Full Metal Wheelbarrow

Rob had a bit of a sniffle yesterday, largely, we think, because of a rather noxious bonfire that was spewing horrid smoke all day on Saturday, such that we had to keep all the windows shut despite how muggy it was.

So after lunch I suggested we toddle up to Foremark Reservoir and go for one of the signed walks, even though it was raining a bit. It was quite a pleasant walk, although it could have been signed rather better - there was a sign missing at one point and we ended up going back by a rather different route than we'd been supposed to.

Just before we got back to the car park though, we found two tiny little frogs hopping through the grass. I took a couple of pictures. What with the rain and the hopping, they aren't that great, but here's one anyway :-

( Froglet! )
Then yesterday evening, I was out with my trowel, hunting down the wretched slugs who've been munching on my winter pansies, and I found, to my great joy that I had a mollusc-hunting colleague in the form of a small toad. I love toads, and I really don't understand why people seem to think they're ugly. Hopefully this one will have a big appetite and with any luck he'll bring his extended family round for dinner...

...I have mostly been making a ladybird house.

This involves a small plastic tub, and attempting to drill a hole in the bottom of same, which was rather more successful than necessary, resulting in the need for a large washer as well as the screw to fix it to the side of the shed.

I then sawed two bamboo sticks into short lengths, remarkably not losing any fingers in the process, and fitted as many as possible into the tub, thus providing lots of little nooks and crannies for small beeples to spend the winter in. Rob has ordered some ladybird attractant, so that they can find their new des res.

This done, I sowed spring cabbage and spring onions and harvested a cabbage and some runner beans, tomatoes and potatoes. I was feeling quite smug, accomplished and virtuous, so naturally, on the way back home, I slipped in the mud and fell over. Fortunately, I fell a) on a portion of my anatomy that is exceedingly well padded and b) not on the saw I was carrying at the time...