still floating 4" above ground level.  We couldn't leave it overnight as it was as I was very concerned about our hedgehog visitors falling in and not being able to get out again as the sides were so steep.  So I had to bail-out the 45 gallons out and replace it back into the water butt so that we could reuse it later.  Then we lifted the liner from the water filled hole.  Then we bailed out the muddy water from the hole until there was just about six inches deep of mud left - ugh!   (The hole is 32" deep!)  I made it as safe as I could by placing metal grids on the sides (Which by now were sloping in) so that any unfortunate hedgehog that dropped in had a very good chance of escape.  I was on tenterhooks all night long, and kept getting up to check that all was well.  Next morning I was exhausted, but happily, no hedgehog had come to any harm overnight even though it had rained again and the water had risen in the hole. 

I had breakfast, but couldn't get the mess in the garden off my mind, so I decided to ring Mark and ask advice as to how to tackle the devastation.  He said it would be best to leave the water in the hole alone until the weekend when we had the time to tackle it, as rain was forecast again and as the bottom half of the hole was clay it wouldn't soak away... Then, we'd have to dig out all of the soil that was sodden, replace it with more earth and sand, then shape the hole again before replacing the liner.  (This was pretty much as we'd feared.)I thanked him for his help and advice, and prepared to go out for the morning.  I returned home at around 3pm, only to discover Mark and Bradley in the garden replacing the pond liner!   I was again rendered speechless.  When I could finally speak, and through tears, asked them what on earth they were doing, Mark's reply was "I'm helping a friend."  I just couldn't believe his kindness.  I insisted I pay him for the work, he argued that he hadn't done it for payment, and didn't see why I should pay twice as I hadn't asked him to come back.  I of course insisted he accept payment, and told him that there wasn't words to thank him for his kindness and care.   He has a truly golden heart :o)  An hour later the liner was replaced, the pond was FILLED with water, so there was no fear of it floating again, and they left for home apologising for the mud on the path!

So, on Saturday hubs and I visited our local aquatics centre for advice on which was the best filter, UV light and pump to use with the new pond.  They were as always very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.  Over the last ten years things have improved in leaps and bounds - they now make combined pump, filter and UV light in one unit.  We decided upon a Hozelock Easyclear unit, (which I can highly recommend)  and a new pre-formed resin waterfall.  Then, we replaced the stones and gravel, and set up the pump and waterfall.   Oh, I forgot to say the new pond is 6' x 4'.

 

Finally, here's the 'after' photos...

 

 

And the waterfall

 

 

 

and some of the new fish!

 

 

 

 As you can see the water is crystal clear :o) and safely netted against herons and hedgehogs taking a dip.

 

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post :o)  I appreciate tham all.

 

Also, a sincere welcome to Jenny my 100th follower!  I shall have an upcoming giveaway to celebrate as promised! 

 

Sending very best wishes to all.