Merry Christmas Fallon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FALLON!

I'm going to have to stop talking about you on here now LOL!

Lots of love from Dad, Tippy, Tommy & Scampi XXX

Spare A Thought.

Hello Everyone, I hope you're all okay and looking forward to the Christmas break and we must spare a thought for those who don't get a break over Christmas, the fact that they don't get a break is a measure of their importance and this is something that needs to be recognised by all us lesser souls.

We have Jo and David coming over in a minute for Christmas Eve supper so that will be nice as we also have my parents here too so I'd better get off back and join in the fun.

Happy Christmas to you all,

Bob.

Hyacinths At The Ready.

Low Temp: -1

Shady High: 2C
Direct Sun High: 1C
Weather Today: Another bitterly cold grey day.

I managed to get a bowl of Hyacinth in flower in time for Christmas and the family coming to stay so I took them over to the big house for them yesterday ready for their arrival.

Anyway everyone else is in bed so I will be heading off that way myself now, take care and have a good weekend.
Bob.

Tough Guys.

Low Temp: 2C
Shady High: 6C
Direct Sun High: 12C
Weather Today: As you can see from above today has been much warmer than of late due mainly to teh sun putting in an appearance for the first time in a week.

Todays picture from our Scotland Holiday was taken at Dalmally, we called in here to take a look in the gift shop and church, the gift shop was open but unfortunately the church was close.

I couldn't help notice in the garden how well the Geraniums have stood up to the cold weather we've been having. I've always considered them to be tender plants but is seems that isn't so as the ones in the picture are no less that 20 feet away from a thermometer that took a reading the other day of minus 6C and these aren't the only ones to survive. I have small group that survived all last winter planted out in the border and are still going well to this day.

Stolen Purse.

Low Temp: -6C
Shady High: 3C
Direct Sun High: 3C
Weather Today: Another dull, cold day

I hope you all had a good weekend. I enjoyed my time off although we had a bit of an upset on Saturday evening when Fallon called from town to say that someone had stolen her purse so had no money for a taxi home. Unfortunately they also got her cash cards and driving licence along with a few other things. When Vicki got there some police were across the road so she went over to them to tell them but they weren't really interested telling her to go to the police station, no doubt they had more important things to do.

Today has just been another one of those tidy up days for me. I had to go to the farm for another gas cylinder so I also picked up some more hay for the sheep as I don't want to be running round for hay during my holidays. I wasn't really looking forward to going as the tractor wa playing up last time I went but after a bit of a cough and splutter it didn't go to badly. I will need to get it looked at after Christmas though as I need it to be running properly for when the grass starts growing again.

Fallen Angel.

Low Temp: -4C

Shady High: 1C

Direct Sun High: 0C

Weather: As you will see from the above its been another cold raw day and the interesting thing to note is that the direct sun registered lower than the shady high, I think that must be because the censer for the shady high is a bit more sheltered but for sure it shows there hasn’t been a glimmer of sun all day.

Jeanette asked about the deer in last nights post. As with all the pictures at the start of the posts the picture was taken during our holiday in Scotland, at the moment these were taken during our visit to Loch Tulla.

Today I’ve been doing a few odd jobs at home. Someone from the church broke an angel so I’ve been sticking the pieces back together again, I’ve not done to bad a job and feel just about ready to tackle Humpty Dumpty any time soon.

Partly repaired, the body having

just been glued to the plinth.

Almost done, just the tip of one feather to add.

I also put up a curtain rail in the bedroom as Vicki has made some new curtains to go with the new wall paper, I will take a picture when she has the curtains up.

That’s about it for today, its been a quiet day.
Bob.

Tractor Problems.

Low Temp: -3C
Shady High: 1C
Direct Sun: 2C

Weather: A bitterly cold day when it was hard to keep warm even when digging

I had hoped to get the border that I’ve been working on finished today but I didn’t quite make it, to some extent because of the cold but also this morning I had to go to the farm to get some hay for the sheep which wouldn’t have been such a bit job if the tractor had gone ok. There was some dirt in one of the fuel cans I use and its got in to the tractor, this was a while ago now but I think it must have clogged up the filters. Its about due for a service anyway so I will see if my boss will let me get them out to it.

