Still Tracking Travis

Do you remember this picture of Travis who had a very traumatic birth in November 2010?


This was the picture I took about 30 seconds after he was born:

Last weekend I visited the farm as usual and went to see Travis, he is now just under 18 months old:

Isn't  he magnificent!

The fact that he is so well is down to the care given by Malcolm (above with Travis) and his wife Carla.

Well done you two.

Allotment 5: Water Butt World

There is only one water supply at the allotments and we are not allowed to use hosepipes. So after the guttering was fitted we got a couple of water butts. We needed to get the done quickly so that we could get them full before the hot summer weather sets in (LOL):

Again I used a bit of Gaffa tape and a dogs ball to help me:

We have also managed to put a shelf in the shed:

Allotment 4: Blood Gutters

As promised here is the next exciting instalment of the Allotment Saga.

We were fortunate enough to have a friend who donated the guttering for our shed. So all I had to do was buy the fixtures and then fit it.

Notice Davina digging in the background.

Fitting the guttering went quite well, until I broke one of the clips and had to resort to using a bit of trusty Gaffa tape:

 When completed we decided to baptise them in true Viking style. But, we didn't have a sacrificial goat. So ended up using my blood:

I then realised it would be better if I wore my gloves.

Allotment 3: Freeze Frame, I mean Cold Frame!

Finished the Cold Frame on the allotment today:

We put it together on Monday but I had to put the hinges on and replace some screws which were a bit short.

I caught the top just as the wind blew it over. No breakages!

The window came from a cow shed, kindly donated by Malcolm and Carla. The back, front and sides were made from an old garden walkway that some other friends had just dismantled. So, it has only cost the price of the hinges. Thank you friends!

Bet you can't wait for the next exciting installment, that'll be about the guttering, it should have been here today because I did manage to fit some guttering, but the pictures didn't come out for some reason. So maybe tomorrow.

Mr Pusskins' Lawn

Mr Pusskins (our cat) is quite a fussy eater, and he has foods fads; some days he will eat one type of food, and suddenly he will refuse to eat it. For example, we found some biscuits that he really enjoyed and he would eat them whenever we gave them to him. But now, the manufacturers have decided to change the shape. They have made them smaller and the biscuits now come in a variety of shapes. Mr Pusskins won't touch them anymore, instead he likes a different make of biscuits, they may taste different, but they happen to be the same size and shape as the ones he used to eat all the time. That would be OK if we didn't have a large bag of the old biscuits in the cupboard worth £14 or so. 


Anyway a few weeks ago we saw this in the supermarket:

Davina was quite keen to grow some for Mr Pusskins. I was my normal pessimistic self, so I said 'he will never eat it, but we'll give it a go'. We bought a packet of seeds, and then I had to trawl the garden centres to find the right container. I found one eventually and planted the seeds, I covered the in chicken wire to keep the birds off, and to stop Mr Pusskins and other neighbourhood cats using it as a toilet. After few weeks the grass came through and we had a nice little lawn:

Yesterday I came home to find Davina and Mr Pusskins in the garden. Davina told me Mr Pusskins had been eating his grass, and she'd taken some pictures to prove it:

This is an atmospheric picture of Mr Pusskins gazing lovingly at his lawn!

Davina said he only likes the soft bits at the bottom. I remembered that it said on the packet that that grass should be regularly cut so that it didn't get to tough for the cat.

So today I cut Mr Pusskins lawn:

within seconds he was out having a nibble at it:

He is a funny cat, and probably spoilt, but we love him to bits.


The other good thing is that when Davina comes in from work and asks what I've been up to today. I can say 'I cut the grass dear'!!!