Merry Christmas Fallon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FALLON!

I'm going to have to stop talking about you on here now LOL!

Lots of love from Dad, Tippy, Tommy & Scampi XXX

Spare A Thought.

Hello Everyone, I hope you're all okay and looking forward to the Christmas break and we must spare a thought for those who don't get a break over Christmas, the fact that they don't get a break is a measure of their importance and this is something that needs to be recognised by all us lesser souls.

We have Jo and David coming over in a minute for Christmas Eve supper so that will be nice as we also have my parents here too so I'd better get off back and join in the fun.

Happy Christmas to you all,

Bob.

Tough Guys.

Low Temp: 2C
Shady High: 6C
Direct Sun High: 12C
Weather Today: As you can see from above today has been much warmer than of late due mainly to teh sun putting in an appearance for the first time in a week.

Todays picture from our Scotland Holiday was taken at Dalmally, we called in here to take a look in the gift shop and church, the gift shop was open but unfortunately the church was close.

I couldn't help notice in the garden how well the Geraniums have stood up to the cold weather we've been having. I've always considered them to be tender plants but is seems that isn't so as the ones in the picture are no less that 20 feet away from a thermometer that took a reading the other day of minus 6C and these aren't the only ones to survive. I have small group that survived all last winter planted out in the border and are still going well to this day.

Stolen Purse.

Low Temp: -6C
Shady High: 3C
Direct Sun High: 3C
Weather Today: Another dull, cold day

I hope you all had a good weekend. I enjoyed my time off although we had a bit of an upset on Saturday evening when Fallon called from town to say that someone had stolen her purse so had no money for a taxi home. Unfortunately they also got her cash cards and driving licence along with a few other things. When Vicki got there some police were across the road so she went over to them to tell them but they weren't really interested telling her to go to the police station, no doubt they had more important things to do.

Today has just been another one of those tidy up days for me. I had to go to the farm for another gas cylinder so I also picked up some more hay for the sheep as I don't want to be running round for hay during my holidays. I wasn't really looking forward to going as the tractor wa playing up last time I went but after a bit of a cough and splutter it didn't go to badly. I will need to get it looked at after Christmas though as I need it to be running properly for when the grass starts growing again.

Fallen Angel.

Low Temp: -4C

Shady High: 1C

Direct Sun High: 0C

Weather: As you will see from the above its been another cold raw day and the interesting thing to note is that the direct sun registered lower than the shady high, I think that must be because the censer for the shady high is a bit more sheltered but for sure it shows there hasn’t been a glimmer of sun all day.

Jeanette asked about the deer in last nights post. As with all the pictures at the start of the posts the picture was taken during our holiday in Scotland, at the moment these were taken during our visit to Loch Tulla.

Today I’ve been doing a few odd jobs at home. Someone from the church broke an angel so I’ve been sticking the pieces back together again, I’ve not done to bad a job and feel just about ready to tackle Humpty Dumpty any time soon.

Partly repaired, the body having

just been glued to the plinth.

Almost done, just the tip of one feather to add.

I also put up a curtain rail in the bedroom as Vicki has made some new curtains to go with the new wall paper, I will take a picture when she has the curtains up.

That’s about it for today, its been a quiet day.
Bob.

The Answer.

Low Temp: -1C

Shady High: 4C

Sunnyshine High: 4C

Weather: A cold day, no sun to make any difference to the the cold.

Thank you all those that took a guess what Tippy was looking at, I guess I am a bit of a tease but it was a bit of fun wasn't it. I forgot to mention last night that there was a cheque for a £1000 waiting to be posted to the first person who commented with the right answer. Looks like I'm going to have a Merry Christmas now doens't it cos I get to keep it all to myself - Yippee! Anyway enough stupidity for one day, here is what Tippy was looking at - 'The Misunderstood Dog.

I was only joking about the prize money by the way.

Y'all have a great day,

Bob.

What's Tippy Spotted?

Who can guess what Tippy has spotted? Tune in tomorrow if you want to find out.

Low Temp: -3C
Shady High: 8C
Sunnyshine High: 12C
Weather: A bright sunny day after a cold frosty start to the day.

Yesterday and today I've been tidying up and forking over the shrub border that backs on to the veg garden. There were a few shrubs that needed bringing under control before I could do the forking so I got those seen to and burnt up.

We have some of Vicki's friends from Church here today, they are wall papering the bedroom for us, I think it's been a bigger job than they first thought. I must confess to having no DIY skills whatsoever which is why reinforcements are needed.

