Gardening Day.

Much the same weather as yesterday. No drying wind but fine enough for getting out into the garden.

 

No sign of the mouse on last night's trail cam footage. Just a couple of cats. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad sign.

The day began with breakfast and the usual morning chores and until next Welsh class at least a game/activity I devised to help us learn the correct preposition to use with each of 40 verbs (a list our tutor sent us). So far we're getting more of them right every day though I still struggle with just the meaning of a fair proportion of the verbs. And there are a few which take a different preposition if they refer to a person rather than a thing or place. So much to remember!

Once everything was done I headed out into the garden. The first job tackles was removing the honeysuckle which I foolishly thought would be nice to have growing in the hedge. I only planted ie stuck cuttings straight in the ground a few years ago but some of the stems and roots were enormous. Anyone walking along the pavement of the other side of the hedge would have heard lots of puffing and panting as I pulled out as many roots as I could. Plus some dark mutterings when I came across my bête noire in this garden, chunks of polystyrene plant trays that had been used to bulk out the soil. The bottom of the hedge is quite bare there so I'm going to try a shrub as a filler. Only a cheap one from Morrison's as it's not the most ideal growing position.

After a bit of climbing up on the walls to cut back some of the hedge I decided to trim the lavender and the curry plants lining the path. My fingers have been twitching to do this and I was going to wait until next week. But then thought what if it's wet next week? I was perfectly happy with the size the plants were but of course they wouldn't have stayed that size. And much as I like plants growing naturally there isn't room to let the lavender get all spread out. 

To be on the safe side, in case I've cut then curry plants back too hard, I've taken 10 cuttings. I've got the same number of lavender plants growing from last year's cuttings.

Ha! it's just started raining and I'm off to choir in  the next few minutes.

Warmer.

Mostly overcast today but dry and so much warmer.

I set the trail cam up in the morning but so far the only movement has been from a pair of sparrows. I'll keep it running for a couple of days to see if the little mouse reappears. (Ignore the wildly inaccurate date.) 

I spent a good few hours at the zoo tidying up various flower beds. Just trimming the grass edges makes a lot of difference. I brought a few more plants from home, knautia and saxifraga stolonifera for the flower bed by the small play area and more pheasant grass for the the gravel garden. 

The plants (hardy geraniums, ice plants and campanula) already in the flower bed look as if they are going to make a good show this year and in the gravel garden some of the thrift are already flowering.

I finished off with a quick weeding of the 'maze' paths before giving all the weeds and cones to the pigs. Truffle tucked in greedily but Otis came over and lay down for a good belly rub.

The warm weather and the school holidays meant that there were lots of people, mainly families with small children at the zoo.

When I came home I drilled a hole in the drain pipe and fitted an overflow pipe to the water butt by the drive. Only a small job but at least it's something done.

The latest newcomers.

Later I went down to the Hall for an hour of Pilates. It's always good to work the old muscles and we finished off with a bit of relaxation at the end which is also nice.

A Little Wood Mouse.

A bit brighter today with enough wind to dry the washing out on the line.

This morning I went down into the garden to empty out the cafetiere (better for the drains and the plants) when to my surprise I saw a wood mouse sitting on the paving eating one of the seeds I had put out earlier for the birds.

I was concerned that it was just sitting there in the open, an easy target for the many large birds that would love a mouse for their breakfast. Normally they are very cautious little creatures but this one didn't mind me getting quite close to it. When I got too close it ran off to a crevasse between some stones but soon popped out again.

In an effort to dissuade it from coming out into the open I put some seeds close to the wall. It ate some but then went up and sat in the sun. I'm hoping that rather than being ill its lethargy was down to being unable to feed in yesterday's awful weather. Small animals need to eat constantly to maintain their fast metabolisms.

To give it some protection against flying predators I put garden chairs where it was sitting. There's not much else I can do. Once the batteries are charged I'll put the trail cam down there to see if there's any further activity.

