60 Today

This Saturday was my 60th Birthday and though I'm not usually that keen on any celebrations I did make a special effort this year and took the family (weren't they lucky) to watch United play Oldham and just to make it more memorable we sponsored the match ball and had the full days package it was a pity we lost 2-1, mainly because of bad refereeing decisions, and if we had been playing Alec Ferguson's time I'm sure we would have got at least a draw.
There was that many candles on my cake it nearly burnt the house down.





My youngest daughter Susannah and oldest Granddaughters Amy and Jenny thinking of making a substitution, not me I hope.
















Young Ella studying form, you are never too young to start.






















The roar of the crowd makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.











That's me in the middle you will notice Susannah my daughter has already pinched the ball off me.

A bit more done

I can hardly believe that we are past the half way mark in April, I have had that much to do at work it just seems to have flown by, but this morning I decided to start getting the first potatoes planted out, I don't grow that many just a dozen Winston and the same of Kestrel plus this year 5 NVS Sherine and 5 NVS amour, and it was the Sherine and Winston that I planted today. The Winston seemed just a bit further on than the others but with luck the rest will be in by next weekend, quite how the NVS varieties will grow I'm not sure as the seed potatoes that I got sent are only the size of marbles and have only just got some tiny chits on them, it may be they might just struggle to get any size so I will have to settle to get some reasonable sized stock for growing next year.One thing that hasn't come through yet are my carrots that were planted on the 4th of April, still time yet I suppose but they should be popping up soon I hope. The dahlias that I'm growing seem to be doing well out in the greenhouse and it is just a matter of keeping an eye out for frost from now till they go out late May. I do have some fleece to put over them should it be necessary.

April Fools Day

I hadn't realised that it is about 2 weeks since I last logged in on the internet, as I have been very busy with lambing and it has been a hard slog this year, with a constant fight with the poor weather we have been having, any way we are about halfway through now and hopefully a new month will bring better times. After looking round all the usual blogs (you know who you are) to catch up with all that happening, it seems that everyone has really got cracking and left me on the starting line. So I must try and find some time this weekend to get organised, mind I did get all my carrot mix done and into the bore holes last Monday (actually it was quite therapeutic after the Johnson Paint final where United just fell short of their usual high standards) even if it was dark when I got it completed, its not easy pouring carrot mix and holding a torch at the same time. If there is any sign of a bit of warmth I might try and get the carrots sown this weekend, or if not I will try and get my peat shredded ready for setting up my potatoes later in the month. The Winston are getting some shoots up to a couple of inches long now and will need planting out soon, though the Kestrel, Amour and Sherine are still a bit behind and don't seem as urgent to need planting and should be OK till near the end of the month. With a bit of luck I might have chance to do another update this weekend and will try and get some pictures taken to show whats going on.