John Turner's Ramblings

Garden Update

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:40:00 +0000

The following two photos show the changes in appearance of the main lawn. We have not quite decided how to finish the area around the conifers but no doubt a decision will be made in due course.

01 Apr 2008

19 Jun 2008

Elsewhere, the fight against the grass continues; below is a photograph of Annette's head as she drives the mower through the bracken in the top field (there is a pathway there - honest).

23 Jun 2008

We have now had a new gate fitted adjacent to the Patio and the end of the wall made to look much better; more progress and a smaller bank balance!

28 Jun 2008

A couple of weeks ago, the metal gate from the road to the field finally collapsed so we had to replace that as well. All the gates are now relatively new so there should be no further expense with regard to them.

28 Jun 2008

Snake Update

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:53:00 +0000

I found the snake again today and it is a Grass Snake I believe. This time I had a camera so if anyone has a different opinion, here it is.

Birds

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:52:00 +0000

Just a few words on birds during the month of June.

Magpies:
Our pair of magpies has turned into a family of five.

"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told, eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten for a time of joyous bliss."

I look forward to the Silver turning up!!

It was quite funny to watch the young, in their early outings from the nest, chasing baby rabbits around the lawn. They have now learned to live in peace! It was also funny to watch two of the youngsters trying to eat a rubber ball that had been left in the field by Brandy! One other habit the whole family have is to get as much seed as possible from the feeders, which obviously are not designed for large birds. They have stood on rocks and reached up until I moved the feeders away from the rocks. They then stood on the bird bath and launched themselves at the feeder, thus knocking seed to the ground, where they able to eat in comfort.

Blue Tits:
We had one, and possibly two, families of Blue Tits in the roof. All now seem to have successfully flown the nest.

Sparrows:
One family of sparrows have now vacated the nest that was in the garage roof.

Swallows:
There are some swallows in the area although we don't see them very often. I did catch one coming out of our large shed one day and subsequently found two flying around inside the garage. They had, I guess, come in over the top of the roller door and forgotten the way out. They soon vanished when I opened the door and haven't been seen since.

Robins:
These are probably the friendliest of the garden birds, or possibly the least afraid of humans. I can almost guarantee that if I am digging in the garden or hedgerow, a Robin will turn up, look at me and then jump down and pinch the worms and insects that I have disturbed.

Buzzard:
Looking out of the kitchen window one day, I spotted a Buzzard sat on top of an electricity pole; when viewed through binoculars, it was sitting on top of a rabbit, which it was tearing apart. It subsequently flew off, complete with its prey.

Others:
The Goldfinches disappeared for a while but have now turned up again. I have not seen any sign of a family of them, which is a shame. We still see the odd Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Dunnock with plenty of Blue, Great and Coal Tits. We have a pair of Wagtails who rarely come into the actual garden but spend hours in the field. Likewise Blackbirds prefer the field to the garden as do the Wood Pigeons.

That's all for now; I was hoping for some photos but cannot get close enough, or do not have the camera when I do get close.

P.S. Nothing to do with birds, but I did see my first snake in the top field the other day. I think that it was an adder but wouldn't put too much money on it. As usual - no camera!

Father's Day

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:48:00 +0000

On Sunday, Maria and Annette went on a planned shopping trip to Trago Mills and left me dog sitting and to do what I wanted. Unfortunately, the weather in the morning was very wet, which precluded a walk for the dogs (I have become a fair weather walker) so I caught up on a couple of TV recordings including 'Doctor Who'. Very strange!
As the day progressed, so the weather improved and I got out into the garden to carry on the fight against weed and grass. The shoppers arrived back at some time in the afternoon having spent four and a half hours in Trago - phew!
We had decided to have a barbecue for tea so preparations were made in anticipation of Clive arriving from a day at work. By the time we were ready to cook, I was still getting all the garden tools back in their homes, and, as Clive had arrived, he took over the cooking duties in a very attractive pinny, as can be seen below! Thanks very much Clive.

He did a great job, and, as the evening was very pleasant, we ate outside using the picnic set that Maria had bought some time ago.
Thank you to all those who contributed to a very pleasant day for me. The cards and presents were much appreciated.

