Friday 1 April 2022

No crisp left uneaten

 







The marguerite might look a bit ragged, but it has flowered through the entire winter. The garden has sprung into life, with plum and pear blossom and tadpoles and camellia blooms. And in an exceptional stroke of luck I have scored not only a free bird table, but a free hedgehog house as well.


Nice no? The hedgehog house is clearly homemade and needs some work - a base, some feet, hinges on the top, waterproofing and some roof felting, but it's a nice solid thing and a good start. Both were left outside houses with a note saying 'Free' on them. The middle boy found the bird table and lugged it all the way home. How well he knows me. Slightly disconcerting that people are giving away their wildlife stuff though. I like to think they have upgraded.

I have sown some flower seeds, imagining as I always do some beautiful summer garden, blooming in the way of, say, Sarah Raven's, but sadly, as ever, the snails have marched on in and helped themselves and now I just have a load of sad stumps. I really wanted loads of pale pink zinnias. I shall not be defeated.

The dog is not settling into his low fat diet very well and has taken to gobbling up literally anything that looks vaguely edible on his walks. There are a surprising number of crisps scattered about the place, as well as cheese and hairbands. He eats them all given half a chance. I have checked his weight and it's not going down, so I feel that he's being fed enough at home. The lure of street cheese is clearly just too much though. 

His labrador friend got a plastic ice-cream cone with chocolate ice-cream in it the other day, nose jammed right in, and ran around refusing to give it up. Everyone was beside themselves, it was quite a scene as you can imagine. 

The eldest boy had the chance to vote this week. There was a complicated local referendum that was something to do with a planning plan. Apparently there is a local plan which might slightly restrict the excesses of the planning, but only possibly and the feeling is that it is the lesser of two evils. And it is probably one of those things where the authorities just have an obligation to consult, which means they can issue a consultation document, ask people what they think and then ignore it and do what they want anyway. 

The Referendum on the Adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan seemed to be asking whether people wanted a say in things. I can't imagine anyone was going to say, no, thanks, that's fine, you just carry on and concrete it all over. The explanation was rather convoluted and said things like, 'The Neighbourhood Plan cannot cover how much development takes place. This is regulated in higher level plans.' 

I don't think we're allowed near the Higher Level Plans. It also didn't include anything about the High Street, which has had the entire town in uproar for months, since it was pedestrianised. If you plan on doing some shopping along the High Street these days, you need to factor in at least an extra twenty minutes to discuss it with everyone you meet. 

In other news the dog has had a birthday. The middle boy has some complicated calculation which means that he is 39 in dog years (5 in people years). He was allowed a modest-sized low fat snack and a lick of the baked beans that he found squashed into the path on his morning walk. I do wonder about people sometimes.

All good at your end? CJ xx  

18 comments:

  1. Wow, excellent freebies! I love a good freebie, although they are few and far between round here. My daughter is the Queen of street furniture and has practically furnished her whole flat with items found on the street. She lives in London though and the pickings are better. I feel your pain about the flower seeds. Any that make it past the snail stage in our garden tend to get eaten by the deer. Happy Birthday to darling Bertie, I hope he enjoyed his snack and baked beans! xx

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  2. Win win on the free stuff although not the stuff hanging around for Bertie. Happy birthday by the way. Commiserations on the seed sewing and snail chomping. At least encouraging more birds into the garden might help with the snail eating. Perhaps Bertie might like a tasty snail or two. I’m sure they’re fat free. Beautiful marguerite by the way. B x

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  3. Can you believe it’s April already? It feels like time has moved on and we haven’t. I too plan on a stunning display of zinnia, will prepare for snail defence now I’ve read this ☹️
    Great freebies!

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  4. As always an enjoyable post and lovely pictures, it's been too long since the last one.
    Lucky you with the bird table and hedgehog house, I hope you get lots of visitors to them.
    Fingers crossed for the next lot of zinnia seeds.
    I get the feeling that the council was just going through the motions so to speak.
    All good here thanks. Take care. xx

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  5. Love your good finds... I wish I had an excuse to keep a hedgehog house!
    The mural is darling, and your newsy post is like a chat with friends over a cup of tea, and I am here for it!

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  6. As one who paid Good money for a foxglove and lupin plant I feel your pain re nibbly critters. I am carrying mine inside every night until the wall flowers are done and I plant them there. Can I just say how much I like the colour of your hyacinths.

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    1. Thanks Cathy, they're a variety called Woodstock. I might look out for some more next year. CJ xx

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  7. Lovely photos. We've enrolled our dog to the healthy diet program at the vets. It's £18 for 6 weeks and it's been worth every penny. We gained Angus our Golden Retriever from the MIL, when she passed away. He had just turned 2 years old and probably weighed over 40 kg. He's now down to 33.65 kg. The pedigree kennel club set 32 - 33 kg as his ideal weight, so I'm expecting he'll have reached that by the next visit. The difference in him is amazing - jumps in the car, more energy and playful. Take care Cx

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  8. What a shame about the zinnias. Slugs and snails are such a nuisance. Gardeners must waste a fortune providing mollusc food.

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  9. I love a good freebee - does make you wonder why it was being ditched in the first place, never mind it sounds like both the hedgehog home and bird table have landed at the right place :)

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  10. I sympathise with Bertie, I am also not settling into a low fat diet... Happy Birthday Bertie!
    I like a bit of re-using other peoples' discarded but still perfectly serviceable things. In my neighbourhood people seem to hold onto things but be did find a wooden door once on a skip that fitted perfectly where we needed it. It was also a good match, all the houses being built in the same era. Have a good week xx

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  11. Planning is a red-tape nightmare it would seem. How lucky on the bird and hedgehog houses!
    Jillxo

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  12. Sadly I suspect some people just can't afford to feed the birds anymore. I have to use savings to do so as my disability benefits now don't cover everything.

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    1. Dawn, yes, you could be right, it is expensive. And I'm sorry to hear that your disability benefits don't cover everything, that really isn't right. CJ xx

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    2. I'm lucky in many ways that I have savings but it means I can't get any top up benefits and if I use most of my savings to live and my house needs major work I'm stuffed!
      But so many people are being forced to choose between heating and food now which is not going to help their long term health. It is just an appalling mess. xx

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  13. My Mum's labrador is an "eat anything you find" kind of dog, but that's because she's a labrador, not because she's on any low-fat diet. Unfortunately, she also has the most sensitive stomach known to dog-kind, so has to be muzzled for her Own Good. This is not appreciated.
    Good score on the bird table and hedgehog house. I'm on the look out for both for the allotment, as well as a pond for toads so I can get some slug predators in. Am resorting to beer traps this year after the entirety of my brassica crop was DESTROYED from slugs.

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  14. Not snails but mice demolished last year's tomato plants, carefully pricked out and put in the garage for shelter to settle in! Needless to say, said mice were evicted. I'm all for wildlife but not chewing stuff in my garage. Also I had to stop feeding birds because the rats were having a field day and my garden's too small for me to be comfortable seeing them that close. They were huge! Busy planting smelly things like lavender which I'm told they don't like and clearing growth from the run that they were using.
    Love your marguerites. Very little overwinters here in the north!

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  15. I love a 'free' thing but it mostly uses a lot of 'free' time to get it working but I love the challenge of that. Glad the doggie do dah is on the mend. It is hard to resist giving them a treat but absolutely the best thing to do. Jo x

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