Shopping Around.

Although the forecast was for a sunny day this morning the only sun to be seen was shining down on the hills of Snowdonia (or at least some of them). Later the sun broke through the clouds and brought some welcome warmth which increased as the day went on.

This morning I had Cody again but maybe because I made sure to lengthen my stirrups to my preferred rather long length, I was a lot more comfortable and doubt if there'll be any after effects.

Today we worked on shoulder-in. At times I found it difficult to communicate clearly with Cody but we eventually got there. I prefer to aim for gentle co-operation with the horse rather than using strong aids which I guess are needed when you're working with a school horse rather than your own but that's just the way it is. 

Somebody posted on the Borth FB page looking for two people who would be willing to exercise a couple of local horses regularly. While that initially sounds ideal and is how I rode horses in London when I was in my twenties no doubt you would also have to commit to mucking out and generally looking after the horses as well which I know would be too much for me.

 

After riding I did the usual round of dump, shops and town. I've started buying extra following govt. advice to stockpile two weeks supply of food in case there are supply difficulties. The suggestion was also to have food you can eat even if there are power issues. They're stating that extreme weather could cause these problems but who knows what the Russians will do or even have done already? Since I'm able to buy extra each week I might as well to be on the safe side.

For immediate consumption this afternoon I stewed another large bag of apples to go on our morning porridge. We do like a bit of fruit with our porridge Currently we add blueberries or blackberries, stewed apple and banana with sultanas and chia seeds cooked in the porridge.

A few days ago I got a letter from the RAC with details of my automatic renewal for next year's breakdown cover. When I ploughed through the figures I was shocked to see that it was going to cost £377! We haven't called them out for over 7 years and yet the price continues to rise every year. Since we've always had older cars it has been a sensible precaution to have breakdown cover. I know that a few years ago when the renewal was nearly £300 I got a quote from the AA and it was almost identical. But I thought I'd try the AA again and was astonished to find I could get cover from them for £76. That was for basic roadside assistance so I added on 'take the car to any garage we name not the nearest one and take the vehicle's occupants to their destination' and 'replace broken or lost car and house keys' which brought it to £92. That's a massive saving. I know that the price will jump next year but I can shop around again when the time comes.

Wet.

The day began warm and grey but dry enough for me to spend some time in the garden.

I've begun cutting back the crocosmia before I move them over to the other side of the garden as they didn't do well in the raised beds during the hot weather. Also the big lace cap hydrangea that forms part of the hedge is getting too exuberant and is being cut back as the blooms finish.

Next I pulled up all the mint that has happily been growing through the herbaceous beds. It gave the garden a cottage garden feel and provided food for the bees and butterflies but now it's time for it to go. I don't mind if more appears next year to add to permanent mint bed and a number of planters of different varieties of mint.

 

By the time I finished with the mint it was raining steadily so I retired indoors to play the piano, do some paperwork and generally potter about. Luckily the rain has stopped for the moment as I'm about to head down to the hall for disco aerobics.

Oops !

We had heavy rain and strong winds last night, I found a few things blown around the garden this morning but once again it's been a pleasantly bright day.

This morning Pete took the car for its service which along with a wax treatment to the underneath means that it won't be ready until tomorrow morning. Together we'd worked out that today would be a good day for this as I wouldn't like to miss my Friday riding lesson.

It was only half an hour ago when I went to organise my bag that I realised I wouldn't be able to go to choir tonight either. I'd even been practising some song parts that our choir leader had sent out for a tricky song we worked on last week and thought about what I'd be wearing. Not so much in terms of a fashion parade but thinking about how warm or cold it would be in the large village hall we practise in. Oh the joys of getting old and forgetful. 

I picked another three pounds of tomatoes this morning. It's getting hard to find space in the freezer for the bags of frozen tomatoes that look and sound like billiard balls. Soon I'll have to start cooking them down into a herby tomato sauce which has so many uses.

I've also been doing some diy jobs. First off was to use the resin filler to repair the garage windows from the inside. As soon as my neighbour's bush is cut back I'll repair the outside of the windows and paint them. I did a bit more general sorting out in the garage too. Little and often is my method with that job.

