I Think You’re Bonkers

The kids are clearing the grass so I can carry on mowing. I’m about half done, maybe 2 thirds if you count the front as well. Then I think some digging is called for. My first lot of peas are in the ground now, starting to cling to next doors fence, the (possibly) climbing rose is growing well but showing no signs of actually climbing - so I’m starting to wonder if it’s a bush! Still, it has time yet and it was little more than a dry stick when it went in.

I want to dig out a narrow strip alongside the fence and use it to support tall or climbing things - sunflowers, the rose, sweet peas etc. It gets loads of sun and is really nice and warm so they should do well. But the soil is rubbish -  mostly sticky with loads of bits of rubbish, concrete and stones. The nice big barrow load of horse manure that arrived last night (with the promise of more if we take the  container back for refilling!) should help with that!

Dino and Mimi are noticing the surge in wildlife in our garden this year. It’s remarkable. Loads more birds and insects - well it feels like it, maybe we’re just noticing them more.

Yesterday we were offered a chicken coop and run………

Dilemma time. Advice anyone? 

Dino is a Beaver now, so we paraded with the other Beavers, Cubs, Scouts - didn’t see any Rainbows, Brownies or Guides, but there were girls there so maybe they just look the same as the boys now?

Pics. Sorry if they’re a bit big - file wise that is, this is the smallest I could manage without losing too much detail.  

Oh and Mimi wasn’t about to be left out of any pic taking….

She spent the day perched on the shoulders of a friends partner! Don’t panic, he’s not mine ….. 

March 4th - Mummy Bonkers.

3 Events:

51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth).

1774 - First sighting of Orion Nebula by William Herschel.

1954 - Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, announces the first successful kidney transplant.

2 Birthdays

1968 - Patsy Kensit, English actress

1 Death

1944 - Louis Capone, New York organized crime figure (b. 1896) (executed)

1 Holiday 

Wales - Feast day of Rhiannon, Celtic Moon Goddess.

July 12th - Dino Bonkers. 

3 Events:

 1543 - King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr at Hampton Court Palace.

1916 - Matawan Creek, New Jersey attacks, a bull shark swam 15 miles upstream and attacked three people, killing two.

1960 - Etch A Sketch, the drawing toy goes on sale.

2 Birthdays

100 BC - Julius Caesar, Roman military and political leader

1947 - Gareth Edwards, Welsh rugby union footballer

1958 - Jennifer Saunders, English actress & comedian

1 Death

 1682 - Jean Picard, French astronomer

1 Holiday

Northern Ireland - Battle of the Boyne Day also known as Orangemen’s Day or the Twelfth

April 3th - Mimi Bonkers. 

3 Events:

1043 - Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop" speech.

1982 - Great Britain dispatched a naval task force to the south Atlantic to reclaim the disputed Falkland Islands from Argentina.

2 Birthdays

 1925 - Tony Benn, British politician

1934 - Jane Goodall, English zoologist

1 Death

 1897 - Johannes Brahms, German composer

1 Holiday

Sizdah be dar (Outdoor thirteen). In Iran, people play jokes on each other on April 3, the thirteenth day of the Persian calendar new year

We were expecting a cool, overcast day and got up to a bright blue sky. It’s been a bit cooler than the past few days but the back door is still wide open. So we settled down to do some work between breakfast and lunch. A page in his nature book for Dino - we talked about Spring and what is growing. He drew a pic of his daffodils. His writing has suddenly taken a new turn. Up til now he has been sitting there stressing about having the *right* letters in the *right* order. Over the past week or so he’s started racing ahead of me and making it up as he goes. It’s phonetic and it’s wonderful. The confidence I’m starting to see in him is lovely. He read a few pages in his book too. He’s slow and stumbling but again the confidence is visibly growing. Then I was horrid Mummy and made him do some work on his numbers. I have him simply colouring in blocks of 2’s, 5’s or 10’s so he can start to see the patterns of his times tables. But he was getting bored by then.

