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T for Table, and Tuesday.

In honour of T on Tuesday here is my fruit infuser bottle in action. The frozen gel thing is attached to the infuser bit here, but I can just as easily add a few icecubes instead. I didn't know why I wanted one, the fruit in a glass works fine, but this is portable. I took it with me to Slimming World, and could take it out to dog shows, in the car, or anywhere really. It is quite heavy as it holds 900ml, nearly 2 pints.

Both the bottle and insulating sleeve are marked with reminders of when to hydrate. I love that it comes in purple and other colours.

I am joining in with Elizabeth and Bleubeard and the T on Tuesday folks for a mad catch up which includes beverages. I actually managed to get round everyone who visited me last week and a few more, pretty good for me. Not sure how it will go this week!

I bought four more plants in an effort to make the garden nice and ones I hope will stand up to the dogs, here's Luna sniffing one of the new plants I just planted and it is called Blue Hobbit and is an Eryngium which I will never remember, I might remember the Blue Hobbit bit! I also planted Viola Freckles, Penstemon Pinocolada Violet, and on a previous day Astilbe Heart and Soul and never heard of most of them before. It promptly turned to moonsoon conditions after this so I think I can safely say they are watered in.

The Astilbe (Heart and Soul) is the pointy one with pink flowers, at least the tops are still pink. I freed the Acer from it's pot with my son's help this year which is why it doesn't look great. It suffered from being so pot bound that normally all the leaves would fall off by now, but next year it should do better. 

 I bought this pretty small Acer recently, it suffered an unwanted pruning but has grown back a branch where one was lopped off, dog or son I don't know. The cone was left by the Water men when they repaired a damaged drain cover, I put it where the dogs are digging a tunnel, they already dug up a new plant I foolishly planted there. I have relocated it now and hope it will grow and isn't in shock. The marigolds are the best ever since I decided to plant them in the tubs.

Bertie likes these little chairs, he also likes the big ones! Little people will get to use them at the weekend.

I bought some cheap cut to size roller blinds for the summerhouse to keep it cooler when the sun is right on it on hot days and to protect the chairs, Luna and Bertie "helped" to measure and cut.

Richard put the blinds up for me, just one to go but it had a damaged bit so I am trying to get another. I bought solar lights too, thinking if I had enough of them it would be bright enough to crochet in the dark. I think that was wishful thinking but they look pretty. 

The old rose bush is happy, never had so many roses, this is just one side. It is 12 years old now.

Luna on our walk this evening, she has got very bold or very naughty depending how you look at it (very confident?) since Bertie arrived, between the three of them the walk was "interesting". I kept these two on leads past the hedge they both dived into last time and stayed in there for ages, then let them off. Then Sooty was miles behind sniffing, we were halfway up the field. I stopped Bertie going down a rabbit hole and Luna vanished into the hedge again! I put them both back on the lead, retraced our steps to go get Sooty then realised I had dropped the bag of poo, so we went halfway back and found it and turned round to meet poor old Sooty then onwards. I let Luna off again, she did go into a hedge but came quicky out then went the way she knows not to go towards the stile that goes to the road - but did come back, then vanished into the hedge next to the road even though I said no. Came out covered in sticky buds as you can see and went right on the lead! Both she and Bertie rolled, not sure what in, but it could be bath day tomorrow and she and Sooty both need a trim now it has turned hot again from being like Winter for a few days!

Luna seems to be happy again, we had a blip last week as she attacked Sooty a few times and the last time was pretty vicious. I got inadvertently bitten getting her off, and I did give her a small tap on the nose which had a bad effect, I also did as advised and shut her in the downstairs loo for a few minutes as a naughty room. She got very jumpy and worried around me after that, we had a bad training session the next day and she was car sick going home which she never is after training, but I think all is well again now. I will never know the abuse she suffered in her previous life, she needs to know she can't hurt Sooty but how to do it so I don't make her scared of me? 

