A little painting

As you can see the bulk tank has been removed. I have raked the shingle so hopefully it looks as if there has never been anything there at all. What I omitted to write was that when the man was hooking up the old tank, we got talking and he told me that if I had wished I could have an underground tank but I would have to prepare the ground at my own expense and all Calor would do is then deliver the tank into the hole I had prepared. No wonder most are having bottles .

This morning it was very frosty, one of the few mornings this winter when I woke to see the heavy frost. Tomorrow is supposed to be a similar start to the day. I will have to go to the greenhouse and put some protection over my plants.
 The sun shone but very soon turned hazy, all the same I decided to paint my fencing. I hope it is noticeable the difference between the painted ones and the ones ready to be painted. I found my last creosote. I had 1/2 a 4ltr. tub. I mixed it with old sump oil. The old Farmers always used creosote, diesel and sump oil in equal portions. They always painted their gates and fences with the mixture. what they use now with creosote no longer available I just do not know.
 Anyway I managed to complete the painting of my fencing in the front soon after 3.00pm. I though it was time to give them another coat as it must be 5 years since I last painted them.
 I forgot to mention but I am sure I mentioned it last Autumn that I had saved eating and cooking apple. I always place them in trays in the garage, With this winter being damp and mild, I had many more apples go rotten than usual. I normally get about 20 apples go bad during the winter and the rest will keep until some time in March. This winter however I used all of my apples up just over 2 weeks ago. Both the cookers and eaters lasted until early February. Now I am buying apples. I can't grumble though as I didn't buy an apple from about August last year until recently. More soon.

Tank gone

Around 3.30pm. Calor came and removed my Bulk Tank. I think I have had it for nearly 20 years. It will now be scrapped. By the looks of the state of the tank it was time for it to be scrapped.

This morning I went out and took this photo of a daffodil. This is the earliest I have ever had a daffodil. Last year, with the cold Easterly gales we had for most of the winter it was nearly the end of March before they flowered

 

I decided to take these photos of the polyanthus in my garden. They are about 2 weeks earlier than normal. They add a little colour though.

I tried to do a little digging on my raised beds but with the heavy rain we had yesterday, the ground was not quite dry enough so I called it a day after trying to dig half of the bed. Today though was much better. The mornings are lighter earlier and the evenings are beginning to draw out.

I went for a haircut yesterday and the Barber asked me when it was Spring. I immediately told him March 21st. He looked at me and then told me he had asked several folks and none could give him the correct answer. It makes one wonder if the education is getting worse. More soon.

Rabbit catcher

The other day as well as doing some work on my garden I had a bonfire I lit it on the area of a tree hoping that the heat would kill the tree. By the looks of it I may have succeeded.
 My mate called yesterday and besides removing my fences, 5 in all and taking them up, with my help to the place where I hope they will be re-sited.
He also came up with a different idea to surround my raised beds, unfortunately I agreed and now I find that with his suggestion it means I will not have sufficient wood to do any more raised beds. I think I may just have enough for this bed I am on now.
 With the weather this morning being dull and wet, I didn't do much at all. It was around lunch time that I was taking a few hooks out of one of the long pieces of wood I was replacing. I heard my name being called. It was the man who occasionally comes to catch rabbits. The last time I saw him was I think in early January. He had caught one. Anyway he was just going to put his snares down. I guess it was about an hour later, I was in the kitchen preparing my dinner when I noticed the guy had a rabbit and was disembowelling it. I immediately went outside and waited for him to walk back. I didn't have to wait long. He had 2 doe rabbits and they were looking good. He told me they were heavy and that he had caught 4 today. He also told me that he would not be rabbit catching again this season as they had started to pair up. With the weather being so mild this winter they have paired up earlier than usual. He told me that he would not be catching rabbits again until late August or September.
 I told him that Butchers were crying out for rabbits. He told me that the cost of a rabbit was £4.50p too dear he said but that was the price. I don't think he sells them though. He did offer me one the first time I met him but I declined the offer.
 I find him interesting to talk to and as my ex Brother-in-Law was Farm Manager and during the winter months I knew a little about the Country lifestyle so we can converse on subjects that we are familiar with. Still I am a little sad that he will not be culling any more rabbits for a few months. He will keep calling to shoot wood pigeons though. More soon.

Pottering

This was the state of the orchard part of the garden after my neighbour kindly cut down my Leylandi trees. It didn't look great.                       

 Now with the weather getting just a little kinder I decided over the week end to make a start and as you can see, well I hope you will agree with me that it looks much better. If you look closely you will see a few daffodils.

This part is not as good as I hope it will be when I have completed it.       

This next photo shows what I have done so far. Just levelling of the soil as well as I could as the roots of the tree stumps make that difficult. I haven't laid the ground suppressant yet but it gives an idea as to what I hope all will look like when it is completed. There are several daffodil bulbs there and I will make sure that they will get sufficient light to thrive.

                            

My mate will be here tomorrow, this is the top of my orchard part of my garden and it is my hope that a fence will be erected to screen off the property and also deter the rabbits as they are a nuisance.                      

