Diagonal Door and Panini

Oh what a perfect day (I'm glad I spent it with you). Not only have we have the builders round again which means plenty of torn off bits of cheese sandwich, bacon roll and cheese/ham panini (Old John has not yet learned to avoid our imploring looks, even though Dad scolds him). The guys have put up the door which sits neatly diagonally across the end of the hall (we have not yet been officially told that it's main purpose is to keep us at the back of the house when the humans are out), so we think Mum will be delighted.

It's a gorgeous honey oak, just waiting for some nice oil to be rubbed into it. There will be a glazed panel above it, and it has 2 windows, so will allow plenty of light through in either direction. They have also started on the ceiling work.

We also got taken out, all three of us, in the 2CV to go collect the old project car, Mademoiselle, to take her for a nice blast through all the country lanes across to Lew's workshop, where we are all allowed out for a good sniff around, There are old farm buildings and greenhouses so plenty of chicken-y and ratty smells to chase, as well as beer-drinking, tea-drinking Jack Russell "Rosie" to talk to.

We do, though create a minor drama when we stray too near some pigs in a field. Lew runs to rescue us in alarm. Dad is quite knowledgeable around farming but has no experience of pigs, and wasn't aware that pigs will quite happily surround and kill a dog, tearing it to peices if they get a chance. Could've told me!

Dad does not think it was such a perfect day though, just because he gets chauffeured around all the builders merchants in Canterbury shelling out for french windows here, a door there, wood there and laminated flooring there..... He's gone for a lie down.

Deefer (pah! Pigs! I wasn't scared!)

Canterbury Steel

Day 2 of the house-wrecking project. A lot less masonry flying about today and (Mum will be delighted to hear) a lot less dust. The guys tidy up the broken off edge of the ceiling where the RSJ is to go, then bash out a hole in the walls at either end. The beam gets hefted into position while we're out for a walk, so we didn't see that bit, and "wound up" with two more Acrows. Next comes blocking up above the steel, packing out the gap from RSJ to the bottom of the upstairs wall with slate, blocks and cement. All good stuff.

We get a nice walk round the boat yard and the town. Dad is curious as to where Sailing Barge Greta has got to. Working the touristy charter business all Summer out of Whitstable harbour, she was due to come "home" to our quayside last Sunday but-one, and hasn't appeared. Hope she (and skipper Steve) are OK.

Deefski

Trick or Treat?

Trick or treat? This is what happens if you don't give them the correct sweeties. They come back next day and knock your house down! I jest, of course. This is day 1 of Mum and Dad's

"re-modelling" project, to whit, knocking down the wall between Kitchen and Diner. So we have had Bob the Builder and his mate (actually, John and Dan) to "play with" all day. Can't think why we were all shut away out of the firing line when the boys set to with the kango's and hammers and the shards of masonry were a-flying.

End of Dad 1, and we have no wall left and the ceiling held up by Acrow props. We have a 3.7m RSJ (Yes, Mum did manage to call it a JCB this morning) coming. We shall have new floors, new ceilings and lots of making good in the walls dept. A new radiator, too, and some re-sited sockets. Dad has the week off, so he's been able to keep up and email some pics to Mum, but I bet she'll still be impressed when she first steps into her new "Kitchen Diner".

Meanwhile, up at the allotments, it's that time of year when some plots come free because people decide not to re-new. This year we have 6 part plots to let, and 35 souls on the waiting list, so Dad is busy arranging meetings up at the site to show people the options. We love this because we get to come too and get a good run around the site - this time with beardy black lurcher, Finzi.

You were only meant to blow the bl***y doors off!

Deefer

Undiscovered Kong

Ah the joys of it! Mum and Dad are clearing the dining room and the kitchen preparatory to Bob the Builder coming in Monday to demolish the wall between the two. In the process they move a big dresser and, lo and behold!, under it is an old Kong toy. What's more it's full of treats!

Now these may be fairly ancient treats (rumour has it that the kong was bought for me as a pup but that I either lost interest or it rolled under the dresser and got forgotten, but these treats improve with maturity and age, so I immediately claimed the toy as my own and set about extracting the goodies (and growling at anyone who came near.)

Haggis, on the other hand HATES all these furniture moves with a passion, strongly suspecting that they may result in humans disappearing with their belongings in a suit case and us being abandoned to the tender mercies of Dog Sitters. Now the only dog sitters we've ever had are Ken and Jackie one side, and the Angel B and Uncle Jim the other, all of whom are wonderful, but that doesn't stop Haggis slinking around with his tail and ears down, and a hang-dog expression like his little world is falling apart.

Meg's cool as long as no-one turns off the food supply....

Deefer

Sparrowhawk Kill

For those who've never seen one, here is a very typical sparrowhawk kill. This is all you get left of a sparrow when our killer-queen female sparrow hawk, regular visitor to the garden, gets lucky and is then left undisturbed while she eats. Here she's pulled down a female sparrow right under the mixed seed feeder in the Paulownia tree.

The main photo shows the small circle of plucked feathers, usually with an empty centre where the hawk was standing to do the job. Then right in the middle of that, a rather pathetic bit of sparrow-beak and fragment of forehead bone / front of skull. That is all that's left. here, I've pulled out the beak bits and put them on a handy leaf to make them easier to see. Usually they're just lost in among the feathers.

Some people hate to think that death stalks the garden, and the poor old sparrows are being murdered in cold blood. We look at it that we're proud to be able to support a top predator, and it's a sign of a very healthy sustained sparrow population in out wildlife garden. We see the sparrowhawk about once a month - she whooshes through at hedge-hopping height, hoping to surprise a sleepy sparrow. She's very manouvre-able but the spugs are fast and usually vigilant.

If she's lucky there's a rush of air and a puff noise as she thumps into the spug feet-first, then a commotion from the other birds in protest (from cover). If not she zooms on through, or alights briefly on a perch in the garden with a "darn-it!" expression on her face, before streaking off again to the next likely bird-garden.

Have a great Hallowe'en

Deefski

Greenwich Mean

So sad - we're now on Greenwich Mean time (GMT), so we suddenly don't have any daylight left in the evenings, and we're lucky if we can get a walk before dark. Especially if Dad either stops on the way home to sneak some broad beans into the allotment (good ol' Autumn sown "Aquadulce") or as yesterday gets held by a problem at work.

Still, rumour has it that Bob the Builder (actually John) is on the way soon to start knocking the house about, and that Dad might have some time off work to coincide. Mum has a dream of a "kitchen diner".

...and just in case you're interested, Dad is now blogging in competition to this one, "blogger in residence" to the Cambria Trust volunteers, in which he is involved on a regular basis. Nip onto their website and check out the "news" section for anything that says "Volunteer's Views". Can't promise it's any more exciting than this but it will be different.

Look after yourself
Deefski

Yo Weiner!

What can I say? This link provided by our very good westie-mad friends in the Deep South, Marlane and Norm. Yes, it's a real dog, and yes it's in a bun. Go look for yourself - they found this spoof newspaper which appears to be sponsored by the dog food with the westie on the front - called, apparently Caesar in this country, but Cesar in the USA (although I may have that wrong)

http://www.cesar.com/westhighlandherald/

"Enjoy!" (as they say, enthusiastically, in the South)

Deefski