Why has my busy life not slowed down?

Why has my busy life not slowed down? I no longer have a zillion little bugs to care for but life is still rush, rush, rush. The garden is growing and the wildlife in it is doing well. Cats are the bane of my life. I really like cats but I hate them killing everything. We recently bought an animal repellant, it squirts out water, so no harm but hopefully a good deterrent to stay away. I love our new wildlife camera, it has captured various creatures, hedgehogs and mice at night and birds during the day. The plants are mostly looking good but having hedgehogs, means no slug pellets or weed killers and a lot of holes in leaves 😂

We had a super week away in Cyprus. It was relaxing and fun. We have been to the same hotel over many years and just love the place. It has a laidback atmosphere, everywhere is clean, despite the cats, dogs, chickens roaming free and the food is delicious. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t good, we had everything from rain, thunder and hail storms to sand storms and strong winds, with a bit of sun thrown in. Sadly, I didn’t see any snakes this visit but I certainly enjoyed looking, we walked miles and saw lots of beautiful spring flowers. My husband saw two snakes, it’s not fair! One was climbing a wall but had gone when I got there and the other crossed the road but it was quickly gone too. Oh well, next time 😄

Our daughter’s baby is due next month and I am on standby for Milo. Milo has become Nanna’s little shadow, I see him most days. He is beginning to talk (he has been talking in his own language for months but now he has more and more actual words). He is very fond of sign language but he appears to have made much of it up himself. Who would have known that pulling his hair up in the air was a horse and stroking his chin was a frog? (Nanna knows). Evidently, he talks about me at nursery and my daughter videoed him this week, she asked him who his best friend was and he instantly said “Nanna” 😇 He stayed with us Friday night but did get Nanna up at 4.45, not sure that I thought he was an angel then! Bob stayed the weekend before, he helped with our local reptile survey. He is only six but so enthusiastic, he was a star, 31 sheets to check, all we found was one slow worm but he kept going. Grandsons are great! I think I’m realizing what/who takes up my time as I write this blog post 😂

Coming home from Cyprus was different, after a flight delay we got home about 5.30am and it was bliss to get into bed without checking the bug room. But, after a couple of hours sleep, it was a full- on day. We went to visit mum in-law in hospital to discover that the diabolical care had continued, they had lost her bottom set of dentures while we were gone (she is now in an assessment home and they have lost one of her hearing aids!). Enough said about this exhausting, miserable subject.

I don’t want to dwell on it but while we were away Motley (my much loved, ancient corn snake) died. I knew it was going to be soon but I wish he could have hung on until we got back. Our daughter’s fiancée called with the news, our daughter was too upset and at eight months pregnant it was hard for her to deal with.

Onto happier things, we are still hoping to make the BTS show, we will be bringing Milo along. I’m waiting for Milo to be able to name his tarantula that Nanna gave him for his birthday in February. Otherwise it will be named something unpronounceable to adults. Still the spider is an ‘it’, practice what you preach, it doesn’t matter 😊 He/she is growing well, Milo was unimpressed to see the recently moulted skin but Bob was super interested. We will be re-housing soon, from a box to a nice plastic tank. The tank is ready but I’m waiting for both boys to be with Nanna for the event (probably next weekend). Milo is enthusiastic to hold his tarantula but possibly a bit too enthusiastic. Bob won’t want to hold it but he will love to be involved with the move. Bob is still very much “no thank you Nanna” when it comes to holding bugs.

Well I had better get a move on. If you saw my Facebook page yesterday, you will know the problems that I’ve had with my pond this weekend! I need to sort out the new liner but I will have to wait until my husband gets in to help rebuild everything properly. I’m so glad that I had another pond to transfer the frogs and newts into but I have many, many tadpoles and water bugs in muck buckets.

Yes, life is always busy but as I get older it seems ever more important to enjoy life while you can. We went to the local theatre on Saturday and saw Blood Brothers, it was brilliant! I still enjoy my keep fit activities, walking, gym, yoga. It is mostly stretching these days and I certainly needed to be flexible to clean out the pond, it was damn hard work.

By the way, it is now 6 months since I retired, time flies!