Paul
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Silhouettes at Dusk
I can't remember which night this was but it was one night last week, Debbie was waving at me through the window. I thought, where has she found a plate in the garden? Nothing to do with plates this time though, Debbie was beckoning me outside to watch the beautiful sunset.....
Paul
Paul
Juicy Fruits
It turns out that our garden is quite fruity, we've got a passion flower growing near the house which did have a passion fruit until something took a bite out of it. In the thick of the garden we've got blackberries....mmmmmm jam butties. At the top of the garden there are gooseberries and blackcurrants plus an overhanging plum tree. All we need now is a Jersey cow in the corner for all the cream!
Our very own Ribena bush. I had a couple at the weekend, tasted nothing like the cordial in our cudboard though.
Black gooseberries, I've not had one but Debbie says they're lovely.
Paul
Our very own Ribena bush. I had a couple at the weekend, tasted nothing like the cordial in our cudboard though.
Black gooseberries, I've not had one but Debbie says they're lovely.
Paul
Summer Flowers
Here are some photos that Debbie took round the garden last week. Gardening doesn't exactly come naturally to us, we've already got a hanging basket on it's knees through lack of watering lol. Never mind, the hose pipe is coming out tonight. Who knows, this time next year, we might know what some of the flowers in the garden are called lol.
Paul
Paul
The Great Outdoors
Our bedroom suite arrived as promised on Saturday morning, the wardrobes are really heavy and they're going to have to be unpacked and taken upstairs in pieces. I got the two bed side tables together over the weekend and they look great. The afternoon saw us out shopping again for more 'stuff', we got some great wooden lamps for the bedroom and living room and picked up a BBQ which was a real bargain with the shops now clearing out summer stuff ready for Christmas.
When it came towards tea time, the time had come to bite the bullet and let Misty, Toddy and Eric outside for the first time. Misty and Toddy trotted up the garden to explore, while Eric poked his head through the window, climbed out and then climbed straight back in again lol. After half an hour we got them all safely back inside ready to try again on Sunday.
We invited Dad round for dinner on Sunday afternoon after squeezing in more shopping during the morning. With the glorious weather we set about cutting back one of the bushes / trees, whatever it was, it was bigger than we thought and the space next to the greenhouse is piled high with branches lol. Debbies Sunday dinner went down a treat, washed down with a few alcoholic beverages in the garden.
We let the cats roam free all afternoon, eventually curiosity got the better of Eric and he ventured out for the first time while Toddy tested his tree climbing skills and Misty hung around in case there was any food going. Again, it was a doddle getting them back inside and we're now starting to relax a little when one of them goes out of sight for more than a couple of minutes.
Last night after work we weren't going to let them out so gave them their tea, however with the kitchen window open slightly on lock, Eric was going daft trying to get outside, it's always the quiet ones lol. We decided to let them out given that it would still be light for a few hours. Every so often we could see Eric pouncing across the top of the garden while Toddy was content pacing round and taking in all the sights and smells. Misty vanished soon after we let them out which didn't bother us too much as he hasn't been going far so as not to miss out on any food. We got Toddy and Eric back inside using cat nip drops, however Misty was still out there....somewhere.
Debbie heard meowing coming from the other side of the fence, we could see through the gap that it was Misty but he obviously couldn't get back over. I got some cat nip drops in my hand and stood on a brick so I could see over the fence. The silly bugger was sat at the bottom of the fence looking straight up and meowing away, looking around, all he had to do was jump onto the foot high wall next to the fence and then on to the fence.
I offered some words of encouragement, "What are yer doing, yer big girls blouse!", "come on yer soft tart, jump on the wall". It seemed to work, along with the cat nip, he finally spotted the wall and made it on to fence to be rescued. Of all the cats we didn't think Misty would come unstuck, maybe he's just too lazy or too heavy or both lol.
Here's a few snaps we managed to get of the cats over the weekend, unfortunately most of the others were blurred probably due to zooming with the mobiles.
Eric looking at something in the sky through the kitchen window.
Toddy waiting patiently to be let outside for an afternoon of exploring.
Eric making his first tentative steps into the outside world. We'll get loads more pictures soon of the three Amigos at large in the garden, but with the proper cameras!
Paul
When it came towards tea time, the time had come to bite the bullet and let Misty, Toddy and Eric outside for the first time. Misty and Toddy trotted up the garden to explore, while Eric poked his head through the window, climbed out and then climbed straight back in again lol. After half an hour we got them all safely back inside ready to try again on Sunday.
