The Boss Is Away

As I write this Net is in the hospital in Razgrad, no don't panic everything is alright. A friend of ours has had to go in and have an operation on her ankle. Unfortunately her Mother is also in hospital, albeit a different one, so Net has volunteered to go over and help out. I don't know about anyone else, but I have always found hospital stays to be mind numbingly boring. It is also much nicer to wake up from an operation to see a friendly face there. Anyway we had to alter various plans that had previously been made and make sure that Net had enough bits and bobs to cover all eventualities. So yesterday it was a case of loading Net and her bits and pieces into the car and taking her over to our friends so that they could both go to the hospital together. It was quite fortunate that we went when we did, as just inside the borders of the village of Kamen we saw two Storks sat upon their nest.

We had passed other nests and open fields but these were the first two that we actually spotted. People have been reporting that the Storks are out and about in the country. It has also meant that we can now remove our Martenitsi, ours are now  hanging in fruit trees in the garden. They might have started off as red and white, but seeing as we have been wearing them since the start of the month they are looking a bit dishevelled, and now appear more red and grey. I say that it was fortunate that we saw them when we did, as even though I did look for them on my return journey there was no sign of them anywhere. For some strange reason we don't have any Stork nests in the village, or if there is one we have never managed to find it. Even though they are fascinating birds to watch I wouldn't really want them next to the house as they do make a bit of a racket with their beaks, and who knows what the cats and dogs would make of them.

So my first job on getting home was to tie the Martenitsi in fruit trees. Well it would have been but I had noticed a message taped to our gate. A courier company had tried to deliver something to us while I was dropping Net off. The only problem was that it wasn't for us it was for a neighbour down the road and she had been waiting for them to turn up. Luckily there was a contact number at the bottom so hopefully she was able to get it sorted out. So the message eventually got delivered to the correct address, and our Martenitsi are now adorning some fruit trees in the garden.

So at home at the moment there is just me and the animals. I think that I am meant to be in charge but the rest of the motley crew seem to have other ideas, and Mr Cat definitely thinks that he and Albert are in charge. I get looks of complete and utter disdain if I make too much noise while I am doing the housework and it disturbs their rest. Mini will complain if I am a couple of minutes late with their breakfast, and SillyO just tries attacking anything and everything. The dogs want food, attention and warmth, not neccessarily in that order but preferably all together. I have tried explaining that there are three dogs and I only have two hands, to make their feelings known they try gassing me. The dogs made sure that I had enough wood sorted out so that they could have their fire in the evening, no wonder people say that it is a dog's life, our three don't do so bad. 

Yesterday afternoon was spent painting that white Var stuff on the fruit. i have often asked what it is for and have received various different answers. The two that seem to make most sense are that insects are easier for birds to spot and so eat. The other being that walking and boring bugs don't like the lime so look elsewhere. The last one is probably correct as I have previously seen ants 'farming' the aphids. Whatever the purpose it also looks neat and tidy, and gives the impression that someone is caring for the garden. It is a bit like trying to paint porridge onto the bottom metre of the trunk. I think that I was doing it properly, although Sirrius did try washing it off of one tree just after I had finished 'painting' it. 

This morning started off with brilliant sunshine so I was quite looking forward to working out in the garden today. I did the normal routine of sorting the animals out, sorting myself out and then the housework. Believe or not ladies, us menfolk aren't totally helpless in these matters. I might even have a stab at the laundry tomorrow, if I'm lucky nothing will end up pink.

Once I got outside it was a matter of getting the patio furniture back out from under the barn where I had stowed it to avoid the winds from the other day. The sunloungers were given a quick test by Albert, and seemed to meet with his approval. I had got halfway through putting Var on one of the walnut trees outside when the wind started picking up again, the sky turned grey and it started to spit with rain. So the patio furniture was put back under the barn before I finished with the walnut tree. I will probably find that the rain has washed it all off, and so I will have to start again, but there is that great smell of damp earth.

The good news is that all of the animals apart from Mini are indoors and trying to gas each other. The fire is lit and I have my coffee. I shall have to go and see what I fancy for tea, so I shall leave you to read this latest blog in peace