Tag: sunshine

The new routine

On By geordieroscoeIn garden3 Comments

Way-aye, Roscoe here again.

Nowt much has happened this week. Except May finished.

We’ve had morning cuddles and cucumber, a run, and breakfast. Then we’ve had a snooze or three.

I have to say, the amount of breakfast varies. Sometimes we get just three bits of veggies from the fridge (it’s colder, and not as fresh) and sometimes we get lots of little bits, mostly tasters, from the garden. They’re fresh and warm. That’s because the sun’s been shining on them, Mam hasn’t heated them up or anything.

Things from the garden I’ve identified: vetch, dandelion, plantain, grass (sometimes Mam picks a few very long stalks to include in our breakfast), kale leaves (different from the fridge ones), carrot leaves, strawberry leaves, hawthorn leaves, and hazel leaves. I think Mam was trying those out on us, and since we liked them, she brought twigs of hawthorn the next day, soft new growth, which I rather liked. There are also usually a couple of herby leaves, like mint, rosemary, lavender, parsley or thyme. And sometimes basil from the kitchen, because that grows indoors.

  • Mam’s compost bay and the herb bed
  • Carrots in a big pot
  • This new kale is called ‘Ragged Jack’

It’s been hot and sunny, and we’ve been out in the garden every afternoon once it’s nearly shadowy. I reckon Mam cut down on breakfast because we spend the afternoon eating grass, but it doesn’t quite work like that, Mam, because we’d be eating hay if we weren’t outside. We get hay when we come back in, at any rate.

Mam says to make the most of it because it’s going to get cooler and rainy next Wednesday onwards. She’s a bit pleased because she’s run out of rainwater to water the pots with. She has to use the mains instead. You’ll probably understand what that means.

Mam’s been spending lots of time in the garden growing things and cutting things and making things. It’s good for her, I think. Apparently we can come out of this avirus lockdown a little, but Mam isn’t because the scientists say it’s too early. She seems a bit worried by something she learnt the other day, but she hasn’t explained it to me, save that she has to have someone nearby who can come in to look after her when she’s ill.

Well, Auntie Vikki always did that, so I’m sure she’ll find someone else now that Auntie Vikki (and Auntie Claire) don’t live near us any more.

And there’s no sign of some new boys coming yet. We just have to be patient. As long as there’s enough cucumber and hay, Mam, we’ll be fine.

Have a nice week

love

Roscoe xxx

O is for Outdoors and Other things

On By geordieroscoeIn a to z challenge, garden1 Comment

2019 A to Z badge

Outdoors is definitely my favourite thing.

I’m Roscoe, and we’re working our way from A to Z through the alphabet.  My mate Bertie does alternate weeks with me.

We spend most of our time indoors, in our runs, up next to Mam’s working space. But summertime, we go outdoors into the garden, if the weather’s not too hot, not too wet, not too cold, and not too dry. Or too dark.

Most days Mam sets up our run around or between the vegetable patches, with their own little fences surrounding them.  She says it ‘maximises the use of the panels.’ I know we get bigger runs when she does that. I don’t know if that’s what ‘maximises’ means. Bertie generally gets his own run, because he fights with Biggles if they are left together. We get on with both of them.

Summer snoozing
Yummy leaves
Social setting
Between the veg beds

Bertie’s run always joins onto ours. We have a sort of meet and greet area. We’ve got that indoors as well, so it’s not vital.  Biggles likes running around with us, though, and we like him. He’s a nice chap, keeps himself to himself while still being sociable, like.

Over the weekend she decided we’d better get to work on the grass elsewhere in the garden and we had one under the tree and the other next to it, spreading out onto the grassy area, which is still a bit sparse. It’s recovering from drying up last summer.

On the grassy part
More mowing
Under the tree
Mowing the grass

Saturday we were with Biggles in the very shady patch.  Sunday we were in the other one (which is bigger) with Bertie. We got to work on the grass on both places, but clearly Bertie needs more help to mow his than Biggles does.  But then, he doesnt pay much attention to the grass.  He spends a lot of time bothering me.  He’s a right pain in the grease gland at times.  Later in the afternoon Mam put me back with Biggles, which was nice.  Biggles appreciated my company too.

(Sigh) Outdoors.  I like it a lot.  I sometimes stand at the door when Mam’s out picking our breakfast, thinking how nice it would be to go out straight away.  But I don’t.  Not till Mam says the time is right.

