At the end of last week’s blog I said that I would update something major in Garratt’s life and not his weird, and you’d have thought very uncomfortable, choice of seating position in an old stone sink outside my new man shed!
Two and a half years ago while at the annual Horse Fair in Commana with the dogs, we were stopped by a man who said he had a chestnut and white springer spaniel and remarked that they were unusual in this area. He mentioned that his springer was female and that, perhaps at some point in the future, he may want to have a litter of puppies and he wondered whether we would be interested in using either Garratt or Brandon as a sire.
We hadn’t heard anymore from him until a couple of weeks ago when he telephoned and asked again if we would be interested in breeding from one of the boys. Assuming that he was speaking theoretically and planning for some date in the future we told him that we would discuss it and give him a call back. However, before we were able to call him he turned up at Kergudon with his dog which was on heat and it became obvious that his request was rather more immediate!
After a quick discussion between David and I we agreed that we would be happy to use one of the boys and we thought that Garratt would be the better choice – which was handy as it transpired that Brandon didn’t have any idea what to do, thankfully Garratt did – eventually! Three further visits in the following week to maximise the chances of conception and now we wait to see if Garratt will become a Dad!
Sadly we haven’t got any pics of Garratt and his new partner but, if successful we will get some. Then we will need to be strong and, while it will be tough, stand firm not to have an new puppy addition to the family – 2 spaniels is enough for us.
Brandon had his own milestone in the week too, as it was his third birthday last Monday.
Work wise, it has been a bit of a ‘bitty’ week principally due to the very changeable weather which, on at least 2 occasions brought snow flurries and many more hailstorms. This has meant much of the garden work I began was progressed when diving in and out to avoid the showers. Despite saying last week that I was going to break up one of the larger jobs of clearing the old chicken run I haven’t done any more. This is partly weather related but also because, while doing other work I managed to break yet another garden fork!
Equally, I haven’t finished the light fitting on the rear gate but I did manage to take the planks I painted the previous week and have built and installed a gate to the garden access behind Granary. This photo isn’t ideal as the sun this morning was brighter than I’d expected. With the gate added the area is almost finished and so much better than it looked in November 2015 when we started clearing the bramble and knot weed – just need our hedging to grown a bit more.
Most of the other tasks were smaller jobs that had needed to be done for a while. Some of these were replacing a couple of hanging basket brackets that had come off in the high winds; hanging the lovely drawings of the gîtes our friend has done in the relevant cottage; suspending a punch bag David had bought for his gym and doing some repainting in Priory before we had guests arrive yesterday.
When it wasn’t raining, hailing or snowing I did manage to get a lot of weeding done. We are really pleased how the garden is developing and growing. The orchard bed looks fabulous, mainly in the sunshine, although this picture, taken mid-weed, doesn’t do some of the colours justice. Sadly the cherry trees we planted last year haven’t blossomed this spring although we understand this isn’t unusual as the trees become established. It does however bode well for future years as the trees mature and the pieris shrubs get larger.
The jungle bed is also coming back to life and looks great with last year’s growth cut off. This had helped protect some of the jungle plants over the, albeit mild, winter and it looks like both our bananas have survived. With luck, we should have a fabulous display again in the summer.
Next week’s efforts will continue to depend on weather, whether I manage to find a new fork I like!
À bientôt.