spring! flowers!

Iris Harmony, some more to be seen growing at Wildside
the snowdrops have come up round the purple helbore which is pleasing
and the underside of the helbore
anther hellebore, so pretty, please excus my grubby fingers. .
and I've made a start in the greenhouse with some of the seeds that arrived last week. two types of onions, Walla Walla and Red Baron. and some bunching onions to use in salads as they grow.

Equine Market Watch

EMW do a lot of good work with some very needy horses. Its one of my charities to give to.

destroyed in the name of Progress??

"Mound of the Hostages"

Lismullin site handed over- to road contractors;;By - Unknown.

The Lismullin archaeological site in Co. Meath has been handed over to the contractor building the M3 motorway, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has confirmed. The move means the controversial roadworks may begin on site immediately.NRA archaeologists have already studied the site, which includes a number of stake holes forming an enclosure. Carbon dating suggested they were likely to be at least 2,000 years old.A souterrain from about the 10th. century was also discovered on the site. Archaeologists said it was possibly used for defence during the Viking invasion.The archaeology had also been the subject of a study by an expert group set up by Minister for the Environment John Gormley to determine how best to proceed, once the prehistoric nature of the site had been determined.The expert group which included Conor Newman, the State's foremost archaeological expert on Tara, and Dr. Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum, advised that the archaeological remains were in a "very vulnerable condition". This meant they could not withstand preservation in situ and, therefore, "excavation is desirable and in the best interests of the archaeological remains".Efforts to contact Mr. Newman and Dr. Wallace were not successful yesterday, but the department's website noted the 2,000- year-old remains were "too fragile to remain in situ and must be recorded and removed".It added that "preservation in situ of Lismullin is not an option".

http://www.petitiononline.com/hilltara/petition.html

seeds galore

these are the new seeds I've ordered for this year. there's so many left from last year I hope to get them used up, and lots of seeds can be stored for a long time so they should be just fine. I buy seeds from lots of suppliers, this order is from Gardening Organic, and I have some interesting seeds left from last year from the Heirloom Vegetable Seeds. and if anything appears not to work I can easily go to my local garden centre to replace them there, I always get my seed potatoes and compost from them.
and thanks to Freecycle, a worldwide recycling group, I have a new-to -me wheelbarrow. I don't have a big garden but it really does save your back using it to carry stuff about.

nearly. . . .

the snowdrops in the garden are nearly opening, still a bit chilly
the helleborus, teasing with its spotted inside
a lone crocus in a pot, hope it gets some friends soon!

its still wet, cold and miserable here. I did manage to get one veg bed dug over but its had no manure this winter, hopefully the past few years worth of improvements will hold out and I'll use a seaweed fertiliser. I'm not sure I've ever grown anything before without at least six inches of manure for it to snuggle into- hence the always forking carrots and parsnips. they might not look fabulous but they always taste amazing!

hoomans!!

this is a great site for cat lovers, engage sense of humour!!

LOL CATS

Tiso Glasgow, good customer relations? I think not.

You know I just thought I would suport a local store rather than shop online for the best deal. So on Monday I went to this Tiso store, where I have shopped in the past. I purchased a pair of gore-tex lined boots. I wore them for an hour on Wendesday and they leaked. I went straight to the store, they refused to touch the boots because they were muddy and I was told to wash them and come back. I returned today with the cleaned boots only to be told they could not replace them until they have 'ascertained' that they actually leak, and they would not issue me with a replacement or a credit or a refund. Apparently this has to be decided by somebody else and shouldn't take much longer than 'two weeks'.
According to Trading Standards they have the right to do this.
But it would have been better customer relations to have refunded or replaced, I now have no money and no boots. I have now lost total faith in a brand and in a store I have used for years.
Surely if they sell you waterproof boots they should be waterproof or you should get your money back?

the colour of Katie

there is lots of rain, which makes lots of mud. Katie likes to roll in this, and then roll in her clean shavings bed when she comes in.

I ran into the garden in-between rain showers

hiding in the corner a little helbore gets ready to flower
lifted up for a peek inside
here is a pot of 'orange surprise' and 'happy birthday', which I think are tulips.
and the pot marked simply 'bulbs' has turned into a nice pot of snowdrops. fab!

warmth from the sun

wow, what a fabulous day today, there is actually a feeling of warmth from the sun and the horizontal rain has taken a pause, here is the autumn flowering kaffir lily still being confused
crocus are starting to come up in pots
a little heather cutting starting to flower
and the snowdrops start to come up in the garden.

