Today I went whoring (by sarah)

Ok well actually I went hawing but I couldnt resist the pun!

I went for a walk this afternoon with the idea of picking elder berries but found there to be very few elders all of which where behind barbed wire even if they where heavily laden :/ There were however loads and loads of blackthorns heavey with sloes which after picking five I realised were not quiet ripe!

I then looked around and realised that the hawthorns where groaning under the weight of their little red berries - well they are one of the most prevalent hegderow plants - I started picking the little beuts! Got nearly a whole basket too 🙂

Some trees haws were not quiet ripe so there will be plenty for me to pick all the way through the autum I feel - there are so many of the berries that I didnt even have to think about how much to leave for the animals! I gave up on trees when I got bored rather than when I couldnt reach any more berries 🙂

What am I going to do with them all I hear you cry!

Well I am going to dry as many as I can for use in a berry tea - a tea that is supposed to be good for those with high blood pressure and/or heart problems - I'm going to get mum and dad to check with their drs if its ok for them and add it to the dandilion tea I force feed mum.

There has been much merryment here whilst me and Al have been 'doing' the haws i.e. pulling the storks off of them - but well this is us and our wrapped and twisted minds so innuendo here we come!!! I also said quiet innocently that I couldnt do all these haws tonight! 🙂

Al is currently hawing away!

Of course any left over haws will be frozen for incoporation into hedgerow jam and/or haw jelly. Mmmm I'm sure that you can make a coffee substituet too but now cant find the recipe :/

The Aftermath (by sarah)

I'm still tidying!!!!!

The party detritus still covers our house!

Thanks everyone who came, brought food, helped in many and varied ways and big thanks for those who have stayed to help me clear the devestation!

Jean is loving her presants - we are rationing them - so she is still excitedly opening them everyday 🙂

mew :( (by sarah)

Came down to reassemble/hoover the fireplace and lo! yet another kitten egg has appeared during the night 🙁 - obviously they aren't as house trained as we thought :'(

Cleaning the Fireplace (by sarah)

Meep!!!!!!

Well there was a distinct untrianed kitten smell wafting arounf the living room, so I went on a hunt - failing to find anything - the kittens were being good little kittens right?

Well I'm sure they think they are!

I thought to myself - hmmm if I was a kitten and I couldnt find/make it to the litter tray where would I go? My eyes fell upon our fire place, still covered in ash from the winter - I poked at the ash bucket but that seemed clear. Now I have been remiss and havent even really thought about the fireplace for months - I vaguely remember asking Al to sweep it out (which appears never to have happened - poor polyps have been to bizzy!).

So it begain, I cleared the coal bucket (a lovely copper giant preserving pan that we stilll need to polish to its full glory!), ash bucket and old tea chest come wood holder, plus the kindling baskets out. My fears were confirmed 🙁 The little darlings had weed in the shelfy bit at the front of the wood burner - all over two boxes of matches, I though hmmm, there's a lot of ash under the wood burner - hmmm - so I prized out the metal erm... well I've dubed it the iron gurder! that sits underneith for some unspesified perpose.

All tongs and the such like have been relocated to the sink for washing due to me being paranoid!

I got the shovel and cleared the cavity under the fire and lo! montians of kitten poo - me not happy 🙁 me horrified - me vowed to clean everything more 🙁 erm... but I may have to find some way to cuase time dialation!

After the shoverling there came the dust pan and brushing - this took a lot of elbow as I had to lay on my front to get right into the far corners under the fire! Then the hoovering - this was sort of fun though it made the kittens head for the hills! I surveyed my work and noticed that there was suspicousness on the shelf infront of the 'oven cupboard' in the fireplace alcove. Cursing the kittens I went to get the warm water and disinfectant - I scrubbed the shelf, fire and wall only to find that all the paint is flaking off!

Walls cleaned, the mopping begain - mopping done - I have to wait for it all to dry in order to hoover a second time as little flecks of white paint are addhering to the stone in the thin film of water.

So the fireplace now looks worse than when I started as there is stone work showing messily through the paint! And on top of that I triped over the 'iron gurder' meaning my right foot is killing me and pelvis aches:( Oh well at least its clean even if the house does now smell like a hospital!

I don't believe it!

We went to get Jean from nursery and one of the kittens (probably Hydrogen) has laid a small montian of turd neatly in the corner - Al is cleaning it up for me:(

Of Green Fingers and Stinging Nettles (by sarah)

Today I finally got time to tie those blasted tomatoe plants up - maybe now the tomatos will rippen and we will have yummy! To my suprise there were quiet alot of tomatoes - they are supposed to be cherry tomatos so I'm not expecting anything huge! They are growing in grow bags just outside our house in the sort of gully thing before the flower bed. They took quiet a lot of tying back with a few causulties along the way 🙁 Including my hand! There was a damn great big stinger lurking in amoungst them so there I was grabbing great big hundfulls of tomato plant when wam bam thankyou mam! White blotches and red skin all over my fingers 🙁 They are still tingling now! I've ended up using most of our ball of string to tie them up with and it was no mean feat I can tell you! I did actually end up with green fingers from this escapade too! Hence the title of the post.

Also my tip for today would be - do not grow things on the compost heap no matter what a good idea it is or how good the flipping crop of squashes is! Al's aunt is growing all manner of squashes from yellow couregettes to pumpkins on the compost heap - and the crop yeild is fantastic - BUT

a) the friuts are going rotten quicker as they are touching the compost/trying to grow into the compost!

b) getting to the stream to fill up the water can is a night mare - I ended up sliding down the muddy bank into the water today 🙁

c) compost heaps that get wet ooz a noxious brown liquid that sqielches out under foot - this is not good when wearing sandles!

d) being short I have to climb onto the heap to water the plants - I dont like doing this for two reasons - climbing still hurts slightly and the compost heap is smelly unstable!

Veggy plot is a bit over grown but not too bad considering the amount of time I'm finding to actually tend it! And the kittens keep eating all the herbs!