Today’s guest picture comes from Henry’s friend Mark. Henry is very proud of his pile of logs.
It was warmer today, and when the sun came out, it felt quite like spring. However, the sun didn’t come out much, and there was a shower of rain, so we kept close to home. We took the opportunity to do useful work digging out a little drain across the drive in the hope of drying out the ground under the driveway slabs.
I filled the feeder before we went out, and a chaffinch swam though the air to check things out.
In the course of the drainage works, we spent some time paddling in the dam behind the house, washing gravel to put in the drain. Our neighbour Kenny’s daffodils looked very cheery in a sunny moment.
We both worked on the drain, with Mrs Tootlepedal applying the most expert touches.
As you can see, it was drawing water away from the house quite successfully.
We put down a membrane and filled the portion that crosses the drive with the washed gravel, and now we will wait to see if it continues to work.
The job took some time and was interrupted by coffee, lunch and wandering round the garden.
We like the burst of early colour provided by this spirea . . .
. . . but the early flowers on the magnolia are not leaving us feeling very optimistic.
The drainage works kept the birds away from the feeder, but as soon as we went in, they came out.
I do like the way that chaffinches ‘swim’ up to the feeder, getting a good look at what is available before they arrive. They give me good photo opportunities. The other birds tend to dive straight in.
A jackdaw was keeping an eye on our activity.
In spite of the poor weather, things are developing in the garden. I saw the first dicentra today . . .
. . . and more fritillaries are appearing every day . . .
. . . and as I am too old to lie on my back on the wet ground to look up at them, I turned one up with my hand today.
A euphorbia is showing promise.
There was a lone bee to be seen this afternoon . . .
. . . but the garden is pretty quiet at the moment, with mostly just hints of treats to come.
It was quite a calm day, and this gave me a chance to appreciate the scillas which have popped up all over the place.
I was thinking of going for a cycle ride once the drainage was done, but another short shower of rain was enough to persuade me that some sitting down might be a good thing to do instead. Once I sat down, I found it impossible to get up again, feeling that, like the water, my energy had drained away. I did find some time to put a week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database, so at least some of the sitting was constructive.
I am hoping to get that pedal in tomorrow, but the weather is very unreliable at the moment, and I will have to wait and see when the time comes. At least if we get some rain, we will be able to check how the drain performs.
The flying bird of the day is a chaffinch showing its full wingspan.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Hard work, and very well done – no wonder you gave an afternoon pedal a pass! I hope the membrane and gravel work on the drive portion of the job.
Driving the car over it will give it a serious test.
That is some drain. Impressed!
We were pleased to actually go out and dig it rather than just talk about it.
A tip of the shovel to you two.
I’m sure having birds visiting every day must be very interesting. We also have birds visiting the garden and they all have distinct characteristics, very enjoyable to watch. It makes life interesting when they arrive in early spring with young ones.
Interesting and expensive when they come in such big numbers. 🙂
Like Laurie, I am very impressed with the drain. Gorgeous signs of spring especially the fritillaries.
The fritillaries obviously haven’t been put off by the rather chilly weather. We are waiting for some serious rain to see if the drain actually works under battle conditions.
One of the most frustrating aspects of age is the limitations it puts on our ability to focus as we would wish. The drainage work looks most effective
I think that the things that bugs me most is deteriorating eyesight. It makes ordinary life harder work than it should be.
Your flying bird is clearly doing breast stroke.
I agree.
Magnificent work on the drain, most impressive.
Another admirer of your impressive drainage work. And done in good time for Easter weather.
Good to see bees out and about again.
This one was a bit static but we saw one flying today.
Hello Tommy,
I’ve been reading your blog for many years and always sympathise with your battles with the weather gods. Have you tried this app on your mobile https://app.rain-alarm.com We walk the dogs twice a day and find it invaluable for predicting timing and volume of rain.
Best wishes,
Sarah
Thank you very much Sarah. I will have a look at the app. It does sound useful.
It looks like the trench will do the job, but I’m sure it was a lot of work.
Too bad about the magnolia. Luckily ours hadn’t fully opened yet when it got cold.
It was nice to see the dicentra. I like its fern like leaves.
There are lots of unopened flowers on the magnolia so all is not lost but it was disappointing to see the cold damage. The leaves on the dicentra are looking very healthy at the moment so I am hoping for a good show of flowers.
I know from digging trenches here that a considerable amount of hard work went into it.
Your spring flowers look beautiful! My favorite is the bumblebee on the daffodil. The unfolding dicentra, or “Bleeding Heart” as my mother called them, is particularly beautiful, too. I remember one that was growing wild back east, a white one known as “Dutchman’s Breeches”. I found them up on Mount Higby back in Connecticut.
We have got dicentra like that but they didn’t do well last year. I am hoping they do better this time.
A bee…how lovely! A very well planned drain idea and brilliantly excavated. A job well done.
Time will be the judge of the drain but it should be easy to re-dig it and improve it if necessary. We had another bee today.
The drainage work makes sense to me and also looks to be doing the job. I can see why Henry is so proud, that is a lovely stack of logs!
It was a huge amount of work for Mark to move them all. He is getting a machine in to help split them up into logs for the stove
Henry is a very handsome fellow.
And good company on a walk, not a thing that I would say about many dogs.
Fabulous shot of the chaffinch at the end of your post. It’s easy to forget as they are quite common to see. That water engineering is very impressive. We have had major roadworks here and up the valley to Merthyr Tydfil. We have had so much rain since Christmas the way they have kept the traffic flowing (I mean flowing ha ha) is a very strong commendation to the water engineers. Great post. Cheers
We have had very dull weather since November but unusually we have not had great quantities of rain so our roads are pretty dry.
Is that called a French Drain over there?
It might be. I am not a drain expert. 🙂