Just thought I’d share a picture of these two guys.
We rarely see Goldfinches in our garden, just maybe once or twice a year, and this is the first time I have managed to get a photo. The focus is a bit soft due to the effect of shooting through double glazing and being at full zoom.
Well, not really the view from the conservatory. More about what’s been happening in the garden, supported by a couple of photo’s.
We have had a couple of really nice days, blue skies and sunshine that have spurred us on to set about tidying up the garden. Not of course without having a spot of breakfast out on the deck. Whilst we were having our breakfast the fellow below was obtaining his.
This Great Tit was helping himself to the peanuts. Access had been made very easy due to the large hole the squirrels had made in our “squirrel proof” feeder. Of course I don’t begrudge him the peanuts, I don’t mind that the squirrels managed to break into feeder. My only objection is that I paid good money and that the manufacturer claimed that it was squirrel proof. I guess their product testing didn’t take into account that juvenile squirrels are small and that their head and shoulders could get through the same gaps that birds use. Oh, and that squirrel teeth must be diamond tipped as they can quite happily gnaw through steel mesh.
So back to work. Having finished our breakfast I set about a serious pruning of our apple tree. The level of my attack is such that, for the tree, it is a case of sink or swim. I’m pretty sure there won’t be any apples this year. But I am sure, assuming the tree survives, that we will be in full production for future years. The label on the tree when we planted it said the variety was Egremont Russet and that the harvest period would be late September / October. Once the tree got into its stride, it always produced hundreds of fruit. Not that we ever managed to harvest many. The local wildlife always got there first.
First would come the squirrels. Did I mention we have squirrels ? They don’t wait for fruit or nuts to ripen. As soon as they can they are there, chomping on the green apples. Again I wouldn’t mind but I noticed they were a bit free and easy with my crop. They would grab an apple, eat half, toss the uneaten half and go get another.
Later, as the year progressed and the fruit ripened, along come the Blackbirds. They like to peck their way around the tree. They don’t eat whole apples either, just peck their way into the core then leave the apple to rot on the tree.
Finally, there are the wasps. Now these crafty blighter’s start on the really ripe apples. They seem to deliberately choose the side nearest the main trunk of the tree. Which means I couldn’t see what they were up to. I have lost count of how many apples I went to pick only to find an empty skin, still retaining the original shape. Hanging like a chinese lantern.
So this year they are all in for a shock. No apples.
Mr Robin, picture below, was very vocal during my pruning actions.
I haven’t seen any Robins eating apples but I am pretty sure they enjoy the various bugs on the tree so he was probably berating me for cutting back on his food supply.
So having decimated the apple tree, I turned my attention to cutting back the Jasmine. This was something we planted a few years back. It steadfastly refused to grow where I wanted it to go, ignored the trellis installed especially for it. That is until high winds broke said trellis causing it to hang down. The Jasmine immediately climbed aboard and smothered the trellis. The most amazing thing is that, somehow, a new clump of Jasmine self set about seventy-five feet away from the original plant and set about clambering over everything in sight. Rose bushes, Lavatera, Sweet Pea sticks and the back fence have all been fair game.
The trouble with trimming this stuff back is the way in which it twines itself around other plants. You can’t just set to, hacking and slashing, but have to unravel all of the vines, which can be a bit painful around the rose bushes which are well endowed with large thorns. We also found some sneaky brambles lurking in amongst the Jasmine vines. The spines on brambles are, I find, infinitely worse than rose thorns. Needless to say, I have several scratches and puncture wounds to show for my troubles.
All of my efforts have been overseen by Masher from his vantage point in the bird bath.
He’s called Masher as that was his previous function. He is a spud basher extraordinaire. However he was damaging our saucepans, so he was evicted from the kitchen and now spends his time trying to intimidate the pigeons who come for a drink. They don’t seem to care about his evil eye so he has become redundant as a bird scarer.
As I said, we’ve had a couple of really nice days. On the second day I took advantage of the fine weather to start another project, the laying of a base for the BBQ.