Digital Flower Pictures made a comment on yesterdays posting about scotland. I know he lives a long way of but its well worth the journey and the people are really wonderful friendly people.
Well Jeanette I only managed a shandy at the meal because I was driving my parents and Vicki home. Vicki offered to drive but I thought as she doesn't like driving in the dark also she had been at work all day I would do the driving. Thats my feeling about back stabbers too, I would rather spend my time with my family. Its a shame really as I would like to support the community but thats something which is a two way thing.

Bob.

Decorating For Christmas.

Low Temp: 3C

Shady High: 8C

Sunnyshine High: 10C

Weather: Dry and bright, turned cold at nightfall.

Good day to you all, did you have a good weekend. The little get together went well on Saturday night, in all ten members of the family turned up, it’s a pub in Bakewell that we go to often so we were assured of a good meal, also the landlord of the pub is very good and always makes you feel welcome.

On Saturday morning misunderstood Tommy and I managed to get the Christmas tree up ready for when Vicki had time to decorate it, this she did yesterday after going to church and she is still at it now. She has finished the tree and is doing other bit and bobs around the place now. I will take some more pics when she has it all finished.

Look at him! Anyone would think he did it all by himself.

Sunday, here it only has the lights on so far.

I’m going to finish now and go and give Vicki a hand to bring some of the empty boxes back in to the store room until after Christmas. By the way the Scotland picture is still from the Loch Tulla area, this one being taken from Victoria Bridge which some of you will remember from the West Highland way.

Bob.

Bob's Bloomer Of The Week (Chrysanthemum).

Hi everyone, Some of you will probably remember that before I deleted the previous version of my blog that I was trying to show the top bloomer in the gardens that particular week. I haven’t done this feature since then so I thought that this week I would start again, and so here it is my plant for this week which is the Chrysanthemum. The ones you see in the pictures have been flowering inside and out for several months. They will of course grow outside in the border and give a bit of welcome colour to the back end of the year but her ladyship doesn’t like them so I grew them in pots in the potting shed yard and then brought them in to the conservatory as they came in to flower and as you will see some are still flowering to this day, all the pics were taken last week.

For those interested in checking them out below are a few Chrysanthemum links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_chrysanthemum.shtml
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/i.payne/index.html

I don't know the names of the first two, I got this as a cutting from someones garden.

This is one of my favourites, Vicki got it as a small pot plant last year, I will be sure to take more cuttings of this one in January. I have the names to the next too but I can't rememeber them off hand but I will check tomorrow and add them later.

Bob.

Mum's Picture.

Good evening all, I hope you're all okay and had a good weekend, sorry for not posting last night but Vicki and Jo went somewhere to give a flower demo so I have my mate David over for the night, we had a beer and watched TV, real tiring it was too! I can't give any temps tonight as the battery on my thermometer needs replacing. I can tell you that over the weekend it did get down to minus 3 at one point which is pretty cold for us here.

Tonights picture from Scotland is taken near to Loch Tulla, we went for a run over there on the Sunday.

A couple of months ago I was visiting Merle when noticed a couple of pics she had posted, if you want to take a look for yourself go visit her blog and then look up the Sunday, 9th September, 2007 and you should see the pics I'm referring too. The thing is when I saw them they reminded me of the picture below which my mum has on her bedroom wall. I don't know what you think.

The other picture is of the Christmas tree ornament that I told you about bought in Calendar when we were there on holiday. See Monday, 19 November 2007.

I will be getting off now as my dinner is nearly ready.
Bob.

Callander Main Street.

Low Temp: 4C
Shady High: 8C
Sunnyshine High: 8C

Weather: Another cold damp day, it came on to rain around 4pm.

Good evening everyone, how are you all today? Kimmie tells me that they have snow falling in CT so what the heck am I complaining about, it makes us look like we are having a heat wave LOL! Kimmie also made a good point about the rat poison, its obviously something you have to be very careful with whether you have pets or not because there is a chance that other animals might get to it. Its not something I like to use and wouldn’t do if they stayed away from the potting shed and greenhouses but you don’t really want them around where you have to work, especially as I take the veg in to the potting shed and also make myself a cuppa. Anyway to set your mind at rest I only put the poison out at night when the potting shed is locked up, during the day I lift it and lock it away in the chemical cupboard.

Tonight’s picture is of Callander high street, I know its not very inspiring and I promise there is much better to come but I’m showing them in order so as not to make things too confusing – when you get old you don’t want anything that resembles confusing. Anyway I wasn’t going to show this pic but I though you never know maybe the likes of lets say Merle or Jim might like to see what Callander high street looks like on a Saturday morning so here it is, this is the last picture from Callander because from here we drove round to Loch Lomond which is near to where our cottage was situated. Before leaving we both decided we needed to go to the toilets. I know, its not something you generally want to hear about but the funny thing was that when we got there you needed to put a 20 pence coin in the machine to get in to the toilets and guess what? Neither of us had a 20 pence coin! Luckily there was an attendant there so were able to get some change from him. Life is just one big adventure isn’t it.

