It's Saturday!!

There is nothing better than the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans in the morning. How I love my morning coffee and I am not fully human until I have a cup. After a leisurely breakfast, Peter got to work on clearing out the last bit of the Mother of all Hedges. Armed with his trusty chainsaw, he began cutting it down to ground level. It's a work in progress.
Meantime I decided to check the letterbox. There was inside, the biggest huntsman I have seen to date. I don't blame him/her as the letterbox is a nice safe haven and many a huntsman before has set up home there.

I excitedly told No.1 son and showed him my picture of spidey. The response: "eeeewww, why didn't you kill the disgusting thing?" No appreciation that boy. I also took a photo of my heirloom Geranium. A friend gave me some cuttings and they have turned out absolutely georgeous. Another friend gave me a piece of Aloe Vera to plant this week. I'll see how it goes.

Requim

I have a plaque in my lawn that says: ''In Memory of all the Beautiful Plants that have died here at the hands of my husband''.

I asked Peter to trim-note I said trim, the mother of all hedges,(see previous blogs). Well, he started to trim and kept going, a bit more here, a bit more there. I get a knock at the door and there stands Peter, who suggests that it may be a good idea to remove it altogether. I will let you be the judge.

A Good Read

Don't you love a good book? I picked up a book recently from the library called Hell's Only Half Full by Kerry Clarke. It is based on interviews with her grandmother, who was born in 1893 and lived to a ripe old age, and family. Her grandmother's life and how she coped with poverty and 9 kids was truly amazing. We really do have it easy in comparison.

The Seat Royale

Some days you wonder who is actually the boss in the household. A year ago my hubby, Peter, finally bought himself a leather office chair. It is very comfortable-well it is when he gets to sit in it. You see, Peter has been overthrown and his seat overtaken by Brandi.
Brandi is not content to mix with the other four legged riff-raff, oh no, she has humans in her sights, and Peter in particular. He managed to dethrone her yesterday, but then spent 10mins getting all the cat fur off the seat. It is amazing just how many crevices in a seat can be filled by cat hair.

So after 10 mins of not so nice language and threats, and one very put out cat, he was able to sit in his own seat. Having said that, there is always tomorrow.......

Fred, the Huntsman.

Well it has been a magnificent day and I have been able to do some weeding around the fruit trees. Weeds are the bane of my life and seem to multiply everytime I look at them. Most of my friends use weed killer, but I just can't bring myself to use the stuff. I usually use vinegar, hot water, or when really over run with the blighters, a heat wand.
Weed killers obviously make life much easier, but just the thought of all that stuff going into the soil gives me the chills.So I just keep at it as best as I can. I would use the chooks to clean up but unfortunately the dogs think the chooks rightly belong in their mouths.

Fred

I said previously that I like huntsmen spiders. I am sure that Fred read my mind for this evening as I was opening my recycle bin, there he was, on his own, no Florence, but I am sure she is nearby. Well I think its a Florence. Come rubbish collection day, I gently relocate them. They always end up back in the bin- sort of like homing pigeons without the upkeep.

The Front Garden.

You won't find roses, fountains or display beds in my front garden. What you will find are fruit trees and one mother of all hedges.The hedge is full of  life and has been home to pairs of blackbirds who have nested in it for over 18 years. At the moment I have oodles of leaf-curling spiders and over the past month or so, some delightful bugs that I have not seen in these parts before. In fact the colours on some of these bugs is amazing. Also I have had plenty of dragon flies and I always smile as they buzz past
There have also been quite a few huntsman spiders, shuffling over my fence, waste bins and hedge. I don't know about you, but I love huntsmans-my kids think I am a lunatic!

                                           The Apple Tree and That Hedge

  

Lemonade, Mandarin and Lime Trees (you can just see the limes on the right).

The unusually variable weather has caused what looks like a sooty black mould on my fruit trees and hedge. The hedge gets such mould regularly but just copes with it. I am sure that lately the poor trees don't know what season they are in and after the last few days, neither do I.

Repair Work

You missed a bit.

The chariot.

Well today the ladies had some repair work done in their run. As usual they had to supervise
Hubby, and every time he moved  they just had to dart in front of him to inspect the proceedings. Such patience he has.
No.1 son was home for the long weekend. He spent the day waxing and polishing his car. What is it with young guys and their cars? So as per usual, our cars ended parked out on the street while his hunk of junk--oops, I mean delightful vehicle, took up our driveway and garage.
No photo of his chariot was permitted until it was all finished. He then took it for a ride and "blessed" me with several photo's. Lucky me.

The Ultimate Takeover

I never cease to be entertained by the shenanigans of the animals. Brandi is so above such things that she refuses to engage with Baxter. Ladybug on the other hand just loves usurping the dog. I am sure she has read Machiavelli's, The Prince.

Poor Baxter, he came inside after a run, only to find that he had finally lost the war. In his inner sanctum,his beloved basket, was his worst nightmare-Ladybug. Game on, Ladybug1, Baxter 0.

Imperious Indeed.

Time to introduce the last of the animal tribe. This is our Ragdoll Brandi, as arrogant and imperious as you can get in a cat. She spends her time ambushing Ladybug and complaining that we are not dropping everything immediately to tend to her needs. At night she gets a perverse pleasure out of sitting at hubby's feet and cleaning herself with the loudest slurps you could imagine. It drives him mad, and she knows it.

Day1-It Begins..

Well finally got into the vegetable patch. It has taken me days to get weather reasonable enough to be able to start. It is going to be a long process as I have Rheumatoid Athritis and I am one of the unlucky ones for whom conventional drug therapy didn't work very well. So I am on biological DMARDS and I have everything crossed but my eyes that it will keep on working for me. Still, everyone gets dealt a spread of cards in life--it's what you do with them that counts.

Gertrude and Enid

Gertrude

So the first bed,(and the smallest), has been cleared, only five more to go. I had two supervisors throughout the process waiting patiently for me to throw the weeds and grasses their way. While waiting, Gertrude and Enid decided that teasing Baxter was a good use of available time and Baxter, bless his heart, provided them with plenty of amusement.