A Mixed Weekend

So Saturday was not too good a day because of the weather limiting what I was able to do; especially on the allotment. However it did enable me to clear up some jobs around the house that I have been putting of for some time now and Mrs DeeJay was glad for that.

It also enabled me to make a serious start on tracing my family history. I managed to find a great deal on both sides of my family where there are some extended local connections. Unfortunately I have been set a problem to solve with my paternal grandfather, who I never knew. When he married my grandmother he was in the armed forces and was not a ‘local boy’. I know his birth year, from his marriage certificate to my grandmother, but do not know the exact date or where he came from originally so I nee to get sleuthing but there are really not too many left of the generation that might have some clues.

Sunday was allotment day. Not a great idea as I returned to my gym weights routine on Saturday after several weeks layoff and then went to my Spinning class on Sunday morning – ouch!

However I managed several hours and made some good progress but as you can see there is still more left to do than I have already done!

The other good thing about digging, in solitude except for the birds singing and my friendly robin coming down to my feet to see if I was digging up any grubs for him, was the time I had to think. I have been getting pretty depressed by a few things recently and this time alone in some nice weather allowed me to start getting some of them into perspective.

Ooooh my aching back!

Back to the allotment this weekend.

The weather was great on Saturday and the ground has started to dry out – at least on the surface. It was still pretty wet underneath in parts – yep you got it - the part I wanted to clear for the potatoes!

Well I managed about half of what I intended to do, but the heavy soil and the call of the golf course was just too much. The good news is that the long winter lay off from golf has certainly done me some good. I played the back 9 this week and scored spot on my 25 club handicap.

I then spent an hour spinning in the gym this morning and we had a stand-in instructor who really punished us with a strange routine.

Then there was cleaning the bike. OMG how dirty was that? I didn’t realise that so little use through the winter could result in so much grime. But still never mind it truly gleams now after I spent 2 whole hours on it.

See looks just like my signature pic when it was brand new!!

GIG Time?

It must be Spring or something.
I have just got tickets for Joan Armatrading and also for Gary Moore. Furtheron has got tickets for The Police and I know is alo going to see Gary Moore.

Cynnie has got the music bug.

Talking of music last night Mrs DeeJay and I were discussing Sylvia by Dr Hook that was playing on the radio when the lyric
"40 cents more for the next 3 minutes"
camon and I said that I guess in the U.S. that this must trigger nostalgia
What doe 3 minutes cost these days?

We then digressed on things telecommunications and got to talking about our English old style phone boxes and the "Press button A or button B" types from the 1960s.

Ah nostalgia! AND more on that in a later blog as I have decided to trace my ancestors.

Lambing Day

The great weekend continues.
We went to a village not far from our own today to see lambs and lambing.
They are so cute and cuddly. Why is it that at a few hours to a few days old, they don't mind humans, but as soon as they get a bit bigger they are so timid?

I have spared you the photo of one giving birth. And all without the aid of an epidural!

How about this one who obviously doesn't like the straw!


Apologies to all you vegetarians out there but perhaps their timidity is because they know that we left our phone number to be contacted in a few weeks time for delivery of a lamb - and no of course we won't be cuddling it, we will be making sure that we have plenty of room free in the freezer before then.
Maybe this one is ours.
Come in number 72 your time is nearly up.

Great Weekend So Far

Well this is shaping up to be a good one.
Maybe its just the weather, but even so, it is the weather that is allowing me to do stuff that is making me feel good.
So far today, I have pruned my roses, cut back my berberis bushes in a BIG way (they were getting far to tall and ungainly I will try to post some pics later.
Not exactly topiary I know but if you had seen the mess they were in before you would understand my pride.

And to cap it all I just went to the golf course for the first time since last October and did 9 holes in 46!!!

Brain Colour

Not really sure what use this will be to me, nor do I know how many different colours there are, but what the hell!

Your Brain is Orange

Of all the brain types, yours is the quickest. You are usually thinking a mile a minute, and you could be thinking about anything at all. Your thoughts are often scattered and random - but they're also a lot of fun! You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about esoteric subjects, the meaning of life, and pop culture.

What Color Is Your Brain?

1st Allotment Weekend of 2007-03-04

For my U.S. readers, an allotment is a pretty quaint old English (although not entirely) custom where we cultivate vegetable patched that are not part of our own land or garden but are usually rented from the local authority (Parish Council in my case) for a ludicrously low rent. Mine is £5 p.a.!!!

However, this is NOT the post that I was hoping to make.

It was my intention this weekend to make the first serious start at cultivation for 2007.

I have already bought my seed potatoes and they are already ‘chitting’ so I need to get the ground prepared in the next couple of weeks.

• 1^st Earlies = Maris Bard
  
• 2^nd Earlies = Charlotte
• Main crop 1 = Picasso
  
• Main crop 2 =King Edward
  

I have also started raising my broad beans in the greenhouse ready to transplant in about a month’s time.

However all forecasts for reasonable Saturday weather were not any good to me as when I got there, with thermos flask of tea, my iPod and LOADS of good intentions, all I found was a waterlogged allotment.

My own patch, although not as bad as my neighbour's, was wet enough to render any attempts to dig it over and removing the winter's crop of weeds, nigh on impossible.

The ground was so heavy that all it did was stick to the spade and fork, to say nothing of the soles of my boots so that within half an hour I was standing some 8 or 9 inches taller!

Today’s weather is worse with rain right from the start so I am going to have to pray for some dry stuff over the next week or so and then have to embark on a marathon dig (oh my poor back!) to get it all ready for planting instead of being able to do the planned preparation over a number of the coming weekends.