A cold, a dead laptop and two tons of topsoil
After venturing out to see some long lost friends, we both woke the following day with a sore throat. Thinking back, nah, too soon for Covid to strike and anyway, we’ve been using masks etc wherever we’ve been. Take some lemsip and just get on with it, British spirit and all that. Following day, sore throat increased, joint and head ache – more tabs and rest. Just to be certain, dug out the box of corona tests. We both tested negative, but June was taking longer to throw it off than I. So much so, she finally called the doctors and got an appointment. Lovely lady doctor put June on another course of steroids and antibiotics and threatened her with the word “hospital” if it didn’t improve. June also had to endure a drive through, diy, pcr test which proved negative. The combination of the two meds did the trick, but the response time was longer this time and not long since the last bout.
My trusty – ex Emma – MacBook Pro has been giving me trouble for the last few months with startup issues and finally died; hence the delay with the blog. As there is no proper way to edit the resolution of photos on the iPad, full size pictures could not be uploaded, in addition to lack of other functions. I found a repair business in Llandeilo and it looks like it was the connector between mother board and hard drive. Fortunately, the iBook is a 2012 vintage and was the last model to be user friendly for spare part availability. A mere £65 later and here we are again.
In the front garden, there was a scruffy area with nettles, old shrub roots, grass, ivy and other weeds, complete with a telephone pole metal stay. It’s been bugging me for many months so with at least a few dry days forecast, I ordered a ton bag of topsoil from local supplier. This plus a load of stones in the garden – probably the remains of the original 1800’s cottage – I created some edging and together with a collection of plants and bulbs, has transformed that area. Whilst at it, I also sorted the bit by the entrance wall with another half bag of soil and a few hours work. The remaining soil went into some very large tubs to re-pot a pair of palms and other tubs.
Dave came and cut about a metre off the front hedge top as it hadn’t had a trim in many years and he also finished up my previous attempt at the hawthorn hedge last autumn. I think I might remove the hawthorn hedge next year, but unsure what to replace it with. A number of the thorns subsequently punctured a tyre on the mower, but at least that was £5 well spent as they kindly added some puncture self-repair gunk at the same time. It seems getting this added is standard for lots of the customers. The fine weather has also allowed me to plant up a number of shrubs that have been resting over the winter. I think somewhere in the region of 8 hydrangeas, 4 camellias and 6 assorted others. The trusty hole borer came into its own again as not a single hole was stone free with even the 4” auger struggled at times.
I looked at a rainwater filled bin the other day and saw a pair of frogs on the surface, strange how they got there seeing it was 3 feet off the ground. On closer inspection, they were weary waterlogged bats and amazingly, still alive. I carefully removed them into a small dry bucket and tried to contact the bat conservancy phone line, but it was after hours. Found local animal shelter who suggested putting them somewhere outdoors with a few handfuls of dry leaves and grass to wick away the moisture. The following morning, the larger of the two had flown, but the smaller was dry, but still weak. I’d given the bats temporary names of Han and Wu. Obviously, Han was the one to fly solo! Not having an eye dropper to give it some milk, I took a trip the the local animal sanctuary. I was greeted by the lady running the shelter as she leaned out of an upstairs window, a deaf fox at the front window downstairs and a cow giving it maximum bellow close by as I tried to explain my presence. The lady shouted at the cow to be quiet and came down to collect the bat and assured me she could sort it out and would be releasing it that night. The fox had been found as a cub outside Sainsburys with toxoplasmosis and as such couldn’t be released into the wild. It seems the Amazon driver had quite a shock when what he thought was a stuffed fox turned and looked at him.