We invited Dad round for dinner on Sunday afternoon after squeezing in more shopping during the morning. With the glorious weather we set about cutting back one of the bushes / trees, whatever it was, it was bigger than we thought and the space next to the greenhouse is piled high with branches lol. Debbies Sunday dinner went down a treat, washed down with a few alcoholic beverages in the garden.
We let the cats roam free all afternoon, eventually curiosity got the better of Eric and he ventured out for the first time while Toddy tested his tree climbing skills and Misty hung around in case there was any food going. Again, it was a doddle getting them back inside and we're now starting to relax a little when one of them goes out of sight for more than a couple of minutes.
Last night after work we weren't going to let them out so gave them their tea, however with the kitchen window open slightly on lock, Eric was going daft trying to get outside, it's always the quiet ones lol. We decided to let them out given that it would still be light for a few hours. Every so often we could see Eric pouncing across the top of the garden while Toddy was content pacing round and taking in all the sights and smells. Misty vanished soon after we let them out which didn't bother us too much as he hasn't been going far so as not to miss out on any food. We got Toddy and Eric back inside using cat nip drops, however Misty was still out there....somewhere.
Debbie heard meowing coming from the other side of the fence, we could see through the gap that it was Misty but he obviously couldn't get back over. I got some cat nip drops in my hand and stood on a brick so I could see over the fence. The silly bugger was sat at the bottom of the fence looking straight up and meowing away, looking around, all he had to do was jump onto the foot high wall next to the fence and then on to the fence.
I offered some words of encouragement, "What are yer doing, yer big girls blouse!", "come on yer soft tart, jump on the wall". It seemed to work, along with the cat nip, he finally spotted the wall and made it on to fence to be rescued. Of all the cats we didn't think Misty would come unstuck, maybe he's just too lazy or too heavy or both lol.
Here's a few snaps we managed to get of the cats over the weekend, unfortunately most of the others were blurred probably due to zooming with the mobiles.
Eric looking at something in the sky through the kitchen window.
Toddy waiting patiently to be let outside for an afternoon of exploring.
Eric making his first tentative steps into the outside world. We'll get loads more pictures soon of the three Amigos at large in the garden, but with the proper cameras!
Paul
Friday, August 05, 2005
A Week Passes By
It does seem to have dragged on this week with us itching to get some more jobs done this weekend and enjoy some peace and quiet in the garden, ooo and maybe a drink or too! Misty, Toddy and Eric are really settled now, they're enjoying having free roam of the dining room and the stairs during the day and we leave the bedroom door open at night so it's a free for all come bed time but everyone settles down eventually lol.
With the cats being confined to the indoors back at the old house and haven't really experienced the outside, we're going try letting them outside tomorrow tea time. It's going to be a nervous time for us all, but so long as they don't have too much breakfast they should be hungry enough to come back in at the slightest sound of a cat bowl being moved. Lucy and Lolly will have to witness the event from the living room as Eric can be a bit skittish and the last thing we want is Lolly chasing him all the way up the garden.
I wonder if Toddy knows and is thinking about what tomorrow will bring?
Paul.
With the cats being confined to the indoors back at the old house and haven't really experienced the outside, we're going try letting them outside tomorrow tea time. It's going to be a nervous time for us all, but so long as they don't have too much breakfast they should be hungry enough to come back in at the slightest sound of a cat bowl being moved. Lucy and Lolly will have to witness the event from the living room as Eric can be a bit skittish and the last thing we want is Lolly chasing him all the way up the garden.
I wonder if Toddy knows and is thinking about what tomorrow will bring?
Paul.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Missing Broadband
It's been a bit of a pain this week not having broadband, we could be changing addresses for loads of stuff on-line but we've got to wait until Monday before we're free to surf once again. The computer has been set up, although the telephone extension cable is hiding in the bedroom in one of the boxes, that will have to wait until the weekend after we've got our bedroom suite set up and have fewer boxes to search through lol.
Debbie took loads of photos last night but running on auto pilot, I deleted them from the card once they'd been uploaded to the computer or I could have posted some today. Never mind, we'll be able to post as many photos as we like from Monday, although if it's as easy to get the internet connection set up as it was last time, there may well be a few phone calls to BT support!
Lolly hurt his leg this morning, he's just a big ball of energy waiting to explode and he's always speeding around not really thinking about how he's going to stop when he reaches a dead end lol. By the time we left for work he was jumping about like a nutter again though :-)
One of the new house rules is that Lucy and Lolly are not allowed on the sofa anymore, neither are the cats, but they don't do rules lol. Surprisingly Lolly, who in the old house bounded from the chair to the sofa and back again, has stopped doing it completely! Lucy on the other hand, who pretends to be much better behaved, is the sly one and is on the sofa as soon as our back's turned. Asking her to get down is futile, she just give you 'that' look and she ends up staying put, she's a cheeky mare alright!