Anyway I had her name down for agility training for months and got the call that she can start next week, and was discussing it with the training lady who advised me to shut them out of the kitchen when I prepare their meals and then put Sooty in a seperate room to eat so he feels safe and they don't try and steal his food. A couple of times Luna attacked him when he was in the living room and they were in the kitchen and I called him out for his food - she wouldn't let him pass. So he got scared of coming out when I called, it was fine when he was already in the kitchen, except Bertie would grumble and growl at him. Once I worked out how to do as advised, the first time I messed it up, all has been fine and no more attacks. They weren't all about food, one time the two dogs were in the summerhouse with me and Sooty just came out and stood up to look in the pond and Luna rushed out and went for him, another time I was eating in the dining room, she was under the table and Bertie in the room and Sooty came in and that was the most vicious attack.

Please excuse Bertie, he never kept still enough for a photo until this one!

I couldn't see what I took but there was an amazing sunset going on here as we walked round the last field.

I waited for the dark to see all the lights on, the two butterfly sets are from Sainsburys, but one I paid full price for and today went back and they were in the sale, should have taken one back and got a refund and bought two in the sale but I didn't think of it. The round globes across the door are from Amazon, they are nowhere near as bright as the butterflies. I also bought some stick ones and hanging single ones to put in the garden where the spotlight doesn't reach, and only one of those is working and it was when I brought it indoors when I got home. I will give the others another day to charge, but the butterflies worked tonight so I can see some going back - one is damaged so will be for sure.

All three of the dogs love it in the summerhouse, when I tried to lock up just now I couldn't because when I managed to get one out the other went back in! 

Oh the table - I nearly forgot! I decided that a small table would be nice, and lots were advertised secondhand but already gone. Then I saw this one, the right colour too and only £3 and I drove all the way to Shepton Mallet to get it, about an hours drive each way. It has a shelf, which is a bit out of shape so I am standing things on it to try and flatten it but I'm not worried about that. My sat nav wouldn't recognise the address from home or postcode, I had to drive to Shepton then stop in a car park and try again, and it finally found it! What is going on, that isn't the first time.

You might remember the Persian Tiles blanket (a Jane Crow design) from a long time ago, I was so near the end but stopped to make Frida's flowers also stopped to make Last Dance on the beach blanket, then I went on to do other things and never got back to it until now. I decided I will finish it before starting on the next project or another WIP that needs finishing. I have one half finished hexagon to finish and ends to sew on on all 16 - started Monday and only completed 3 so far! There are a lot of ends and I want them secure. Then it's ready to block, join and do the border. Problem is I cannot find my blocking board and I have been looking and looking - what have I done with it? I am also wondering if I can make the blanket bigger as I have lots of reds and orange left but I worry I might not have enough blues to do that.

Next week my 5 year old grandson will be staying with me on his own for the first time, think I will be busy? I am already planning the week, got to work round his bedtimes and some commitments I have, but there are a few things going on that we could go to, and walking the dogs, working on his memory book of his grampy (I really need to clear the craft room enough to do that, I also have to blitz the house before the weekend), the whole family will be here for the weekend then they will leave Kenny with me, returning to take him camping with his uncle.

I didn't tell you before but it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I went into Bath with Richard and he went off to do his thing and I went to Debenhams because I had a couple of vouchers (coupons) to use. I had no idea of the effect it would have, the last time I was there with Shaun, he was pretty sick and had to sit down a lot and he was telling me to buy all the clothes I showed him and I was crying then. Well as I went up the escalators it all came back and I ended up sobbing in the toilets, it was pretty awful and I couldn't look at clothes properly. I bought some chopping boards in the end. I don't know if that will happen again.

T on Tuesday long post.

I haven't joined in T on Tuesday for so long, first I wasn't well for a few weeks which seems to be an allergic reaction to something, I've been taking antihistamines since I worked it out and have felt a lot better. I was so drowsy, I just wanted to sleep and had no energy and everything was an effort. I thought it was the heat then it carried on. 

It's hot again here though.

My friend posted about a fruit infuser bottle, and I thought why not just put some fruit and mint in a glass? I kept this fruit going for over a week until I noticed this morning it had gone mouldy. How long is the fruit good for really I wonder? Now I've gone and bought an infuser bottle myself, I wasn't going to.

So grab a drink yourself and join in the fun at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place. There seems to be a party going on.

