Marty

Seeing him today Was the first time I noticed... He sees me as well.

Greetings, young Albert! Hope all goes well with your CPAP appointment today.

Oops!

Good advice, Tim! Which I am aware of. I remember years ago having to leave a huge pile of branches left over from hedge cutting on the smallholding I used to own standing all summer before I could burn them, as a pair of blackbirds had decided to build a nest in them in the early spring. At least by the time I did get round to burning them they were well seasoned, so it wasn't difficult to start the fire.

I hope it eased some of the aches and pains.

My bed's calling my name...

Fingers crossed that the CPAPs give both of you a new lease of life!

A long soak in a hot bath may help there, Val. And do I maybe just need to start posting more photos and less words?

If you have one, my advice would be a good long soak in a hot bath. Preferably with a good dose of bath salts added.

And here's a photo taken in the upper garden that shows the hedge I was talking about in my last post a little more clearly: To tell you the truth, I would like eventually to remove that hedge completely and replace it with another stone wall. I have a suspicion there was a wall there originally, if only because it appears that the wall at the back of the garden has some of its stones removed at its the left hand end. I'll know for sure when I clear the ivy from the top of it, and the bushes just this side of it. But I'm not sure I will ever get round to having a new wall built.

I got a bit more work done clearing the overgrowth above the two old sheds today. Here's how they looked just before dusk this evening: You may notice a few of the slates from the closest shed leaning against the wall of the cottage on the right (most of them are actually stored inside the cottage). I think I shall eventually have to remove the slates from the other shed as well, as they all appear loose, and I reckon that once I have the roof of it cleared the next storm would blow them all off, and probably break them when they land. If you look on past the neighbouring house on the left of the photo, you should see an overgrown hedge. This is the only boundary of my garden that isn't a stone wall. It is the next project on my to-do list, once I finish clearing the growth on the two sheds. I intend cutting that hedge back so that it won't be overhanging the vegetable garden any more. And I must get that done before the end of next month, otherwise the birds will start nesting, and I would have to leave it till next winter.

Zoom meeting starting in 30 minutes. Wish me luck! (I'm hosting this one, so can't just sit back and watch)

To share a YouTube video, bro, all you should need to do is actually copy the URL of the video and paste it in your reply. That's all I ever do, and it always works for me. (Using my laptop - not sure if it's different or more difficult using a smartphone or tablet)

Hi there, young Drew!

Or Jusuf Islam, as he now likes to be known. I think if we aren't expected to dead name transgender people, we shouldn't do it to people who may have changed their name for any other legal reason. (Not meant to be a personal criticism there, Val )

Greetings, Page!

Greetings, Albert! Just in warming my hands around a mug of coffee, before heading out doing a final hour's work.

Howdy, Gary! A nice sunny, if slightly cold, day here. Getting some more ladder work done in neighbour's garden against the boundary wall. Very slow progress, but for every branch cut, however small, it's one step closer to the finish. And, anyway, I suppose the very first cut was the most important one...

I have seen that happen before with individual rams. When in a flock, the sheep (even any rams that may be in the flock) really do behave like sheep, and will be "frightened" of the sheepdog, hence enabling the dog, after suitable training, to round them up and move them in the direction the shepherd tells it to. The shepherd uses different calls, whistles and hand signals (which often made more obvious to the sheepdog by the shepherd waving his crook, or long stick) to tell the dog what it is supposed to do. But a ram, by itself, doesn't follow the flock instinct (as it's not currently part of a flock) and, being usually quite a good bit bigger than the sheepdog, will sometimes stand its ground, and may even attack it with its forehead, as seen in the video. For this reason, when a shepherd is training a young dog, he (or she) will try to make sure that it is not put in a situation where it would be confronted by a lone ram. Not just because the young dog may be physically injured when the ram charges it, but also because the mental fright to the dog may make it unwilling to face sheep in the future.

I spent a good few hours today, sanding and scraping off some of the old varnish on the wainscot to the left of my front doorway. Here's a not very good photograph showing my progress so far: You can see the damage that was caused by the water that was leaking in, due to the now fixed faulty gutter (eave run) on the roof whenever it rained (which does tend to be quite often in this part of the world). Actually, now the woodwork has dried, the water hasn't really damaged it, although the plasterwork around the doorway has been damaged quite badly, and most of it will need replacing. I think this internal woodwork originally had a layer of interior varnish, but most of that is now cracked and crazed, possibly from the water, or maybe just from old age. But that actually makes it not too difficult to scrape it off with a paint scraper, before sanding. However, as I said in another post today, I think the door itself will probably need paint stripper to reduce it back to bare wood. It's almost a shame in a way that I don't live closer to real civilisation, as there would be places which would remove the door (and even my internal doors) and dip them in a tank of chemicals to remove all the old varnish and paint. I've a nephew in Manchester who bought an old house, and that's what he had done with his doors. He claims it was quick, efficient, and not even all that expensive. But I moved to my current location 30-odd years ago largely because I had had enough of the city life.

Good morning, Albert! You seem in fine fettle this morning.

Yeah. We'll show them young whippersnappers a thing or two, eh? It's raining here today. So I've started sanding the wainscoting around the inside of my front door. The door itself will probably need paint stripper applied before I'll be able to sand that as well. I'm planning to varnish the bare wood eventually.