Annette's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:56:00 +0000

To celebrate Annette's 40th birthday, a day out for the four of us with the two dogs was planned. Fortunately the weather was set fair so we set off for Boscastle, one of our favourite places and somewhere that the dogs can be let off their leads without any trouble. Because we had the dogs we took Annette's car with Clive driving arriving late morning. We took a slow stroll out to the rocks at the entrance of the harbour where SKS took the following photograph.

It is very nearly four years since the flood, which devastated this little village and work is still ongoing although it seems to be largely cosmetic now.

We decided to have lunch in a little cafe down by the harbour, where we could sit outside with the dogs. The photo on the link was taken before the flood. I believe that the only part of the building to survive was the back wall. It has now been completely rebuilt. We had a variety of sandwiches with salad and they were all delicious. Lunch was followed by another slow stroll back to the car with stops at various shops, resulting in a number of small purchases including an ice cream. Annette drove us home in time for a rest before we got ready for the evening meal, which Clive had organised at Trevose Golf Club.
I drove this time and we arrived in time for a quick drink before we went in for the meal. We were treated very well indeed by all the staff and the meal was excellent. Of course, for anyone that knows Trevose, the view from the dining room is spectacular, (see the photo on the home page of their website) especially as the sun was still shining when we started the meal. For sweet, Annette had strawberries and clotted cream, and Ian, the wine waiter, organised a candle and arrived with some of the staff, and, together with the rest of the dining room, sang Happy Birthday, much to Annette's embarrassment.
The meal was completed with coffee and liqueurs, sitting in the bar looking out of the picture window before the drive home. We had a lovely time and, hopefully, Annette also enjoyed her day.

Mary Poppins

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:41:00 +0000

As part of Annette's 40th birthday celebrations we went to Plymouth yesterday to see 'Mary Poppins'. As we had booked the matinée, we combined the trip with some shopping and, despite my general hate of shopping, it turned out to be a very good day out. Fortunately for me, Annette did the driving and I was left in the back of the car to snooze!

The show was excellent; it has a number of differences to the film with some new songs but still included the big show numbers i.e. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "Step in Time". There was also some impressive "flying" with Mary flying up over the audience and ending up disappearing over the top of us as a finale; we were in the Upper Circle so a real treat for the many schoolchildren in the audience. Bert, with a better cockney accent than Dick van Dyke (who hasn't?), walked up the side of the stage, across the top upside down and still singing, and down the other side - very impressive. For those who were watching closely, Mary did slide up the bannisters on one occasion. All in all it was a very entertaining show with a splendid cast, including two very engaging children playing Jane and Michael, and I would recommend it to anyone, except very young children.

We drove home afterwards and then we all ended up at Annette's for tea/supper. We hope that today, which is Annette's birthday, will be equally good. As I write this, the weather looks beautiful so here's hoping for the best.

SHOUT

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:07:00 +0000

Last night, Maria & Me, together with friends Dot & John, went to the Hall for Cornwall to see "SHOUT", a musical featuring some of the songs of the 60s and starring Claire Sweeney and Su Pollard. The consensus of opinion in our group was that the best singer was a young girl who played the part of Betty. I am afraid that I don't know her name but she was very good indeed. The most surprising was Su Pollard; although, for the most part, she sounded exactly the same as Peggy in Hi-De-Hi, she has a tremendous singing voice and also the ability to act out the words as written in the song. The outstanding performance featured Su and "Betty" singing a duet including "You're My World". It made the hairs on my arms stand on end. The total cast was six women and one man; he played a variety of parts in many guises, which largely consisted of speaking the TV adverts that were in vogue during the sixties; not PC these days; "You're never alone with a Strand" comes to mind. Anyway, there wasn't much of a story line but the music carried the show through and all the performances were good. In between the songs there were plenty of comic moments and I would say that the whole audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves, not that we could see many of them since we were in Row B and right in the middle.

May Update

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sat, 31 May 2008 07:44:00 +0000

As the last day of May 2008 emerges from the Cornish mist, I thought that I would review odds and ends that have happened.

Before I start, I would like to carry out a survey of anyone who is reading this so, click on Comment and just say hello, or make a comment, and I will then know that I am not just talking to two people - thanks.