Yesterday my sister Judith and niece Suzanne when to New York for a week, I messaged her this afternoon and it seems they had a bit of snow there yesterday.

Yesterday I had to take the Christmas trees to the church. The estate provides two trees and I get the job of taking them round and erecting the bigger of the two which was a ten footer, the smaller one was around four foot.

My mum phoned today wanting to know if we needed them to bring anything in the food line with them for Christmas. They are coming to stay with us over Christmas so that will be nice.

Also yesterday the former lady presented me with a Christmas card and six bottles of wine as a Christmas present which was very good of them.

The Answer.

Low Temp: -1C

Shady High: 4C

Sunnyshine High: 4C

Weather: A cold day, no sun to make any difference to the the cold.

Thank you all those that took a guess what Tippy was looking at, I guess I am a bit of a tease but it was a bit of fun wasn't it. I forgot to mention last night that there was a cheque for a £1000 waiting to be posted to the first person who commented with the right answer. Looks like I'm going to have a Merry Christmas now doens't it cos I get to keep it all to myself - Yippee! Anyway enough stupidity for one day, here is what Tippy was looking at - 'The Misunderstood Dog.

I was only joking about the prize money by the way.

Y'all have a great day,

Bob.

What's Tippy Spotted?

Who can guess what Tippy has spotted? Tune in tomorrow if you want to find out.

Low Temp: -3C
Shady High: 8C
Sunnyshine High: 12C
Weather: A bright sunny day after a cold frosty start to the day.

Yesterday and today I've been tidying up and forking over the shrub border that backs on to the veg garden. There were a few shrubs that needed bringing under control before I could do the forking so I got those seen to and burnt up.

We have some of Vicki's friends from Church here today, they are wall papering the bedroom for us, I think it's been a bigger job than they first thought. I must confess to having no DIY skills whatsoever which is why reinforcements are needed.

Digital Flower Pictures made a comment on yesterdays posting about scotland. I know he lives a long way of but its well worth the journey and the people are really wonderful friendly people.
Well Jeanette I only managed a shandy at the meal because I was driving my parents and Vicki home. Vicki offered to drive but I thought as she doesn't like driving in the dark also she had been at work all day I would do the driving. Thats my feeling about back stabbers too, I would rather spend my time with my family. Its a shame really as I would like to support the community but thats something which is a two way thing.

Bob.

Decorating For Christmas.

Low Temp: 3C

Shady High: 8C

Sunnyshine High: 10C

Weather: Dry and bright, turned cold at nightfall.

Good day to you all, did you have a good weekend. The little get together went well on Saturday night, in all ten members of the family turned up, it’s a pub in Bakewell that we go to often so we were assured of a good meal, also the landlord of the pub is very good and always makes you feel welcome.

On Saturday morning misunderstood Tommy and I managed to get the Christmas tree up ready for when Vicki had time to decorate it, this she did yesterday after going to church and she is still at it now. She has finished the tree and is doing other bit and bobs around the place now. I will take some more pics when she has it all finished.

Look at him! Anyone would think he did it all by himself.

Sunday, here it only has the lights on so far.

I’m going to finish now and go and give Vicki a hand to bring some of the empty boxes back in to the store room until after Christmas. By the way the Scotland picture is still from the Loch Tulla area, this one being taken from Victoria Bridge which some of you will remember from the West Highland way.

Bob.

Wishing You.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZANNE

Today it is the birthday of my niece Suzanne. I’m not going to tell you how old she is or make a speech or anything like that. I’m just going to show you some pics of her because I think they will say more than I can in words.

Suzanne at 7 months old.

Suzanne at my sisters wedding.
Suzanne at her own wedding last year.

When Vicki gets home tonight we are going to Derbyshire to join the rest of the family for a meal which should be real good fun. I will tell you more about that tomorrow.

Bob.

