Easter Greetings.....

 
Despite the fact that large swathes of the UK are still under feet of snow, and the rest of us are shivering in unseasonably cold temperatures, I am convinced that spring will soon be with us.......*fingers firmly crossed*.

I've always felt that Easter and spring are synonymous, with their themes of rebirth, renewal and regeneration, although the links between Easter and chocolate eggs has always seemed to me to be a bit tenuous.

No matter.

We have several spring-themed events scheduled over the coming week.  On our website there is an Easter Egg Hunt....just go to the home page and see the slideshow for your first clue.

The prize is shown on our Facebook page HERE! While you're there do please 'Like' then share.....

Also on our website there are some new Weekly Specials, again with a spring flower theme.

Finally, for auction on Ebay this week is a tiny porcelain Humpty Dumpty toy, complete with half scale wooden chair.... good luck if you decide to bid!

A close shave......

Despite the fact that we've been rather preoccupied with the disruption of all the work going on outside, yesterday's status as a red letter day shouldn't go unremarked.

I refer, of course, to Small Dog's inaugural trip to the dog groomer for her first ever 'professional' haircut!

We've always trimmed her ourselves, with varying degrees of success.  During her standard 10 minute goodwill period, PP can usually do her face and head but thereafter all bets are off and it's every woman and dog for themselves.

It's not unknown for a Small Dog haircut to take several days, in stages, during which she refuses to be seen outdoors for fear that some wag might say,

"What eedjit's been cutting your dog's hair....?" 

We've been contemplating having her professionally clipped for some time now, but we were sure that she would hate it, and we would hate it, and she would hate us, and we would hate the groomer, and so it goes.

However, following a recommendation from our vet, we decided to give it a go.  So when, after speaking to the groomer by telephone, and describing Small Dog's many foibles, she was undaunted, we decided to give it a go.

Of course, as we didn't actually witness proceedings, we have no idea if her reported exemplary behaviour was accurate.   Certainly, when we returned to pick her up she was newly trimmed and clipped, toenails cut, ears plucked, anal glands expressed (Ewwwww!), freshly washed and blow dried.

All in the space of just 60 minutes!

To say we were shocked and amazed is a massive understatement.

I suspect Small Dog felt much the same.  Anyway, here's photographic evidence of the transformation.......

Before

After

It feels as though we have a new dog........

Day 3......

Day 3 of our front garden makeover and the very early morning starts are beginning to take their toll.  It's not often I experience two six o'clocks in one day!

The tarmac drive is coming up today so getting in and out of the house will present something of a challenge.  I wonder if we could abseil down onto the pavement from one of the upstairs windows......

Anyway.....  we've had quite a lot of this.....

 And even a bit of this.....

 Not to mention the obligatory glimpse of 'builder's bum'.....

We've only experienced an hour of the pneumatic drilling this morning and I have the makings of a thumping headache already.... surely they could fit some sort of silencer.

I think it's going to be a l-o-n-g day....

Stepping up a gear.....

It's been all go all day, and if the bustle of activity, noise and vibration are anything to go by I think they're doing well.

As I write, the base layer is being compacted by a vibrating machine which is so loud I can hardly hear myself think.

From our estwhile vantage point in an upstairs bedroom, a wide-eyed Small Dog and I have been monitoring proceedings, watching the comings and goings of delivery trucks and grabber lorries.  I can only assume that Small Dog thinks huge monsters are devouring her garden.

So far so good.......

Oh. My. Dog......

 

I suppose it's too late to change our minds now.....

It begins......

We were all of us up and about at stupid o'clock this morning (Small Dog, admittedly under duress) to await the start of work on our front garden which currently looks like this.....

This is one instance to expose the fallacy that the camera never lies, as it actually looks much worse.  The big bare patch on what we laughingly call the lawn is where the caravan normally resides.  All those gouges and tyre tracks are what happens when we have to move the van when the ground is wet.

It is, to put not too fine a point on it, a complete mess.

Of course, over the next few days it will be even more of a mess as the ground is dug out and prepared.  But at least it will be a mess with purpose......

To be continued.......

 

Interesting times......

I currently feel that we may have been 'blessed' by the homily "may you live in interesting times........"

This will be particularly pertinent next week, which will be as far from an oasis of calm as it's possible to get.

Of course, high on the list of stressful events is trying to move house.  I've made a concerted effort over the past few weeks to put it out of my mind and forget all about it.  We've also decided to do a few things about the house which have been on our 'wishlist' for a while, the first of which will start early Monday morning, when a team of workmen will arrive to sort out our front garden, which exists in one of two states, depending on the weather and time of year.

1.  A moss and weed-infested wasteland with 3,726 ant's nests inhabiting a baked solid clay base.

2. A porridge-like substance, oozing mud and water, spongy underfoot and liable to swallow the caravan up to its axles.

Getting the caravan on and off is almost always a nightmare, as in addition the the above mentioned problems, the garden slopes on two angles. 

We've been thinking of having something done to improve the situation for several years, but never got round to it.

Until now.

So next week we will be living on a building site, with heavy machinery, compacting equipment and workmen all going full pelt.

Not only that, we've booked Small Dog into a professional dog groomer to have a proper haircut.  Apparently the woman who does it is exceptionally good with 'difficult' dogs and has gained something of a reputation as a 'Dog Whisperer'.  I'll wager she won't be doing much whispering after she's encountered Small Dog, who is highly resistant to any interference with her flowing locks.

We have to drop her off on Tuesday morning then return to collect her after an hour.  Given that when we trim her ourselves we normally do it in shifts over the course of several days I'm somewhat sceptical but I'm happy to give it a go.  I'll take 'before' and 'after' photos for comparison and Small Dog may well document the episode on her FB page in due course.

There are also a number of other domestic concerns, adding to our elevated stress levels at the moment but the ones I've mentioned will do for going on with.

After all, what could possibly go wrong.......?