| Mon 1 | Managed to get my monthly update for GP’s patient group members done early this month. Should make things easier later in the week. Far too much to do and to think about at the moment. |
| Tue 2 | This weather is getting too draining. The warmth is fine, but the humidity! According to the forecast it has been around 50-60% humidity all day today (and that’s quite high) but we’re promised more like 90% humidity overnight – but no rain. |
| Wed 3 | Oh the joy! Afternoon spent rewriting a poorly formatted webpage – and working out how to make it format the way I want. I won in the end. |
| Thu 4 | Well that was a job that was long, long overdue: spent the afternoon sitting outside repotting all the houseplants. Almost every one was well pot-bound. |
| Fri 5 | Another joyful trip to the dentist to have the crown I detached last weekend glued back on. Luckily partner #2 (who I’ve not seen before) was able to achieve this – let’s hope it stays that way. Mind you £100 for 15 minutes work! |
| Sat 6 | Oh! Nasty niff in the kitchen. Ah! Dead mouse behind the fridge, trying to hide in the works. I wonder which cat brought that in, and when? |
| Sun 7 | The day to recover the wasp traps and spend the afternoon examining the catch. Answer: a lot of flies, but also … A couple of apparently common wasps (Vespula vulgaris) in one trap – but they have slightly strange markings. In the other trap one definite V. vulgaris and what looks like a solitary (predatory) wasp which I can’t identify. I was going to blog this, but then realised my photos weren’t up to standard. [The stranger turned out to be a male of the solitary bee Lasioglossus calceatum.] |
| Mon 8 | Unexpected bonus visitors at lunchtime: two goldfinches drinking from the birdbath. Haven’t seen any in ages; good to know they’re still around. |
| Tue 9 | Another bonus visitor at lunchtime: a humming-bird hawkmoth stopping by the buddleia. It was around for only a couple of minutes so no chance of getting a photo. Only the second time I’ve seen one here (previously in 2018) and only the third or fourth ever. They’re not rare, but not common; many are immigrants although they do overwinter and breed in the warmer south-west. |
| Wed 10 | Humming-bird hawkmoth was back again at lunchtime having a quick snack from the buddleia. By the time I had a camera and got there of course it had gone. Still an excuse to sit in the sun for 15 minutes hoping it would return. |
| Thu 11 | We’re obviously not playing enough cricket; or morris dancing. We need rain; lots of rain; and there’s none to speak of on the horizon. Our silver birch tree is so dry it looks like autumn, though I suspect it’s nearing the end of life as they live only 35-40 years. |
| Fri 12 | Yet again the council are behind with the recycling (and rubbish) collections, as they have been for some weeks. Having got behind, they’re not catching up but continually slipping part of the next day – rinse and repeat. They say they’re a victim of the shortage of HGV drivers; ie. they don’t pay enough. |
| Sat 13 | Phew! Just too hot again to do anything other than jellivate™. Luckily it’s supposed to be getting cooler after tomorrow, and we may even get some rain next week – but I’ll believe it when I see it. |
| Sun 14 | Two nice rescues from the house last night, tho’ neither especially unusual. Female Southern Oak Bush Cricket and Straw Underwing moth. I know those Southern Oak Bush Crickets walk and jump well, but how do they get any distance with effectively vestigial wings?  |
| Mon 15 | Went to collect my new glasses. Nothing special; same rimless frames as before, but a marginally different colour. Fitting done with no fuss in about 15 minutes. I don’t know I’m wearing them. Why can’t everything be this easy? |
| Tue 16 | So much for the rain we were being promised; it amounted to 10 minutes desultory drizzle. But thank heaven it is quite a bit cooler, although still nice and warm. Much rain forecast for tomorrow – well we can hope! |
| Wed 17 | Rain! I thought it would never arrive, but mid-afternoon the heavens opened for an hour or so. In fact it was so heavy at one point I couldn’t see Horsenden Hill about half a mile away (by fastest crow). |
| Thu 18 | Busy day. Good call with doctors’ Practice Manager and then after lunch to see our newest GP: very thorough; good communicator; very pleasant; all round good experience. Why is it that I’m more comfortable with female clinicians – certainly doctors, nurses, physio etc.? Oh, and the gardener was here all day too! |
| Fri 19 | Big branch on our oak tree has cracked; it’s still attached but hanging down on the ground. Crack is too high for us to get to the limb, although we can hopefully trim the lower parts to make it safe temporarily. Yet more cost! |
| Sat 20 | Demoralising is an understatement. I seem to be getting more depressed by the day; less able to make myself do anything meaningful; more wanting to curl up and ignore everything; more weepy. Over the years I’ve tried petty much everything short of psychedelics and electrodes in the brain, and I just don’t seem to be able to crack it. GOK what the winter is going to be like. And yet people see me as functioning. |
| Sun 21 | Over the last week we’ve put quite a few goodies (like a chicken carcass) out for the foxes. So the trail camera has some wonderful pictures of fox demolishing said chicken and similar. |
| Mon 22 | The tree surgeon cometh. He looketh. He speaketh money. Verily we concur. He goeth away with a promise to return on the morrow morn with lad(s) to do the work. |
| Tue 23 | The tree surgeon’s lads arrive (late). The chainsaw revs. Broken oak branch removed. Small defunct cherry tree goes. Remains of very old dying apple tree also gone – thankfully the rambler roses are saved. Job done in about half an hour! I’m sure the guy next door was rejoicing as he thought we were removing all our trees, which he hates. What a shame we disappointed him! Meanwhile the pond guys also started today and worked like Trojans. |
| Wed 24 | Pond nearly finished already. Filled with water; pump #1 running. A few bits to finish off tomorrow. Looks really good. Pix when complete. |
| Thu 25 | Rain! We have rain! By 6 this morning it had clearly been raining well for some time … and it continued to wee it down until lunchtime. So we all got soaked finishing off the pond, and the guys had done and gone by about noon. I can’t believe how quickly, efficiently and professionally they’ve done the whole job – even down to supplying some small fish and waterlilies! Brilliant! |
| Fri 26 | Indulgent pudding: strawberries and cut-up almond croissant with lots of double cream. An Anglo-Frog variant of Eton Mess – except deconstructed. |
| Sat 27 | Tootling round the garden, as one does, we stopped to look at the pond. Lots of little goldfish dashing hither and yon in the sun. And the waterlilies are already growing – one has a leaf on the surface having grown around 15cm in two days! Incredible! |
| Sun 28 | Male blackcap skulking through the shrubs outside our dining room window at lunchtime. Accompanied by our usual selection of blue tits and great tits demolishing the peanuts. And, as promised, here’s the newly refurbished pond; with all 4 waterlilies now having surfaced!  |
| Mon 29 | August Bank Holiday Monday. And it didn’t rain! It looked as if it might rain a couple of times, but nothing happened. Which sort of sums up the day all round. |
| Tue 30 | The enormous pile of crap we accumulated in the front garden is gone. A glorious skip-full of old pond bits, shed detritus, garden crap, miscellaneous metal & electrical recycling, etc. etc. Removed same day by a registered waste company on their truck. Yes, it cost, but job done quickly & efficiently. Result! |
| Wed 31 | A truly “meh” day to end the month. Not feeling great and at every turn there’s yet more that has to be done – including attending to the gardener, who like all gardeners can be a loose cannon if not supervised. |
