Fun, fun, not fun, and fun

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. As well as foxes, she comes across squirrels too. She met this one on her way to tennis at the weekend.

I had to be up and about promptly this morning, as our friend David was delivering a bottle of his excellent olive oil straight after breakfast. It was a pleasant warm day, so after receiving the oil, I had time to take a few flower pictures . . .

. . . including a blue polemonium . . .

. . . and then shift the contents of compost Bin A into the empty Bin B, and do all this before coffee time.

For once, I managed to record the composting activity, and those readers who get over excited by the thought of composting should look away now.

On the left, compost Bin A full to the brim with the results of Mrs Tootlepdal’s gardening efforts, and on the right, the empty Bin B.

Just over half an hour later, compost Bin A is empty, and compost Bin B is full.

As you can see, the contents of Bin A have rotted down pretty well, and there were plenty of worms working in the compost as I turned it over. I topped Bin B to stop it getting too wet, and then went off to enjoy my coffee, feeling that I had earned it.

Mrs Tootlepedal had earned her coffee too, as she had been busy planting out the last of her dahlias.

I checked on the birds. They had not been slow in eating the seeds in spite of the all the gardening activity around them.

After coffee, we spent a moment at the computer booking train tickets. We are going to have an excursion along Cumbria’s coastal railway tomorrow. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the trains will run on time, and that the weather will be kind. A full report will follow, either tomorrow if time permits, or the day after. (It is easy to complain about the inconveniences of the internet, but being able to book three journeys for two people with two railcards, get tickets on your phone with paper copies too, and pay for it with one click, is greatly preferable to standing a queue at the station while your train prepares to go, and the idiot in front takes half an hour enquiring about connections to Aberystwyth next week.)

Then we went back out into the garden. I got the mower out and mowed the greenhouse grass and the vegetable garden paths, and followed that up by strimming the edges of the raised beds. The veg garden looks both neat and full of vegetable promise.

Mrs Tootlepedal is already eating mixed leaves and radishes, and I am enjoying spinach and lettuce. It won’t be long until turnips are added to our menu.

Once again, I spent some time after lunch looking at various weather forecasts, trying to calculate the probability of meeting any of the wandering showers, perhaps thundery, that appeared at different times and in different places on the forecasters local weather maps. It wasn’t windy though, so in the end, I decided to stop worrying, pack a rain jacket, get on my push bike, and see what happened.

I decided to do the 25 mile route round the Crossdykes wind farm that I had done with Mrs Tootlepedal on our electric bikes not long ago, and see how the times compared. It didn’t take me long to find out if there really were going to be rain showers . . .

. . . and I had to stop to put on my rain jacket not long after I had started.

The rain got heavier and heavier, and I must admit that I almost turned back. However, I could always see what looked like better weather ahead, so I plugged on, and after ten miles, I found myself in glorious sunshine with the worst of the weather behind me.

I soon dried out, and I had a sunny pedal up the valley of the Water of Milk to Crossdykes.

The turbines were turning gently, and it looked as though I might have a friendly wind to help me home. When I got down the hill to Enzieholm Bridge, I crossed the river and came down to Bentpath on the far bank through Georgefield. This is one of the rare flat roads in our area, and I was able to stop for a second or two to enjoy melancholy thistles, wild roses and the view ahead. I took the first shot while pedalling along.

I parked the bike at Bentpath Bridge, and walked down the little track that takes you under the bridge and gives you a view downstream.

This was the only time in the ride when I wasn’t concentrating on getting round before the next shower arrived. When I got back on my bike, crossed the bridge, and took the road back to Langholm, I wondered if even spending that little time by the river had been wise. The view head looked somewhat threatening.

My luck held, and although it got a little bit windier and a little bit cooler, I didn’t meet another shower. I even had time to take a picture of a family of cows who were supremely uninterested in posing for their photograph

When we compared my time today with our time on the electric excursion, it was interesting to find that they were almost identical. You might think that this means that we would be able to go out with Mrs Tootlepedal on her electric bike, and me on my push bike. You would be wrong though, as at every hill, she would shoot ahead of me, and then as we came down the other side, I would catch her up, only for her to disappear ahead as we hit the next hill, and so on, and so on. There are a lot hills round us. We might start and finish at the same time, but we would hardly see each other as we went round.

I had refilled the bird feeder before I went out, and I found a greenfinch enjoying the seed when I got back in.

It is always good to see a greenfinch at the feeder, because their numbers have suffered badly in recent years because of a small bird disease that affected them in particular.

I didn’t have much time during a busy day to wait for a good flying bird to arrive, so this indifferent sparrow is the best that I could do.

Apart from getting caught in the shower, I had a day doing things that I really enjoy in mostly sunny weather, so I shouldn’t complain. You can’t always have everything that you want.