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.

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.

Wordless Wednesday. You Throw, I'll Catch.

Wordless Wednesday - Chill Dog.

Chewy Present.

Merry Christmas to you all, have you been having a good time?

We've been enjoying ourselves, we've had plenty to eat and drink, lots of presents and family to visit us.

Below are some pictures of Tess enjoying one of her many presents.

Watching.

Okay - so who's looking at who?

A short walk along Stanage Edge.

Last Saturday Tess and I went for a little walk before going to spend the day with my parents, here are some of the pictures we took for you. Here Tess is watching some sheep, not that she was very concerned about them.

House on the moors, it looks like the sort of place someone should base a novel on.

Waiting - Tess waiting for me to finish my cheese sandwiches, she just wanted to get going.

Tess was fascinated by the rock climbers clinging to the rocks - this was the first time she had seen humans on leads.

The way back to the car.

Looking towards the southern end of Stanage Edge.

Cider making and walkies in the woodss

Today busied myself making some mixed berry cider, I've been brewing ale for a while now but this is the first time of making cider so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. This is a mixed berry variety and comes in a kit so I wasn't crushing apples all day, it was just a matter of mixing the ingredients.

The cider kit.

After this was done it was past lunch time so I decided to take Tess for a walk in the woods where we had a picnic in the sunshine. This was a place Tommy never went as we have only just discovered it so things weren't to bad.

Some Wood Anemones we spotted along the way.

A nice place for a picnic, and apparently its also a nice place to play ball - can you spot it?

Tommy & Tess

A morning walk with Tommy and Tess.

Sent from my Windows Phone

To Big

It looks like someone needs an extension to their home.

Sent from my Windows Phone

Big Sticky

Believe it or not this stick is just the right size for a Border Collie to play with - according to Tess.

Sent from my Windows Phone

Tess's first adventure in the hills.

As you will know if you read my diary blog last Saturday I took Tess on her first trip to the moors. She did very well and I think she enjoyed it, for sure it got rid of some of her energy as she lay down all night when we got back home. Anyway here are some of the pictures I took along the way.

I don't think she was too impressed with the picnic site.

Nearly back at the car.

Border Collie Rope Dance.

I've spent most of today pruning the Pear trees against the east wall. It's getting time to winter prune both the Apple and Pear trees although with the mild autumn I don't think there is any great rush at present. Everyone keeps on telling me that the Pears here are of no use, I've even been instructed to buy a new tree this year but the truth of the matter is that there is actually nothing wrong with the Pears at all, it's the people trying to eat them straight from the tree as they do Apples. I can tell you now, they are actually very nice Pears provided you do as you're supposed to do and leave them to stand after picking for a week or two. Another thing about Pears is that they don't keep as long as Apples although having said that I still have a supply going which I will sustain up until Christmas, the Apples however will last in to the New Year.

I've had the deputy head gardener helping me at work today, the head gardener being confined to warm dry places  for the winter months due to his arthritis. Because the deputy head gardener is still in training she has to be confined with a piece of rope but she doesn't mind and seems content to sit and observe most of the time unless there are slugs and worms to be eaten. There were a couple of occasions this afternoon when she took pleasure in performing some sort of rope dance routine for me, a video of which can be seen below. 

 Theanne and Baron asked if my latest theme is going to be permanent or will I revert to the theme I've had for the past year. Well I will change this for something different in the New Year as this is really a Christmas theme. I'm not sure what I will change it too, I'm pretty sure it won't be the one I had all last year as that is now the theme for my diary blog. I do like that theme though so if I get fed up of doing the diary blog it may make a return here one day.

To Kill Jenny's slippers.

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good weekend. We had Vicki's mum Jenny come to stay for the weekend which was nice but unfortunately I've come down with a cold so not been able to enjoy things to the full. Nevertheless I went out for a meal with Vicki, Fallon, Jenny and several of Vicki's friends from church. I really don't agree with going out in to public places knowing that I'm ill as it doesn't seem fair to inflict my suffering on others by passing my germs on to them but I did go so sorry if I gave you a cold.

Whilst we were out the devil dog struck again, this time her dastardly deed was to kill Jenny's slippers. She had a passion for destroying footwear when she was a puppy but of late she has moved on to bigger prey and we were only saying as much to Jenny that morning, it seems she must have been listening in on the conversation and decided to teach us a lesson.

Today I have been mowing the front lawn which is quite amazing really considering the time of year but this is due to the continued mild weather. Believe it or not we are still awaiting our first frost of the Autumn. It was this time last year when temperatures were plummeting to record levels and we were just about to have the most snow in thirty years.

Tied to the job.

Just recently when circumstances allow I have been taking the deputy head gardener in training with me to work for a couple of hours. During her time with me she has to be fastened to a swivel peg and a length of line otherwise it tends to be party time as far as she is concerned. Even on the end of a line it’s amazing what she can get up too. In the two pictures below you can see she has managed to find an apple from somewhere and is enjoying it, it kept her quiet for a while anyway.

