A busy, sunny Sunday

Finally it is dry and sunny! Hurrah!

After getting up and doing the usual chores ( food, hens, tidy up etc) I put on the first of three loads of washing

And then washed a load of flower vases which had been lurking in the cupboard over the sink in the Futility Room - so I gave them a good scrub. I have lots of flowers available to pick from the garden and I like to have nice clean vases to display them in. I washed out some ceramic plant pot holders as well.

We have lots of hot water, courtesy of the sun and the solar thermal tubes, so I did a few washing and cleaning jobs today.

I have been getting more irritated by getting hit by this shrub whenever I come and go through the back door - so I gave it a pruning

Aided, as always, by one or more hens - this is Babs, investigating the camera strap

Babs and Titch keeping an eye on my work

And inspecting the prunings to see if they are edible

Babs was pretty disgusted that there was nothing tasty in the pile!

That's better! and so then I re potted and tidied up the herbs which have been overwintering in the Polytunnel, and put the containers by the back door so I can use them in cooking ( and becasue they look pretty and smell lovely). As always Cassi Cat was nearby me.

Some of the washing drying on the line.

After lunch, Compostgirl had a friend around to play so I got on the mower and mowed ALL the grass, except where there are still spring bulbs dying back.

Washing in, more washing out...and I scrubbed out the spare hen drinkers and feeders and put them to dry in the sunshine. I also scrubbed out plant pots which had contained tomato plants - they are now in their final positions in the polytunnel so I washed out the pots and put them out to dry in the sunshine as well as it is a  good disinfectant

Tidier lawn

The Guinea pig girls went out as soon as the dew dried off the grass, so I moved their run around a few times during the day to give them some fresh grass to eat. If I had loads of them, I wouldn't need a lawnmower!

Compostgirl cleaned out their run during the morning - one of her jobs, as is re filling all the bird feeders. She is very good at doing these jobs and does then very carefully.

Compostman spent some time working on the JCB, repairing and fettling it. He also helped me with a few odd jobs and then cooked Sunday dinner :-) I harvested some veg for him to cook.

Finally at 6 pm we sat down to roast chicken and veg from the garden - the last of the purple sprouting and some more of the kale , also roast spuds using our own home grown ones but I suspect the rest are too shrivled to use any more :-( So we will have to buy some from now until the new spuds are ready (eek!)

Then out to water the polytunnel, feed and say goodnight to hens, guinea pigs etc.

We watched Countryfile ( a bit later than live - we timeslipped it) and then Compostgirl headed off to bed.

Then finally a collapse on the sofa with a glass of wine, a book and my crochet.

It felt good to be able to get on with outside work, at last! And so good to see some sunshine after all the dull, wet days we have had in the last few weeks.