Frankie @ Veg Plot has made a couple of comments one being that I shouldn’t have told you all I was going away or you might have come and burgled me – please, don’t waste your time as I took everything worth having with me on holiday. Besides you’d be lucky to get past lord Dastardley and his merry men. As for the comment about missing the snow we did actually see some on the mountains and it was snowing one night when returning to the cottage.

Thanks for all your comments and best wishes while we were away, it was very kind of you all.
Bob.

I'm Back.

LOW TEMP:
HIGH TEMP: 5C
SUN HIGH: 5C

WEATHER – A very dull, damp and cold day. Occassional rain.

Hello everyone, I can’t say that I’m glad to be back but I can say with all honesty that its good to be able to have a chat with you all again. We had a great time on holiday and I thought about you all lots so took plenty of pics for you to look at. I thought rather than bore you all with a load of pics all at once I would show you one or two each day at the start of the page, I hope that’s okay.

One of the first things we noticed when we got to Callander was how friendly the Scots are, we did already know this from when we lived there and is one reason why we keep on returning but after living here for two years and only having people speak when they want something it was a real pleasure to have people come up to you in the street or shop and just start talking like you were their neighbour or something.

Tonight’s picture is of the river and parking area in the small town of Callander. We arrived there at 9:00 am after a 4 hour drive, I parked up facing the river and took a little nap while Vicki took the dogs a walk. I don’t do much driving at home so I did it all on holiday to give Vicki a bit of a break from it. After a rest and a bite to eat we went a walk around town, Vicki was delighted to see that a Christmas shop has opened up, it was just jam packed with all manner of Christmas decorations, we wanted buy one for our tree but it was a devil of a job trying to decide which to buy. Whilst in there a lady came up to us and started telling us how there is this one department store is looking to hire a Santa for over the Christmas period but they won’t set anyone on that is over weight! I know, it beggars belief doesn’t it but that’s what she said – who ever saw a slim Santa – I think if people keep on getting dafter the way they are dogs will end up being smarter than people.

This afternoon I turned a couple of the compost heaps and then raked up some leaves that had gathered by the conservatory. There are lots of leave to collect up now after being away for a week. I think someone has been tipping them in the garden while I was away!

Well I’m going to go and get my dinner now, its always a good sign when I can hear Vicki bangin’ around in the kitchen.
Bob.

On Vacation - YIPPEE!!!!!

See y'all in a week or so.
Bob.

Unfair Cop.

Hello everyone, how are you doing today? As always I’m real pleased you could find time to pop on over and have a chat with me. Only four more days now before we leave for our holiday in Scotland, I think that will be very good as I am feeling emotionally drained at the moment.

Vicki was telling me tonight about this woman who comes in to the shop. She likes to do a good job on her garden but because of the situation with rubbish collection these days people are dumping their rubbish on her garden, not sure why they are picking on her unless it’s the same old story where some people don’t like to see someone doing a good job but anyway she keeps on phoning for the council to come and fetch the rubbish. Anyway this weekend there was a load more rubbish dumped on her garden and she was so fed up with it that she collected it up and went and put it on the edge of some waste ground across the road ready for the council to pick up and just as she was doing it this of duty policeman came by and saw her and came over and started on her as though she was the one dumping it. He went and read her, her rights and all that stuff and they were sending someone round to see her today! She was really upset about it all. Isn’t it just typical that the police are never around when the real culprits are doing the dumping.

Today I’ve been doing some more painting on the conservatory. I just have a couple more hours work on it then that’s all done that I’m going to be doing for now. I’ve done all the sides so there is the roof to do and also the bit inside the derelict part but there isn’t too much point in doing that until they decide what they are going to do with it, it either wants doing up or pulling down because as it is its neither use nor ornament.

I don’t know if any of you grow brassicas but if you do and you also have pigeons around it might be worth your while protecting them with some netting because as there becomes less food around your Brassicas will start to look like a very tasty meal to those critters.

Well I’m going to finish now as I want to download some music tracks from my computer to my phone, I had to have another cell phone the other week as I went and got water in my other one, it was only a few rain drops but it seems to have been enough to ruin it unless it’s just a coincidence and it just broke. Anyway I’m just going to put some music on to the new one as I sometimes like something to listen too when I’m doing something like painting or pricking out.

Y’all take care then.
Bob.

The Lost & Found.