On Saturday I took her to flyball training which was a bit of a mix up to be honest because the captain emailed us a list of events through winter to spring and according to the list they should have been at a competition last Saturday and so Fallon made plans to go and play hockey and I was destined to stay home and finish off getting stuff ready to send to the accountant. Just to show an interest more than anything I mailed the captain on Friday night to see if I had it right about the competition and on Saturday morning there was a reply from her saying they weren’t bothering with it so that meant there was flyball training after all. So even though it was short notice I decided to go because Tess hasn’t been for weeks what with holidays and her operation. It was all a bit of a rush because I have to take Tom for his walk before I go so it meant that I didn’t get breakfast or even a drink. I wouldn’t have minded this even if we had done something when we got there but all she had us do was jump one hurdle and get the ball off the chute, we did this four times and that was it, she called it a day using Tess’s operation a month previous as an excuse. This is fair enough except when she isn’t at flyball Tess spends all day bouncing from one piece of furniture to another and turning summersaults and doing handstands. I keep going and am enthusiastic beforehand but on return disappointed feeling like a spare part. I think they are happy to run Fallon and Tess but I reckon that’s about it.

Tess playing.

After posting pictures of Tess yesterday I thought today I would take a short video of her playing with a few of her toys. She is very funny sometimes when she throws them around the room and then runs round to retrieve them. Sometimes though she goes a bit mad with the throwing and they end up next to Tommy and then she will sit there looking at me to retrieve them for her, I don’t think she likes to risk getting grumbled at by her uncle Tommy!

Today I finished off tidying up the potting shed which had got in to a right mess over the summer. I usually do tidying the potting shed on a wet day but there wasn’t any such days all summer so things just piled up on benches and various other places where things could be piled up. Anyway everything is now shipshape for the time being. I also took out the rest of the summer bedding from the troughs and other containers in the courtyard before spending the rest of the day clearing leaves from the front lawn. I would like to lift and store the dahlia tubers but I’m still waiting for them to get frosted. It’s recommended that they are left in the ground until the frost blackens the tops but I think if that doesn’t happen soon I will lift them anyway because I keep thinking about the way the weather turned so quickly last year. If that was to happen again this time and they were still in the ground it could be a disaster, I only just got them out with a couple of days to spare last year. Maybe this week will be their last.

Dog and roses.

I thought that as I haven’t posted any pictures of Tess recently I’d better put that right so I took these two the other night during our evening walk. I call it a walk but it’s turned in to a half mile leash walk followed by a one mile game of ball which isn’t easy on a narrow track when the light is fading fast although I think we have done quite well because so far we’ve only completely lost one ball in the past week although we have spent quite a while looking for them on occasion. It’s amazing how easy it is to lose a tennis ball in undergrowth. There have been a couple of times now when I’ve just about been ready to give up when Tess has sniffed it out right from under my nose. Anyway that’s all good fun and not only gives Tess a bit of extra running but also takes her mind off chasing rabbits and other things. The ball game is then followed by another half mile walking to heel or at least in the region of my heel, there are times when she get led astray by something rustling in the undergrowth.

Tess guarding the ball from some idiot who keeps 

throwing it onto the long grass!

Stop messing around with that camera and throw the ball please.

I also realise I haven’t had much to say about the gardening of late, the main reason for this being the lack of anything to talk about. Since returning from our holiday I’ve been spending a lot of time renewing a big rose border on the north front. When planting new roses where old have been growing you really need to renew the soil before the new roses go in so I spend over a week doing that moving 90 loads all by hand, that’s 45 out and 45 back in again, it was a back breaking job that is for sure. One hundred roses arrived last week which I have just got finished planting. There are fifty each of ‘William and Catherine’ and ‘Queen Anne’, I just have to go over the border and fork out the foot prints now and the job will be finished and I can then hopefully get on with some normal Autumn work which I have fallen behind with.

The new rose border.

Queen Anne Rose

 William & Catherine Rose

Who's bed is this?

Come on guys move over, its my bed when all's said and done.

-- Sent from my HP TouchPad

Flyball Training.

Hello everyone, Have you had a good day? Today I have been lifting the potato crop at work, I am pleased with them as there is a good amount of large ones which seem sound and blight free. It always pays to keep an eye on them through the winter though. The other thing is to find somewhere cool dark and frost free, oh yes and be sure to watch out for mice or even rats, both of which are good at sniffing out food as winter sets in.

As promised below is the video of Tess doing a couple of runs during last Saturdays Flyball training. If you turn up the volume you can hear Fallon shouting encouragement.

Flyball Training.

Hello everyone, Have you had a good day? Today I have been lifting the potato crop at work, I am pleased with them as there is a good amount of large ones which seem sound and blight free. It always pays to keep an eye on them through the winter though. The other thing is to find somewhere cool dark and frost free, oh yes and be sure to watch out for mice or even rats, both of which are good at sniffing out food as winter sets in.

As promised below is the video of Tess doing a couple of runs during last Saturdays Flyball training. If you turn up the volume you can hear Fallon shouting encouragement.