Then I can go and get the feel of grass underneath my feet, the wind in my ears, and the sun on my back. I laze around listening to the birds singing, and the little rustling noises of things in the borders, like frogs, and toads, and insects.

Yes, I love outdoors. Although I’m not so keen when it rains.

Next week, Bertie’s back with something beginning with P.  I’ve no idea what.

Have a good week.

love

Roscoe xxx

 

after bath Nev and Ros

Grass! Sunshine! And rain …

On By geordieroscoeIn Hygiene3 Comments

Mornin’ all, Roscoe here.  I’ve a lot to tell you about today.

roscoe

First off, it’s been sunny in the week.  Mam went outside into the garden for a bit, several times each day, and left the door open.  It was okay, I reckon, but she said the grass was too wet for runnin’ on yet.  But she brought us some in, three days runnin’.  That was yummy.  She was expectin’ we could go out yesterday, but the rain came again, and we couldn’t.  Toes crossed for today.

Saturday me and Nev had an excitin’ time.  We went upstairs to a room we’d not been in yet, called the bathroom.  There was lovely warm water in the bath to play in.  I liked it a lot, and so did Nev.  He explored both ends.  I thought about jumpin’ out, but the walls were very high.  Then Mam poured water over us, then some other stuff and gave us each a good massage.  Oooh, that felt good.   I wasn’t so keen on her liftin’ me up so she could do my bottom end, but no problem, really.  Then she poured warm water over us again for a bit, before all the water disappeared and she wrapped us in a cloth and put us somewhere else for a few minutes.  Then she wrapped us in drier cloths and took us downstairs for a cuddle, both together.

That lasted a long time, and she gave us a good rub with the red towel.  Mam was watchin’ summat called Jimnastics on the picture box. Sounded good.  Then she sat us on her lap right up close to the picture box and blew warm air over us with a white noisy thing.  It was fine once I got used to it.

fluffy

Then we went back into our nice clean cage, and she laughed and said she should rename me Fluffy.  No thanks, Mam, it’s Roscoe now and forever, thanks.

Yesterday I think Biggles and some of the others had their turn.  I guess this is all part of that spring-cleanin’ lark she did all through the weekend before.

 

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Did you have a nice Easter?

On By KevinIn garden6 Comments

We did!

Version 2 (7)

Mummy put us out in the garden for a couple of hours on Friday, me with Midge and Percy with Oscar.  She’s been giving us some grass from the garden for ages, so we shouldn’t get upset tummies from the change of diet.  And we were only outside for a couple of hours, anyway.  But now I’m going to hand you over to Percy, your new correspondent.

Version 2 (8)

 

Hello.  I’m Percy.  Thank you for voting for me.  Kevin says I just have to tell you what we’ve been doing.

We went outside on the grass on Friday.  It was a little scary.  I hadn’t been on the grass before.  Mummy put me down in a run with Oscar.  We grumbled at each other a bit.  I wanted to eat grass and hide from the huge sky above us.  Oscar wanted to rumble at everybody.  He tried to pull the fence down too.  I got on with eating.  I don’t know what Oscar did.  I think he ended up eating too.  I said hello to Kevin.  I had only seen Kevin in passing before.  He’s nice.  I would say that even if he wasn’t reading this.  He’s showing me where to put my feet to make it work.  It’s very complicated.  Here’s Kevin.

Kevin here.  That was very good, Percy, you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Mummy gave me a special message for Roland.  Mummy says she’s taken a photo of the message in your card from last year, as she planted the card in the wildflower garden.  Apparently the card had seeds embedded in it.  Anyway, she’s kept your request to be a ninjineer and she’s thinking about it.  And she’s marked where she’s planted the card so she can take photos of it grows.

Look, I don’t know what it means either.  I’m just passing on the message.

I hope we can go out in the garden again this week.

IMG_2898

 

Mummy’s up to things again

On By VictorIn Happenings1 Comment

Mummy has been leaving the house very early in the morning the last couple of days. She’s come back a couple of hours later, just about the normal time she comes down to sort us out in the morning.  She looks very tired and she eats her muesli (which smells funny, not like ours at all) when she cuddles us.  She doesn’t usually do that.  She usually has her breakfast after she’s fed us our nice veggies from the garden (or the fridge). Continue reading “Mummy’s up to things again” →