Not long now...
Just two more days and Tiddles the tabby gets her stitches out and her head-bucket off. Being a cat (and therefore a superior analytical animal) she's never accepted the bucket as being a natural part of her - unlike each of my dogs. Woo hoo! My neck is bigger! Aargh! So how come I don't fit through the door? I did yesterday.
Tiddles the Tabby with Head Bucket
My dogs both loved the stinky cloud of their well-worn buckets, caked with old food, etc. Tiddles has keep the inside of her bucket immaculately clean. And she has been so easy to look after. There's been little stress, and no desperation to escape from her crate or her room. And lots of appreciative purring. Nearly over!
Saturday 11th April
Yippee! There were dogs at the dog-park today, so Winnie enjoyed herself. When there's just us she tells me quite clearly that it's my fault... When we got home I worked for three hours in the Wattle Woods, raking up rubbish and shifting the path and the little curved bridge. Then I proudly took a photograph. What a disappointment!
Rusty the Dog by the New Path
There was nothing to see - in other words, path and bridge looked like they'd always been there. Oh well. You see, that's actually a really good thing. I like my garden to look natural. And it was an easy fix. One old woody Hebe needed to be removed, and a clump of miniature Agapanthus had to be shifted. The path now brushes some small-leafed Pittosporums, but they clip really easily. So clever! Minimal intrusion, greenery intact, and all that.
Buff Beauty
Sunday 12th April
This morning I've trimmed the Phormium alongside my newly routed path, and cleared up more of the gum leaf mess. I've taken more photographs. I require one of those 'much lovelier after applying miracle make-up to old wrinkled grumpy face' visual effects. Am still not terribly successful.
Right. We are having brunch at the dog-park with Escher (a brown pointer/labrador cross) and Zeus (an Airedale). Must dash. Such a hectic social life.
Much Later...
I've just spread a load of topsoil - on the lumpy bit in the front lawn and on the Allotment Garden around my newly planted roses. I've done a spot of weeding further along, too, where one rogue Californian poppy has finished, but not before producing lots of seedling plants. Nice work!
Now it's not quite 5pm but I want to go to bed. Hopeless. So here is a list of things to try to keep self awake : shower, wash hair, have bath, make pizzas, drink hot strong coffee, walk dogs around orchard, take more photographs, go TV couch-cycling (in Spain) or book reading (in the Congo)...
Seventeen Hours to Go...
And guess what happens in approximately seventeen hours' time? Tiddles the tabby gets her stitches out and her head-bucket comes off. Yippee! Yeay! Hurray! Phew!
Winnie the Dog in the Pond Paddock
As far as gardening goes, this weekend may have been the last of the benign quasi-summery weather. Nasty stuff is forecast - like snow (not for me, please) and colder temperatures (I've put the extra down quilt on the bed). Sleet - not interested, thanks. Anyway, we'll see. As long as my cat Tiddles can enjoy some outdoors sunshine, come for walks again with me and the dogs, and get her life back to normal, that's all that matters.