Monday

Couldn't wake up this morning after another sleepless night.It is getting to be a regular thing now,and I don't know why I bother going to bed.Another forum I peruse,it seems that there are loads of us having the same problem,though at the moment I just lie there trying to nod off instead of getting up.I always think if I start getting up then I will wake Stuart and then there will be the two of us staring into the darkness.I shall be ok once the light morning come back round...

Had a nice breakfast of porridge with grapes on the top instead of sugar{good girl} and a nice hot mug of Earl Grey to kick start the morning...

When Stuart went outside to start the car up it was quiet frozen so he had to defrost it before he could set off.I waved him off from the comfort of the lounge.I reckon the neighbours must think I am a bit crackers standing at the window waving him off like a small child would wave goodbye to her daddy as he sets off for the days work....

Managed to get two lots of washing done and hung outside and also a load of ironing done, and put in the airing cupboard.All my friends think I am mad being tied to the Iron and never ever iron anything but I can't bear to wear clothes that have not been ironed or aired... Had beans on toast for lunch which went down quite well.Decide on the spur of the moment to pack the car up with all the bags and buckets of guneia pig waste and vegetable peelings and to head over to the allotment.It takes me about 20 minutes to drive over there depending on the amount of traffic there is on the road..

I off loaded the bags and the buckets and then went and parked my car outside the Allotments.Some of the lazy ones down there drive right up to their plots and then leave the cars parked on the track so anyone trying to walk past with a wheel barrow find it almost impossible to get past.Serves them right if they get their cars scratched....

Popped across to have a quick chat with my friend Chris who was down there before getting the rotavator out of the shed.I filled it up with fuel and then pushed it down to the piece of ground that I wanted to work on.It fired up on the first pull of the cord so I was quiet pleased that I could start straight away.I soon got the first large piece of ground turned over again.I am trying to turn it every couple of weeks or so so that it keeps it looking good and it doesn't pan down if we have lots of wind and rain.It is exciting times as the allotmenteering season is just around the corner and it will be nice to get the first crops into the ground.

I decided to move the remains of my last bonfire that hadn't completely burnt out so that I could plough up the ground that had been underneath it.It took a little time setting up the new one but once the apple branches and dried weeds were in place,I set it alight with my small weed burner.Much easier than trying to strike matches especially in the windy weather we have been having.The fire soon took off so I was able to start plouging the next piece of ground.I took some photos of the flames which were leaping through the wood and weeds.I do like a good bonfire,it so reminds me of the bonfires we used to have on November 5th each year.I think that is where my liking for them comes from though I don't like the smell of the smoke on my gardening clothes...Yuk.

After I had done my ploughing,or should say rotavating I decided that I had had enough for the day so decided to pack up and put the equipment back into the shed.When I got down to my car I looked at the time and it was 3.45pm.I had been over at the allotment for nearly four hours.No wonder I was feeling shattered.I was so glad to get home but realised as I pulled into the drive that I still had two lines of washing on the lines.I quickly un pegged it all and got it into the basket and the basket of pegs put away..Phew..

Indoors I could smell my dinner in the slow cooker.I was too hungry to have my shower first so quickly dished up a nice plateful.I had made the dumplings before I went out and because I hadn't turned the slow cooker up to high,the dumplings had cooked nicely.Once I had eaten and then checked my emails I went upstairs and had a nice long shower.So refreshing after all the hard work of the afternoon...

Frosty Weather

I especially love this photo of the way that the frost has formed on the long twig of this sapling...

I would love to have been able to set up one of those time lapse cameras to have been able to film the growth of these ice crystals.I think that Nature is one of the most fantastic of things,but it is amazing how many people walk around and never see just what is under their noses...

The birds have been frantically feeding on my nut and seed feeders in the garden because at this time of the year they desperatley need all the help that they can get from us humans.

Always remember though if you do feed the birds don't forget to change the nuts and loose bird seed because even though the nuts look ok in the nut holders they will soon go mouldy if left out in all weathers which can be fatal to the birds as those nasty bugs can develope which will soon make the birds sick and that is when they are likely to die.

Also please remember to provide fresh drinking water for them every day and if you don't have any trees or shrubs or flowers in your garden,take my advice and get some because you will soon be rewarded with the sound of birds calling to each other and in the summer months if you are still feeding them,they will eat a lot of the pests that are likely to take up residence in your favourite plants.....

Frosty Weather

On Tuesday we woke up to quiet a heavy frost and very thick fog.We havn't had such a good frost since before Christmas so in the afternoon I managed to get out for a nice walk round the village with my cameras.

I was amazed at how the frost had formed on the trees,shrubs and flowers round the village.

The Pine trees in the photo looked fantastic so I just had to take a photo of them standing together like frosted soldiers.It so reminded me of the artificial trees that people were buying from the garden centres raedy for the big day...

Sunset

This is a photo of the sunset we had yesterday evening.

The day started quiet frosty and we had to scrape the frost off of the cars before we could use them,brrrrr

Later on the sun came out and gradually the day got really quiet warm.After I had done some of my household jobs{housework}and had had some soup and bread for my lunch I packed up my gardening gloves and some water and headed over to our allotment.

I was the only one over there because the ground was still a little bit frozen in places so it had put some of the old ones off going to tend their plots.

I had to take my cardi off in the end as I got some weeding done because I was getting quiet hot doing it.

I soon collected up quiet a lot of dead leaves off the old plants and also dug up some of the nettles on a vacant piece of ground.

After having a nice drink of cold water I decided the ground that I had been clearing was ideal for rotavating.It was a bit of a struggle getting the machine out of the shed but it wasn't long before I had it up and running.

As I set off the tines soon got to work on the soil though at times it was a bit of a struggle as the machine though manageable wanted to do it's own thing as it trundled across the soil.At times it seemed like the rotavator had a mind of it's own and I had to struggle to control it.

