No One Is Moving.

 It's a miserable day outside - grey and wet. So much so no one is moving from their beds and any suggestion to do so is greeted by very dirty looks.

No More Football.

Today head gardener Timothy-Michael has had to go back to the vets as there is little or no improvement with his leg so he had to go and get kncked out so the vet could give a proper examination. He doesn't take kindly to vets, they only have to look at him and he growls at them, not a good patient at all. Anyway they have found that he has torn some ligaments in the knee of one of his hind legs which is quite serious and could need an expensive operation if it doesn't mend by itself. He has to have six months rest and is most likely the end of his footballing career. Knowing Timothy-Michael niether of which will be something he would wish for.

Also today I put in an order for my retirement greenhouse. We have a big outbuilding with a pretty boring wall so I've decided to go with a leanto style greenhouse to go against the wall. I also figured that when I no longer require it as a working greenhouse someone can make use of it as a sunroom type building should they choose. The diamensions are 16 feet by 8 feet so a reasonable size although not as big as the one I've been used to at work but my new garden isn't anywhere as big as the one at work so I think it will be okay.

The picture below is of the leanto from the website. Mine will be plain aluminium with white glazing bars. Done in colour the cost would be a great deal more so I chose to have a larger size than a pretty colour.

Painting The Dinning Room.

 Today we have been painting the dinning room walls. When I say WE I mean Timothy-Michael and I. Although as I said previously Timmy is under strict instructions not to over do things on account of his injured leg.

The first job was to piant around all the edges and corners which proved a more difficult and time consuming job than painting all the rest of the walls. I still have some work to do on the radiator but I ran out of time also I can't get properly with the brushes I have so Vicki is going to fix me up with something else which she says will do the job. Lets hope it does or we may end up with a stripy radiator.

There's No Fooling Timothy - Michael.

 I finished work last Friday until in the new year so me and the head gardener are spending this week doing some work up at the cottage. One of the first jobs was to stack up some logs that we had delivered last week. I didn't have time to do it when they were delivered because I had to get back to work. I wasn't really skiving off as such as I am going to be feeding sheep and stuff over Christmas and New Year so I will more than make up for lost time then but I don't like to abuse a situation and I have plenty of time this week to stack up the logs.

Unfortnately the head gardener is not going to well at the moment as he has hurt one of his back legs. The vet doesn't seem to think he has torn or broken anything but he has several different lots of medication to take and has to rest as much as possible. There is one particular tablet that he has taken a dislike to and it's proving to be a challenge to get him to have it. Mostly he will take his medicine in cheese but not this tablet, he knows it's in there and just spits it back out. I even ground it up and put it in milk which he likes but there's no fooling him, he wouldn't take the milk. I've had some success today by dripping it in marmite and then wrapping it in cheese and then leaving it in the corner somewhere for him to discover for himself and so far that is working out okay.

Kicked Out.

Me and Timmy sent the weekend over at the cottage. Because we are just finding our feet there at the moment the ok only heating we have is a couple of log burners which go out during the night and when they do I end up with Timmy trying to move in to the sleeping bag with me. This picture was taken in the morning after I vacated it - I think he had ideas about having a lie in.

Timmy Found His New Spot.

Today we went over to the new house for the first time since getting the keys to the property. As we aren't moving in properly until April we are just taking a few things over a bit at a time in the cars as and when we go. Today's visit was mainly to take a look around the place, take some measurements and make a few notes as to what needs to be done, mostly in terms of decor and what have you. Of course I will be doing lots of work in the garden but there is no desperate rush with that at the time being. Another reason for the visit today was to take the dogs over to see how they liked it and as was to be expected they were quite eager to explore, especially Tess who was in to everything. Timmy was his usual self and very calm about it all and soon found his new favourite place which was on the top of the stairs. This was no great surprise as he is often to be found keeping an eye on things from the top of the stairs back at our old place. 

Timmy's has a new favourite place with a view out across fields.

Timmy soon found his new favourite place and was very laid back about it all.

A Bit More Ivy Trimming

There hasn't been a lot to report this past few days as I must confess to having been taking it easy due to feeling a bit under the weather. I'm not a doctor or anything so I'm not going to blame the covid jab that I had but the day after having it I've been having this underlying tiredness about me plus aching and shivers. It almost feels like I'm coming down with a bad case of the flu but it never develops into anything further. I rested up for a while and it went away and then last weekend it came back again. I feel like I am much recovered again this morning so I will try not to take on to much for the rest of the week and hopefully see the back of it as I need to get things done.