I had a phone call from Calor a short time ago informing me that the Bulk Tank, which is now redundant will be picked up next Wednesday. A week tomorrow. That will be nice but to be honest I have had it there for so long it will seem strange without that tank at the side of my property. Still it was nice of them to let me know as I need not be around when the tank is being removed. More soon.                                                                                      

 

A little surprised

Today was a much better day than recent days. With the weather being very wet for these last 2 months, it also means that it has been much milder than recent winters. The photo I took the other day shows a few polyanthus in flower. It means that although Winter is still around Spring is just around the corner. I noticed out in the south facing side that the daffodils were in bud, not nearly ready yet but last year they were late because of the cold easterly gales. I hope that the weather will quieten down if only for those poor folks that are flooded and some have been for a few weeks.             

here are my bread rolls, why I am showing them is because the yeast I used was not as fresh as I would like.
On January 22nd. my mate called and bought me some yeast from Morrison's. To be honest I never looked at the best before date. I did ask my mate to take one but he declined as he told me he wasn't making any bread for the next week or so.
 I expected him to be here this week but he told me his Partner had to go to Hospital, I asked if it was serious, he informed me it was a routine appointment. I of course understood. Anyway I decided to look at the yeast as I was getting low with my rolls. I generally cook about 16 and freeze them down. I guess I had about 3 left. When I looked at the yeast it looked fine, this surprised me as it was well over 2 weeks since my mate had bought the yeast. I then looked at the sell by date. I was amazed, it stated best before February 13th. I naturally thought this was incorrect but the way the rolls turned out it must have been right. There are 4 individual foil wrapped portions to the pack. Not bad as it costs about 50p a packet.
Well this was the result of the batch I made. I was so pleased how they turned out that I decided to make a second lot, they were equally as good.
 My problem is that as I get older I don't get the same equal size of roll but they will do me. It doesn't affect the taste. More soon.

Celery Soup

I don't think I have told this tale before. It was seeing soup on the T.V that bought it back to me.
As all will know I had a café/restaurant and at lunch a 2 course meal was offered with soup or fruit juice being the first course.
I had always used Maggi soup mix as to me it was the best, certainly not the cheapest and they had a wide variety of soups. I had 12 different soups. Tomato, Spring Vegetable(a clear vegetable soup)Pea and Ham, Minestrone, Oxtail, Scotch Broth(incidentally my late Mother loved that soup)Asparagus(the least popular)Romany(this was a vegetable mainly made with green vegetables and the colour was green)Celery, Country Vegetable(a creamy vegetable soup)Mushroom, and French Onion. This soup was a dark soup and to be honest tended to taste a little burnt. So I had 12 different types of soup and hard as I tried I could not get another 2 different flavours made by Maggi to make 14. This was my aim so that if anyone stayed for a fortnight and came in for Lunch each day they would have a different soup each day. It was just 12 so that was that.
 I think I have mentioned it before but he started to work with us at the age of 15. My late Father often used to ask if he had a home to go to but I knew that his Parents were beginning to drift apart. Eventually getting divorced.
 As the years went on I gave him more responsibility. When he was about 18 I told him that he was in charge of the soups and he would choose the variety each day.
 I didn't bother him at all until I heard this customer state Celery soup again. With this I took notice and I stated to ask him what the soup was. It seemed that he had a fixation on Celery soup. Incidentally it was his favourite. It would go something like this day 1Tomato, day 2 vegetable, day 3 Celery day 4 Chicken day 5 celery  day 6 Oxtail day 7 Celery and so on. Anyway I tackled him about it and of course he denied it completely. I decided to make sure that it would never happen again. I got hold of him and together we lined up the 12 different variety of soups. I told him that he would start at the one on the left and work his way right each day until he reached the end then he would go back to the start. I told him that from now Celery would now be called Fixation soup. This was called until he left in the 1980s when he was in his 20s. He still calls it Fixation soups even today. More soon.

Bottles installed

Yesterday morning I had a phone call from Calor informing me that today the engineer would be calling to disconnect the Bulk Tank and install the 4 bottles that had been delivered earlier.
 I got up about 7.30am. it was dark and had just started to rain, it was also cold and there was ice on the bird bath, although it was a little above freezing.
 To be honest, I had got up earlier, at 6.30am. to put on my central heating as I didn't know what time the engineer would arrive.
 About 10.00am. I went out to read the dial on the tank, it was perilously low so turned down the thermostat down a little. I don't think I needed to worry for about 20 minutes later the door bell rang. It was the engineer. Not only was it raining but cold and windy too. He first checked the level of fuel in the gauge and told me I had enough for about 3 days, depending on how I used it of course.
He worked well and I insisted that he had a break and a cuppa soon after 11.15am. He told me that his gloves had got wet so that his hands were beginning to get cold and the cuppa was most welcome.
I had a few bits that had been delivered earlier and when he saw them he suggested that he take them back to the depot, to be honest I was thrilled to bits. He asked me if I could get rid of the pallet I of course told him that it was no problem.
As he worked, the weather seemed to get worse, the rain heavier and the wind stronger. He had just about finished when the rain turned to sleet and snow. He managed to complete the conversion just before 12.30pm.
 It is typical because soon after he had finished the rain and snow ceased and soon after 1.30pm. the sun tried to shine a little. Not a good day for my solar all the same.
 Still I feel we have been fortunate over on the East Coast as we have not had the volume of rain that the Southern half of the Country has had. The pictures on T.V. show just how disastrous the weather has been this winter. To be honest the forecast for the next few days give us no hope of a drier period. Let us keep our fingers crossed for better days soon. More soon.

