Decorated For Christmas.

Today I will show you some of the Christmas decorations we have in our house for this year before it's to late. This we have on one of the sideboards and it makes me think of a little alpine village.

This is a more distant view of it, you can also see some of the other items brought out for the festive season. The tree you can see with the lights is new for this year and was bought from a local garden center. The lights are permanently attached.

This is the book case with various bits and bobs added for Christmas.

In the other corner is the nativity set  along with some festive metal work.

A more distant view which also shows this years Christmas tree.

The sitting room mantle.

This is the kitchen window all dressed up. It sort of makes you wonder whether to go to all the trouble before hand but once done you can see the value of it, the place would certainly be a lot more subdued without it.

All this of course is the work of Vicki, all I did was bring in the tree and erect it - oh yes and I also carried down most of the boxes of decorations.

A Tidy Up

12:25pm

Me and Tom just went for a little walk to the horse field and back, the wind is very blustery, I don't think either of us have any cobwebs left on us.

2:14

I have been doing a tidying up job on my desk. Judging by the amount of stuff on it I think it may have been last Christmas since it was last cleared.

Boxing Day

8:40am

Got up and dressed, I could have stayed in bed longer but Vicki was up and busy so I would have felt guilty. We have family coming today so I do need to get moving as there are things to do..

12:10pm

My family have just arrived for the day and we are enjoying another round of present opening which Tess likes to get actively involved in.

 5:12pm

Tommy guarding the chocolates.

'The old fool can have the chocolates but I'm having the fire'.

7:10am

My family left for home. We settled down to watch Gangsta Gran which is a bit of a TV spoof.

11:24pm

Time for bed now after another great day, I always find it a little sad that the main part is now over for another year, it comes and goes to quickly and it seems to become more about shopping and less about Christmas. 

Christmas Eve

4:16am
Another Cappuccino and 2 at 4 moment with Tommy which is not to bad for the next couple of weeks while I'm off work. While I was out with Tommy Tess has taken the opportunity to take over my bed no doubt thinking, 'waste not want not'. She sure has the knack of making me feel guilty at turning her back out of it but there is no way I'm sleeping on the floor.

4:05pm

Fed and put the bosses dogs to bed. As the boss is away for Christmas i along with other staff are caring for his dogs. They are regarded as working dogs so live out in the stables, no warm fireside or presents for them this Christmas.

6:17pm

We have just enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve tea.

Time For A Break.

17:58
That's the end of another year in the garden for me. I finished work at 4:30pm this afternoon and I won't be returning until in the new year. I have offered to feed the sheep and the dogs but I will keep a record of the time I spend on those jobs and add the time to the end of my holiday. I look forward to this break as I see it as a relaxing holiday. I enjoyed the holiday in Italy in October also the one to the Isle Of Wight but they were far from relaxing.

10:04am
This morning I lit the fire in the garden house for the beaters who accompany the shoot. This is the first time I have had to light it this year on account of the weather being so mild.

09:22am
I fed the dogs this morning but no one seemed very interested in eating anything. Scampi eat her food but she will usually eat anything and then throw it up if she is I'll so I only gave her a little bit. Tess didn't eat anything and Tommy only eat a very small amount.

04:42am
I am up with Tommy which is a regular thing these nights, which feels like a bit of a nuisance but console myself by thinking that one day I myself will probably be causing someone the same problems. I just have to be patient with him because he can't help it. I will make a drink and take it back to my bed.

Tess Is Much improved.

13:12pm

I am pleased to be able to report the Tess is returning to her normal self. We took her to see the vet last night and she seemed to think that she had caught a bug from somewhere so she has prescribed some tablets for her although she hardly seems to need them to be honest as she is back to eating and bouncing off the walls.

Tess (Taken 24/08/2013).

17:48

Most of today has been spent raking up leaves. I'm a bit behind with this job due to the leaves hanging on for such a long time this year. 

19:36

Just watching the last episode in this series of Ripper Street. This has once again proved to be good if a little violent at times viewing.

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Sheep Culling

8.00am
First job this morning was to meet the farmer and his workers up at the sheep field in order to round up the sheep and then pick out the old and the male lambs to be culled from the flock.

 

09.50
Unfortunately Tess still isn't eating and doesn't seem to be quite herself so we are taking her to see the vet today sometime.

11.10

I have Tommy working in the garden with me this morning, he isn't so mobile these days but he still enjoys coming in the garden with me.