Anyway here is one of the jobs we managed to get done. Another Ivy trimming job. I cut this all back last year so it was just a maintenance trim just to bring it back to the desired level. 

In the picture below you can see that in just one year the growth has covered the gap to the top of the wall and is also growing over the top.

These are the tools that I find useful for Ivy trimming plus the hedge cutter or a pair of garden shears to clip the face of it if need be. In this instance there were only a few long ends that I nipped off with the pruners which is why there is no hedge cutter in the picture. The pruners are an old pair as they can get abused a bit scraping away and the stone work and what have you.

This is the finished article. We also pruned the roses in the border once the Ivy was cleared and then we weeded and forked the soil 

Pruning The Poets Wife.

 One of the jobs yesterday was to prune the Poets Wife roses in the front garden. I had thought of clearing up a few leaves yesterday as the trees are mostly clear of them now but it was quite windy so I thought I would probably lose control of them if I started moving them around. Anyway we did a good job with the roses and another one less to do. Below are the two rose beds of The Poets Wife roses, the head gardener is on hand to offer advice should it be needed.

Also yesterday I removed some of the rubbish from last weeks work in the rose garden. I would usually clear everything like that up for a weekend but there is no one around these days so I couldn't be bothered rushing round trying to get it done on Friday as I felt it was more important to get all the roses pruned. On the way over to pick up the tractor and trailer I came upon Tess trying to organize a tennis ball. Well she loves riding in the trailer so I loaded her up and took for a ride to the rose garden. But that's it once we arrive she loses all interest in the garden and wants to return home so as it was break time by now we all went for a coffee.

Below Tess is shouting at me to get going, she is very bossy and impatient, I can't get going fast enough for her. Thankfully she shuts up once the wheels start rolling.

Reclaiming The Steps.

 Today we have been tidying up this little corner of the courtyard. Mainly it involved trimming and removing Ivy from the steps that lead to a loft in the tower. The Ivy had grown part way across the steps and also underneath them so we gave it a good trim and got it back under control.

I used to trim this Ivy once a year but as with the borders I was doing earlier in the week the job got neglected because someone else decided to take over so for a number of years now nothing has been done with it.

After the Ivy trimming we tidied up the little border with the conifers in it which wasn't a big job, it was just a matter of removing a few weeds and trimming a couple of small Box bushes. The head gardener is telling me that it's time to go home, he's had another busy day both with gardening and keeping an eye on his mate Radley. Radley is a West Highland terrier who lives across the courtyard from us and sometimes he runs around the place like a naughty lamb therefore has to be rounded up. So what with watching him and watching me Timothy - Michael has had a busy day.

Tower Cottage Border Work.

 This past couple of days the head gardener and I have been tidying along the wall by Tower Cottage which is in what is known as the Courtyard. The border has been neglected for the past few years because at one point the people who rented the cottage took it over which was fine until they left and the next people never bothered with it so I am going to reclaim it because it's making the place look untidy. So below are some before and after pictures of the work we have done. We also do various other jobs throughout the day as well just in case you are thinking it's not much to show for two days work.

The wall you see in the first picture was completely overgrown with Ivy, we took all this back a few weeks ago so this week all we had to do was the border work. This involved forking out all the weeds, putting a new edge to the lawn and various bits of pruning. Also the tennis ball needed rounding up from time to time.

The head gardener inspecting progress, I think he seems quite pleased with what we've achieved.

There was a Holly bush that had been planted to close to the two shrubs at the far end so I moved that up to this end of the border. 

The head garden is taking a break while I take the pictures.

Hard at at work.

The head gardener hard at work this afternoon digging over the Dahlia beds in the memorial gardens.

If I stare at him long enough

Timothy - Michael thinks that if he stares at me long enough he will get a piece of chicken sandwich - he was right.

In He Jumped Just Like That.

In He Jumped Just Like That.

This is our 7th day of having Timothy- Michael stay with us.

This is our 7th day of having Timothy- Michael stay with us. In the main he is fitting in very well and although there have been set backs the general progress is going forward at quite a pace. So far there are 3 main problems we need to work together on and they are possession of toys, and maybe other things. Twice now he has attacked Tess after attention was switched from him to her and it's quite upsetting when that happens.

