Wednesday 23 October 2013

It's a work in progress.....

Well the whole plot started out looking like this not so long ago.....

weeds in the veg garden
Don't the flowers look pretty?!?!?!

weeds in the veg garden
There are veggies in there..honest

weeds in the veg garden
Pretty sure this one is just weeds!!!!
 It doesn't look quite so bad now...some of it looks like this.....

Weed removal in progress
eradicate the weeds!!!!

eradicate the weeds
Weed removal in progress!!!

But since a week and a half ago progress seems to have come to a stand still. Why??? Well it's all down to weather and health. I was hoping to get so much done this week as I have had the week off work and yet I have ended up taking antibiotics instead...not the best way to spend your week off but I guess that's just life. The weather has been terrible too which in a way is a godsend as it has meant I have stayed in getting better instead of going to the allotment which I probably would have done if we hadn't had the driving rain!!

So how do you keep yourself sane when you have a week off and feel pretty crappy and the rain falls constantly and the grey skies sit on the roof tops??? Me, I did this....




Let the kids loose in the kitchen....



Basically to bake whatever they wanted.....



of course I was trying to cook dinner at the same time....


So the kitchen looked like a riot had hit it, but at the end of it all they did help clear up and we had delicious things to eat...but most of all,





It kept them happy and made them feel less depressed about the weather outside!!




So that is what's been happening on my week off....not the way I had planned to spend it but better than nothing at all and I really do like spending time with the kids so that was  a bonus. I am still keeping my fingers crossed that by the weekend I will feel well enough to get a bit done before I start back to work next week but I'm certainly not going to push it and make myself worse!!

All the cooking came out well and I will post about what they made and of course what I have made recently over the next few days...after all it's not like I'm going to get that much done down the allotment to post about!!

Hope you are all keeping well. 
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Sunday 13 October 2013

Animal Rescue.

Well this isn't a post that was scheduled to go in but one that I thought I needed to put up as it happened.

I popped round to the allotment on Saturday during a brief ease in the rainfall and whilst having a looksy found in my allotment neighbours little pond a Hedgehog.

On closer inspection and to my amazement I could see that it was still breathing so with some quick rallying I got some gloves whilst my friend Juliette grabbed a towel and we rescued him from his cold watery bed.

When I pulled him out he was very shivery with rapid breathing and had lots of route matter from the water wrapped around his back legs. I removed that weeds and then we wrapped him in a towel and pondered the next course of action.

Luckily Juliette has  friend 'Kate' who works for the R.S.P.C.A. and a quick phone-call to her gave us the direction we needed. Put the hedgehog in a box with a hot water bottle and give him some cat meat, Kate also asked how much he weighed and if he was going into a ball. The answer to the first question was remedied by putting the hedgehog on the scales in the allotment shop. The answer to the second question was 'No'. That been said Kate said she would collect him from me later as he would need the hospital to get well if he wasn't curling up tight.

So I dutifully followed all the instructions at home and got him settled into a box on a hot water bottle. He was breathing quickly and was quite sneezy but didn't seem interested in the food. I put his box upstairs out the way of the inquisitive Trojan and kept my fingers crossed.

An hour later the hedgehog hadn't moved but seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Two hours after that when I went to check on him again........he had obviously warmed up and was having a merry old time in the box. I don't know if he had eaten any of the cat meat but he had certainly been in it and had been scrabbling at the towel too. This was looking a lot more optimistic.

When Kate came to pick him up he was till awake and quite lively and curled into a tight ball when she picked him up. I told her that he had been a bit sneezy and she said that he may have lung-worm but she was optimistic for a full recovery and said when he was 100% she would bring him back for me to release back on the allotments.

animal rescue hedgehog
Here is the hedgehog roaming around once he had warmed up

animal rescue hedgehog
Snuggling in the box.

animal rescue hedgehog
Having a bit of a wander around.
 Kate did say before she left with the hedgehog that a lot of people who have ponds put stepping stones out of them just in case a hedgehog does fall in so it's something for those of us with ponds to think about, after all they are very good for the garden. I will give you an update when I know more on his progress.
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