I am cheating somewhat, having purchased a few square metres of interlocking plastic shed base. The idea is that having roughly levelled the ground, I will position the plastic interlocking tiles on the prepared ground. Then a cement mix will be poured over the whole, filling the spaces in the tiles and providing a level base for the positioning of patio slabs. That’s the theory anyway. At this point I have levelled the ground and positioned the interlocking plastic tiles.
Also keeping a watchful eye on my activities was Arry the Ant. I think he could tell I was getting a little overheated and offered a refreshing drink of water.
The BBQ base has not been completed, unfortunately, it has rained all day today so the final stage, the cement and laying of the patio slabs has been deferred.
Perhaps tomorrow, for now I have aches in places I didn’t know existed. But I do have a sense of having achieved something. The garden is looking tidier.
Oh and something else, people keep asking me how I am enjoying retirement. Well over the last couple of days I have come to realise that I am liking it just fine. Being able to do stuff when you want to, being able to sit out in the sunshine having breakfast or lunch on a weekday seems to good to be true. But after all, that’s what I worked 38 years for.
The skies of steel and fields white with frost
Are memories of yesterday
And white scarecrow children search the hedgerows … and splash
Through muddy pools for secrets … the spirit of the spring,
With the sunbeams on her hair … shakes the sleeping earth …
And with the pilgrim by her side … she murmurs in the trees …
And in the ears of all who listen … “Now … time to wake … for winter has gone”.
Credit to Chris Simpson of Magna Carta from their fabulous album “Seasons” and quoted here because I was reminded of the album, as I was preparing to post some photos from my back garden, and it seemed rather appropriate.
Spring is well and truly here and there are fresh shoots and flowers appearing all over the place.
One of the first flowers to put in an appearance has been this white Camellia, a gift from our granddaughters a couple of years ago. This is one of three, unfortunately only two survived the first winter.
Always quick off the mark are the roses. Sometimes I find the fresh leaves bursting forth much more attractive than the flowers. I have no idea of the species name for this example but it always produces wonderfully blousey pink flowers with a beautiful scent.
A couple of years ago we planted half a dozen Primula in a small raised bed. They refused to obey the rules of boundary and are steadily spreading throughout what we laughingly call our lawn. The flowers are so pretty that I have to avoid them, when I eventually get round to mowing the grass, leaving ragged tufts of long grass scattered around the garden. At least until the flowers are gone. Then it’s a Primula massacre.
Of course it’s not only the plants that burst forth, full of the joys of spring. The birds are at it too. Over the last few days we have noticed many species visiting our garden including Jays, Woodpeckers, Wrens, Blackbirds, Robins and Tits. Of course the tits are with us all year round as are the Robins and not forgetting the vultures, sorry, Wood Pigeon’s.
As the Jays, Woodpeckers, Blackbirds and Robins have been arriving in pairs I have been half expecting Noah to pull up alongside our deck aboard his Ark. Of course the Tis always arrive en masse, especially the Long-Tailed variety. Hustling through the trees, chattering away. Raiding our garden and feeders before moving on to the next.
We have had a Hazel tree ever since we moved into this house some thirty years ago. Every year it gives us a grand display of red leaves and later carries large numbers of nuts. Of course we never get to harvest them. The squirrels always seem to discover them before they get a chance to ripen. The ground below the tree is strewn with the discarded shells with tops cut off. Just like a decapitated hard-boiled egg.
Our Grape Hyacinths grow in number every year. Unfortunately, due to our garden being churned up during the conservatory rebuild, this year the numbers are down. We are looking forward to them reclaiming the garden over future years as things settle down.
We are now looking forward to getting out there and making the most of the garden as the warmer weather comes along.
Feeling chuffed with myself due to some recognition that I have received over the last few days for photos that I posted on the Photography Cafe website.
I thought I would post the photos here for your perusal ….
I just saw my first ever Firecrest, I think !
Until today I didn’t even know they existed. Such a tiny bird, flying into the garden with a bunch of tits. I guess it was trying to lose itself in the crowds, if it hadn’t been for that bright head cap I wouldn’t have noticed that there was an interloper.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture as the visit was so fleeting.