Hyacinths

Low Temp: 8C
Shady High: 14C
Sunnyshine High: 16C
Weather: Mild for the time of the time of year, breezy with some showers.

My first job of the day is to check on the sheep of which there are 47, these are just across the road from the gardens so its quite a pleasant job to start off the day. I then usually take a walk around the gardens before opening up the potting shed and then checking around the greenhouses. There isn't usually much to do in the greenhouses at this time of year, not in the way of watering anyway. If there is any potting to be done I usually try and save it for a wet day or in the late afternoon when it's going dark. This morning was a bit different in that after checking on the sheep I then had to take the Christmas tree to the house and erect it in the main hall.

Kimmie asked where I grow my Chrysanthemums. They will grow outside with no problem, mine spent all some outside in pots and I then brought them in when they started to flower, mostly they went in to the conservatory but they would be just as happy to be planted out in the flower border. If you live in a particularly cold area though it would be best to lift and store any that you value then either take cuttings or replant next spring.

Tonight I'm going to show you my Hyacinths that I'm forcing on for Christmas time. I bought nine bulbs, three each of pink, white and blue. I've brought them on at fortnightly intervals so hopefully this will give a flowering period of six weeks. They have been in the cold store with the fruit since September, they start off in individual pots and then when it's time to bring them out I pot them up in to the bowls that they will go in to the house in. In this first picture you can see the stage in which they come out of the cold store.

From the cold store they are put in the cold conservatory for a couple of weeks by this time they will have come on to this stage.

Now this is the time to bring them on in some heat so from here they are moved to the heated greenhouse and this extra heat will bring them on nicely as you will see from this picture.

Y'all take care now and I will see you again tomorrow.
Bob.

Christmas Tree Info.

Low Temp: 2C
Shady High: 12C
Sunnyshine High: 12C

Weather: As you can see from the above temp readings its been a pretty dull day again today although not really cold except for first thing this morning.

Digital Flower Pictures mentioned about Christmas trees today in particular asking what sort of trees we have here in the UK. I would think that the most common one is the Norwegian Spruce although there are several others that have become popular over the past few years the 'Frazier Fir' being one of these along with 'Blue Spruce'. Whatever sort you decide to get just remember for a while at least its a live plant and should be treated as such so don't forget the water. Of course the easiest way out of all this watering and needle dropping malarkey is to buy an artificial one. Some say they are fool proof, others have said that you can't tell the difference, and from what I've seen of some people at Christmas, I think they could probably be right. Anything is fool proof and and looks much the same as anything else when the fool has drunk half a bottle of Whiskey. Anyway for those of us who tend to stick with the odd glass of Sherry or can of Fosters I have included a couple of links below to help you choose your real live for now Christmas tree.

Bob

http://www.woodsfarm.co.uk/treeinfo.asp?cat=types

http://www.woodsfarm.co.uk/treeinfo.asp?cat=selection

The Christmas Trees Have Arrived.

Low Temp: 2C
Shady High: 8C
Sunnyshine High: 12C

Weather: Some sun this morning but turned out to be a pretty miserable afternoon with some heavy showers.

Yesterday we had a very enjoyable visit from Vicki's sister Julie and her husband and daughter Phil and Nikki. Nikki is expecting a baby in January so everyone is very excited about that. They arrived a bit later than expected due to a hold up on the M1. When they arrived we headed straight out for some lunch in a pub, it was a carvery and very nice it was too. We haven't been to that place before but I think we will go again some time in the future. So we all had a good day really.
Today at work I finished off forking over the long Dahlia border that I started last Friday, I just about got it finished for lunch time and a good thing too as it was throwing it down with rain afterwards. I didn't manage to cut the old canes from the main crop Raspberries and I cut down the Herbaceous border but didn't manage to get it cleared up, I will try and get that done in the morning.
The three Christmas trees arrived this morning, one for the hall and two for the church, I have to put the one up in the hall on Wednesday morning with the help of the cleaning ladies.

All the best,
Bob.

Bob's Bloomer Of The Week (Chrysanthemum).

