PIRATE INVASION

PIRATE INVASION

Yesterday we were invaded by Pirates including J. Blackknees the Terrible! The picture shows him on his galleon, flag at full mast, by the helm (steering wheel?) heading for the calmer waters of the pond.

The pond remained stubbornly low despite a day of rain so this morning I found the leak and plugged it with a wodge of mud. No doubt the water will find another way out - it has an amazing ability to go where no one wants it to go - both in garden and houses. Old friends come this morning so the mower remains quiet - well the grass is wet anyway - well that is my excuse. I have tried to pick the sawfly larvae off the gooseberry bushes but after several piercings have resorted to a spray. This means I shall leave the rest of the goosegogs till July before picking. At least they have been thinned out a bit.

This morning R saw a grey squirrel looping past the cattlegrid - too much like a tree rat for me. I suppose I have to accept that the red ones are now gone for good from here.

It is also quite clear that cold winter plus dry spring means a dearth of slugs - such a relief after the plethora last year - in fact so many that, when I put them out for the thrushes and blackbirds, the birds were so full they ignored them.

I sign off today listening to the sounds of home made play dough being scraped from the kitchen floor.