Birds:
Today, for the first time, I saw two Goldfinches on the feeder at the same time. Also this month, for the first time since we moved here, I have seen the odd Starling; I would have expected more of them. A couple of days ago I saw some sort of hawk, maybe Sparrowhawk, being mobbed by three crows. The only other bird of prey seen was a lone Buzzard. We could do with something, anyone got a Harris Hawk?, a shotgun?, or are related to the Dingles in Emmerdale? (or Peggy Armstrong in Heartbeat) to deal with:

Rabbits:
These very cute animals are breeding like, well rabbits and are everywhere. I shall have to erect more protective fencing to deter them from reaching the garden.

This one was about 6" long!!

Flowers:
Most of the flowers in the garden are on shrubs but I did like this photograph of the Arum Lily that is just outside the conservatory:

In parts of the garden I encourage wild flowers, particularly Foxgloves; the ones shown below I found in the top field and was so taken with that I transplanted some onto the Turf Wall. Now, who is the expert who can tell me what they are?

Finally, as it has been a tremendous time for May Blossom, I have included the following photo of part of the bank adjacent to our lower field. The yellow bush is Broom but is past its best and the Rhododendrons are not fully formed yet.

And so to June, I wonder what it will bring?

The Turf Wall

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:41:00 +0000

I have rambled on about this project so I thought that I would show my readers (if there are any), just how far I have got.

Remember this?

Just started - 01 Apr 2008

And now:

25 May 2008

To get to the end, I think that this is a 2 to 3 year project!! Assistance willingly accepted!

Ride-on Mower

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:06:00 +0000

Last week was a disaster for my elderly Hayter 13/30. I had been using it mostly for towing my little trailer full of turf and soil etc., but had decided to cut part of the top field. All went well but it suddenly clogged up and when I had removed all the grass I started up again only to find that every time I selected the drive for the cutters, the engine stopped. After some preliminary investigation, I decided that, without a workshop and a means of taking the cutting assembly apart, I was going to get nowhere.

A decision had to be made:
1. Get it repaired.
2. Buy a second hand one or new one and sell the old one on Ebay.
3. Put the broken one in as part exchange.

After seemingly hours on the internet, I was no nearer to a solution so on Monday, I took myself off to my local mower stockist to investigate the possibilities. Options to repair were discussed and to be very fair with them, they would have collected it and told me the cost before proceeding. One of the problems is that the grass does not stop growing at this time of the year. In the end, I decided to put it in part exchange for a new one. The exchange value was more than I expected and the exchange would take place within about 6 days so that suited me. Having consulted Maria we decided to proceed and set the wheels in motion.

Saturday saw the arrival of the new machine, so I had another toy to play with, and I did.

Brandy - A little concerned!

Whilst the patio was being laid, I cut all the paths in the top field, then the whole of the lower one. At the end of the day I used the towing facility to move yet more turf and earth to the wall and promptly ran out of fuel on the entrance road!!

Patio

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sun, 25 May 2008 05:10:00 +0000

It has been our plan for some time to have a patio outside the conservatory, well, yesterday that plan came to fruition. The delivery of the slabs etc. caused some concern as I persuaded the lorry driver to come into the field so that the delivery was as close as possible to where it was needed. The lorry got into the field OK but getting out again proved more difficult and, when he finally extracted himself from the entrance track, I spent an hour or so repairing the track and sweeping mud from the road!!

I had done some of the preparation by removing the turf so Dan and Ashley (who I persisted in calling Adrian!!) turned up about 09:45 and left at about 17:00 with the following results:

Before

After

Whilst he was there, I asked Dan if he could finish off the job by tidying up the end of the wall that butts up to the patio. We then thought that it would be a good idea to have a gate into the field as well so, hopefully, later this week he is coming back with a gate. After that, all we shall need is some decent weather, the barbecue dusted down, the patio furniture oiled and we shall be ready to go.

13 May

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:57:00 +0000

There are some dates in a person's life that stand out as being memorable. In my case, six dates come to mind. They are: 18 March 1941 - my date of birth. 14 November 1964 - I got married. 23 January 1967, 13 June 1968 and 24 November 1969 - Andrew, Annette and Nick's arrival dates in this world. That is five, so what is the sixth you my ask?

13 May 1958 was the day I signed on in the Royal Air Force. I was one of about 155 callow youths who joined the 89th Entry, Royal Air Force Apprentices at RAF Halton. For those with a mathematical background, you will note that that is 50 years ago today.