Has anyone else seen one of these in the Waterlooville area?
For the second time in only a couple of weeks we have had a significant fire fairly close to us. This time the fire was just 2.3km away and the smoke from the fire was being blown just slightly west of us. Multiple fire fighting aircraft were buzzing directly overhead.
Here are some photos that I took this afternoon.
According to the DFES, more than fifty career Fire and Rescue Service and Bush Fire Service firefighters from six brigades were on the scene. They were supported by three helicopters and two bi-plane water bombers
This area is known as Forest Lakes. Most of the housing estates incorporate ponds and lakes.
The water bombers, at least the helicopters, make good use of nearby lakes to replenish their tanks.
We had a ringside seat for one such refill.
Thankfully this fire did not take any lives.
Sorry I haven’t posted recently. The good news is that the rebuild has been completed. Sadly the last few bits and pieces needed to seal the completion took much longer than either we or Executive would have liked. The main issue was with getting hold of some of the trades folk, breaking them out from their new big projects to carry out our itty bitty ones.
So here is a reminder of where we were back in July …..
The old conservatory was beset with problems pretty much from the get go. The Self Fit, the build company, went bust before it was completed. Last works were carried out under the supervision of the Official Receiver. What this meant was that we had no ability to approach the builder for all of the subsequent issues that developed. The 10 Year Warranty never materialised and would not have been worth the paper it was written on. After construction, over the next 25 years, the conservatory slowly subsided in one corner, the one nearest in the photo. The whole structure slowly moved away from the house. All this movement caused leaks to appear, disappear, reappear. Leaks that ranged from small weeps to full on waterfalls. I replaced the flashing and then applied triple overlapping flashing which seemed to pretty much seal the join with the house. We still had leaks along the outermost wall. The patio doors were so out of kilter that for the last two years they had been sealed around with gaffer tape because you could see daylight around the rubber seals. The multi point locking system was pretty much defunct. I had lashed the door handles together using 80lb strain fishing line.
Anyway, that is all past history as we have a nice shiny new conservatory …..
Of course we still have to sort out the garden. The wilderness we laughingly called a lawn was pretty much trashed by all the workers feet and the digger brought in to dig out the footings as well as storage of all the raw materials. As the saying goes, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. The garden is a the project for next year and I’m sure much of the grass will have grown back by the time we get started in the spring. In our climate, unless we have a real hard winter, our grass never stops growing.
Here is a view of the interior of the old conservatory …. minus carpets and most of the furniture …
And here is a view of the interior of the new conservatory ….
Nice shiny tiled floor which is actually level, unlike the old one. So to compensate we bought furniture with wonky legs.
Just look at how much extra light we are getting even on a autumnal sunny day.
We are spending so much more time sitting in our new room. We made a lot of use of our old conservatory, and I know there is a novelty element, but the new room is so much more inviting and more comfortable as there are no drafts.
Every day this is the venue for our morning cuppa and quite often where we have lunch.
Having clear glazing for the roof means I spend quite a bit of time just watching the clouds scudding overhead or the trees swaying in the wind. Very relaxing.
I’d like to offer my thanks to our neighbours for their patience and tolerance while we created noise and dust during the build. For allowing the various contractors to park their vans on their drive, and they even allowed us to take down their fence to give access for the mechanical digger.
I have enjoyed the whole process of knocking down the old conservatory and watching the new one grow, somewhat like the phoenix rising from the ashes. I know that my wife has not enjoyed the experience. All she could see was a mess but it has all been worth it to see the smiles now.
Now its time for us to enjoy, looking forward to spring and summer next year to make full use of the bifold doors and the deck.
So I would like to say a huge thank you to Executive Windows for such a brilliant job.
For several weeks now I haven’t posted any “views”. Due in part to the demolition and rebuild of our conservatory. The process of this resurrection is something that I have been boring you with for seven weeks or more.
So today I thought it is time I reinstated my “View from the conservatory” posts, triggered by the view across our neighbours back gardens and specifically the dew laden cobwebs.