Years ago I saved some galvanised metal mesh from the builders thinking that it would be useful to cover the open drains below the gutters but it was never a priority job. I got round to the first one recently and today I did the other two at the back of the house. One of the drains doesn't lead to any drainage system but is simply a soakaway into the garden. However years of leaves and dirt falling into the drain had created a stinky anaerobic sludge, lots of it. Almost half a bucketful which I cleared out by hand. I knew it was only rainwater from the roof but it was not a pleasant job. Hopefully the mesh will keep the worst of the vegetation out in the future. Afterwards I still had some mesh left over and went to check one last drain on the street side of the house. To my dismay this drain which takes water from two sides of the roof looks to be another soakaway. There are actually two holes, one which the gutter from one side goes into is definitely a soakaway and the other one - needs investigation. Thank goodness for heavy duty rubber gloves. But I shall do that job on another day.

While the drive was empty (that should have given me a clue that I wouldn't be driving tonight) I cleaned out the drain that stops water getting into the garage. I clean this one regularly but it does fill up with dirt and what seems like a thousand valerian seedlings blown in from my neighbour's garden.

I feel I've achieved quite a bit today. Just a shame about choir especially as I had practised the tenor part of The earth says to the earth. (The last tricky line is missing from this recording). It's a hard one to learn as a choir but satisfying when we get it right.

'Hello George.'

After a night of torrential rain today has been windy and quite sunny (and warm) too. I chatted to someone at the zoo who is staying in a caravan in the holiday park behind us and she said that she thought her caravan was going to be blown right over last night.

My idea of putting a dumpy bag over the garden gate worked a treat and first thing this morning I gave it a second coat of 'proper' varnish which has dried nicely in the wind.

 

At the zoo the first thing I did was to plant more mint along the boundary fence. I like having mint in our front garden but now is the time to take out all the mint apart from the 'mint bed'.

Above - the new fence around the mountain goats' enclosure is almost done so hopefully no more wandering. At the moment the gaots are confined to the paddock area (the bit with the trees) so that work can continue. Before I left I spent some time giving one of the goats a scratch on his head and neck. I never remember their names and usually call them 'the stinky boys' as they can be a bit smelly at times but I noticed their ear togs are numbered 1 and 2 so maybe I'll call them Goat 1 and Goat 2 ala Dr Zeus.

I spent most of the time weeding the gravel by the ferrets, one of whom came out to say hello, and other odd bits in that area. The recent rain has caused so many seeds to germinate that I couldn't pull up each one but had to be satisfied with turning the stones over.

George the cockatoo was in a very chatty mood today. I spent some time interacting with him before I left and there were lots of 'Hello George', 'Goodbye' and 'What are you doing?' some of which sounded very much like S, another volunteer who talks to him a lot.

One lady asked how old Mr Pea the peacock is as she had fond memories of seeing a peacock on a visit 19 years ago. None of us knew how old Mr Pea is as he was here before the current owners bought the zoo. I've just had a look and apparently peacocks can live up to 50 years in captivity so he could quite well have been the one she remembers.

I haven't done much since getting home apart from preparing my supper (Peter is off on a curry night with the rowing club) and getting ready for Pilates which starts up again after the summer. Despite my best intentions I have not managed to do a daily exercise session using one of Rachel's FB reels so I guess it's going to be hard work tonight.

Read First !

Photos from yesterday.

Today has been warm and windy but not that sunny.

In the morning we met up with our friends to practise our Welsh. Class starts again next week so in anticipation of a revision lesson (which is what our tutor usually does after the summer break) we went back over some earlier units.

 

A small yellow darter.

When I got home, after dropping Pete off to play pool, I thought I would take advantage of the good weather. First I went round to the neighbours' front garden so that I could cut back the corner of the hedge that I hadn't been able to reach from the street. Luckily I only needed to carry round the stepladder and hand tools.

Then as it was such good drying weather I decided to do some painting. The uprights at the sides of the garage door needed a final coat of white and then I thought I'd give the gate at the bottom of the front garden another coat of brown varnish. 