Some of those boys are still in touch and some of them will have met up today at the National Memorial Arboretum to remember that momentous day (for some of us) 50 years ago. Regrettably, I was not able to attend but I have been thinking of friends made all those years ago and hoping that they have had a good reunion. I shall be at the next Annual Reunion at Tunbridge Wells in October.

Instead of celebrating, I have spent the day, amongst other things, in climbing up and down a ladder, cleaning the guttering. This is a soul destroying task slightly worse than cleaning windows, which I hate. I then had to fix the exhaust on the Ride-on mower before cutting the 0.81 acre field alongside the house. The Strimmer came next and I would like to think that I am getting better with it but the results leave a lot to be desired. In the meantime, Maria has been hard at work with a myriad of different things including washing, ironing and loads of weeding. We finally packed up at about 7pm, had some tea and settled down for the evening. For me that means catching up with the Blog, sorting the e-mails and tidying up some Family History.

A Day in the Life of a "Retired" Aircraft Electrician

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:45:00 +0000

I thought that the story of yesterday should be the subject of this post. It started badly because, since I returned from holiday, I have been suffering from a bad cold (not man-flu) and my night's sleep was interrupted, resulting in about two hours sleep.
I gave up and got up at about 07.00, made myself a cup of tea and then checked my e-mails before doing about an hour's work transcribing Maidstone Marriages from 1761/2. This is an ongoing task for the Kent Family History Society.
At 08.00 I made more tea and took a cup to Maria. I then had a shave and shower followed by a leisurely breakfast.
The first job of the day was to fix one of the Black-out blinds in our bedroom. It would not stay closed and I had been told how to fix it by the company. The fix turned out to be good so tools and stepladder were brought down to the kitchen. Maria promptly asked me whether or not I had fixed the extractor fan in the en-suite; it was making a funny noise! Back up two flights of stairs complete with tools and stepladder. Having removed the fan, I located the problem, removed some damaged tube, reconnected everything satisfactorily and returned everything to its home.
Now what, thought I? For some time, Maria has been complaining about the state of the path to the front door, saying that it was slippery so I thought that it was time to improve its appearance.

Before

Armed with Pressure Washer, wellies and the oldest pair of jeans that I own I started the process.

During - Note the state of the Wellies and Jeans

About three and a half hours later, I put everything away and the path looked a lot cleaner, which is more than can be said for me! Everything off, I had my second shower of the day. The path now needed to dry so that I could fill all the gaps with sand so we had a very late lunch, quick siesta, watched "Deal or No Deal" with a cup of tea and then started the process of filling in the gaps. That took about an hour, but made the path look rather grey so we are now awaiting some gentle rain to tidy the whole thing.

After

I followed that with lifting some more turf and building my wall a little higher before calling it a day and settling down for a quiet evening, including a chicken salad sandwich. I did do a little more Marriage transcribing in between watching a little television and we finally went to bed at about 23.00. I read a couple of chapters of 'Oliver Twist' before having a good night's sleep - hooray!

Post Holiday Update

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:46:00 +0000

We have had glorious weather since we returned and therefore all the grass has been cut, including the two fields, some weeding has been done and further construction of my "turf wall" has taken place.
Today, Maria was washing some bedding and was complaining that the sheets did not fit very well on the rotary clothes drier. I decided to, temporarily, supply one of the longest lines in Cornwall, stretching all the way across our field. It now seems as though it will become a permanent feature although positioned slightly differently. If anyone is interested, it was just over 34 of my golfer's paces long. Anyone got a longer one?

Holiday Time

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:31:00 +0000

We have just arrived back from our annual two weeks in the sun of Tenerife so I thought that a brief resume of the holiday was appropriate.
Our outbound flight was from Bristol at 06.30 so we left home just after midnight arriving at about 03.00. The rules have changed again so we could not offload the cases outside the airport. Off we went to our parking zone, catching the bus back with all the luggage. In trying to get into the airport, Maria tripped over the kerb and damaged an elbow. Whilst I waited for the check-in to open she went off to try and get a plaster but found herself being attended to by two First Aiders - ah the benefits of Health and Safety!
The flight took off on time and we duly arrived in Tenerife and on to Beverly Hills Heights. Unfortunately, although we arrived at about noon, we could not gain access to the apartment until about 16.30. Nice apartment and we thoroughly enjoyed it; good view over Los Cristianos and only about 15 yards from the pool. We had never stayed here before but we would certainly not mind going back.
For the most part the weather stayed sunny and warm and, because I managed to damage a knee, we spent a lot of relaxation time around the pool; another novelty for us as we usually prefer the beach.