15.48
Tess has to be at the vets by 17.15 so we will hopefully have news of her problem by then. I thought maybe she was a little better at lunch time as she was wanting to come to work with me but when I tried her with some food she made no attempt to eat it so I've left her at home.

11 Dec

11 Dec, 2013
08:05
Rating: ----- Category: Business
Seeing to the dogs. Fed Blondie, put the dogs in the garden, cleaned the kennels,
freshened the bedding, put down fresh water, prepared the meals for later. Bumped into Adam so had a bit of a chat with him. He asked about what time I was having off plus how much Christmas bonus I get, I got the impression he was quizzing me on half of someone else.


08:40
Rating: ----- Category: Business
Fed the sheep. Took across some hay, checked and counted them.


09:16
Rating: -----
Category: Work Book
Making some markers for the four new trees up the narrow baulk so the person cutting the hedges can see where the trees are and so no cut off their tops.
10:08
Rating: -----
Category: Work Book
Got some Parsnips and Apples for the hall.
11:34
Rating: 4
Category: Work Book
Made a start on laying new gravel in front of the garden house.
15:35
Rating: 3
Category: Work Book
Took Tess and went marking the trees with the markers I made this morning.

Tommy & Tess

A morning walk with Tommy and Tess.

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To Big

It looks like someone needs an extension to their home.

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Parcevall Hall

http://www.parcevallhallgardens.co.uk/

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Forced Rhubarb

A few posts ago I showed you the old chimney pots that I am using to force some Rhubarb so in this post I will show you the results. So far I've harvested two lots like you see in the picture.

Spring Daffodils.

The past few days have been very Spring like with lots of warm sunshine which has shown the Daffodils in all their glory. The whole garden has been coming on a treat over the past two weeks - there is still no sign of the apple blossom though. In some ways that is a good thing as the nights are still chilly and close to being frosty. Because of this I am having to cover the Peach and Cherry trees which I have growing against a brick wall. I think the bricks probably hold enough heat to hold off the frost but I cover them just in case.

Quite A Way Behind.

As some of you know we have had one of the coldest Spring times for many years and  I think the pictures below show what the result has been on the garden.

This picture was taken earlier today.

 

This picture was taken two years ago almost to the day. It will be interesting to see how long it will be before the apple tree is in full blossom this year.

Things are actually starting to warm up now and already things in the garden are starting to move which has resulted in me making a first cut of the lawns in the courtyard.

Chimney Forcing Rhubarb.

In the picture I posted yesterday you probably noticed a chimney pot on the border. This is my attempt at forcing rhubarb which apparently tastes better when forced. You can get properly made pots for such a purpose but I managed to acquire a couple of chimney pots last year when they were refurbishing the chimney's on the big house. The makeshift top is a clay tile that I found lying around the potting shed yard.

As you can see there isn't a lot of action just yet but I'm sure that now the chimney pots are in place things will soon start to move.

I was asked yesterday how Tommy is doing, my initial reaction was to say that he's doing fine but on second thoughts I'm not sure he has ever been doing just fine. Anyway he is still as cantankerous as ever, still barks when I leave him for any length of time, still has stiff joints, more recently though he has become deaf as well which in someways is a blessing as he is no longer terrorised by bangs and such like. His latest affliction is to suffer a stroke, I'm not really sure what effect this has had on him, there is nothing that really stands out. Having said all that he seems happy enough and like to come out in the garden with me although I only take him now when the weather is half decent as I don't like him to lay around in the cold on wet ground. Of course he has competition now as Tess has also discovered the delights of gardening, she thinks it's all about playing ball, to her a garden is not a place of relaxation. As much as I like to take Tess I feel that in favourable conditions that Tommy should get the first choice because he has done some good work in the garden in the past and I don't think he has that much time left to spend in the garden so best to make the most of it.

A Good Day For Working.

Today has been the first spring like day that I can recall so far this year and it was a pleasure to crack on with some proper garden work. I can always find plenty to do but when the weather is not so good it's not always a pleasure. Recently I've been busy forking over some of the borders, the one below is what I know as the east shrub border, there is a west and middle shrub border and as the name suggests they are mostly occupied by shrubs of various kinds although the odd flowering plants does manage to find a home among them from time to time. Also in this border there are three old apple trees and some rhubarb.

A wet day job.

Today we had more snow plus a bitter east wind so I thought bench painting would be a good and worthwhile job for today.

25th February

Onions

Tooday I got some onion sets planted. I've planted them in to modules as the ground is still wet, cold and covered in snow. This way they will get going and will be well on their way when the weather picks up enough for them to go outside.
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