It is that time of the year when the big fat “orb ?” spiders string their webs across every conceivable object.
A fine display of natures jewellery and as autumn progresses I am sure we will get many more such delays.
No further progress towards completion as yet. However, we are making as much use as we can. We have sat outside on the decking when ever the sun shines. There is still a lot of heat in the sun but the ambient temperature drops rapidly at the first hint of a cloud. This just drives us inside to sit in our new warm, draught free environment.
Inside just became a whole lot more comfortable as, yesterday, our new furniture arrived courtesy of The Fir Trade Furniture Company.
A year ago we visited their stand at the Garden Show, Stansted Park. Tried their seats and found them to be really comfortable. This year we revisited their stand, retried the seats and were really taken with their level of comfort and with the sturdiness of design. Managing Director Hugh Ross, following my enquiry about the strength of the seats due to the unusual leg angles, and my concerns about the seats ability to withstand my weight, did no more than turn one of the seats upside down. Then he proceeded to show me the large steel bolts securing the legs to the base of the seat and the additional wooden inserts used to strengthen the whole structure.
Knowing we were about to embark on the demolition and rebuild of our conservatory we decided, that once we knew exactly how much space we would have, we would visit the show rooms in Salisbury.
And so we duly visited their showrooms late in August where we remade our acquaintance with Hugh after quite the most horrendous journey . Torrential rain all the way with almost zero visibility on the M27 due to the spray. In a country that is known for rain you would think that our road builders would use quick draining surface as is the case on some of the autoroutes in France.
Anyway, back on topic, we were welcomed with coffee and biscuits and tried nearly all the seats in all styles but were drawn back to the Semarang set. Orders were placed, fabrics and patterns chosen, deposit paid and we were advised that the lead time to delivery would be four to six weeks.
A call from Hugh advised that our order was ready for delivery, unfortunately minus the foot stool, Friday was agreed and the new furniture arrived delivered by Igor, the Italian.
Our original order was for the two chairs, a foot stool and the “gin & tonic” table. As you can see in the photo, the chairs are lop-sided, left and right-handed. The low side provides easy access to the drinks on the table while the high side provides support for when ones chosen anaesthetic, be it G & T or some other suitable beverage, kicks in.
On Thursday morning we decided to add the lamp to our order. After several missed calls in both directions we eventually linked up and the lamp was added to our delivery for Friday.
The previous photo shows the lamp on but it really comes into its own at night-time, providing a cosier level of lighting and the reflections in the glass and tiled floor are really quite effective.
I would like to say that our dealings with this company have been superb. Everyone that we have spoken to has been really friendly and their response to our last-minute addition of the lamp to our order has been first class.
Not much happening since Saturday. Craig and Connor arrived mid afternoon with a barrow load of ready mixed cement and set about laying the final steps and reinstating the side access slabs. Since then the weather has been atrocious with heavy tropical style rainstorms. Yesterday, the final slabs were laid. However, the heavens opened and to quote the song “Down came the rain”. The side access has always turned into a water chute during stormy weather, so much so that we have considered making into a water feature. Yesterday was no exception.
There was so much rain water and the cement was so fresh that the last paver laid has shifted. The guys will have to come back and re-lay it, when we have a dry day. Then they can also grout the slabs on the steps.
Also putting in an appearance yesterday was Angus.
He arrived and fitted the “stay” for the utility room door as well as making good the soffit that had been cut away to make the connection between the bungalow and the new conservatory.
We are creeping towards completion.
The search for the Scarlett Pimpernel goes on unabated and needless to say we are still minus the radiator for the living space, which in turn is preventing the last strip of skirting from being fitted. The bi-fold doors are still missing their magnetic catch, as well as the last bit of rubber seal and the hidey / slidey door furniture is still to be fitted.
We also have some issues with the final finish of some of the plasterwork around the perimeter ceiling but these are all minor items and shouldn’t take long to sort out.
No, the big issue, and the worst irritant is the missing radiator !!
WrAnTz 