Hello everyone, I'm a bit late tonight so I won't keep you long. I cleaned, polished and checked the car over in rediness for our holidays which start next weekend. It might seem like like I'm getting in front of myself but with it being virtually dark by the time I finish work I won't have time again before we go. Vicki has to work Saturdays in the shop and Fallon was away playing hockey, she plays in goal and is very good at it apparently, Her team won 3-1 today so anyway there was just me and the dogs home all day so I thought it a good time to get a few jobs done.

When I moved my desk around the other week I didn't bother to plug my memory card reader in as I have a new little gadget for reading my cards so I put the old one away but then today I wanted to put some music on to the memory card in my little hand held computer and I then remembered that I needed the old card reader for that card as its a different sort of card. Well could I find the darn card reader, could I heck as like. I tore the store room apart, I tore my computer room apart, then I went back and tore the store room apart some more but the darn thing was playing hide and seek right and proper. I mean, I wasn't that desperate to do the music today but the more I couldn't find the card reader the more determined I was to find it. Eventually I remembered that I put some of the computer stuff I didn't use in a seperate container so I went and took a look and there it was. Of cousre by then Vicki was home so I still never got the music downloaded yet so I think thats a job for tomorrow.

Bob.

Bubble Wrapped For Winter.

Hello everyone, how are you all today? I’ve had a busy day finishing off insulating the rest of the greenhouse, I also got some of the plants moved. The far end of the greenhouse is the hot or fairly warm part, the first half is cool but frost free as there is an electric heater that comes on to keep it above freezing and the conservatory is a cold house, there is no heating in there at all. It will keep about 3 degrees of frost off thought, I did over winter Geraniums in there last year. If it was particularly cold I covered them with a bit of fleece. I just need to finish off sort what plants I want to go where. I want to get everything sorted out for when I go away on the 10th November.

Today we had the new carpet fitted in the bedroom, so that’s looking smart now. We are just waiting for the new bed to arrive which I think will be Thursday.

Our new carpet.

Well I’d better get going now as Bob is ready for a sit down. I’ve not had one yet as I’ve been going through some things in the store room, looking for a book. There are still some things that we haven’t unpacked since we moved. Anyway as you can imagine I had to go through every box in there before I found what I was looking for. I also had my little helper with me so every box I lifted off the shelf and went place on the floor there was Tommy standing right where I wanted to put it. Everything turned out okay though. Take care and I’ll see you tomorrow all being well.

Bob.

Week 44.

A few jobs for this week.

click to enlarge.

A Lazy Sunday.

Good evening everyone, well its evening here so I'm sticking with good evening even if its still the middle of the afternoon where you are.

Today Bob's been very lazy. You see the thing with me is that I was brought up in a time when sunday was sunday and a special day for it. If you go to the North of Scotland today you will still find sunday is how sunday should be - well how it should be in my opinion. Anyway the upshot of it is that for me sunday has to be different, its a day when I please myself or say to hell with the jobs and sit for hours watching a movie with Vicki or just messing around generally wasting time and definately avoiding B&Q and any other place like it - really I don't need that sort of thing invading my Sunday.

I did rip up a carpet from the bedroom this afternoon as Vicki is wanting to do some painting on her day off tomorrow, the new one is supposed to be getting fitted on Tuesday. So thats it, the dogs will be send to hell and dalmation if they dare to drop one hair on the new carpet. Talking of which I did give Tippy a good old going over with the comb this afternoon as she is malting like crazy, I hardly needed a comb I could have pulled it out with my hands. Now she is laid up in front of the radiator so maybe I over did it with the comb.

Also today I cleared the draws out in my desk, they were full of papers gathered over our time here, most of which were no longer needed so they went on the fire, I never throw papers in the bin.

Thats about it for today, so I hope you're all okay and I will see you again soon.
Bob.

Brodsworth Light Show.

Hello everyone. Last night David and Jo came over and we all went out to see the light show they are putting on at Brodsworth Hall. As you will see from the pictures I took for you various parts of the gardens are lit up by coloured lights. It was very busy with a queue of at least 40 yards long and 2 people wide when we arrived but it was all good fun and I don’t think anyone minded too much even though there was some grumbling about the wait. Once inside the gardens the crowds weren’t bad enough to spoil the event. As you walked up the drive to the hall there was music playing from the bushes, the big Cedar tree was lit up which showed off it’s beauty and behind this could be seen the hall which was lit by ever changing colours. I think my favourite part was the sunken garden area which was lit mainly in blue with palms and other things in different colours. There were lots more to see than what I’ve shown you in the pics, I didn’t photograph everything and I only had my phone with me so some of then turned out a bit shaky but I think you will get the idea.