Hi everyone, Some of you will probably remember that before I deleted the previous version of my blog that I was trying to show the top bloomer in the gardens that particular week. I haven’t done this feature since then so I thought that this week I would start again, and so here it is my plant for this week which is the Chrysanthemum. The ones you see in the pictures have been flowering inside and out for several months. They will of course grow outside in the border and give a bit of welcome colour to the back end of the year but her ladyship doesn’t like them so I grew them in pots in the potting shed yard and then brought them in to the conservatory as they came in to flower and as you will see some are still flowering to this day, all the pics were taken last week.

For those interested in checking them out below are a few Chrysanthemum links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_chrysanthemum.shtml
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/i.payne/index.html

I don't know the names of the first two, I got this as a cutting from someones garden.

This is one of my favourites, Vicki got it as a small pot plant last year, I will be sure to take more cuttings of this one in January. I have the names to the next too but I can't rememeber them off hand but I will check tomorrow and add them later.

Bob.

The Second Planter.

Low Temp: 3C

Shady High: 9C

Sunnyshine High: 12C

Weather: Dry and breezy with some sunny spells.

Today me and misunderstood Tommy went to the garden centre to buy some plants to plant up the other container by our front door. As you will see I've gone for a more cool blue feel for this one. I quite like it although I would rather the Lonicera (back left) showed it's varigation a bit more, it does actually show up better in real life than the picture. There was probably something better at the garden centre that I could have used but you couldn't get round for all the Christmas trees. The had them all down the walk ways leaning against the staging so to see the plants you had to move the trees out of the way, it wasn't very good at all unless you were just going to buy a Christmas tree. Anwyay it's done now and I don't think it's too bad.

Here you can see the superviser inspecting my handy work, I'm not sure if he's very impressed or not do you? I guess it was okay as he didn't cock his leg up at it so thats something anyway.
Jim has been kind enough to add me to his blogroll so thanks for that Jim and thanks also to anyone else who has been so kind. I am really pleased to read that Mrs Jim is also enjoying reading what I write - it makes a huge difference knowing that people enjoy what I write, especially since I had to delete all my other stuff.

Also Matron asked about the greenhouses at work, I haven't answered you because I intend to do a posting about them this next week.

Well I'd better go now, I hope you're all having a good weekend - not many more now until Christmas!

Bob.

More Brass Work.

Another view from Loch Tulla.

Low Temp: 4C
Shady High: 9C
Sunnyshine High: 14C

Weather: A bright and cheerful day.

Today I got finished cleaning all the door fittings that I'm going to do this week, I just have one more to do on the greenhouse. There are also a couple on the old part of the conservatory but I don't think I will bother with them. Below is the door catch I took off the greenhouse yesterday.

Before cleaning.

After Cleaning.
The various parts.

I love handling these fittings, its just total quality and a feel that once upon a time was common place but is now something not many people get to feel.

We have Vicki's sister coming to visit on Sunday so Vicki is busy making curtains at the moment. She is determind to put on a good show for the visit. I keep on telling her not to worry, that her sister is coming to see her and not the house or the garden but you know the way it is with these things. It seems I've been commisioned to errect curtain poles before Sunday - thanks Julie!

I had Tommy in the garden with me for an hour today, I haven't been taking him since I compromised security with my photo tours. Nobody said not to take him, in fact the old gentleman told me it was okay on one occasion. Tommy's a good lad and doesn't do any harm but you know what some people are like.

Y'all take care now,

Bob.

Brassed Off.

Low Temp: 3C

Shady High: 10C

Sunnyshine High: 10C

Weather: As you can see there was no difference between the shady high and sunny high today and thats because there has once again been no sun. There was however some rain, it started at 4pm and was still at it last time I stuck my nose outside.