Beverly Hills Heights Pool.

We met some very nice people, especially Beryl and Ian and eventually had a couple of meals out with them. They managed to get us to imbibe too much one night, resulting in a very interesting walk back up the hill to bed!

Beryl, Ian, Maria & Me on our last night.

The journey home was fairly uneventful, apart from an hour's delay and having to pay 27 Euros in excess baggage!! We arrived home at about 21.15 to find the house just as we had left it (apart from slightly longer grass), thanks to Annette and Clive, who also had a cup of tea ready.
So, back to normality. Well I have developed a cold and sore throat already but I am hoping that it is not going to last too long. I have sorted through all the snail mail and the 350 e-mails. Today is going to be devoted to the garden as the weather looks set fair.

April Garden Update

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:21:00 +0000

Just a couple of photos to show what I have been up to during the month.
The first photo shows the main garden, which now has a border virtually the whole way round, although it is by no means finished. The grass has also been treated for moss so is looking a bit black in places. I managed to get the scarifier to work and took out a mound of dead moss and thatch. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, we should have a lawn instead of a patch of green stuff.
The second photo shows what I have done with all the turf that I have taken up and should be compared with the photo on the post from the 6th April.
The third photo has got nothing to do with the garden; it was taken on a recent walk with Annette's dogs from the top of our "mountain" and I rather like it.

Fox Alert

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:06:00 +0000

Today was a first for me as, at about 10:30 this morning, I got to within about ten yards of a fox in the garden. It was scrabbling about in the bushes on the left hand side of the main garden, presumably scavenging for some bread that I had put out for the birds. It soon dashed off to the bottom of the garden, over the wall and into the rough area below the field. That seems to confirm what happened to the various bits of rabbit that we have found recently, with the latest today (two legs). Recently Brandy was seen rushing around the garden with something in his mouth; when Clive caught him, he was extremely reluctant to let go of another rabbit leg; Clive subsequently found another two legs. Oh well, there are still plenty of rabbits left, so there might be some fat foxes around!

April Plans

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:39:00 +0000

We have decided that the grass around the base of the conifers down the side of the main garden has got to go. It takes hours to cut because it has to be done largely by hand - even the strimmer does not do a proper job without damaging the tree trunks. I have started to cut out a border as can be seen in the following photograph (bottom four small conifers), with the intention of creating an easy maintenance border which can be cut right to the edge with the big mower.

So, what to do with all the turf and associated grass and weeds? The answer came to me after I remembered seeing the faces of bunkers built from turves. The "wall" adjacent to the road leading to the house looks quite precarious in places so I thought that I would start to re-face it with whatever I took out. The following photo shows the nature of the problem (well part of it anyway) and the first few turves in place. I will never be able to do the whole wall/hedge, but it will be fun seeing if I can make it look a little better. If we ever get a patio area outside of the conservatory, that will release some more turf. I will report back as I progress.

The White Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:13:00 +0000

In my previous post, I hoped that the weather would improve - well this morning, the temperature in our garage was +5 and outside.....

Lonely Rabbit!

Oh well, it is now almost 10:30 and everything has returned to green.

March 2008

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:41:00 +0000

As far as weather is concerned, we are heartily glad to see the back of March. It did rain a lot but the main problem was the wind, which bent the conifers and uprooted one bush altogether. Fortunately no damage occurred to the house even though the roof did sound as though it going to end up in the garden at any moment! On the plus side, we did manage to clean up the upper rockery and do some planting, including some odds and ends from Redcap and South Wales. I have no doubt that some of the couch grass will return, but it will be a little easier next time, as long as I can keep it hoed regularly.

Ah well here's hoping that April is kinder!

The rabbits are multiplying rapidly giving Annette's dogs many more targets to chase.

Birthday Boy

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:52:00 +0000

OK, so I am a little late with this Post, but other projects have delayed it.

Ah, another year older and still here!