Paul.
Debbie took loads of photos last night but running on auto pilot, I deleted them from the card once they'd been uploaded to the computer or I could have posted some today. Never mind, we'll be able to post as many photos as we like from Monday, although if it's as easy to get the internet connection set up as it was last time, there may well be a few phone calls to BT support!
Lolly hurt his leg this morning, he's just a big ball of energy waiting to explode and he's always speeding around not really thinking about how he's going to stop when he reaches a dead end lol. By the time we left for work he was jumping about like a nutter again though :-)
One of the new house rules is that Lucy and Lolly are not allowed on the sofa anymore, neither are the cats, but they don't do rules lol. Surprisingly Lolly, who in the old house bounded from the chair to the sofa and back again, has stopped doing it completely! Lucy on the other hand, who pretends to be much better behaved, is the sly one and is on the sofa as soon as our back's turned. Asking her to get down is futile, she just give you 'that' look and she ends up staying put, she's a cheeky mare alright!
Paul.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Wandering Around The Garden
A few more jobs done last night, the upstairs telly is almost sorted, I need to nip out today and get a new aerial cable got get freeview back on. I'm not sure what the jobs are tonight, I'm sure I'll be issued with instructions when I get home lol. Anyway, here's a few more photos I took this morning wandering round with the mobile.
Toddy ready to answer the telephone lol.
Misty basking in the early morning sunshine and Eric wanting to know what I'm up to.
While much of the garden is covered with pebbles, which we'll sort out later, we've got loads of beautiful flowers in the borders.
This bush has got loads of flowers and even more buds ready to flower, we've no idea what it is yet but we love it.
This is one of the sheds at the top of the garden, there is an identical one opposite. We're going to kit this one out for the cats and fit a cat flap so that they'll have somewhere to hang out during the day when we finaly start letting them outside.
And finaly, this is Snowbabies Cottage viewed from half way up the garden, while I was taking this, Debbie was waving and shouting to me through the kitchen window. I found a few moments later she had hit her head with a plate....... don't ask!
Paul.
Toddy ready to answer the telephone lol.
Misty basking in the early morning sunshine and Eric wanting to know what I'm up to.
While much of the garden is covered with pebbles, which we'll sort out later, we've got loads of beautiful flowers in the borders.
This bush has got loads of flowers and even more buds ready to flower, we've no idea what it is yet but we love it.
This is one of the sheds at the top of the garden, there is an identical one opposite. We're going to kit this one out for the cats and fit a cat flap so that they'll have somewhere to hang out during the day when we finaly start letting them outside.
And finaly, this is Snowbabies Cottage viewed from half way up the garden, while I was taking this, Debbie was waving and shouting to me through the kitchen window. I found a few moments later she had hit her head with a plate....... don't ask!
Paul.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Settling In
After a very long day at work yesterday Debbie got tea on the go while I put the bed together, it's no fun being woken up at 5.30am with three cats and two dogs bouncing about on the bed! We got the bed finished after tea and moved the two sets of drawers leaving the spare bedroom looking quite respectable. The main bedroom is still a bomb site though, we've still got to order our pine bed for in there, we might do that this weekend.
I ordered a new fridge freezer last night which may take up to a month to arrive but hopefully will be with us in the next week or two so we don't have to keep nipping across to the out house.
Eric is feeling more at home, after keeping out of the way for the last few days, he was purring away last night and wanting attention. We'll need to start thinking about how we introduce them to the outside world soon, Misty and Toddy can't wait to go exploring. We'll have to read up on how best to do it, if anyone has any tips please let us know, we're going to be really nervous letting them out after loosing Toddy for several hours when we tired last time.
Tonight's little jobs will be to get a catch put on the bathroom door because it doesn't stay shut and the cats keep tossing the soap in the bath. I'll also get the upstairs telly sorted out, there is a lead there for the outside aerial and I need to plug in the freeview box too.
Here's a photo of the garden this morning taken on the mobile, the table and chairs are hiding under the green cover which seems to be twice a big as we needed ..lol..
This is the left side of the garden where there is a path that goes right up to the sheds at the top, we've got some trimmers to cut back the foliage so we don't get slapped by wayward branches every time we walk up there ..lol..
Paul.
I ordered a new fridge freezer last night which may take up to a month to arrive but hopefully will be with us in the next week or two so we don't have to keep nipping across to the out house.
Eric is feeling more at home, after keeping out of the way for the last few days, he was purring away last night and wanting attention. We'll need to start thinking about how we introduce them to the outside world soon, Misty and Toddy can't wait to go exploring. We'll have to read up on how best to do it, if anyone has any tips please let us know, we're going to be really nervous letting them out after loosing Toddy for several hours when we tired last time.
