The wreck at the end of the year.

This is the sight that greeted me at the allotment this afternoon.  It was my first visit since Christmas and not really what I wanted to deal with.   The essentials have been rescued, dried off and put in the shed and the cheapest new cover I could find now on order.  I must get on with sorting the new polytunnel as soon as possible.

I haven't been around for a while.  Everything was getting on top of me and I just had to ditch all the non-essentials.  We lost Taz in August, his kidneys packed up and having spent a day at the vets on a drip, he died overnight under the kitchen table.  Really glad he was at home for that.

On the brighter side, we gained Duchess (see extra), our second grand-pup at the beginning of December.  She is a 17 month old greyhound and very timid.  She managed an initial visit before Christmas - 10 minutes before she would come into the house, but tearing around the garden at speed an hour later.  She then spent 4 days with us at Christmas and got to meet her cousin, the crazy spaniel.  Spaniels and greyhounds are very very different, but they have a mutual love of food and chasing squirrels and parakeets and seem to get on well now.

I'm hoping that 2024 will be a better year and I will get more done at home and on the allotment.  It is already looking exciting with 4 grand niece/nephews due between January and June and our first grandchild due in Bristol at the end of May.  I suspect I will be seeing a good deal more of the M4 this year!!