I've been thinking for a while that I needed a comfy chair I could sit and crochet in, and remembering the IKEA Poang chair I used to have that was so comfy, but we didn't have the room for it at the time. I wanted a chair for the summerhouse this time. Well I was driving home from dropping off the great grannies and saw a sign saying free, there were two chairs. I turned around and between me and my son's girlfriend we managed to get one of them in the car. It was dirty so I washed the outer and inner covers and then the foam. Covers shrank a bit but it's fine. Now I am planning a crocheted cover for it as if I don't have enough queued up!

Then my son found an advert for two leather cushioned chairs and a footstool, I had been wishing I had gone back for the second free chair, when I did the next day it was gone. I wanted a footstool too! I was thinking if I ruined the chair by washing it I could go get a new cushion in IKEA quite cheaply, but I had no idea that there were loads of these chairs selling second hand locally.
The leather ones are gorgeous and so comfortable, I really feel like the summerhouse is somewhere I want to sit all day until it gets too hot!
Now I am worried that when the sun gets round to shining on the summerhouse windows in the late afternoon and evening it will fade the lovely leather cushions so now I have ordered some blinds for the windows and doors! This could also make it cooler to sit in, well a little as there is no insulation, but it is feeling less shed like to me now. I'm thinking of getting some solar powered lights, bought some before but they never worked. If the solar bit is outside and the lights inside, I hope I can get it to work this time.
I'm also thinking a little side table or even two would be nice. The dogs love the new chairs too which are being covered to protect them for now.

Luna in the free chair, now washed and clean.

As for the dogs, there is so much to tell. Bertie makes Luna much naughtier than she was before, although she was pretty good - they have both hopped over the fence into next door's garden when they were out in the front part of my garden. This happened twice now, the second time they sneaked past me and I suddenly noticed they were gone! If I shout Bertie - biscuit, he comes back and Luna will follow, luckily they can't get out anywhere else.

This morning I had to rescue a small frog that Bertie was playing with in the kitchen, then I had to lift him up to extract him from Luna's breakfast!

Yesterday I saw him on top of the pond net with Luna watching, later I found a fish tail and part of a fish on the sofa! Don't know if he found a dead fish or caught a live one!

We've gone walking round the fields a few times, the crop of rapeseed looked ready and Luna thought it was wonderful to run inside it and explore, I daren't let Bertie off too or I would have been there all night trying to get them back. Bertie was on the extender and one time I was talking to some people and he went in and got tangled - then I had to go in and untangle him and then I looked like I had been through a hedge!

Yesterday  they had harvested the crops, Luna was so surprised to find her playground flattened. So for the first time I let him off the lead round the fields, he and Luna went charging off at great speed. 

They did keep coming back, well Bertie did for biscuits and Luna followed. They both went off through a stile into a field where the crop was not harvested and I thought that was it, would lose them for hours but thank goodness Bertie came back for biscuits again closely followed by Luna. Further round the field and Bertie was heading back in the wrong direction towards that stile, so I called him and put him back on the lead. Too much excitement for one day! Sooty always plods along behind.

Poor Sooty had a grass seed in his paw and was biting me when I tried to get it out, Bertie and Luna were both shouting at Sooty to protect me, since then Luna has attacked Sooty twice for no good reason which I really need to stop, Bertie joins in and poor Sooty is scared to go near them or me.

 Before all of this we went to a couple of dog shows, well three and Luna picked up some rosettes so did Sooty. The last show we went to Bertie was there too, I take all three into the ring but they are fun dog shows not serious ones. Bertie didn't get a rosette but Luna got first in Best Rescue and then was Best in Show. Sooty got third in Best Veteran, he won third in Best rescue in an earlier show.

 The dogs got prizes and vouchers at this show too!

I'm assuming it was Bertie who chewed through the vacuum cleaner cable, as Luna has never chewed cables and Bertie looked very guilty when I asked who did it!

Luna got her bronze award at dog training, so she should be very very good lol!

This was the top I told you I wouldn't wear with a light vest underneath...

... same top dark vest underneath, I wore it like this! 

We went on a very long walk, about 3 hours one Sunday afternoon round the Iford Manor estate.

Worked out how to grow marigolds that don't get eaten, tubs and copper tape!

This is the biggest fish in the pond, nothing else comes close yet! Luna is scared of it!

Bertie posing.

My little granddaugher Lily on the pink bike I bought her secondhand, worrying about the dogs play fighting!

What my washing line often looks like since Bertie got here!