Your day (apart from gardening) what took place ? 2025

Thanks for your kind words @Selleri
Yes, 'one of those days', and I'd convinced myself this morning that I was going to enjoy myself in the garden - Well I suppose I did really, in spite of all those negative things, and Bella was with me all the time, prowling around and sleeping under the shrubs ... and demanding food !

I doubt whether Carmarthenshire council will do anything about the dog bags but I'm going to keep telling them about it and getting on their nerves

I don't know how I'm going to pamper myself, I'm not very good at doing that, but I did make myself a nice supper - cauliflower cheese, new potatoes, and roast parsnips ... I love roast parsnips

 

Bella's food from Amazon arrived at 9 A.M.
My 'correct' bricks arrived at 9.30 A.M.
No more birds had gone into the shed !
The sun was shining, it was warm and the sky was blue,
So I went to Carmarthen and had a cheese toastie in my favourite cafe, and they make the nicest coffee for miles around - proper milky coffee, not these wishy-washy lates they serve up in places these days.
And I bought a little plant for my tidied border in the garden centre behind the market.
When I got home I carried the bricks into the garden and placed the cold frame on top of them ... no more bending !
A better day than yesterday

 

I studied the weather forecast and took a couple of days off.

This morning I watered half the planet, potted up my Pelargonium plugs received yesterday, broke a stem, called it a "cutting" and promptly potted it too. Then it was a dash to catch the bus to Seaton Delaval Hall where The Child volunteers.

We had a lovely day in the warm sunshine (the year old suncream still works perfectly to firmly glue hair and t-shirt to skin ), had the first ice creams of the year and saw absolutely everything.

It's great to have The Child as the guide, she knows all the insider stories and lets me in places normally off limits for us mere "visitors". Plus she gets a discount in the cafe

The current Lord Hastings visits quite frequently, they have their rooms behind a modest door marked "private". The Child told me that the Lord's daughter once had a party and was fined when a (apparently male) visitor prepared toast for breakfast and set off the full fire alarm system of the Hall.

I totally forgot to take photos so you must just take my word on the perfectness of the Yew hedges (trimmed by The Child), the quality of the woodchip paths in the woodland area (laid by The Child using chippings made by The Child from a tree grown.... nah, that's taking it a bit too far ) and the overall loveliness of the grounds and the gardens.

I did take one photo:


I never knew dogs have their own ice creams! At £3.50 a tub (the same as the human versions) it'd better be nice.

 

@Michael Hewett, the good thing about annoying days is these make the days when things go as planned seem extra satisfying.

I do not approve of doggy ice cream, @Selleri. Still, you’ve gotta hand it to the enterprising businesses that find so many ways of parting owners from their cash!

 

@ViewAhead why do you object to doggy ice cream?

 

Another dog treat learning today- the cafe in local country park sells "Puppy pots" for £1.25. The Child says they are usually small cardboard coffee cups filled with whipped cream, crumbles, scraps and whatnots.

Great to reduce food waste and to allow the Humans the delight of "treating" their dog too when they have their slice of cake or chips, but still a bit strange concept to me.

My dog always had a proper ice cream as a reward for coping with the 1h plus bus journey from summerhouse before taking the bus home. She ate hers in about three seconds and then sat to attention, watching me eating mine, quietly drooling.

Passer bys used to ooh and aah and tell me to buy one for her too, and for that reason I always kept the stick to prove she had already had hers.


Anyways, another lovely day out walking in the country park. Their Birds of Prey aviary is now free to visit- mixed feelings of seeing the gorgeous birds in captivity and very mixed as they were just being fed with fluffy yellow chicks . Yellow feathers were very decoratively seasonal and the tiny feet dangling from beaks were ok, but the display of innards of a cute fluffy chick displayed by some of the eaters were a bit much for me.

There was also a large cage housing rabbits loving each other very much , not intended for pets I guess.... well, that's nature.

The weather was gorgeous and it's just so precious to see spring coming on once again. Hello fresh new leaves, swelling buds and unfurling new life.

 

Another quote of the week

 

Dogs are not designed to cope with a sugar rush. The number of dogs (and cats) now suffering diabetes has grown enormously. Giving pets constant snacks is an owner gratifying their own desires, at the expense of what their pet needs.

I don’t expect any pet owners to agree with me. I understand people get a lot of joy and comfort from these companions, but I personally have reservations about not only the concept (captivity, suppression of natural behaviours, the removal of opportunities to breed and nurture young, etc, etc), but also the consumerism that has expanded hugely in recent yrs. Pets now have a significant carbon footprint, made worse by the supply of endless accessories available to buy.

I may be entirely alone in this view, but nonetheless I hold it!

 

Captivity? Suppression of natural behaviours?? Removal of etcetc??? Ye Gods! I'd love for you to be able to explain all that to my two moggies . Just for info, sterilising stops the results, not necessarily the activity. Rosie would be happy to confirm, I'm sure.

 

Cats have more freedoms than dogs, but sterilisation prevents pets nurturing their young. If the point of life on earth is the continuation of species (as I would suggest it is), that’s quite a loss, IMV.

It’s not just pets. It’s zoos and aquariums and farm animals, etc. Even plants, to an extent. We humans exert control for our own ends.

I am happy for you not to agree with me, but personally the sight of a fish in a tank or a bird in a cage or a rabbit in a hutch makes me want to weep.

 

How about people in prison cells?

 

Well, generally they have done something to finish up there and their term has an end point. Even so, imprisonment does raise ethical considerations, IMV, though victims and general society have rights when it comes to protection from harm.

A labrador I knew well had a litter of puppies and I visited to see them. I was so struck by her behaviour. She ran to greet me, ran towards the room they were in, ran back to check I was following, ushered me in, showed them to me, and then stood back with a look of utter pride on her face. It was so moving. I had never seen anything like it. I had lived in her home for 3 yrs, seeing her daily interactions with family members, other pets, etc, but this was just of a different order. It was over 40 yrs ago now, but I’ve never forgotten it. That many female pets never get that experience seems tragic to me.

 

You could extrapolate that to barren women. I'm one of those I thank you for your concern on my behalf, assuming, as NigelJ says that the concern extends to humans, but I'm not tragedy stricken. I transferred my need to nurture to plants just as most animals transfer their unconditional love to their owners. As for getting into goldfish psychology...hoooo! Just out of interest, have you ever seen a female cat's reaction when presented with a kitten or kittens not their own? To say that their motherly instincts are lacking is putting it mildly. It might also be interesting for you to see the work done by the countless Brits in this area to combat the appalling feral cat situation round here. You know, those free, happy, fulfilled 6 month old cats producing 2 or 3 litters a year. I do respect your views but happily they're not widespread...

 

Animals need to be neutered, they dont have access to condoms, and the natural desire to reproduce needs to be restrained.

If all that energy was allowed to go on unrestrained we would be killing off spring daily due to no homes.
Just think about it, personally I'd rather see happy animals than those going to get exterminated on a grand scale like in some countries.

 

They need to stay there, in most cases they have got themselves into that position.