I spent a lot of the day outside, washing. First the balustrade glass and the main windows which were nicely frosted over with sea salt. Plus I needed to remove the result of a flypast by a flock of incontinent seagulls.

Then I turned my attention to the car. Considering how meticulous I am in keeping the house and garden clean and tidy the poor car is quite neglected. To me a car is simply a way to get from A to B and I'm happy as long as I can see out of the windows and the number plates are clearly visible. After giving the car a cursory clean last week I decided to get rid of all the moss growing in the trim and around the windscreen. That was mainly because the moss traps water and was blocking the channels that let the water drain from the roof. 

There was a surprising amount of moss and mud in the rubber roof trim and more down the sides of the windscreen. The end of a cable tie proved to be the best tool for scooping out everything clogging up the sides of the windscreen glass. It took a long time but eventually it was done. The rest of the car got a wash as I tried to work out if the small black marks were dirt or chips in the paintwork (some were). Before replacing the roof trim I gave it a spray with weed killer to keep the moss from growing back.

My last job of the day, after a rest, was to iron the duvet cover that had been on the line. 

British Summer Time.

The wind was still icily cold today but as there was much less wind it didn't feel quite so cold. But it rained for most of the day only brightening up at the end of the afternoon.

We're now in British Summertime. We lost an hour during the night and in the morning had to adjust those clocks that didn't change automatically. As one image I saw (but can't find again) said, don't bother with the car's clock, it will be right again in 6 months and unless you have an instruction manual and a hammer leave the cooker timer alone. I never bother with the cooker clock since every time there's a power cut it goes wild. I just press a button to stop it flashing and ignore the numbers.

I had always been told that the change was to allow children to get to school safely but as this FB reel by Hannah Fry says this wasn't the case. And far from making life safer, fatal heart attacks, car accidents and workplace injuries all increase significantly the day after the clocks change.

I don't mind getting up an hour earlier and much appreciate the lighter evenings. no more walking to the Hall in the dark or driving to choir though the drive home will still be in the dark for a while.

 

Forget what I said about rain stopping activity on the water. Not only were the RNLI out for their usual weekly training. (They looked to be having great fun bouncing in and out over the waves,) but a group of experienced (hopefully) surfers spent the morning catching waves.

I spent most of the day doing admin (and maybe watching a few reels.) This included checking and finally sending an email to our local MP asking what he proposes to do about holding the environment agency accountable for the way they allowed the water companies to repeatedly pollute the waterways with untreated sewage. Anyone who watched 'Dirty Business' will know what I'm talking about. I also asked why Sir James Bevan is on the board of Welsh Water. For once I felt I couldn't just sit back and tut about the situation but you are not allowed to start a petition to the Senedd (the Welsh govt) asking to have somebody sacked. Shame. Then I posted on FB asking people to contact their MPs. Maybe they'll do something if enough people make a fuss. I'm not a natural activist and this left me feeling quite drained but I felt I had to do something.

Icy Winds.

There has been a lot of sun today but it was also very cold with the strong and icy northerly winds. 

I was out nice and early on the terrace, well wrapped up drinking tea and then coffee. I spent some time watching a lone surfer who wasn't having much luck as the waves though large were too choppy and irregular to surf. I'm not sure the single cormorant that was fishing close to the cliffs was doing better either as eventually it flew back to the reef. Later a single red kite flew past, cruising low above the edge of the cliff looking for small creatures in the grass.

Whatever the weather (well maybe not rain), sea conditions are usually good for one sport or another. And with today's strong winds out came the kite surfers and a few brave kayakers.

Having got the water butt project out of the way I spent some time working on mix and matching two bar stools. Stage one was to re-cover the seat of one with a piece of leather (salvaged from an unneeded sofa) that was just about the right size. I also used an old exercise mat for a little extra padding.

I used every single upholstery pin in the jar to get it looking reasonably neat and then joined the back piece back on. Next step was to put the seat on the pedestal of the new stool. That's where I ran into problems as I could only undo one of the four bolts. At that point I gave up on the whole project and began looking on-line for a new stool instead. But I couldn't find exactly what I wanted there anyway.