Today I've been taking the tops off the Dahilia's as the frost at the weekend blackened them off. I also dug up the ones that I wanted to raise some cuttings from next year, they will also act as an insurance policy incase we have a bad winter and the ones left out in the ground don't make it. So I have at least one of each variety drying off at the moment, I will get something to store them in next time I go to the garden centre. Do any of you store your Dahlia's or leave them in the ground I wonder? If you do lift and store what do you use to store them in? I've always used the tradition medium of peat but as that's becoming less and less PC its probably time to think about using something different. There were years when I was at the farm when I lifted and boxed them and never put anything around the tubers and they still seemed to do okay the following year but I don't think this is a standard method.

Also today I've been cleaning up the door handles to the conservatory. I don't think they've been cleaned since Queen Victoria was on the throne to look at them. This information will be totally useless as far as most people will be concerned, with relation to greenhouses anyway as I don't think there will be many off you with door furniture like this on your greenhouse but who knows it might come in handy for something else and I find it interesting anyway just to see the difference one can make.

In this first picture is one of the door catches from the greenhouse before it's removal, as you can see its pretty dirty. I take it off the door completely which is a job in itself as the screws don't want to come undone.

Once this is done I scrape off all the old paint and then put all the pieces to soak in white vinegar. For this job I cut a plastic bottle right down the middle to make a bath. I leave then in a couple of hours or so and then take them out and give them a rub with some fine wire wool. I repeat this process again by which time its pretty much got rid of the tarnishing although one piece as gone back in again and I will leave it there all night as its really bad.

In the picture below I have dirty and cleaned items just to show you the difference. The vinegar softens the tarnish a treat, when that's all removed I shine it up with some ordinary metal polish.

The two pictures below are the first catch I did from the conservatory door, I have the another one off the conservatory ready to be polish and the one in the first picture in this post is from the greenhouse which should be read to be replaced by tomorrow.

The only trouble is they now show up the paintwork! Did you know that in times past polishing the door catches to the greenhouses was the daily job of the garden boy, THIS garden boy will do them once a week if they are lucky and maybe not even that often in summer.

Bob.

Mum's Picture.

Good evening all, I hope you're all okay and had a good weekend, sorry for not posting last night but Vicki and Jo went somewhere to give a flower demo so I have my mate David over for the night, we had a beer and watched TV, real tiring it was too! I can't give any temps tonight as the battery on my thermometer needs replacing. I can tell you that over the weekend it did get down to minus 3 at one point which is pretty cold for us here.

Tonights picture from Scotland is taken near to Loch Tulla, we went for a run over there on the Sunday.

A couple of months ago I was visiting Merle when noticed a couple of pics she had posted, if you want to take a look for yourself go visit her blog and then look up the Sunday, 9th September, 2007 and you should see the pics I'm referring too. The thing is when I saw them they reminded me of the picture below which my mum has on her bedroom wall. I don't know what you think.

The other picture is of the Christmas tree ornament that I told you about bought in Calendar when we were there on holiday. See Monday, 19 November 2007.

I will be getting off now as my dinner is nearly ready.
Bob.

Another Rubbish Bin.

Hi everyone, I'm just going to do a quick post during my lunch break today as I have David and Jo coming over later and then I will be going home to visit my parents for the weekend so I won't get the chance again for a couple of days.

Todays picture is a view on the way to Bridge of Orchy, you may have seen another picture of this mountain in my 'Hiking Gardener' Blog.

There is a shoot on this weekend so all the family are up until Monday, I got another 3 loads of leaves from the garden this morning so thats looking pretty leaf free for them. There are still a few pockets of resistance left but they can wait until next week as I need to tidy up the conservatory a bit this afternoon as it looks like the plants had a party whilst I was away last week, there are leaves and bits all over the place.

We had some men round today with another lot of rubbish bin, well I say a bin, but in actual fact its more of a tub and apparently its for putting bottles and stuff in, there is also a bag for papers. The only information is whats written on the bag so I'm not really sure what we are supposed to do with it or anything. There are 11 families living here in the courtyard area and as far as I can see they left only 4 tubs - go figure that one out! They left a bin each at 3 of the houses and the 4th was in the middle of the lawn so I took that one.

