Wow we are a third of the way through this first month of the year already. Before we know it Christmas will be here. Only joking, I need spring and summer first. It has felt like spring today. It was 50 degrees and very bright and sunny with no wind so quite glorious really. Shame Simon has to work as today would have been ideal for beginning on all the work in the garden.
There is loads to do out there. Simon is going to extend the garage which means that first he will have to take out a raised patio area behind it before he can level the ground and get in a base. There is also a very large paved area at the end of the garden which has to come out as that will be the veggie growing area.
On top of all that we also have to replace the entire fence. We knew that it was bit rickety and weak so we were thinking that we would have to do it this year but had not planned on right now. Last Wednesday night when we had those very high winds we lost several panels which were smashed to smithereens. What a good word that is ......smithereens!
Anyway, where was I ? Oh yes, fence panels. Simon got 4 delivered on Saturday morning and set to work on repairs. All was going well and the job was nearly done when Alfie realised that the dog next door was out in it's garden and he plunged through a weak spot further down that we hadn't even see. A huge fight between the 2 dogs took place. Simon hadn't had time to do anything except grab his tail. Of course he couldn’t hang on to that! Nor could he get through into next doors garden as the fence had been repaired.
Our new next door neighbour Anne struggled to separate them and got her hand bitten in the process! I was so upset. Fortunately both dogs were OK and Anne’s hand once cleaned up wasn’t as bad as we had first thought, it is just a flesh wound that didn’t need stitches. Alfie came off worse. He has puncture wounds in several places on his face and a nasty little chunk out of one cheek. However once he was cleaned up we could see that stitches were not needed and we have all the necessary stuff to keep it clean and help it heal. It is looking much better today.
Prior to this incident we had discussed with Anne the possibility of replacing the entire fence in the summer holidays. We have now all agreed that it needs to be done urgently for the safety of all dogs! This means that we will now have to pay to have it done rather than Simon doing the work himself so it is going to cost and arm and a leg. Because of the recent bad weather the local company is very busy so we have to wait 3-4 weeks. This is a pain as I can't let the dogs into the main garden only into the concreted area outside the back door by the garage. Loulou is not happy.
I have had a lovely day today. I got the housework done nice and early so have had the rest of the day to myself. I have been sorting out and organising in my sewing craft room. I also got started on a Herman Friendship cake. If you don't know what that is then see my friend Chris' blog she posted about Herman yesterday. My Herman is currently growing on the kitchen windowsill. The photo shows him just starting......
After that I started covering a little box with some fabric and Mod Podge. It is going to be a pot for one of my cacti. While that was drying I decided to walk to the village shop as I need a few veggies for dinner. There are 2 general stores in the village, one with a post office. It would seem that neither one has fresh vegetables! Oh dear. I am used to being 5 minutes walk from a supermarket.
The post office shop said that they do get some in on a Wednesday but only the basics like potatoes and onions. Hmmm, OK. I need to be organised. They did tell me that there is a man at the very far end of the village who sells veg from his house and has an honesty box for you to leave the money in. I will go there another day. Didn't have any cash today.
LOL. Cash has been another problem here. I am used to never having cash, never usually need it and if I did, well there were banks and cash machines at my local shops.
Last week I had to go into Peterborough on the bus to meet Simon after school as we had an appointment with our solicitor to sign our wills. It was only as I was leaving to go and catch the bus that I realised I had no money! There are no cash machines in Morton! Cash back? They didn't seem to have heard of that! As luck would have it the post office was open and I was able to use my card to get cash from there. However I need to make sure that I always have some in future because if that post office is closed then there is nowhere at all to get money.
So now I have had to rethink dinner. It's going to be a quick one I think.... some rice and veggies with turkey burgers. Not quite the same as the lovely home made shepherds pie that I had planned. I did enjoy going out as I haven't done much of that so far. There are a lot of birds around. I walked past one house that had bird feeders in the garden and the birds were going crazy singing their little hearts out. It reminded me that I must get Simon to go to the allotment and bring my feeders home. Must get my nest boxes up too.
I took a couple of photos while I was out but they are not that good. The first photo shows a sign that I noticed on the wall not far from the post office. I am intrigued. I couldn't work out what it was going on about so I am going to have to look it up!
This next photo is of the Village church St Johns. I want to find out more about the history of the church and village but it will have to wait for now. The church is at the other end of the village from our house and is where the bus turns around.
Here are a few views down the street. This is going towards the post office and you can just see the sign for it on the left.
This is going back towards my end of the village.
The photos aren't that good so I will try to get some better ones soon. OK, I'm off now to give Herman a stir and make some coffee. I'm going to sit and do some embroidery before it is time to start on dinner.
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