We decided to take advantage of the good weather and go for a walk by the canal. Remember Hedge Planting?  We went to find our hedge. We found it and it’s growing nicely. I don’t have pics of the hedge - they didn’t work out but we’ll go back and look again. It’s a lovely walk, along the hedge path and then back to the car beside the canal itself. Not too long and loads to see. I took pics on demand!

 The swans and ducks followed us as we walked, must take some food next time.

When we got home the bug hunt commenced!

This was one of 2 they found and I was summoned to photograph it while Dino consulted his garden wildlife book to find out which sort it is. It’s a biting, venomous one so he let it loose rapidly, despite being assured that a tiny centipede bite wouldn’t hurt him.  Still, a bit of respect for our garden insects isn’t a bad thing. They watched them both race about the soil for a bit before the centipedes found a dark space to crawl into. They eat slugs - this is a good thing!

Lastly, a pic of the kids….

because they’re adorable, and because… Well, just why not! 

It’s an experiment…

Dino had been reading a book about transport.  It’s full of facts, questions, answers and things to do.

So this morning we grabbed a few extra shopping bits, topped up the petrol in the dar and ran out to the post office - essential stuff! Then Dino and I talked about what he wanted to do and how he’d do it. He recorded that discussion in a new book so he can do more of the things and write about them!

He wanted to make lego cars and see which was fastest. In the book this is a test for friction! So we set up a ramp to push the cars down and he made 4 cars about the same size and weight and put big wheels on one, small wheels on another, the third had ski’s and the last had nothing.  Mimi had to make cars too, and roll them down the ramp. There followed many discussions about the angle of the ramp being too steep, too low etc until he was happy. He decided that a single set of "heats" wasn’t enough, each car had to race each other one. So I showed him a simple grid to make sure each one raced every other one twice - a second chance helps make it fair according to him. Makes sense to me too. Make your hypothesis, test it and then repeat the test. Good stuff this.

Finally, having got an unexpected result he didn’t want to write it down. Ah well, we can do that before doing the next experiment. 

Mimi and I made more ginger biscuits - that recipe works best with triple the amount of ginger in it. But she decided to use smaller cutters this time, her ancient Egyptian ones do make for rather large biscuits and not many of them.  

A good day all round. Now I must get back to those 100 bags of soap nuts, only 60 to go …… 

One lot welcome, one not so welcome.

Kris and tribe poured out of her new dayvan thing and were very welcome.  We ate a variety of sandwiches and stuff for lunch, and chatted over copious amounts of tea while the kids racketted in bedrooms and round the garden - reasonably trouble free it has to be said. Very little refereeing was needed. Provided a much needed distraction after the unwelcome visitor who I may blog about in a passworded post, or I may not.

After they’d all gone Dino did some reading and then both kids played on zoo tycoon while I make tea and sewed bags, little ones for soapnuts.  I have to have 100 of the trial packs to make, pack and get to London before the end of the month. I may be a little quiet for a day or so ….

A socialisation play date thing in the local park first thing and then a dash over to home ed group where they made "things" with air drying clay. They also played football and ran about like idiots! I drank tea and chatted with the grown ups.

Then we came home for lunch. I had every intention of sitting Dino down to do reading etc but the sun is shining, I wanted to be in the garden. So hung washing out, dug a bit and planted seeds - sweetcorn, 2 sorts of pea, sweet pea, woad and pumpkin. The mange tout from the other week are up and doing well, as are 2 of the sunflowers - so we resowed some of those a couple of days ago.

The kids made an ant farm - a bucket with a bit of dug up ants nest with a long stick for them to climb up and spent ages watching the ants.  

On the business front - I have an offer on for now - Spend some money and get a free cloth shopping bag. I’m making the bags myself from recycled fabric, some I had here, some given to me by my Mum and some from a friend. The competition went well but the fundraising is still happening - feel free to use the donate button at the side here…..

Guess who won Beaver of the Week just before Easter? It’s for listening and doing as you’re told, allegedly. He’s very very proud!

And Mimi is now 4.