Spending more time alone. He can be with me alot of the time at work but not all the time. He'd been fine by himself for an hour or so but on Thursday afternoon he took to the work tops in the kitchen and broke a couple of vases and was quite upset when I got home. I had introduced a crate in to the area in the morning, not to shut him in but to make him a doggy cave like the one Tess has so whether that spooked him or whether he just loves being with me so much in the garden I don't know as I haven't forced the issue since thinking it best to let the memories of the other day fade away.

The other problem is the car. He is quite afraid of it but needs to lose his fear or he will miss out on holidays, days out on the hills and getting spoilt rotten by grandma and grandad. I know I could just get hold of him and throw him in but I would rather he chose to go in of his own accord.

On the plus side he has stopped marking both indoors and out. He has a place in the garden to go and a couple of places on our walks where he is encouraged to go and he seems happy with that. I do often remind him when indoors but mostly when we sit down he also does the same, no more pacing.

He is happy to follow me around when working only wandering off now and again and he usually comes when I call him although I don't feel confident in letting him off on walks yet as he sometimes shows an interest in pheasants.

He is also showing more and more interest in playing with toys, in particular balls. He likes to push them around with his nose and feet and throw them in the air which is quite a joy to see. I try to throw the ball for him but for some reason that frightens him, he backs off and walks away. He seems to have a strong instinct for owning things so maybe he sees me as claiming it as mine and so moves away.

Timmy with his work ball, he has a nice new red one on a rope at home.

Cheeky Boy

Timothy-Michael back at work after his visit to the hairdressers yesterday. He surprised me yesterday when I discovered him walking round the garden with one of Tesses tennis balls in his mouth. Up until then he had shown no interest in balls. This morning I left him alone for an hour while I did some chores and came back to find he had been playing with my old shoes so I'm going to find him some stuff to play with. It's good to see him slowly coming out and showing his real charactor. He's a very cheeky boy who already has me trained to open the treats cupboard door.

Timothy Michael.

Here are a few pictures of Michael, who has been re-named Timmy. I had nothing against the name Michael but all our dogs have had a name beginning with T so we thought it would be good to keep up the tradition.

As you will see from the pictures he has started to make himself at home in the garden, he enjoys coming to work with me whenever he can which has been most of the time this week. It's nice to see him settle down and be quite content just to listen and look around. Tess has never been able to do this, if I don't keep her occupied with a ball she either goes and sits by the gate waiting to go home or she is off doing things which is okay as she never does any harm but it's not much company for me. So I find it nice to have company and reminds me very much of Tommy in this respect.

We knew before we took to Timmy that there would be things to overcome and this has turned out to be true. The least desirable of his habits was his desire to mark with wee. I noticed this when walking him at the rescue but it also continued indoors when we got him home. He left his mark several times on the Sunday evening and many more times on the Monday so I looked up some information on it and decided to watch him every second that he was on his feet and every time he took an interest in something tell him, 'No wee wee'. I don't suppose at this stage he understands the words but I think he knows what I mean because the last two days have been completely wee free indoors. It might seem a strange thing to do but I try not to allow him to wee when out on a walk. Because he is confined by the lead for the time being his wee wee place for the time being is anywhere in the garden so I give him time to go before I put the lead on and leave the garden. After that there are to be no wee's. I allow him to sniff but move him on before he gets chance to mark and then say, 'good boy'. I don't know if this is having any affect or whether he has marked everything he wants to in the house but since I started there have been no more accidents indoors.

The other problem I need to sort out is his reluctance to get in the car. I'm wondering if he associates this with being moved to various different places and left there. If so hopefully as he travels to more places and doesn't get left there he will become okay with it. He is a bit stressed when travelling but so far has not made any mess which is worth a great deal.

Collecting Michael.

Yesterday we went over to Wiccaweys to take a look at Michael and as everything went alright we ended up bringing him home. Everything is at sixes and sevens at the moment but he is a good natured boy so I'm sure things will turn out fine in time. The worst problem he has at the moment is his desire to mark what he thinks should belong to him so that is the first thing that I need to work on.

Daughter Fallon, me and Vicki with Tess and Michael taken at the rescue place.

Me with Michael.