My 67th birthday was a low-key affair on Tuesday. Maria and I had a relaxed breakfast before driving to Plymouth so that Maria could try and find me a new brown leather jacket. She is always trying to make me more modern, something that I have resisted over the years, however she had already bought me some Jeans (surely jeans are for working, not looking smart) and a new shirt so I wore those for the trip. Anyway, off we went, stopping en-route at Kernow Mill for coffee, a very early Cream Tea and a browse (I did manage to resist the temptation to buy the "Single Malt of the Week or Month").

It is probably quite well known among my immediate family that shopping and me do not sit well together, but I have to say that the day went very well with not much "browsing". We did find a new jacket for me and then got one for Maria as she had just had a small win on the Premium Bonds. We had to wait for a while so that her sleeves could be shortened and took this opportunity to have a snack before setting off for home.

Annette and the dogs came for tea, but, because we had eaten fairly late, we decided to have a snack and have the Fillet Steak on the following day. It turned out to be very nice too. (the Steak that is)

I managed to accumulate some interesting presents, even though a couple of them had come a little early. Lawn Edging Shears, Extending Lopping Shears and a battery operated Air Compressor make up the more practical presents; all of these have now been used successfully. The lawn looks good from a distance with a nice sharp edge, the conifers have been lopped as shown in a previous post and the wheelbarrow is a little easier to operate now that the tyre is at a more sensible pressure.

Here I am posing, reluctantly!

Now all I have to do is study the book I received called "The Lawn Expert", and perhaps I can convert this patch of grass, moss and weed into something like a Lawn.

One of my other presents was an Energy Monitor, which tells me how much energy we use by having various equipments plugged in. Maybe this little gadget might help us to reduce our rather high electricity bill. My thanks go to all those who contributed to my day. Here's to the next!

JDT

March Visitors

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:16:00 +0000

Saturday 8th March saw the arrival of friends Sue and Mick Mepham from Crowborough in East Sussex. Having stayed with them on a couple of occasions, it was good to be able to entertain them for a change.
Rather than cook on their first night, we decided to book a table at the "Two Clomes" at Quintrell Downs. As usual the food turned out to be good, plentiful and reasonably priced. The evening ended with a twist. Although we had regularly eaten there, we had never been on a Saturday before so were surprised when someone appeared at the table with a piece of paper and some Bingo tickets asking whether or not we were playing Bingo and entering the quiz. We decided to have a go and duly bought a couple of Bingo sheets and later some raffle tickets for the "Meat" draw. The Bingo turned out to be a washout from our point of view and we got absolutely nowhere so it was on to the quiz. After 40 questions we were not very happy about our answers but swapped sheets for the marking and ended up with a creditable score of 31. Meanwhile the raffle took place and one of Mick's tickets won some Gammon so not a total waste of an evening. When the results of the quiz were announced, we were pleasantly surprised to hear our names called out as the winners. A bottle of Red Wine was given as a prize, which was very acceptable since there was no entry fee for the quiz. As a team, we will now retire undefeated!

On Sunday the weather was a mix of sunshine and squalls, however we went out to show our visitors the sights of Newquay, during which we had coffee at a very blowy Fistral Blu cafe. This might be the last time we can afford to go there if Rick Stein gets his hands on it! We then drove up the coast, via Trevose Golf Club and Padstow to end up for a sandwich at Trelawney Garden Centre at Sladesbridge before heading home to batten down the hatches in preparation for the big storm that was forecast for the Sunday Night / Monday Morning. Maria and Sue provided an excellent Roast Beef dinner and Mick and I managed to finish the bottle of wine won the previous night.

It was certainly stormy on Sunday night through into Monday, and, as our visitors were leaving at lunchtime, we decided to relax, have cooked breakfast and watch the garden shrubs get blown about.

Despite the poor weather, I believe that the visit counted as a success and we look forward to seeing them again in October for the 89th Entry Reunion at Tunbridge Wells.

Septic Tank

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:54:00 +0000

When we bought Roseveare House, we knew that there was a problem with the Septic Tank but decided that nothing was going to deflect our intention to buy the house so we chose not to ask too many questions, despite the very soggy ground around it that had a distinct sort of aroma!
Some time after we moved in I decided to have a look inside the first chamber cover; it was full to overflowing!! I had a look in the next Inspection Cover towards the house which had some fluid present but fortunately the pipe under the Inspection Cover next to the house was clear.
I found a local man who came along with his lorry and emptied as much as he could and, having had a discussion with him, it was decided that the only way to resolve the problem was to have a new Soakaway.