After a coffee and an old episode of Call The Midwife I thought I'd give the bolts one more try. With the aid of a pair of pliers I was able to turn the allan key and soon the old seat was on the new pedestal.

The old seat is still not as padded as the new seat but the new seat has a metal frame that goes up at the sides and presses into my hips so I'll stick with the old seat.

I felt disappointed that I didn't get to work in the garden but it really was bitterly cold and yes my back was twinging after working on the seat. At least I got to see the sun.

A possible heads up to anyone who might be visiting Aber - I've just heard that the Matalan/ Iceland car park has reduced the time limit from 3 hours to 90 minutes. £45 fine if you stay longer. I believe this is due to the council taking away free parking on the prom. I'll have to wear a watch or park in Tesco's if I want to stay longer. Update - There's some confusion about this on the local FB page. It may be that the original person was in the Lidl/ Argos car park which is 90 minutes as people are posting photos of the sign in the Matalan car park which still says 3 hours.

A Little Bit Of Sun.

It was raining first thing so I had to get my fresh air sitting inside with the door open. By late morning the rain had cleared and in town at least it turned very warm with barely a cloud in the sky. But coming home, as I reached the point in the road where you get amazing views right across the bog to Snowdonia, I could see a mist covering the village and the whole of the bay. It was that nasty cold, damp mist. Later the wind pushed the mist back and we had blue skies for a while.

No prizes for guessing that I rode Tex again. I'm still working on the same things, bend and contact which continue to improve each week. Today we rode loops down the long sides and straight lines down the centre. There was one extra moment of progress which came after I had got off at the end of the lesson. (We line up in the middle of the school to dismount and then lead our horses back to their stables.) Tex gets an itchy face and up till now has always tried to use me as a scratching post. Not a good idea as a horse's head is heavy and their necks are strong. I've been stopping him and telling him off and then today he didn't. He got a rub on the face from me and when we got back to the stable he used the wall mounted water trough to give his head a really good rub. When I give him a good scratch on his neck there's one spot he really loves and his lip starts to quiver. So sweet.

 

In town I dropped off some posters in a charity shop but didn't find anything exciting to buy. In the street I saw a chap walking along who I guess does Medieval re-enactment as he was carrying a full sized medieval shield and wearing some sort of cloak or robe hitched up under his back back which had a broadsword poking out of the top. The students in general are interesting and keep the town lively.

At home I was finally able to put some seeds out for the birds.

As I sat indoors with a mug of tea I could see the contractor working on repairing the sea defences. I hope they scrape the shingle off the slipway too. Not only is it very difficult wheeling the boats down to the sand but it's hard for older people to walk over the stones to get to the beach.

Snow On Cadair.

By morning all was calm on the sea with just enough waves for a group of novice surfers to get a session in. No rain, which was good and the morning's grey skies turned brilliant blue as the sun broke through, at least for a while. By mid-afternoon we were back to cold grey sky and sea.

 People in the water and seagulls on the beach. Which are the sensible ones?

It was while we were having our lesson break that I noticed snow clearly visible on the slopes of Cadair Idris. I thought it was still feeling cold.

This morning we had to abandon our early tea in bed when we suddenly noticed a plumber's van outside and realised that he wasn't going to our neighbour's but coming to service the boiler here. It's been very difficult to find a local plumber that does boilers as well. He serviced the boiler and also fixed a tiny leak in a pipe in the utility room. 

We had done plenty of preparation for today's Welsh class so it went well. Yet another preposition that conjugates and oh joy! one that stays the same. I had a few problems with Zoom when we went into breakout rooms and had a second window open as well with a link to a resource. I could hear but not see the rest of my group and it wasn't until after a lot of muttering and random clicking that things eventually returned to normal.

After class I went out to wash the salt from the car windows. As I did so I noticed not only moss but even a tuft of grass growing around the windows. I removed the worst but should really give the car a proper clean soon.

Off soon for a happy hour of leaping about to 80's tunes and burning lots of calories.