Thyme For Work

It's been pretty busy around here so I haven't had time to update the blog. The garden has had a major shock for a start. My landlord has finished the east garden by chopping down the remaining shelterbelt trees and removing their roots with the tractor before putting up a new eight wire fence to replace the three wire "abstract" edifice that was there before. He also finished chainsawing the wattle tree that fell down last Autumn and chopped back the shelter belt on the south side and dug out the toi toi bushes at the back of the rabbitry with dire consequences for part of the south wall which cracked and fell to bits. I am hoping he will find something to repair this with before long. He also brought in the tractor and dug out a huge flax bush at the front fence.

The cottage has been washed, water blasted and primed and is now being painted. The walls are cream again, the roof fire engine red and the foundations deep green. The backpackers are currently working on the shed doors which are no longer Karitane yellow but the same bottle green as on the cottage. Unfortunately a downside to all this activity was that at some point someone put a hole in my garden hose and cut twelve feet off it so I can no longer get it round to the hen house. This means I carry 25 litres of water out there by hand every day.

Last week when I was feeding the bunnies I noticed that Pip, my old Harlequin angora buck, wasn't interested in his food and kept looking round at his rear end. When I flipped him on his back I noticed one extremely enlarged testicle. Early 2005 he had this problem so was half castrated and we had hoped that the cancer wouldn't move into the other one but unfortunately that was not to be. I booked him in for an operation on Wednesday the 15th and got him to the vet's at 8.25am. I had already informed the vet's receptionist that I would have to change his nickname from One Hung Lo...........

Pip survived the operation and the trip home in 29oC heat. I kept him inside overnight and next morning washed and disinfected his cage before taking him back out to the shed in the afternoon. After being quiet and depressed Pip perked up soon as he saw the other bunnies and began cleaning himself once he was back "home". Since then he's been eating normally and seems quite fine again. Hopefully that will be the end of his adventures.

Although the garden is extremely bare now I still have some plants flowering. There is a lovely deep pink hollyhock growing up beside the east wall of the cottage and three more plants beginning to flower along the garage. My thyme plants are also looking good and I was pleased to discover that the cuttings I took a week ago have taken. As thyme seems to grow fast I should soon be able to transplant these.