A bit of Christmas wind

The observant amongst you would have noticed that I have already posted my yearly review and wished you all a Happy Christmas . I had declared my blogging activities over for this year, but now, suddenly have loads to tell you. 

The title would imply , in my normal slightly tongue in cheek sort of way, that I had some major breaking news about my sprouts.. Sadly thats not the case. 

The weather (Yes, I know weather again) has been nothing short of miserable for the last week. Wednesday last week saw us out in the garden late at night fighting the wind to try and keep our very very long boundary fence from falling over. Jim in his usual, very able way, in the pouring rain, used some old bits of wood to make temporary props to try and keep it up. We went to bed that night wondering what the morning would bring. 

His clever scheme was a success and the fence was still up. A quick phone call and it was arranged that our usual fence fixing man would send a team on Monday 23rd to repair the broken fence posts and install 15 concrete stays against the remaining as yet unbroken posts. 

Over the next few days we have listened to the wind howling and wondered if it would still be up by Monday. 

Then we saw the forecast. Monday was going to be even worse than last week. And not helping our plans was a long arranged trip to see my dad and brother 2 hours away. So yesterday we were up early. I made 4 flasks of hot coffee for the fencers and a box of biscuits. Jim , who knows better than me what a man likes to drink, produced 3 cases of various beer. We needed these chaps to save our fence otherwise the cost was going to be ridiculous. 

We loaded up the car with dog and presents and left the chaps getting on with their work, remarkably cheerfully I might add, I am sure that was the coffee and not the beer . 

Our day went well, a long drive in terrible conditions, was not pleasant, but we had a nice family time. all the while, at the back of my mind I was wondering how they were doing. It wasn't helped by occasional texts from neighbours and the dog sitter telling us how awful the wind was .. 

Then when we were nearly home in the dark and wet and cold, the phone rang and it was the still remarkably cheerful fencer, telling me they had finished the job, but as it was so windy they had used some long bits of Jim's wood to prop the fence , he suggested that we should leave them in place for a week. 

It was now so dark we couldn't see anything much, but torchlight revealed that once again our smaller eucalyptus trees were laying on the lawn

So this morning I went out to let the hens out and this is what I saw. 

The veg patch had taken a lot of wind as well . The hen run cover was in tatters

And my love seat had planted itself in a raised bed

More huge props at this ends as well holding up the fence, one of which they had buried in my flower bed 

And the sprouts, well they are still standing but they are naked. the wind has ripped all the leaves off. 

But as always, in a garden there is something to smile about. There is a lot of had work ahead getting everything back where it should be, but amazingly this little Larkspur is still flowering

Oh and finally just to finish off my morning, Gibson had vomited on the carpet in the summer room.. 

And on that note it time to wish you all a very Happy Christmas ..