The Pond Project Day 3

The day dawned quite miserably and we thought Neil and Lyndon were going to get rained off but it brightened up and by lunchtime the sun was out .

 Nearly full of water and the plants in.

 Millie overseeing things .

 Some of the planting.

 More rocks round the edge.

Late afternoon and the pond is full a all the rocks in place round the edge . The liner is in place on the upper small pond and once all the rocks are set round that the pumps will be installed . It will take some time to clear but we've had a couple of frogs in already so that's good .

All being well it will be finished tomorrow weather permitting :0)

The Pond Project Day 2

Day 2 of the Pond Project began with a dry day thank God .

The boys arrived early and got cracking.

 Moving all the rocks and rubble into the skip.

 Millie decided she'd had enough of overseeing the pond and went exploring our garage .

I think she was hunting mice LOL

 By the middle of the afternoon the fleece liner was in .

And this is it a close of play . 

I can't wait to see it finished . We are to have a new powerful pump so that there will be lots of water noise .

While all this was going on I dyed 3 kilos of Blue Faced Leicester .

Pics when it's all dyed and re-skeined .

To be continued ..........

Forty Year Wait ( the pond project day1)

Apologies again for not Blogging . Time just seems to be wizzing by at the moment which is good really ,cos it means I'm busy  . Much better than last year. 

I've had to get the dye pots out again for Woolfest as i had a biggish order last week .Then yesterday my favourite customer came so the pots are out again as I've realised I need more semi-solid yarns . 

I've been enjoying spinning and Papa Bear is busy carding up two Alpaca fleeces that I aquired . One gorgeous blonde one which I got from a lady at Guild and a beautful black one that i aquired on an abortive trip ,round Cockerham, for a camper van . It's great what you can pick up when you've got a very observent Dh in the passenger seat . Lol

Now then . There are big changes a foot at Chez Bears . Forty years ago next weekend we moved into our little den . Just the three of us , Papa , Cub No1 and me . In the back garden was a big pond and Papa Bear was delighted with it but after 40 years of trying to get the water right and plants not growing and blanket weed taking over we decided to get the experts in . So this morning Neil and Lyndon the pond experts arrived .

 Papa had emptied it the night before and got what few fish were left in .

 We had to go out for a hospital appointment but when we got back this is what we found .

 Neil needs to make the pond deeper and had to cut into the concrete . Unfotunately the previous owner was , shall we say copious with the stuff and in places it was six inches thick .

Still they ploughed on in the rain.

 Most of the rocks round the rim have now been removed.

 This has to be made bigger yet so tomorrow they're bringing in the heavy stuff . A pneumtic drill .

Neil's little dog , Millie, sheltering from the rain.

At four o'clock they'd had enough of the wet and cold and will return tomorrow .

********

I mentioned above that when we moved in here 40 years ago there was just the three of us .

Well now ,counting partners ther are now 15 members of the Bear Family . Not bad going eh !!

So here's a couple of pics of the latest member ,

 " I wuv my Grandad "

Her favourite pose .

She is coming on a treat and now weighs 9lbs 9oz . I think her Mum is producing Gold Top quality milk . Lol 

It's nice having a baby in the family again.

Last but by no means least , Papa has had a bit of good luck . When we went to the hospital 2 weeks ago for his eye injections they found his sight has improved . Now we were led to believe at the start of his treatments that it would only arrest any further damage but apparently some times things can get better , They don't tell you this at the begining so as not to get your hopes up . Any way he now has some central vision back . It's a little distorted but he can see better . He has one more injection of this round to have then they will see how things get on . We are both very chuffed :0)

At Last Baby Bear's here ,

Me and Papa Bear are very proud to announce the arrival of our latest Grandbear.

A She Bear born at 6 o'clock this morning by emergency section weighing 8lbs 2ozs .

Mum Dad and Baby are all fine .

Me and Papa are so relieved it's all over .

Just been to see her :0)

 Pround Granny.

Proud Auntie 

Waiting

I've got up this morning feeling a bit down . No not my "depression down " just down .

At the moment we seem to spending a lot of time waiting . We are still waiting for baby Bear to make an appearence and we are now getting a bit anxiuos as it is now the third day of Mum being in hospital .

We are also spending a lot of time waiting in hospital waiting rooms . I don't usually say much about ailments and such , appart from when i blogged about my depression , but just lately Papa Bear has been dealt another two blows .Appart from his Epilepsy the Macular degeneration which hit him last year has worsened and he has now lost all central vision in his right eye . He is now having to undergo more injections in his eye . Just the thought of it makes me curl up . And now this past fortnight he has found out his bad backproblems is not sciatica but a degeneration of his spine and hip . We've been waiting to here from the Orthopeodic man who got in touch yesterday and has arranged for Papa to have an MRI scan . So a bit more waiting . Thankfully it will be done before we go on holiday . I think we have on average one or two appointments every week till we go away .He doesn't deserve all this .

