Spring has well and truly sprung

What a glorious day we've had today, and it's lovely that we have another hour of daylight at night. I was late getting my dinner, too busy chatting with people when I took Rocky out this afternoon. We paid a visit to Graham and his dog Lady, the two dogs had a great time romping in the garden. I have discovered that Rocky likes playing fetch, with squeaky toys. He was so excited to run and fetch them back, his little tail was wagging frantically. Graham very kindly gave us two toys to keep, I think we will be playing that game quite a lot from now on. He also had an extra walk today, it was such a nice morning that I took him out straight after breakfast as well. 

Big disaster though, my retractable dog lead has broken. I opened it up to see if I could mend it, alas the spring has broken in two places. I don't think I can get a spare from anywhere. I will go back to the shop and look for one the same, to get the address of the company which makes them. They might send me a new spring if I ask them. I can't really claim a new lead as I've had it for some time, and it's had a lot of use.

I had an idea to buy a windbreak to take camping with me. But me being too mean to cough up the cash, I thought I would try and make one. Remember the wrecked tents that I pulled out of the wood? Well I removed the poles from them, thought they might come in handy for something. They are in sections, with elastic threaded through them to make them collapsible.

I very carefully cut the elastic, in between section 2 and 3, and tied a bead to the end of it to stop it disappearing up the inside. Then I taped the end up. I did this three times to give me three pieces, each with two sections. I bought a plastic tarpaulin for £1, from guess where, yep, the Pound Shop, ha ha. I turned the hem over at each end and stitched it with the machine, then folded it in half and made another line of stitching up the middle so I could push a pole through.  

And here it is, my home made windbreak. It's not very long but it will give a bit of shelter next to the tent, and it folds down quite small, so easy to carry around.

Oh, and this is a clump of daffodils in my back garden quite close to the back door.

And there seems to be a lot of ladybirds around at the moment. In fact there are millions of them they are everywhere.  

This is a photo I took yesterday on my bike ride. Isn't it a pretty cottage. It's in a lovely village called Appleby, not far from Broughton, which isn't far from Brigg. It's a small village, a few houses, a church, but no shops. Every year it holds a very popular Summer Fair. People come from the surrounding villages to support it.  

Just before I go, I'll leave you with this money saving tip. You know how you like to nibble something when you're out, and usually pop in a shop for a choc bar, or one of those oaty bars, well this is what I do. To stop me from dipping in my purse for a treat, I have a small plastic screw top bottle from one of those yogurty drinks, which I bought dead cheap because I would never buy them otherwise.

Wash and dry it, and I fill it with sultanas. Very handy for shaking a few out in your hand and popping them in your mouth. Fights off the hunger pangs in between meals, and gives you a nice sweet taste. You can put any dried berries in that you like, I choose sultanas because they are the cheapest, apart from dried mixed peel, and I don't like that.    

Toodle pip.