Saturdays

its my job on a Saturday to take this big poopy mess and turn it into . . .
this, you can eat your dinner off the floor. . . . then I repeat this another six times. . .
this is Ollie, those photos were his stable.
this is Snowy, who is the childrens pony and field companion to the bigger horses. he is white when washed.
this is Vera, very beautiful, a bit moody, and her stable was even worse than her friends'!
and this heap is Smokey and Phoenix, out of focus as they are on top of the hay-stack and my camera hasn't really picked them up in the available light. kittens are the biggest distraction when you are trying to work.

mushroom harvest

here's the mushroom crop from the box. acording to the instructions if I cover the surface lightly with fresh compost, make sure its damp, bring it into the warm for a few days again then that may bring on some more.

sand art

I have just found this site "here" with the most amazing art created from sand

blessings!

many christmas blessings to everybody, and hope that next year is a good one.

(last years tree, fogot to go to get one this year and its too late now!!)

awwww.......

Daisy, with a new box and a new friend

frosty

its very chilly, I couldn't open the greenhouse door to check the themometer as the door was frozen.
nature being pretty. lots of little birds too at the seed feeders, but not when the camera is out!

muck and mushrooms

several weeks ago I recieved a mushroom growing kit for my birthday. I very carefully followed all the instructions. and here we have some growing!
there looks to be a good harvest coming!
outside in the below freezing temperatures this kaffir lily, usually autmn flowering, seems to be making a bid to join the lonely mahonia.

and the muck? I started a 'saturday job' yesterday. mucking out seven horses, turning them in and out, filling haynets, etc. I survived, but only just. it was easier twenty years ago.

a little colour

this mahonia is flowering all on its own. lat year there was sllightly more colour at this time
but it had been much milder than this year.

things happen for a reason?

so I put the kayak on e-bay. its bound to sell on e-bay.
however they just sent me this
"We appreciate that you chose eBay to list the following auction-style listing:: Valley Nordkapp sea kayak, compass, tow rope, However, your listing was in breach of eBay's Inappropriate Links policy and has been removed from eBay. All fees related to this listing have been credited to your account. We also notified members who placed bids on the item that the listing has been canceled."
I had decided if it didn't sell then more effort to regain fitness was in order as I would then keep it.
next week I start a Saturday job mucking out eight competition horses. that'll increase fitness.
right, back onto e-bay to look for a roof rack for the Fiesta.
see you on the water next year then.

ways to pass time

http://lovethosekids.com/playgrnd/sandart.htm

its time to get started.

in October 2005 I went on a Dolls House Holiday

on the first day you take some MDF
and just before lunch, Peter Alden holding the clock to prove it, you have made the main carcase of your dolls house.
add a few bricks
window details(very futery)
er, lots of windows, I think this is about 10pm on the fourth day.
time to make a fireplace on the last day
everybody working very hard
and the house is finished!! just like that. . . .

however its now been at home for two years and is still awaiting decorating and lighting. I am going to install a table in the living room so I can get to work on it, definately a good winter project.

real food

Real Parsnips, not the plastic looking, clean, uniform stuff the supermarkets flog us. and sprouts so fresh you can crunch them raw. (the parsnips are about a foot long)
my stoney soil always seems to produce very 'leggy' parsnips and carrots. no prizes for being pretty but they always taste fabulous.

greenhouse cleaning

there was a light frost this morning but it was a nice enough day to clean the inside of the greenhouse. I have washed down the inside of the glass with disinfectant and thrown whats left on the floor. sometimes this leaves the glass streaky but if I think it needs to be 'clean' then I'll do that in the spring.
how much stuff can you cram into one small greenhouse? this isn't even all of it!
future reference for benches: they need to be plastic and they need to be tall. the black one you can see is just about ideal. the tall wooden one was made for me when the greenhouse was 'new', its legs are starting to discolour at the bottom from the damp. there are two of the smaller wooden benches, they are too low to work at comfortably and the bottom of their legs suggest they may need to be binned after another years use.
everything is scrubbed with disinfectant before being put back in. why is that in the spring you never have enough seedling trays yet I now cannot move in my bathroom with the amount of stuff waiting to be washed?