Tonight's little jobs will be to get a catch put on the bathroom door because it doesn't stay shut and the cats keep tossing the soap in the bath. I'll also get the upstairs telly sorted out, there is a lead there for the outside aerial and I need to plug in the freeview box too.
Here's a photo of the garden this morning taken on the mobile, the table and chairs are hiding under the green cover which seems to be twice a big as we needed ..lol..
This is the left side of the garden where there is a path that goes right up to the sheds at the top, we've got some trimmers to cut back the foliage so we don't get slapped by wayward branches every time we walk up there ..lol..
Paul.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Mission Accomplished!
We've done it! We are finally in our new home but it's been one hell of an exhausting weekend......
On Friday, we picked up the van at 8am and with the help of Dad and my Brother, we managed to get the first load ready to go by noon. Then we waited for the call from the estate agents to say the money was through and we could pick up the keys. We didn't get the call until 2pm and we knew we would be up against it for the rest of the day. Still, we battled on, getting the keys from the estate agent, going back for the van, driving down to the new house and spent about two hours unloading.
We were just about to start with the second load at about 5pm and we got a call from our estate agent, out buyers we're wanting their keys. I would have understood if they hadn't dragged their feet the whole way and tried to get the move date changed to mid August. Anyway, I told them they would just have to wait as we we're still clearing the house. After a few phone calls they settled for meeting us outside the house to pick up the keys at 6pm. We weren't very happy but at that stage there wasn't much else we could do. So with not much time left we just hoofed everything on the van that we wanted and had to leave loads of rubbish behind for our buyers to sort out.
We got half way through getting the second load off the van but at 7pm we downed tools, not having eaten or sat down since breakfast we just couldn't go on any longer so it was fish 'n' chips all round and a couple of glasses of champagne to wash it down. After Dad had hobbled off home, we dragged a few boxes upstairs to make some space in the living room and kitchen. After catching the tail end of Big Brother we staggered upstairs and collapsed on the mattress.
On Saturday morning every bone and muscle was hurting like mad but we still had to soldier on. We got the rest of the stuff off the van and any room that we created in the house the night before was eaten up again with more boxes. Then it was off to the tip to get rid off the rubbish, then off to take the van back followed by an urgent shopping spree. We came out of Argos loaded up with a new kettle, toaster, microwave, dvd cabinet....etc. We also ordered a bedroom suite as we haven't got anywhere to hang any clothes yet and that should be here on Saturday. After dropping off all the new stuff at home we were off again to the supermarket for supplies for the fridge, which has had to go in the out-house as it won't fit in the kitchen.
It was early evening before we got back so after putting all the food away, we popped down the road for a kebab! After that we were back on with clearing boxes from the kitchen, then the living room and finally the dining room. Exhausted by 10pm we both collapsed upstairs again.
We were up bright and early on Sunday and got the kitchen stuff unpacked then set up a few of the things we'd bought on Saturday. Debbie made us both a couple of burgers at lunchtime before I disappeared into the garden to set up the table and chairs. I was just getting the bubble wrap of the last chair when Debbie's Sister and family arrived to see the new house. Just as they left Debbie's Brother and family arrived, closely followed by friends who we had invited round not knowing anyone else was coming. They called in at friends nearby for a while and came back later for champagne and strawberries as promised.
It was almost midnight when we finally got to bed last night and having not stopped since Thursday evening we are both completely exhausted and back at flippin' work!
We didn't get chance for a sit down over the weekend let alone find the camera's but we'll get loads of photos posted soon, in the mean time, here's a photo of Lucy and Lolly chilling out in our new garden.
Paul.
On Friday, we picked up the van at 8am and with the help of Dad and my Brother, we managed to get the first load ready to go by noon. Then we waited for the call from the estate agents to say the money was through and we could pick up the keys. We didn't get the call until 2pm and we knew we would be up against it for the rest of the day. Still, we battled on, getting the keys from the estate agent, going back for the van, driving down to the new house and spent about two hours unloading.
We were just about to start with the second load at about 5pm and we got a call from our estate agent, out buyers we're wanting their keys. I would have understood if they hadn't dragged their feet the whole way and tried to get the move date changed to mid August. Anyway, I told them they would just have to wait as we we're still clearing the house. After a few phone calls they settled for meeting us outside the house to pick up the keys at 6pm. We weren't very happy but at that stage there wasn't much else we could do. So with not much time left we just hoofed everything on the van that we wanted and had to leave loads of rubbish behind for our buyers to sort out.
