Nature Walk

We're loving the 'nature' we are finding all around the place, all be it slightly frustrated by the identification books being (that old chestnut) "in the packing" so Dad is unable to check what some of this unfamiliar stuff is. We will get there, we promise and identify stuff and let you know, assuming you haven't already shouted out the names! 1) In the '2nd' drive way we have a lovely old bank on which grow a profusion of primroses but also this nice little blue flower which we do not (yet) know the name of. They're very common and make a nice contrast to the yellow. 2) We can't wait to get the tree books out and identify the huge fir trees growing all around the property, mainly of this one type shown here with the long cones and the foliage being a glaucous blue when newly emerged. They are enormous and we reckon over 100 years old. 3) The front hedge after its trim. It was a rather run away privet hedge and we will gradually wean it off privet, favouring more wildlife friendly species. We will also try to get some of the locally common 'species' fuchsia hedging going amongst it. That's why it looks like we've 'missed bits' in the trimming. What we've done is to hammer the privet and leave the more interesting stuff (hawthorn, blackthorn, some kind of maple, honeysuckle etc.) to consolidate their advantage. 4)We love that the lichens here enjoy the unpolluted air and grow in great frizzy bunches, here coating the branches of a larch which is pushing new needles out between the frizz. Larch, you'll presumably know, is one of the few deciduous fir trees, being bare-branches all winter and growing new tufty rosettes of needles each year. 5)Out hunting for interesting pics of the lichen and cones Dad came across this finch nest. Dad thinks she's a gold finch but didn't hang around for fear of disturbing her. She's in a low hanging branch behind the milking shed. 6)A dog capable of finding the warmest spot in the cattle yard for her rest.

Bits and Pieces

The usual little flurry of photos to catch you up on some detailed bits.
1) An 'angle drill'. When the body of your power drill is too long to go in the gap between joists for those runs of lined up holes through which you can push pipes or cabling, hire a drill where the bit works at 90 degrees to the body. Then you can sneak the business end up between the joists and "work away" (as they say round here).
2) Some early signs of Spring. In the 2nd drive way up to the right hand side of the house is an old old stone wall, long since buried under a carpet of moss, soil and herbs. We don't use this drive way because it does not have a hard base and is pretty much just a farm field-gate, but it serves the cattle yard and then runs on down the hill towards where the peat cutting bogs for the farm were. Mum does, though, have designs on it and will create at some point in the future, a second vehicle access so we can swoop majestically in and out. The farm-field will be pushed back over the old wall and past the line of trees which run just East of the wall. It is along this bank and wall that Dad discovered a load of primroses were in bloom in the sunshine of Thursday afternoon.
3) Our new solid fuel stove has arrived but cannot be set up yet till we have a tiled floor, so is sitting there on its pallet, still in its plastic shroud to protect it till that day. It is a respected make (Stanley) and weighs a tonne (well, probably not quite, but it's a solid thing for sure.
4) Dad and Sparks treated themselves to a cement mixer. They have mixed enough concrete and cement by hand to know that they do not want to be mixing by hand to supply the Midnight Joker when he re-renders the end of the house. The many many other uses they will find for it mean that it's cheaper to buy than to hire one. It got assembled Monday and straight way used to mix the concrete which went into the 4 bits of shuttering around various windows. Simple. Shovel gravel or sand in, then cement, start it running (nice and quiet because it's electric) to mix these to an even grey colour, then add water from a bucket till the required consistency is reached (2-3 minutes). Tilt drum to pour mix into buckets and carry to place where needed. Brilliant.

Deefs

More Signs of Spring

Now that the local Daffodil Show is well and truly over, the daffs all decide it's now OK to flower. These rather nice collection of Tete-a-Tete are in one of the big pots which were originally a birthday present from Mum to Dad. They are too big for Mum to lift but she used her womenly wiles and the 2CV (and a handy bloke with strong arms) to bring them home from the garden centre when Dad was out of the way.

Since then they have contained a variety of ill-fated plants, a Japanese maple which died, and a philadelphus which fared little better. Now they are full of daffs while they decide what to do with them. The other pics (if we can get them to show - this website seems tyo be having a hissy-fit and will not show them, so we have no idea whther they uploaded successfully or not.

Dad has survived another weekend on call and we've had plenty of good walks. Mr H, says Dad, is definitely starting to slow down now, the old fella, and an hour and a half of fairly gentle is enough for him. I am, of course, fit as a flea at 3 years old, so there is talk of maybe replacing Meggie with a fit, young third dog to give me a run for my money and let Haggis have a gentle retirement, like they did for Meggie. Maybe not a pup. Maybe not even (gasp) a Westie.

We'll see. Now we want to try publishing this and see what the website makes of it.

Deefski

Tiny Dog, Big Forest

A scorcher! We go for two walks today, one early, before the heat starts to stifle us, and another later, when there's a bit of shade in the Forest, and we can keep a bit cooler. 26 degrees C, they tell me. The early walk was so that Dad could see the big notice and balloons the allotmenteers had tied to the picnic area fence saying "14th April - Happy 50th Birthday and Dad's name" . 50th Birthday balloons were tied all along the fence. Excellent!

Here are some nice pics from our afternoon walk. the big ol' stags head oak tree is not actually in Challock Forest, but close by the A251 on the way back to Faversham. It looks superbly ancient and last-legs in the slanting evening light, but it seems to go on surviving.

The beech woods one is rather fun. If you look central in the pic, half way up the track up the bank you might just be able to see me, looking very tiny against the huge beeches. The curious horn thing at the top of the slope is one of the sculptures done by Stour Valley Arts ( www.stourvalleyarts.org.uk ). It is actually fixed to the top of a 30 foot deep concrete-lined hole, which is drip fed from a dew-pond type pool. The dripping water falls past an assortment of jangly wind-chime type bits, as I understand it, and the subterranean noises are amplified by the horn thing. It is called, I think, "Score for a hole in the ground" and the artist was the banjo player from Shane MacGowan's band The Pogues (Fantastic band, says Dad)

Finally a pretty bunch of primroses, just to make you feel all spring like and Kentish. The bluebells are starting to open, but I'll save pics of them till we get a goodly typical carpet of them, when they are at their most impressive. 15th April is, actually a bit early, and we are mildly concerned that the formal Bluebell Walk Dad leads in the forest will only be left with the tail end of them. Heigh Ho. There's no accounting for nature. Last year we almost had to postpone it because they were so late.

Hope you had a good weekend

Deefs