Well thats it, my cheese sanwiches and tea have all gone and my time is up so I will say bye bye and wish you all a great weekend. OH YES! I just remembered Merle wants a picture of a picture that my mum has so I will do that for you this time as I went and forgot last time didn't I - bad Bob!

Positive Enforcement

Low Temp: 3C
Shady High: 9C
Sunnyshine High: 9C

Weather: As you will see from the difference between the shady high and the sunny high there has been no sun today. We started off with showers which gradually turned more persistent during the afternoon so much so that by the time I took Tom for his nightly walk it was well and truly persisting it down.

Tonight’s picture is of a couple of pleasure cruisers on Loch Lomond, they weren’t in operation when we were there due to it being out of season. (By the way just in case you don't know the pics should enlarge if you click them.)

I got to thinking today of a post I read by ‘Girl Gone Gardening’ http://girlgonegardening.blogspot.com/2007/11/global-warming-report-is-out.html I think most people accept that global warming exists and even those that can’t see it wouldn’t object to us reducing harmful emissions. It seems to me though that the biggest obstacle to achieving unity in this aim is the actual government and its negative enforcement policy, as far as the UK goes anyway. What with the speed taxes, congestion taxes, fuel taxes, pay as you dump taxes and of course the lies about Iraq a lot of people either resent being forced in to making changes by people they see as cheats or just don’t believe what they are being told anymore. You can only lie and trick people so many times before they catch on and once that happens what you say loses all credibility. They have the ability to read every car number plate as it passes so if a driver drives through an area under the speed limit why don’t they credit them in some way, as it stands all there is, is punishment. If you’re as old as me and grew up in the UK there was a time when you wouldn’t find an empty bottle in the rubbish bins let alone littering the streets and this came about by encouragement unlike today’s proposed pay as you dump tax which is one of discouragement, in other words, positive enforcement rather than negative enforcement. The reason you found no bottles is because you got something out of it if you returned them. I remember when I worked at Chatsworth House the gardeners would be always checking out the bins to see if the visitors had thrown away a bottle, it was quite a thing between some of them to see who could collect the most bottles. So you see there is nothing new about recycling, the difference is that these days it’s the government who is collecting the cash which as I say to a lot of people I talk to at any rate is a source of resentment and they see it as just another get rich quick scheme at our expense.

Bob.

Village News.

Low Temp: 6C
Shady High: 11C
Sunnyshine High: C
Weather: Today has been much brighter and a little warmer.

Hello, how are you all doing? Hope you had a good day so far.

Tonights holiday snap is from the west side of Loch Lomond taken at the visitor centre near Tarbet. We stopped here for a while, Vicki went in the visitor centre and I did some more relaxing. I can't be sure but I think the mountain you can see in the distance is Ben Lomond. Loch Lomond is around 24 miles long and 5 miles wide, just so that we are all clear about things, Loch Lomond is the one with a song written about it and not the one with the monster in it, that one is called Loch Ness and is further north near Inverness whereas Loch Lomond is closer to Glasgow.

Today has been another leaf clearing day has have been the last two, and still there are more leaves to be collected. We aren't talking about a quick 10 minute scratch around with a rake either, this is serious non stop stuff, well except for lunch and tea breaks. They're piled so high in places that I don't even bother with the rake or leaf blower I just fork them straight on to the trailer. I'm taking them in to the wood where I have a leaf pile. I empty out the leaves, level them off and then compact them by running up and down the heap with the tractor, the pile now resembles a big leaf wedge, anyone who's seen a silage clamp being made on the farm will have an idea what I mean, anyone else will have to guess as I don't want to compromise security by posting a picture of it on here - I'd hate to go in the morning and find one of you had been and taken them all!!