Eventually I tamed this monster and soon had the first piece of ground completed.After another rest and drink stop I decide to have a go at an even rougher piece of land that I was determined to conquer.I may be small{5ft 1"}but I hate to let anything beat me,something I have had to cope with all my short life{scuse the pun}

All in all I managed to get three pieces of ground turned over and it was nice to see a Robin settling onto the turned soil in search of nice juicy worms.Something difficult to find in the frozen ground.

I decided after finishing the last piece of land that enough was enough for the day and decided to head for home,hot and tired but glad that I had managed to get something done for my efforts.

Back home I had a nice refreshing shower and then after I was dry decided to sit at the computer serfing and reading blogs before Stuart got home.Not long after he had arrived home there was a fantastic light outside that looked almost like someone had turned a giant torch on.It lasted for quiet some time,then we noticed that as the sun had set it filled the sky with a fantastic red glow,which we managed to catch with the cameras and one of them is what has started todays blog.....Enjoy

Take 2..Plants,Fish, Bog Wood And Willow

This is the finished tank complete with the first lot of fish, three plants and the Bog Wood.As usual Willow is keeping a beady eye on everything.

Next weekend we are due to take another water sample to be tested and also to do a 20% water change.If everything os ok we can then get some more fish.We don't want to get too many as it could lead to problems.We have mostly females at the moment apart from Romeo our one and only male.

Our fish will gradually grow to their finale size and the tank will be mature after 10 weeks.Hopefully by then we will just need to enjoy them. do their water changes as often as we need to and to make sure we either don't over or under feed them....

Week 2.. Getting More Fish And The Plants

This my cat Willow keeping a watchful eye on one of the spotted Mollies that we have bought,with the credit voucher.We also have bought three more Spotted Mollies,Four Neon Tetras,An Orange coloured Guppy and a Silver Molly that sneaked into the plastic bag because it was desperate to find a new home...

A friend of mine who have a tank gave me two Platy's on Friday a Male and a Female and I have named them Romeo and Juliet.Romeo is busy chasing Juliet round the tank so I expect we will soon have fry swimming round the tank.

The fish have settled in really well and enjoy wizzing round the tank in a line much to the annoyance of Willow...

Week 2..Adding The First Fish And Plants

This is Molly,the first fish we were given by the fish man to try out because the water wasn't clearing and had gone a bit of a green colour...eek.

Molly as we had called her is actually a spotted Molly type as you can see by the markings survived the night so we were then able to go back to the shop to get some more. We were given a £10 credit note for use to buy some more fish,so we havn't actually had to buy any yet as such....

Week 1..Preparing The Tank For Fish And Plants

This is the tank with all the bubbles clinging to the sides.On the right is the heater that we have set to between 24c or 75F.As long as the temperature doesn't go higher or lower than that we shouldn't have any problems....

On the left is part of the filtration system,the water goes up the tube along through the filters and then falls like a waterfall back into the tank.We have also put a layer of gravel in the bottom but by the looks of things we will need a bit more adding ready for the plants...

My Fish Tank

As promised this is the fish tank that I have bought with part of the money that I recived at Christmas.It is a 45 Litre{10 gallon} tank and this is the tank after we had taken it from out of the box.

Stuart filled the tank with tap water and then added the chemicals after switching everything on.We have had to leave it for over a week on a ' cycle' as per the instructions so that the friendly bacteria could get to work and so that it starts to become acceptable to fish and plants..

Computer Problems

Well what a week I have had with this Laptop.A virus tried to come in a couple of weeks ago but thankfully was stopped by my antivirus softwear.The problem though meant that it slowed my computer down so much that I could have hand delivered the emails quicker.

While I was out babysitting last night for one of my village friends,Stuart got onto the computer and managed to put things right by installing a new card to replace the Belkin card that I had been using. He also got rid of two programmes that may have also been slowing everything down.

Babysitting was good last night as the eleven year old son had one of those Wii games for Christmas so between me Jack and Alicia the four year old we had lots of fun playing skittles,tennis and basketball.Talk about laughing so much,really good way to release tension and to wear ones self out.

My new fish tank is coming on well,despite Willow trying to catch the fish as they whizz round and round the tank.Our first fish was a female Spotted Molly,closely followed by three more Spotted Mollies,Four Neon Tetras,One orange Guppy and a white fish that somehow found it's way into the net at the shop and into the plastic bag,we brought them home in.We also got three plants and a small lump of wood that they can pick around in.

This past week they have had fun and games playing follow the leader round and round the tank,first one way and then the other.Poor Willow has been mezmorised with them,though Poppy isn't bothered with them in the least.I went to visit two of my friends this afternoon who have a tank of fish and ended up coming home with a pair of orange ones that I have named Romeo and Juliet.I don't think it will be long before we see new little fry swimming about,that's iff they don't get eaten first that is.

It has been bitterly cold this week and have had an awful cold wind that cuts right through you,brrr.Up in the Northern part of the country they have had blizzards but apart from a small flurry this teatime there hasn't been much about at all down here.I personally love the snow as I think it brightens up the countryside,but I never like it when it starts to melt and goes all slushy.

I managed to get down to the Greenhouse this morning to prick out some Iris seedlings that I had sown the other week and they are now in individual pots where they hopefully will grow on.I have also sown some double Hollyhocks namely Chaters Double Mixed,which are one of my favourites.I do so like the colours of them but don't like it when they get the dreaded rust on the leaves.I always pick off the worst leaves,but find that eventually the plants start to go downhill a bit.

The first snowdrops are out in flower in the garden and also Helleborus Niger,the Christmas Rose.It is a lovely pure white colour and is a pleasure to see on a freezing cold morning.