We got half way through getting the second load off the van but at 7pm we downed tools, not having eaten or sat down since breakfast we just couldn't go on any longer so it was fish 'n' chips all round and a couple of glasses of champagne to wash it down. After Dad had hobbled off home, we dragged a few boxes upstairs to make some space in the living room and kitchen. After catching the tail end of Big Brother we staggered upstairs and collapsed on the mattress.
On Saturday morning every bone and muscle was hurting like mad but we still had to soldier on. We got the rest of the stuff off the van and any room that we created in the house the night before was eaten up again with more boxes. Then it was off to the tip to get rid off the rubbish, then off to take the van back followed by an urgent shopping spree. We came out of Argos loaded up with a new kettle, toaster, microwave, dvd cabinet....etc. We also ordered a bedroom suite as we haven't got anywhere to hang any clothes yet and that should be here on Saturday. After dropping off all the new stuff at home we were off again to the supermarket for supplies for the fridge, which has had to go in the out-house as it won't fit in the kitchen.
It was early evening before we got back so after putting all the food away, we popped down the road for a kebab! After that we were back on with clearing boxes from the kitchen, then the living room and finally the dining room. Exhausted by 10pm we both collapsed upstairs again.
We were up bright and early on Sunday and got the kitchen stuff unpacked then set up a few of the things we'd bought on Saturday. Debbie made us both a couple of burgers at lunchtime before I disappeared into the garden to set up the table and chairs. I was just getting the bubble wrap of the last chair when Debbie's Sister and family arrived to see the new house. Just as they left Debbie's Brother and family arrived, closely followed by friends who we had invited round not knowing anyone else was coming. They called in at friends nearby for a while and came back later for champagne and strawberries as promised.
It was almost midnight when we finally got to bed last night and having not stopped since Thursday evening we are both completely exhausted and back at flippin' work!
We didn't get chance for a sit down over the weekend let alone find the camera's but we'll get loads of photos posted soon, in the mean time, here's a photo of Lucy and Lolly chilling out in our new garden.
Paul.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Crunchie Eve!
We've never looked forward to crunchie day so much lol. Our solicitors have been shown the error of their ways and we're green for go tomorrow!
The mail redirection is in place and we've started the process of changing addresses which looks like it's going to take months to complete lol. We've ordered a new telephone number but unfortunately broadband won't be ready for another week so we'll not be able to post any pictures over the weekend, however, I should be able to post some (tons) of photos on Monday.
There are so many things we're looking forward to, living in our new dream cottage, here's just a few of them....
Eating at a proper dining table in a proper dining room.
Having Misty, Toddy and Eric wandering freely for the first time and having a lot less cat hair to contend with!
Having Lucy and especially Lolly racing round the garden tiring themselves out.
Enjoying the garden, photographing flowers and butterflies through the rest of the summer.
Setting up a multitude of wild bird feeders and hopefully being able watch an array of birds come and go.
Having enough room to invite people round for barbecues or for dinner.
We've also got a few projects already lined up....
Fitting a cat flap to one of the two garden sheds and equiping it out with goodies for the cats.
Cutting down a rather large tree and leaving the stump for a bird table.
Replacing the main pebbled parts of the garden with flags.
Building a raised fish pond and filling it with koi carp.
Doing something with the enormous greenhouse, not sure what yet though.
That lot should keep us going for a while lol. The countdown is on . . . . see you on the other side!
Paul.
The mail redirection is in place and we've started the process of changing addresses which looks like it's going to take months to complete lol. We've ordered a new telephone number but unfortunately broadband won't be ready for another week so we'll not be able to post any pictures over the weekend, however, I should be able to post some (tons) of photos on Monday.
There are so many things we're looking forward to, living in our new dream cottage, here's just a few of them....
Eating at a proper dining table in a proper dining room.
Having Misty, Toddy and Eric wandering freely for the first time and having a lot less cat hair to contend with!
Having Lucy and especially Lolly racing round the garden tiring themselves out.
Enjoying the garden, photographing flowers and butterflies through the rest of the summer.
Setting up a multitude of wild bird feeders and hopefully being able watch an array of birds come and go.
Having enough room to invite people round for barbecues or for dinner.
We've also got a few projects already lined up....
Fitting a cat flap to one of the two garden sheds and equiping it out with goodies for the cats.
Cutting down a rather large tree and leaving the stump for a bird table.
Replacing the main pebbled parts of the garden with flags.
Building a raised fish pond and filling it with koi carp.
Doing something with the enormous greenhouse, not sure what yet though.
That lot should keep us going for a while lol. The countdown is on . . . . see you on the other side!
Paul.
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