Here follows a quick lesson on Septic Tanks:
Chamber One - Where everything from the drains go. The "Solids" sink to the bottom where biological action breaks down the solids, effectively "eating" them, leaving fluids to flow into the second Chamber.
Chamber Two - fills to a certain level with fluid, which then flows out of the tank into a Soakaway - in theory this should be very clean water!
Soakaway - takes the overflow and dissipates it into the ground.

Our problem was that the fluid was never discharging from the second chamber, which simply filled up, then filled up the first chamber, allowing solids into the second chamber. The Second Chamber then overflowed out of the cover. Digging a new Soakaway was the answer and my local man knew a man with a digger - surprise surprise. He came along, had a look and a price was agreed upon. Unfortunately the weather then transpired against us and it was not until February that the work was carried out.

Below are some before and after photos; I have thrown lots of grass seed at the scar and now await everything turning green. There is some residual smell in the ground near the boundary fence but nothing much; it is also going to be some time before the ground around the tank dries out but, given a decent Summer, everything should be rosy by the end of the year.

The Machinery

Just about Empty

Covered Up

Raked and Seeded

February Visitors 2

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:05:00 +0000

The house has seemed quiet over the weekend after the departure on Friday of Karen, Nick, Charlotte, Curtis and Connor who had been staying for the half-term school holidays. They were blessed with good weather for all but the last day and this allowed them to get out and about every day. Amongst the list of places visited were Lusty Glaze Beach, The Eden Project and the "Britain in the Blitz" and "Victorian Britain" Exhibitions at Flambards. In addition they managed to find a number of GeoCache locations at Cardinham Woods, Roche Rock and Loe Pool.

Maria, John, Charlotte, Curtis & Connor at Eden

Around the garden Nick and I managed to trim the tops of our conifers at the bottom of the garden (mostly Nick as he is taller)and re-pot some Cornish Palms and a large, and very prickly, conifer, which, last year, acted as our outdoor Christmas Tree.

There is a ladder there somewhere!

On Thursday, Nick, Karen, Annette & Clive went off for a day by themselves leaving the children and dogs with us to amuse ourselves. We started with a walk up to our "mountain" and beyond to help wear out the dogs (and us).

The Children posing with the Cornish Flag.

Back home, I had promised the children that they could have a ride on the Mower and fortunately the grass was reasonably dry and the sun shining so, after drawing lots to establish who should go first, we set off around the top field paths before coming down to the bottom field which we managed to completely cut. All in all, we had a pleasant day with no upsets.

Unfortunately no photos were taken of the children on the mower so on Friday morning I decided to get it out again and record the occasion. This time, having established that they could all reach the brake, I got them to drive it by themselves, something that I think they thoroughly enjoyed.

Charlotte.

Curtis.

Connor.

February Visitors 1

noreply@blogger.com (JDT) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:30:00 +0000

Andrew, Amy, Joe and Amy's niece Molly, the first set of our February visitors arrived on Saturday 9th Feb and what a week of weather they had. No rain, little wind and blue skies for the whole of their stay.
We managed some time on the beach at Lusty Glaze on one day, where the children got very wet and an afternoon at Trevone Bay, where it was almost Springlike. Molly even went swimming in just a swimming costume, which gives some idea of how pleasant it was. Below is a short video of Amy doing a Back-Flip in boots - not often seen in gymnastics!

During their stay, we also found time to fly a kite, play rounders, climb our local "Mountain":

Clive, Joe, Amy, Molly, Annette & Andrew.

and do a trial run on the tractor with the children. Below are Molly and me navigating the paths in the top field and Andrew and Molly not really navigating the paths at all!

Finally, a couple of photos of the children with Annette's dogs.

On Tuesday, Amy and Molly drove back home so that Molly could, with her Mum, accompany her Dad to Buckingham Palace so that he could be presented with an MBE from Her Majesty, The Queen. Quite a day out for a 6 year old.

Andrew and Joe stayed on until flying back to Stansted on Thursday evening. We then had a day to change beds etc before the arrival of the next visitors on Friday.

JDT