Ashwell House and Garden

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Not so hard to Swallow

Realising that Aly likes swallows, it seemed appropriate to hand over this item of jewellery that belonged to Rod’s Grandmother and then his Mother. At least 108 years old this is really a piece for Rod’s daughter to treasure.

Green Cherry-Tomato Pickles, move over Spring Gully

Tomato season was slow to get started, which meant the last lot of fruit didn’t have time to ripen before the end of summer.

Fortunately making pickles is not quite so intensive as making jam, so we were able to squeeze it into our hectic schedule before our up coming o/s holiday.

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Very happy with the result and have had very happy recipients.

A change for Betty

Betty has held together extremely well despite being exposed to the elements 24/7 for more than a year.

My original plan was to remove her completely but she was still healthy on the inside so she got new clothing instead.

She has also changed her skin colouring, the reverse of Michael Jackson’s transformation.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Bug-ger Off

Whilst cleaning out the shed down the hill Rod discovered these small bettles gathered in large infestations behind sheets of board. We tried to identify them using google but the closest we could find from an American site was cucumber beetle.

Just this week I chanced on an article in our local newspaper The Courier - “the adult beetle is about 6mm long (check) yellowish to olive green (check) with a black stripe along each side of the back (check mate!) So there you go it is Elm Beetle. Our elm tree is being attacked but we have never seen the culprits.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Under done - a bit over the top

Following on fron the replacement balustrade around the deck of the cubby we decided to enclose the underneath for some hidden storage and to give added protection to the rabbits.

The rabbit cage is now only two levels (instead of three) and the access door is on the north face instead of the south.

Many sessions of excavation by myself to lower the floor allowing more head room and to achieve a slightly more level ground. Red brick pavers have been used inside and white gravel on the outside perimeter.

The corrugated metal sheets are recycled from the roof, salvaged from the last extension.

Clear acrylic corrugated sheets have been use on the northern end, adjacent to the cage on the eastern side and also a central sheet on the southern cage wall and the western end of the cage.

More light and ventilation is gained through the window with iron bars. An item I just couldn’t resist as a decorative but functional addition. When purchased from Upstairs Downstairs in Nairne ( now closed) I didn’t have an application in mind but knew we could use it somewhere.