Last night we got the parish magazine which is one of the highlights of village life. It starts off with the parish council looking in to dog poo in the village. Im thinking they probably read Red Queens post http://redqueen.typepad.com/the_music_of_things_happe/ and having sorted out their women folk are now checking for similar problems in the local dog population. It then finishes off with a warning by the Royal Mail of a postal scam. In between these articles you have someone saying how the parish council have done nothing to resurrect the bus service into town but that's the same old story. Once upon a time there was a shop, post office, butchers, club and bus service but they all closed (and from what the vicar has to say the church is about to follow). One has to ask why did they close, I wasn't here so I don't know but I assume it wasn't from over use. Its no use bitching about this, that and the other not being available to the community anymore, if you'd used it when it was there I'm sure it would still be here today. The truth of the matter is the village is dead and what we have is a group of people pretending. The annoying part is that its the very same sort of people who killed it off in the first place.

Lets see, what else does it have to say? Oh yes here is a funny bit for you.
Two men waiting at the gates of heaven strike up a conversation.
"How did you die?" the first man asks the second.
"I froze to death" says the second.
"That's awful," says the first, "how does it feel to freeze to death?"
"It's very uncomfortable at first," says the second, "but in the end its not too bad. How did you die?"
"I had a heart attack," says the first. "I knew my wife was cheating on me, so I went home unexpectedly. I found her alone in the bedroom doing some knitting. Then I ran all over the house looking for the man, starting in the basement, but just as I got to the attic I had a massive heart attack and died."
The second man shook his head. "That is so ironic," he says, "if you had only stopped to look in the freezer, we'd both still be alive."

I'll just mention one more thing from the magazine. If you remember I told you how the village club has closed, well apparently its due to be opened again shortly. There is to be a pre-launch Christmas Dinner on the 14th, numbers are limited and seats are £15 per head, it finishes off by listing the committee members of which there are 7 with a further 2 waiting to be appointed.

Callander Main Street.

Low Temp: 4C
Shady High: 8C
Sunnyshine High: 8C

Weather: Another cold damp day, it came on to rain around 4pm.

Good evening everyone, how are you all today? Kimmie tells me that they have snow falling in CT so what the heck am I complaining about, it makes us look like we are having a heat wave LOL! Kimmie also made a good point about the rat poison, its obviously something you have to be very careful with whether you have pets or not because there is a chance that other animals might get to it. Its not something I like to use and wouldn’t do if they stayed away from the potting shed and greenhouses but you don’t really want them around where you have to work, especially as I take the veg in to the potting shed and also make myself a cuppa. Anyway to set your mind at rest I only put the poison out at night when the potting shed is locked up, during the day I lift it and lock it away in the chemical cupboard.

Tonight’s picture is of Callander high street, I know its not very inspiring and I promise there is much better to come but I’m showing them in order so as not to make things too confusing – when you get old you don’t want anything that resembles confusing. Anyway I wasn’t going to show this pic but I though you never know maybe the likes of lets say Merle or Jim might like to see what Callander high street looks like on a Saturday morning so here it is, this is the last picture from Callander because from here we drove round to Loch Lomond which is near to where our cottage was situated. Before leaving we both decided we needed to go to the toilets. I know, its not something you generally want to hear about but the funny thing was that when we got there you needed to put a 20 pence coin in the machine to get in to the toilets and guess what? Neither of us had a 20 pence coin! Luckily there was an attendant there so were able to get some change from him. Life is just one big adventure isn’t it.

Frankie @ Veg Plot has made a couple of comments one being that I shouldn’t have told you all I was going away or you might have come and burgled me – please, don’t waste your time as I took everything worth having with me on holiday. Besides you’d be lucky to get past lord Dastardley and his merry men. As for the comment about missing the snow we did actually see some on the mountains and it was snowing one night when returning to the cottage.

Thanks for all your comments and best wishes while we were away, it was very kind of you all.
Bob.

I'm Back.

LOW TEMP:
HIGH TEMP: 5C
SUN HIGH: 5C

WEATHER – A very dull, damp and cold day. Occassional rain.

Hello everyone, I can’t say that I’m glad to be back but I can say with all honesty that its good to be able to have a chat with you all again. We had a great time on holiday and I thought about you all lots so took plenty of pics for you to look at. I thought rather than bore you all with a load of pics all at once I would show you one or two each day at the start of the page, I hope that’s okay.

