Garden repairs

The sunrise took place behind the clouds today. And at seven, Silver showed up full of complaints, demanding more lap-time. Oh, and your hands shouldn’t lie still, they are supposed to be scratching me! When I made myself another cup of coffee, she followed me into the kitchen, then back on my lap. Until she decided ‘Ok, that’ll do!’ and went for a bit of a nibble. Now she’s somewhere in my bedroom. I haven’t quite decided what I’ll do in a few minutes, when I gotta go off do the dreaded shopping.

Well, Silver followed me outside, so that problem was solved. It was rather strange seeing a cat sitting on the side of the path looking towards where I disappeared, as I drove off. Builders Express was the typical: no sales staff available, no prices on goods, pricing problem at the till. As always. Funny thing: now that I’m looking for it, they didn’t have any of that tacky plastic border – but they did have some reasonable picket-fence options. I took two of their options and will see how it looks / works for me. And I got lots and lots of Alyssum and Cosmos seeds! With a few Gazania & Marigold thrown in. But as I’m looking through the seeds, it is becoming very evident that I should not have had that second cup of coffee before shopping!

Standing at a red traffic light, bladder urging me on to go, go, go … I look up straight into a display of toilets! Apt!

Back home, Silver rushes to follow me up the stairs – and is puzzled at me sitting down but not willing to pick her up onto my lap. Bathroom, kitty! Learn he he. Wet stuff happens here. As I come out, I pick her up, cuddle, pet, scratch her ears, when we hear some nibbling outside (I had closed the door, first time with Silver inside!). It’s the neighbour’s cat and Silver goes into instant defending-territory-mode: hairs standing up, growling, down on the floor glaring at this impertinent nibbler. The neighbour's cat is completely baffled! Looks at Silver, looks at me, retreats a bit, looks at each of us again in bafflement until Silver makes a move and the neighbour's cat runs off! But not without giving me a look of utter disgust!

Off again for the second round of shopping – the groceries. At the till I see a missed call from the Site Manager, so I call him back. Apparently he got an e-mail sent around midnight that two colleagues will arrive on Sunday and we (as in I) better make sure accommodation and transport is in place. Yeah – THAT guy (not the site manager, the sender of that mail!) needs another refresher course in manners! He’s already had one from me, when he arrived here and just plonked himself in a chair without so much as a hello, or ‘Hi, I’m so-and-so’. Evidently he’s learning-resistant! Fortunately I am good at my job, so I sorted everything out and sent feedback to the site manager.

The weather isn’t really ideal for gardening – it’s overcast with the odd drizzle coming down every now and then. But I have seed! And I can put down a plastic bag on the grass to sit on. I am adamant – gardening will happen!

Of course, as I start tackling the hedge with heavy-duty branch-loppers (up to 42mm diameter) the sun comes out and I’m drenched in sweat in no time. I’m going over the rockery, again, tracing every thorn sprouting there back as far to the root as I can get and lopping them off. It’s a tough job, since I’m either balancing on top of the rocks or stretching with one foot on the grass and one foot on a rock trying to place the blades around the stem, then finding the space and leverage to cut through. Then stretching to grab and pull it out. Every now and then a thorn pokes through my gloves and I have to remove it before I can carry on. At one stage a bird decided that to watch. It looks like a butcher bird with black feathers and a white chest. It was sitting on a branch, quite near, and just watched me with interest for some five minutes at least! This is why I love Africa! I’m living in a fairly big city (by South African Standards), surrounded by shops, business’, malls – everything a first-world citizen needs. Yet I wake up to bird-call in the morning, have a glorious view from my home and wildlife all around. Ok, so mostly birds, lizards, snails and insects, but there are game reserves within an hours drive as well. And here, there’s also the Indian Ocean – which I see from my window.

As I’m coming upstairs to take a break, Silver is meowing right by my side again – and, Surprise: As we enter my flat, another cat comes rushing out! As the two cats spot each other, hairs go up, growls start and cats stand still – ready for fight or flight. They look a lot alike – except the other cat has more brown in it’s fur and is a bit darker than Silver.

Another hour wrestling with the hedge – oh, except, I cheated: my neighbour came back from her hostess tea and we had a quick chat! She’s as exhausted as I am, so she went inside for nice cuppa coffee while I went back about my business filling the drum. Finally I’ve had enough – and I think I’ve done a heck of a job! Another break – cat on lap, typing the blog, drinking one of my favourites: instant coffee dissolved in a wee bit of hot water, then topped up with milk! So, basically it’s coffee-flavoured milk. It’s close to three by now, so there’s not much time left to garden – better get going.

Loosened the ground in that mowed down bed, dug up any creeper Kikuyu grass roots that crept under it, sowed Cosmos and Alyssums and then put up the picket fence on the first stretch. What do you think?

See the Nasturtiums creeping along on the right?

Then I carried on moving along to the Nasturtiums, my gosh, they’ve really taken over! They’ve long since expanded beyond the width of the bed I originally made for them! And that’s without the runners! There’s also a poor Iris trying to struggle its way through the forest of Nasturtiums hoping to catch the odd ray of sunlight!

As I’m working I was thinking: There’s not much grass behind the Nasturtiums anyway. So why not let them run there instead of taking over the bed where I’ve just sowed the Cosmos & Alyssums? What do you think?

Leave the Nasturtium running off across the bed?

Not much grass there anyway

So the Nasturtiums could be Free Range

Wouldn't take much extra cleaning

That roll of border could follow the Nasturtiums wherever they choose to run off to.

By five it was getting too cold to keep going, so I came in – and guess who’s been warming my chair for me?

For dinner I made myself a pepper sirloin! Trying to eat it, I had my first disagreement with Silver! She wants to sit on my lap and doesn’t like ‘No’ for an answer – but when I’m trying to eat, it just doesn’t work – even though she’s smart enough not to try getting near my food. She strolled around my feet the whole time meowing to be picked up.

As I was closing the curtains, I see the flower on the succulent my neighbour gave me is coming out beautifully!

Now for a lovely relaxing hot bath! My back sure needs it! And my hips!