I found the tin that I'd used before and soon the gate was a smart brown once more. It was only as I peered at the tiny print on the tin to see how best to clean the brush that I found out it was a water based varnish and not the best for outdoors. Who knew that such a thing even existed?

No problem, I could give the gate another coat from a different tin of oil based varnish for durability. Hmm, I wonder what the forecast is for tomorrow? Oh good, dry all day with less than 5% probability of rain. Ah! better check the overnight forecast. Yikes, 90% probability of rain. Today's varnish is already dry but to prevent rain damage I've covered the gate with a big dumpy bag.

Today's lesson - read the information first.

My final garden job was to cut back some of the lavender that's overhanging the path. Call me soft but I couldn't bring myself to simply cut it all back and deprive the bees and butterflies of a last remaining source of nectar. Instead I carefully cut only those stems where all the flowers had finished. There are still stems across the path but it should be easier to step over those and after any rain there'll be less chance of getting soaked as we walk along the path.

Glaspwll.

After a wet night a sleeping dragon was sending its breath up between the hills. The day itself has been warm and very sunny, right up to the point when I arrived home from my walk. Just as I was about to enjoy the sun on the terrace along came a cloudbank that kept the sun firmly hidden from view.

Today's walk was around Glaspwll, a peaceful valley just off the main road before you get to Mach. This week I drove and gave a lift to two of my fellow walkers who also live in Borth. It makes sense for us to lift share especially when like today there is limited parking.

 

Our route took us through overgrown woodland paths, across open fields and along forestry tracks and narrow lanes.

Most of the time we walked through the Garthgwynion estate. I've not been able to find out much apart from the fact that the estate was established in 1911 by the founder of Owen-Owen department stores in Liverpool. The main house looks like the setting for an Agatha Christie novel.

The track to the house is lined by some impressively tall yew? trees.

Lunch was eaten sitting on a pile of cut tree trunks in the warm sunshine.

We ended at the bee research project where I bought five jars of honey including the ivy honey which came highly recommended and a new honey, rowan and hawthorn. Some are for Christmas presents and a friend asked me to get her a jar if ever I was going that way. Whilst at £5 a jar it's more expensive than mass produced honey a lot of which is from bees exclusively fed on sugar it's still much cheaper than the equivalent 'real' honey from the shops. 

A Walk At Ynyslas.

I woke early to a fine morning after not a very good night's sleep. The tops of my thighs were so sore which I can only put down to riding a broader horse and maybe having my stirrups at a different length. It was the level of pain that I was aware of while asleep and though I kept telling myself to get up to rub on some Voltarol and take a painkiller I didn't quite get round to it until  Peter brought me a cup of tea. His suggestion was also to move to disperse the lactic acid and I did feel a lot better after I'd done 20 deep squats. PS Just been looking at past posts and see that I rode Cody on a 4 hour ride and commented how comfortable his trot was. 

It was such a nice day that we went for a walk at Ynyslas. 

From the car park we 

walked along the boardwalk through the sand dunes,

and out onto the beach. There were a fair number of people out exercising children, dogs and even a couple of ponies but of course I've carefully edited them out of my photos.

Well camouflaged amongst the stones was a small group of sanderlings. 

This time we headed northwards up the beach

and then walked around the end of the sand dunes along the estuary and back to the car park.

There are very few shells on the beach in Borth but here alongside the river there was a veritable carpet of shells. I did keep my eyes open for any unexploded ordnance though perhaps kicking at any suspicious objects wasn't the best idea. They were just stones with bits of metal stuck to them but it's best to be on the safe side. 

When we got home I sprayed all the window frames in the garage with woodworm killer after first brushing off all the cobwebs and hopefully any spiders. Then I went round and asked our neighbour if it was okay to step through her garden to spray the outside of the frames. I must have looked a sight with my old clothes and a proper facemask which I couldn't remove as my gloved hands were soaked in the nasty chemicals. She told me that they will be cutting back a bush that is covering the second window in about a month and I'm welcome to come and paint the windows after that. The windows are in an even worse state than I thought and I may replace some of the wood in my usual have-a-go fashion before painting the frames.