Potting

Another bothersome night but I slept well in between the bother. And in fact awoke at the usual 05.00 and drifted off again until around 07.00. It was a chilly night as my toes testified. I don’t much like being smothered by covers so cold nights tend to creep up on me. And the cold has already penetrated before I’m fully aware.

But the back pains of yesterday, were just that, a thing of yesterday.

I managed to drag T out of bed. He is finding it increasingly difficult to select appropriate clothes. I’ve given up putting them out for him because he just puts them away again. And asks me several times if such and such a garment is clean/ will do. He doesn’t always put worn clothing out to wash.

His wardrobe is full of mystery. If a towel or pillowcase or my knickers go missing, they are usually to be found in there.

I dropped him at Daycare and H and I visited Castle Meadows. The sun had broken through and the day was warming up; spring colours were competing with each other, and painting the greens of the landscape white and cream.

The steers buried themselves in the longer meadow grass and we, in turn, steered clear. No baby bunnies to tempt H today. But she’s wearing her hawk bells so no hiding her presence.

We returned home and, with gritted teeth, and no small amount of determination, I set about potting up some / all of the bedding plants. This involves messy damp soil etc. I have discovered I have more pots than I have plants. The thyme has resurrected itself but I’ve lost rosemary, marjoram , 2 x heuchera, a couple of palms, and various other perennial pot 🫙 pants. Or even pot plants.

I’ve also lost two garden trowels and a hand held hoe, to add to the lawn edgers. They have to be somewhere in that shed but where T has put them remains his secret. They would have been helpful.

I almost fell asleep before collecting T but with the alarm reminders, I stayed awake. Being a glutton for punishment, we visited Root One for more potty plants to fill the remaining pots. This includes a trailing scentedjasmine and a trailing something else for fence cover.
I really wanted a small wisteria but refused to pay the £104 that Milletts farm had wanted to charge, and the Root One offerings were already over 2m tall. Too tall.

T admired my handy work from earlier in the day. And we settled down for supper and the evening. I may even have snoozed.
Earlier, Burt had called round to warn us there were ‘gypsies’ around. He is not keen on itinerant cold callers and tends to lump them together as one species. They certainly have been in Newbury as FB posts attest, along with photos of debris they have fly tipped where they set themselves up. Much of it garden debris. They were apparently around here at lunchtime which is when I was home. Odd because they didn’t knock at our door.

The Moulsford lot are into chopping trees down and were having a nice little wander / trespass up our alleyway, telling Burt they were going to chop the chestnut tree down. Hooray! But I don’t know who has commissioned them, or will pay them. So it is unlikely. He saw them off – in a big truck apparently. This made me feel uneasy since our shed key is missing and our back gate does not close and lock due to swollen wood.

You always have to take what Burt says with a big pinch of salt … but… and here is the rub…

At 00.45 ( a few minutes ago), I was awoken by a loud commotion outside in the back garden. A dog barking. I was horrified to discover it was H – T had (inadvertently) left her outside all night. I’ve no idea how long she had been barking because we sleep at the front. It could have been a few minutes or it could have been a couple of hours.

But what was she barking at? To come in? Unlikely because she never barks if she gets shut out. Were we receiving another night time visit from Burt’s traveller friends? Possible. Because I dimly recall loud vehicle humming noise as I dashed to the back of the house to rescue H. No unauthorised visitor would hang around in that racket. Half the neighbour hood will be up in arms complaining come the morning. But it is possible she is our saviour.

I felt uneasy that these people are about. I’m out for a chunk of the day tomorrow and T will be at home alone. He is easy prey. Luckily he has no access to banked money or cash.

And in the meantime… I’m back to square one with plants – another bedding tray or two which I bought require my attention – having no trowels helps! I like the results but not the process.

T seems to have friends there now – at least people seem pleased to see him. And he, them.

Thought for the Day