Anyway the back problems has led to some mixed blessings . Because Papa won't be able to manhandle the caravan anymore we have decided to sell it . We are on the lookout for a small motorhome . We'll get more use out of it and be able to " Just Go " whenever we feel like it  . Some good comes out of everything .

We are off to see Papa's brother this afternoon so that will lift us both . Then , after being like a boarding house over the past two weeks with Grandbears staying , we become boarding kennels as Maggie comes to stay for three weeks whilst Dd and her man go on holiday .

Hopefully I will soon have some baby news .

Passing on skills and waiting for baby.

Intitot or to translate from Lancashire dialect , the weathers rather warm lol.

It's gorgeous here in Gods own county and we are making the most of it . Doing a bit of gardening and having some nice walks . We were out early this morning before it got to hot for Meg . We went on our favourite railway walk . Just as we turned onto the path we were hit by all the intoxicating smells of the blossoms on the trees . It was brilliant . All the birds were singing their heads off . I can never understand these peopl who walk along there with headphones on listening to music when they could be listening to all the birds .

Also this warm weather has brought out all the acres of white flesh . I am convinced that some people have no mirrors from some of the sights I've seen these past few days . Cropped tops and short shorts on people who, lets say ,are weight and age challenged lol 

Anyway here's something nice to look at in the sunshine :0)

 the perfume on this tree was gorgeous but I can't find out what it is .

 This was a lonely clump of bluebells

 Stitchwort

 Lords and ladies

And sweet Apple blossom .

About six or eight weeks ago i got a phone call from Grandbear #5 which went like this 

" Graaandmaaaa I've carded some fleece do you think you could spin it for me then I can knit a teddy bear ".

Of course Grandma said yes and when he came to stay last week it was all spun up . I asked if he wanted to dye it  he gave the answer in the affirmative so the dye pots came out. Please note not my acid dyes but Cool Aid . An American powdered drink that I would not dream of giving my children to drink for what it does to the wool but it's quite safe for dyeing .

Here he is dyeing his wool . It's nice to pass on skills . Unfortunately he lives 240 miles away so these occasions are few and far between . He loved every minute of it and went home as pleased as punch with his multi-coloured ball of wool .

We are still waiting for Grandbear #6 to put in an appearence . His/Her Mum went into hospital yesterday to be induced so anytime now . I'll be glad when it's all over and everything is alright .

Well that's all for now folks .Oh I've forgotten something me and Papa Bear have decided to do Fibre East in July . So for three months on the trot we will be at wool festivals . Woolfest in June , Fibre East in Ju;y and Fibre Fest in August . More later . Toodle Pip :0)

Wonderwool 2011

This is going to be a rather pic heavy post .Well i did it . The first show for twelve months firmly under my belt .

It was tiring but i enjoyed every minute of it . Meeting up with old friends we haven't seen in ages . Especially Artis-Anne and Tony who we haven't seen since last November when we went down to stay .

And making new friends .A lady came to speak to me and told me she reads this blog and keeps up with my trials and tribulations . It was nice meeting someone who takes the time to read my little ramblings . You know who you are , lady from Fulwood , unfortunately I forgot to ask your name .

Now for the pics 

First of all this is my Fan Club . These Cheeky Imps are the children of Bex aka Cheeky Imp from Ravelry.

They have been coming to see me with their Mum since they were tiny . As I hadn't seen them for twelve months i got a group hug from them .

Some more Cheeky Imps .

Sarah from Brownberry Yarns . Nic from Nicknots and Gemma from Krafty Koala .

Sarah and Gemma belong to the Preston S'N'B that Papa Bear and I go to .

Papa Bear knitting on the stall .

And now for my my goodies haul .Due to the fact I hadn't been let loose in all the fibery goodness for a year I'm afraid I went a bit OTT lol.

Black Merino and nylon sock fibre .

Bags of glitz for making luxury batts .

Some more fibre . This tim Merino /Cashmere and a beautiful wrist distaff from manda Crafts.

A bit of baby alpaca yarn . don't know what I'll do with it yet .

Gorgeous silk brick to spin and some dyed silk cocoons for making art yarn .

Yet more fibre . this was a gift from Artis-Anne in my fave colours .

And last but not least a beautiful Turkish spindle .A present from Papa Bear .

All in all a lovely weekend .Now I can relax and spin for a cople of months before I tackle Wool fest in June .