Ticking Off the To-Do List

Despite the unpleasant winter weather I have had a good day outside clearing the mountains of dead leaves which had been brought down by the intense winds over the past few days. We can now get in the front door without wading through soggy mounds of decaying leaves.

Once dressed for the outside it seemed daft not to continue with the list of jobs and I always have the dogs for company, if I'm outside they want to be with me, even if it's raining.

So the task for today was to plant all the spring bulbs. They arrived the day before we went on holiday so they have been sat in the greenhouse waiting for me to have a moment to plant them. It had to be today, regardless of weather as some of the bulbs were already showing signs of new shoots.

Hopefully, I will have a lovely patch of snowdrops, crocus, daffodils and tulips next spring, my hope being that if they don't all survive, some must surely make it.

As the rain got heavier I moved into the greenhouse. We still have tomato plants with green tomatoes on. They are a good size but I am sure that there is little chance of them ripening on the vine now so, it looks like we'll be finding a recipe for green tomato chutney to make use of them.

I took off the last of the chilli peppers too, so the greenhouse is now ready for winter. I'm going to plant the Pampas Grass into large containers and winter it in there so that the roots don't get damaged by the frost. I've always wanted some Pampas Grasses and if I can keep them alive through winter I may finally get them to grow in a sheltered spot in the garden.

So, now darkness has decended, I can feel quite pleased with my days work and get on with planning Christmas. 2 weeks today at this time we should all be sat back watching something on TV having eaten far too much turkey. Seems strange to think it will be here so soon and yet I have effectively done very little so far due to the holiday and the car incident.

Oh, and that's another item off the To-Do list - I've found a replacement car which I can pick up on Friday now that we have agreed a settlement with the insurers.

And one final thing done - we have put the Christmas tree up. It's always fun decorating the tree, testing the lights and being delighted when they work. The dogs have shown no interest in it at all this year, they are so grown up now although the 'I'm Dreaming if a White Christmas' singing Polar Bear still annoys Brinkley.

Quite a productive few days, I feel I've deserved some time to put my feet up infront of the TV, shame there's only football on!