Overkill in the lawnmowing stakes.

The Ivan Drever do last night was really good, I even lashed out on a CD from the meagre allowance that I manage to sneak past Pam.

It was a cold damp start to today but by about 11AM it had warmed up and got so hot that I even had to take my pullover off, WOW. I am sure that the weather forecast said that it would be good this morning but get worse later and not the other way round but forecasts have a way of being wrong up here.

Pam and I went out to The sands of Wright with the Molly dog. Pam said that it would be a nice place for the dog to have a run but as she kept insisting that I took a tape measure, I suspected that it was because she wants me to make a picnic bench just like the one by the sands.

I was correct, I think I may be psychic.

I measured the bench then let Molly have a run on the beach. She really enjoyed it and found 3 dead crabs, treasure. I threw one of the crabs into the sea to get rid of it and Molly dived straight in after it. She has only been to the beach twice and was not at all keen on the waves last time but it is surprising what she will do for a manky dead crab.

She never found the crab but had a good paddle and bounce in the sea.

We found some nice rock pools for Harry to have a poke round in when he comes up next friday for a week.

After Molly had a good run we put her on a lead and wandered over to the dam of Hoxa where we disturbed a female hen harrier that flew very close to us but it is not possible to take a good photo with an unruly dog on a lead in one hand and a camera in the other hand.

I made a mental note to have the dog shot.

I did manage to get a photo of the lichen on the walls as it stays still for longer than birds. This is what having really clean air does.

The photo of the wall was supposed to be here. One day I will figure out how to put photos where I want them.

I was thinking that I would spend some time this afternoon trying to identify some of the wildflowers growing in the garden and fields but when Pam said that we should get some petrol for the mower on the way back I could see that I was more likely to be mowing the poor little flowers than identifying them. They will be beheaded without ever being identified, a bit like the unknown soldier.

Perhaps I should build a cenotaph in the middle of the lawn for them but then it would just be one more thing to avoid when mowing next time.

When we got home the dog promptly leapt onto the couch and did a really good dead dog impression for about an hour.

I on the other hand, had to go and mow the lawn. As some of the lawn was a foot tall the ride on mower did not like it so I got the tractor and pasture topper out again and gave it a good short back and sides. It may be a drastic way to mow a lawn but it works and it even smashes up any stray bits of 2*2 wood that may be hiding in the grass.