A start in the orchard

 It was another beautiful day and my first objective was to walk dogs before it got too warm for them. 

We headed out on to the Three Miler and reached The Grange at the edge of the village, before turning and heading back home.  The reason for an out 'n back walk rather than a circular route is that one of the lanes is still incredibly wet and muddy following a very wet Winter and Spring.  When I say "muddy" I mean "MUDDY", the lane is about four hundred yards long and has a stream on one side and a high bank to the other. Over the past months repeated land slips from the bank have dumped large quantities of earth on the road and, at one point on the stream side, the land at the edge of the road has subsided and is now about 3' lower.

Basically it is filthy down there and I am just too lazy to wash off three dogs if I can manage to keep them clean walking a similar distance on cleaner lanes.

I returned home after the walk to be greeted by 30% and Mr & Mrs Tweedy*. We sat out on the patio, enjoying the sunshine and exchanged news before they headed off with some of the plants that had been removed from the beds yesterday.

My plan for the afternoon was to knock back the nettles and long grass in the orchard, so I got the brush cutter from the garage and assembled it in the workshop. This was one of those points where I took delight in the luxury of time now available to me ... Normally I would have connected the cutter head to the motor unit, topped up the petrol tank and just got on with the job because tomorrow would be consumed by work.

However, that scenario no longer applies. I had the time to remove the blade, take a file and sharpen the cutter blade before I even considered starting the job. Once I was happy with a nice sharp cutter I headed out to the orchard and made a start. It was hot, physical work but it was one of those jobs that is very satisfying as one can easily see the swathes of orchard now free of 2' high nettles and grass.

I estimate that I have cleared a quarter, maybe one third, of the orchard, but I'm free tomorrow too ... weather permitting.

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* Her Parents