An Ordinary Day At Norton Conyers!

Yet again gardening took a back seat to the occurrences at NC on Saturday. After an absence of nearly two weeks Shandy was a dog on a mission, with frenzied barking and much dashing about she flushed rabbit after rabbit out of various hiding places around the garden, so it was only a matter of time before she caught one. She did have a bit of help though, one poor bunny made the wrong decision and took refuge in the potting shed, so Giles barred the door whilst the dog finished it off. I've never seen a dog look so triumphant and woe betide anyone who got too near her prize! When calm had been restored Alison and I started on the pond restoration,it had developed a crack and lost a lot of water, so we used a hosepipe to slowly syphon out what water remained whilst we got on with cutting back the epimediums. By lunchtime enough had drained away for us begin rescuing the fish which we transferred to the pool in the peach house, along with a handful of frogs, some already getting on with the act of making the next generation! No sooner had we eaten lunch than there was another commotion as the air ambulance landed in the paddock, peeking out of the big gate we could see that the local hunt, which had been passing through the estate all morning, had lost a rider right by the small garden gate so not wanting to stare we beat a hasty retreat leaving the paramedics to their work, they didn't waste any time and were soon flying away with the patient. I've often mentioned that there's never a dull day at NC but even by normal standards Saturday was a varied one, especially when you throw in all four seasons of weather and a splendid rainbow too, phew!

A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days" Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe