Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Cats, the Royal Wedding and Gardens

An interesting mix, but my day has involved them all.

Jazz decided that 5am was a suitable time to get me up.  Which he does by reaching under the bedclothes and slashing.  Jazz, aka Sid Vicious, aka Spike.  When my feet hit the floor he started to purr at mega decibels.  Which brought Jewel into the bedroom too.  Also purring.  Happy chappies, though their happiness diminished when they realised that they were not going to be let out straight away.  I am so cruel.  So cruel in fact that I am considering upgrading their Cat Condominium to one with more levels.  Perhaps.





A little later I checked my emails.  To discover that a friend had sent one about the Royal Wedding to 'those who care'.  Given that disinterest is a charitable way of describing my relationship with our Royal Family this struck me as odd.  But I followed the link and giggled throughout (while mentally apologising to my friend).  Not only do I think that the Royal Wedding would be better run on these lines, but those couples who are going to slavishly follow the example set by William and Kate could learn from it as well. 

The smaller portion was still slumbering on.  So, into the garden.  Pruning and weeding to make room for more bulbs.  By the time I came in for a cuppa himself was up.  So we headed outside and put the last of the first bag of tulips in.  Two hundred tulips planted yesterday and today.  And then, oh joy and bliss it started to rain gently.  Very good for the garden and the perfect excuse to stop for the day.



In a little over a week we (mostly the smaller portion) have put in 403 daffodils and jonquils (3 were given as freebies), 50 Dutch iris, and 200 tulips.  We have another 215 tulips to go (15 freebies) and whatever turns up in the 'Gamblers Pot Luck' collection I ordered.  Maybe another 50 or so bulbs in there.   And while I am very, very stiff and sore it has happened.  And will probably be completed over the Easter weekend.  I am gobsmacked.  And then all we need do is wait (and weed) for an explosion of colour and scent in early Spring.

16 comments:

  1. I gave up on bulbs when I dug a little round patch, edged it with bricks and planted all my bulbs. Unfortunately no-one told me that some are put in with the pointy ends up and some with the pointy bits down.
    I ended up with two beautiful burgundy Irises and those bulbs are still burrowing their way to the other side of the world.

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  2. You was robbed. They will often turn themselves around and bloom, albeit slower. Not surprised you said sod that for a game of soldiers and stopped putting them in.

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  3. I'll be waiting for the photos of them when they all bloom in spring. I reckon it'll be worth the wait until then :-).

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  4. That's going to be an amazing spring show when it blooms. Flowers are so uplifting after a long winter.

    I'd never put in bulbs before. I'm not sure that they'd like the heavy clay in Adelaide and anyway, people were really into the native garden back in those days and I remember being treated like a leper when I suggested anything non-native.

    I have several friends with cats and they all report on the "Claw Alarm Clock". Somehow I think they may only try it once with me :-)

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  5. That's so thoughtful of Jazz, making sure you could get up early to work in the garden.

    I suspect you are understating your pain, and I'm gobsmacked you could keep planting all of those still. The motivation of beauty! (Did I ever mention that my own pain was misdiagnosed as a bad chronic pain syndrome for years before they realized it was M.S? I know you aren't talking about a little ache.)

    I can't even picture all those blooming in my mind! I look forward to seeing the photos when you eventually get the good type of payback from all of this. It's going to be phenomenal!

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  6. Windsmoke, Marie, Paper Chipmunk:

    You will all be begging me to stop posting flower photos in Spring.

    Marie: If you can find a way to stop psycho cat without throwing him outside I would love to hear it. The cats are in between dusk and daybreak to protect the wildlife - and I don't count as wildlife it seems.

    Paper Chipmunk: Yes you are right. When I say I am stiff and sore I mean that I hurt like hell. But complaining (more than I do) doesn't help. But it was nice to get your recognition of the ugly truth. Not a fun disease.

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  7. Oh I forgot to say something earlier about the Royal wedding video and remembered now. I really though that WAS Camilla. And I could also imagine Harry doing just that in real life. Wouldn't it be great? I see there are some fun stories about the Royal Wedding in the UK papers I scan in the mornings, but nothing in the Swedish papers. We don't do "funny" in Sweden :-)

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  8. I'm looking forward to seeing flower photos in spring too. I don't plant bulbs, like Marie said they don't do well in Adelaide's clay soil.

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  9. Marie and River:
    Camilla was great. I liked the Queen as well. And the ArchBishop - or whatever type of clergy person it was. Silly, but fun.
    Our soil started its life as a clay, but has had several years worth of compost dug through it and much fertilising. And now produces bulbs well. Canberra's climate is better for them as well.

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  10. That royal wedding video is hilarious and whilst my interest in the royal family could be best described as "I couldn't give a fat rat's clacker" we are going to a friend's house for party. I think that's what most of us here in Oz are using for - an excuse to party!

    Good on you for all that work in the garden too!

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  11. Ah! The scent of early Spring!




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  12. Jazzy woke me up at 5am today! She was duly showed out.

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  13. Oliver and Ruby have a cat tree. Their slave used to blog from Scott's Abode in Melbourne.

    Camilla's hair in purl and plain is worth following the link for a knitted wedding. There is amusement to be had and we must not waste the opportunity to smile.

    Wishing you renewal and joy on the 3rd Easter Day

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  14. Mega thanks Ann, both sites made me smile broadly. And yes, dogs may have masters cats certainly have slaves.

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  15. IF ONLY, the royal wedding and most of life could be that fun!!! I love that video.

    My brother was bemoaning the media attention on the royal wedding and I said, "Tom, Tom, the media doesn't get it. We don't care. Nobody I know cares about the royal wedding. But the media, they don't seem to understand that NOBODY CARES!" Actually, I'd rather watch a video sequence featuring Ghadafi's bizarre fashion outfits over the years than the royal wedding which would put me to sleep quicker than a quarter of a beer sipped after a 24 hour stint out cat trapping.

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