One of the first things we noticed when we got to Callander was how friendly the Scots are, we did already know this from when we lived there and is one reason why we keep on returning but after living here for two years and only having people speak when they want something it was a real pleasure to have people come up to you in the street or shop and just start talking like you were their neighbour or something.

Tonight’s picture is of the river and parking area in the small town of Callander. We arrived there at 9:00 am after a 4 hour drive, I parked up facing the river and took a little nap while Vicki took the dogs a walk. I don’t do much driving at home so I did it all on holiday to give Vicki a bit of a break from it. After a rest and a bite to eat we went a walk around town, Vicki was delighted to see that a Christmas shop has opened up, it was just jam packed with all manner of Christmas decorations, we wanted buy one for our tree but it was a devil of a job trying to decide which to buy. Whilst in there a lady came up to us and started telling us how there is this one department store is looking to hire a Santa for over the Christmas period but they won’t set anyone on that is over weight! I know, it beggars belief doesn’t it but that’s what she said – who ever saw a slim Santa – I think if people keep on getting dafter the way they are dogs will end up being smarter than people.

This afternoon I turned a couple of the compost heaps and then raked up some leaves that had gathered by the conservatory. There are lots of leave to collect up now after being away for a week. I think someone has been tipping them in the garden while I was away!

Well I’m going to go and get my dinner now, its always a good sign when I can hear Vicki bangin’ around in the kitchen.
Bob.

On Vacation - YIPPEE!!!!!

See y'all in a week or so.
Bob.

Winter Planter.

Good evening. How are you all doing today? I can’t stay long as I have to get some stuff packed ready for our journey tomorrow but I just wanted to show you this colourful winter pot I made up. If any of you want to do something like it then I will tell you the plants I used then you can have a go yourselves, even if you aren’t a gardener you can still do it cos its really easy. You need a pot of course and fill it with multi purpose compost. The plants you need are Simmia Japonica, Choisya ternata Sundance, Heuchera marcrantha palace purple, Cyclamen and variegated ivy. Don’t worry if you can’t get exactly the same Heuchera etc. My pot is made to stand by a wall so if yours is to be likewise then just take a look at the plants you have and then arrange them in order of height the tallest being at the back with the Ivy at the front trailing over the side of the pot.

I'm going to be getting off now, I hope you all have a great week.

Bob.

Christmas Cactus Cuttings.

Hello, how is everyone today, its been fair windy here today, not many cobwebs left on anyone who's been working outside thats for sure.

I was reading a post by snappy last night, he was talking about Christmas cactus and saying how he would like to take a cutting from one he has So its prompted me to do a little post tonight about the ones I have and also show how to make a plant like I have. Its not really the time to be taking cuttings of Christmas Cactus unless you live the other side of the world but as I say snappy was talking about it, I will perhaps post it again later at the more appropriate time if I can remember.

Its easy enough to do, as you can see from this first picture just pull one of the segments from the mother plant and stick in down the side of the pot. I just use ordinary multi purpose compost. I use a pot that’s 10cms (4”) across and stick five cuttings in and I then grow them on as one plant that way you will end up with a bigger plant faster than if you grow each cutting on it’s own.

Once this is done all that remains is to water them, don’t over do it with the water, you just need to settle the compost around the cuttings and then make sure they don’t dry out. As you can see from this picture you can break off a bigger segment that has two pieces coming from it like a letter ‘Y’. They usually root okay and then you will be getting a head start. It might not really be the right time of year but I will leave these cuttings in the pot even though I only did it as a demonstration to illustrate what I was saying, it will be interesting to see how they go on won’t it, I will try and give you regular updates.
This picture is of a plant that I started off last Spring and as I say there are actually five cuttings growing as one plant. It's now growing in its second pot.

This next picture is of a plant that’s about two and a half years old, I made a bit of a mistake with this plant as I went and mixed up the cuttings so ended up with a plant that is of two colours. The cuttings in the last picture came from this plant, hopefully all one colour this time.
Well I'll be getting off now, y'all take care now.
Bob.