This morning I had to take Vicki down to the doctors as she was having a bad time of it with her foot, she’d been awake all night because of the pain. Anyway it turns out that its all to do with her arthritis also the doctor says she must lose weight which as you probably know is easier said then done.

News from the village is that someone is proposing a wind farm in the area, there was a meeting about it the other day apparently, the first I heard about it was when someone who is planning on buying property here has had second thoughts and from what they were telling me is going to be looking to buy elsewhere. They are very nice people and wealthy so I hope they find somewhere to their liking without too much trouble. I think they will. With the money they have I’m surprised they wanted to buy here in the first place. The village is middling to good but the surrounding area is at best very average. I know if I hade a million to spend I wouldn’t be looking to spend it here.

Just in case you’ve been reading my other blog and wondering why I haven’t added anything to my journey this past few days don’t worry I intend to carry on with it, I’ve just been a bit busy going out and stuff that’s all.

Best wishes,
Bob.

Bulb Planting & Leaf Raking.

This morning I planted some Dwarf Iris and Alliums in the main garden, I was surprised how cold it was, my hands got quite cold by the time I’d done – it must be something to do with global warming!

I’ve spent most of this afternoon raking up leaves in the walled garden. People often talk to me about raking up leaves as if its some kind of a chore, I have to say that it doesn’t bother me at all as I have a good leaf blower. The tedious job is carting them away afterwards. I take them in to the wood and make a leaf pile which I leave alone for 18 months by which time its made a really good leaf mould for mulching any beds or what have you.

I took these two pics for you this morning when out with the dogs. It was a really beautiful sky in one direction and then when you turned the sun shinning on the village showed the stone houses and church up very nicely.

Today Vicki and Fallon went shopping for bedroom stuff, Vicki is decorating our bedroom so she bought all the wallpaper and some material to make curtains, and she even bought a new bed too. Oh yes I nearly forgot, and she bought a carpet, we have to wait for the bed and carpet to be delivered though.

Before I go I will just remind you to pop on over to see the hiking gardener http://peakdistrictwalker.blogspot.com/ and take a look at the latest instalment of his journey along the West Highland Way. If you don’t fancy reading there are quite a few pics of Scotland for you to view.

Best wishes,
Bob.

Over But Not Out.

It would seem that after saying yesterday that the formula one season had ended that may not be the fact after all as the Team that Lewis Hamilton drives for 'McLaren Mercedes' has decided to appeal a decision by the stewards who decided not to exclude the BMW and Williams teams for running with fuel that was thought to be below the 10 degree limit allowed in the regulations. Had they been excluded from the results then Lewis Hamilton would then gain extra points so making him the world champion. I really can't see the point in any of this, even if the court of appeal find in favour of McLaren Mercedes what pleasure can be had from winning in this sort of way. I'm never really in favour of celebrating second place but really, in this instance it's more commendable. For those who don't follow the sport I will just point out that Kimi Raikkonen drives for Ferrari and was not driving one of the cars that McLaren Mercedes seek to get excluded. As far as I'm concerned the best man won and I hope it stays that way.

Which One For The Champ?

Today is the last race of the formula one season. Apart from it being the last race of the season its also the race that will decide this years drivers title, there are 7 points seperating 3rd place driver Kimi Raikkonen from current leader Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso who is the current world champion is second. Lewis Hamilton is British so I think I would like him to win although I think Kimi Raikkonen would also be a worthy champion too but either way I think it will be very intense, the build up being very exciting, probably even more so than the race itself.

POINTS AFTER 16 RACES.
01 L.HAMILTON 107
02 F.ALONSO 103
03 K.RAIKKONEN 100

Kimi Raikkonen 2007 F1 Champion.

The race is now over and we Kimi Raikkonen jumped from 3rd in the championship to 1st and is the new world champion and it also serves to show that you must never give up hope. As I said in this mornings post I'm not disappointed that he won because I think of the three he deserves it the most. Its all about perfection and Lewis as made quite a lot of mistakes whereas I can't really think of much to fault Kimi on. Being British it would obviously nice for Lewis to have won but thankfully formula one and motorsport in general is not about nationalities so I think people who follow the sport will just be happy to know the right person won.

If you want to read more about Kimi Raikkonen you can do so by clicking on this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One

Picture courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kimi_Raikkonen_2007_2b.jpg

We're Off Hiking.

I’m afraid there won’t be any further posts until Monday as me and Tommy are off hiking this weekend. Anyway I can’t stay, got to pack Tommy’s backpack and find his hiking boots, if I don’t do it he won’t bother. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Bob.