Service

This morning I got up early for two reasons. The first was I had to get my car in for the Service and MOT by 8.30am. The second reason was that my Italian friend together with his wife was meeting me at about 9.30am. and then bringing me back to mine for a drink and a talk, thus making the wait for the service and MOT  a lot less of a hassle. So I had time to prepare all my vegetables before hand so all I would have to do was cook them when I managed to get home after the Service and MOT.
 I managed to get at the Garage just before 8.30.am and told the guy that his Father-in Law would be meeting me about 9.30am. and that I was going to do a little shopping.
 Off I went at a slow saunter making my way to the local Butcher Shop. I was not sure when they opened but I thought it was 9.00am. I was wrong because I arrived a little before 8.50am and they were open. One of the partners informed me that they opened at 7.30am. This rather surprised me anyway I bought a Pork Pie, some sausages(best) some stewing beef, a lamb chop the one with the least fat and some lambs liver. In total around £15. I then strolled back to the local warehouse where my colleague who is Railway mad works. Unfortunately I didn't find him there. I bought some scones and a swede and after talking for a few minutes made my way back to the garage. The time though was 9.05am. I had some 25 minutes to kill but noticed my car was coming out of the MOT place. The guy gave me the good news that the first hurdle had been completed and all was well. Now all it wanted was a complete service. A few minutes later the Owner got in the car and before he drove it in to the workshop I asked him how long it would be, he replied that it would be near Noon when it would be ready. He also asked me if Pas, the nickname for my Italian friend had forgotten me. I told him it was not 9.30am. yet. I went out onto the street and all of a sudden the car with him and his Wife was pulling up beside me. His Wife immediately got out of the front seat, it being a 3 door and went and sat in the rear. I told her that I would sit in the back seat but she insisted that she sat there.
 Off we went to my home and I put the kettle on so we could have a cup of coffee. It was great to see that she had improved a lot. She told me she had been given some electric shock treatment and so far the improvement had been dramatic. Let us hope it keeps that way.
 Around 11.00am I suggested that they go and get their shopping done but Pas insisted that he would wait another 15 minutes just to make sure I didn't have to wait around when they dropped me off.
 Sure enough I arrived back at the garage around 11.40am. and the car was ready. I paid the man and travelled back home arriving soon after Noon. Then started to get my dinner ready. I normally eat around 12.30pm. today though it was a little later.
Around 2.45pm. rang Calor informing them that the Bulk Tank was around 5% full and the switch over to bottles was now ready and at their convenience. The lady informed me that most probably this would happen some time next week but she would contact me with a day. So now I wait, just as I have been waiting for my repeat medicines. I took the repeat prescription in on Tuesday. Normally it is here the next day, sometimes the same day. I bet I have to contact them. Bother! More soon.
Wow!!! The doorbell just rang it was the delivery man with my repeat prescription. He just told me he had got stuck in someone's drive as it was muddy. He had an awful job getting out of the drive. By the way, it is raining now so I don't suppose he will be pulling into their drive anytime soon.

Door fixed

I was surprised to find the door bell ringing just after Noon on Friday. I must say the Guy did telephone me stating he would be at mine between Noon and 2.00pm.
 As soon as he arrived he knew what was wrong and had a piece of sealing with him. He informed me that he had come across this situation the odd time before and thought the cause was because the fitting of the door had been too tight. The bottom piece of seal just clipped off and a new piece was fitted within a couple of minutes. He then told me he would adjust the door so hopefully this problem would not occur again. He was gone within 10 minutes so hopefully all will be well from now on.
 I had a word with the young Guy next door asking him when the fence would be done as it looked like a glorified Builders Yard. He told me that he would be busy with the door which soon should arrive. It is a concertina door that stretches the full width of the extension. I reminded  him that the door would be fitted by the Company who was supplying it. He readily agreed but then said that he had to do all the interior. With this I decided to cover my raised beds with some wood that I managed to salvage from the fencing I had replaced. My mate had cut them in half. Anyway I have been busy for these last few days starting to box them in. I have noticed that many of the lengths of wood are in a very poor state but hopefully will get sufficient to do 4 of my raised beds.
 I must admit the weather theses last couple of days have been kind to us on the East Coast, not at all on the West Country and South Wales, they have had the brunt of dreadful weather and to be honest there are no signs of it improving soon.
 I rung my Italian friend last night. To my surprise it was his Wife who answered, it was nice to hear from her as she has been ill for some time. The long and short of it is, that both will meet me at his Son-in-Laws Garage on Thursday morning and bring me back to my home where we will have a coffee and chat thus making it much better for me as waiting in a cold draughty Garage for about 4 hours is not recommended. More soon.