The Return Of Ratty.

Today has been another lazy day, mostly on account of still being mostly one handed. Also this morning we had a friend called Pat come to visit so I was being sociable. I noticed during one of my trips to the garage for logs that it appears that the rat is back.  I caught it pilfering the apples a few weeks back so I moved them out and the rat has not been seen since but as I say I've noticed that there is evidence of a return so the trap has been baited and set so we will see what happens next.

I took this picture of the sunrise whilst on this morning's dog walk. This is as it came and not enhanced with any kind of filters.

I sowed some herb seeds a couple of weeks ago so I was pleased to see the Parsley has germinated. It's actually for work but as there is no gardener there at the moment I brought them home to look after.

Visiting.

 Today Vicki and Fallon went down to Coventry to pick up Vicki's mum who is coming to stay for a few days. On the way down they called in to see my mum so I gave them a pottery Robin planted with Hyacinth to take for her. They also dropped off a wreath for my dad's grave. It was meant to go before Christmas but plans changed so we never got a chance.

A wreath for dads grave which Vicki made.

Merry Christmas.

 Timothy - Michael says Merry Christmas! He is very happy with lots of presents to open and a nice log fire to lie by. We hope your Christmas have been this joyful.

Merry Christmas From Door Face.

 Today has been a better day with regard to the weather. Mostly clear skies and no wind. The first picture was taken this morning from outside our house.

Part of today has been spent wrapping Christmas presents, I haven't felt able to do it until today on account of my hand that I hurt last weekend after a slip on the ice.

This next picture is a fun thing. I was looking to take a picture of Vicki's decorations around the front door when I noticed how much it looked like a face. I added the pink tongue just to finish the job off.

Below is a picture of my hand as it was at the beginning of the week. Although still a little swelled it is now much improved.

J and L Seeds, Sub Arctic Plenty.

 I suspect that Christmas is a time of year, perhaps more than any other, when people carry out certain traditions, very often unique to only themselves. I am no different in this respect one of which I carried out today. Every year for many years now, before packing up the gardening until after the new year, I've made a small sowing of Tomato seed. It's way too early really as it is still a long time before the conditions are right for growing Tomatoes properly. However provided the seed germinates it is possible with a little care and trouble to bring on the plants to eventually fruit. Usually I just sow a standard variety from seed left over from the year before but this year I have brought a variety called Sub Arctic Plenty which as the name might suggest is especially suited to cooler conditions. Below is the name of the seed merchant for anyone interested.

J & L Seeds

I only require two or three plants which hopefully this amount of seed will provide. I will germinate them on a window sill in the house before moving them to the greenhouse.

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.

We Three Trees.

 Now that we have a house with more room we have gone for three traditional Christmas trees this year.

This first one is in the dinning room.

This one we have in the sitting room.

Finally the third one is in the hall. This is the one we have the presents under.

Preparing and Storing Geraniums.

 It's been bitter outside today so I took the opportunity working in the greenhouse to clean down and box up some bedding Geraniums that I lifted from our garden a couple of weeks ago. I don't suppose it's cost effective to save them except they are of a colour combination that we like and I may not get then again this year so in that respect they are worth keeping.

In this first picture you can see the untreated plant, lots of dead and decaying matter which must be removed.

In this next picture is the finished article ready to be boxed and stored. Apart from removing the rubbish from the plant I trimmed back to some young shoots.

Here you can see them boxed and ready to be stored on a shelf in the greenhouse. They are packed a little closer than I would have liked but I don't have a lot of room to spare so I'm hoping they will be okay. I placed a little compost around the roots, this will be kept pretty dry through the winter.

Of course the head gardener was on hand to supervise proceedings. 

This work was carried out at our own house and not work.

Out With The New, In With The Old.

 I got to work today and was told that the new head gardener has quit his job after only eight weeks. I don't really understand why as he was planning new projects right up to the last time I saw him which was only five days ago. From what I've been told it sounds like he couldn't cope and has had some kind of a break down.

So today I am back in charge of the gardens so I decided to tidy up this Ivy growing on the wall by the garden house.

It was just a matter of giving it a bit of a trim to keep it under control.

A Different View Of Christmas.

 Below are a couple of pictures of our Christmas trees taken from outside the house. I thought it was a different way of looking at them.

Dogs Are Christmas.

 A couple of pictures of the dogs and a reminder that dogs aren't just for Christmas, in fact our dogs make Christmas.

Tess relaxing under one of the Christmas trees.

Timmy in one of his favourite places which is half way up the stairs.