Comings and goings since May.

Six whole months have flashed by since I posted about our new chairs. I'm not going to pretend it has just sped by, or that I have been too busy working to go online. It's just that things and happenings have got in the way.

For several weeks we didn't have a computer. Mammy says that some Trojans got inside our old one and they ate the hard-drive. That sounds silly to me. I know that the Trojans lived a long time ago and had battles with the Greeks. I also THINK they rode on wooden horses, or maybe they were eaten by a wooden horse? I remember seeing pictures of them inside a horse. HOWEVER .... whatever Mammy says, I never heard of them climbing into machines and really can't anybody eating the hard bits of a computer. It all sounds incredibly silly to me. Regardless of all that, I couldn't go online for ages.

We rushed about putting our garden in  quite late in the season. Here is a photo of me harvesting my raddishes. They were the first things to crop.

Oh dear, oh dear! I feel like the White Rabbit who met Alice down the rabbit hole. I'm chasing where my tail should be and not producing anything worthwhile or getting anywhere in life.

Where did the summer and autumn go? I was cubnapped and sent off to sea - where I discovered that Chiltern bears do not have sea legs.  That is not, however, an excuse for all my plans not coming to fruition, or even coming to the start line. 

I am a small and sorry for myself little bear. 

There are a few photos and explanations to come, now that Yahoo have allowed me access to my blog and email account, so I do hope you will forgive my second bout of silence. I am sorry to everyone except, of course, Posymice - the kidnapping pirate who made me sail to foreign parts without telling anyone at home.

I hope you all still love me?

Trumble xxxxxx

A BIG PARCEL!!

At last! Brendan is up from hibernation. I am still having trouble getting him to pose for pictures. He's terribly shy and is very sure nobody will like him. So I'm going to tell him once more, and this time it will be in print!

Brendan O'Button, you are my very best friend and EVERYBODY who meets you will love you! You are kind, helpful and very artistic. Nobody could have a better friend, ever!!!

There. Now, on with the blog.

A couple of days ago, a huge parcel arrived and Mammy said it was for us. I was so excited that I forgot to dress properly and allowed my photo to be taken without my trousers on. Brendan was so excited that he forgot about being camera shy.

The parcel was really ENORMOUS and I had to climb up on my ladder to open it. Brendan held the ladder steady and I went up to the very top. Inside were four smaller, but still huge, parcels. They were wrapped up and I couldn't imagine what they were. So I handed one down to Brendan.

We tore the wrapping away and found .........

a beautiful, blue arm-chair! 
In retrospect, I feel a little bad that I jumped straight into it and sat there, enjoying the luxury of the cushions, whilst poor Brendan sat on Mammy's hard kitchen chopping board, waiting patiently.

After three more trips up the ladder, we unwrapped the rest of the contents of our parcel. There was another chair and two lovely, matching foot-stools. Oh, such comfort!

I let Brendan try them both and decide which he prefered, but I was rather pleased when he chose the terracotta checked set, because the blue one was my favourite.

Thank you so much, Sue and Jules, for making our lovely chairs!

OOOH! YAWN!

Hello friends. Pardon my rude silence. I haven't been able to blog for a while because ..... well...... I've been hibernating again! 

I know it's the wrong season, but Nuffun and I went in search of Brendan O'Button and he looked so comfortable, wrapped up in a big blanket, and Nuffin was very tired after moving to our hug so we just snuggled down for a few minutes snooze. The next thing I knew it was this morning. Don't know what happened to the last couple of weeks.

Brendan, Nuffin and I feel very refreshed and ready to work. It is still very hot and the driest spring since before I was born. Tomorrow is Easter, so we'll be hunting for eggs but then we will be working on the hutch conversion on Monday. 

Tomorrow I am allowed to take pictures of the lambs that were born whilst we were asleep. That's very exciting as I'm not often able to play with the camera.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!
 Trumble xxxx

Well done Posiemice

This post is specially for my friend, Posiemice.
Your Dad has called me to say that almost all your two tons of toys are now back in the boxes or on the shelves where they belong.

CONGRATULATIONS! Your Dad says you can have your birthday next month ( there was some talk of it being cancelled and you staying 8 years old forever!!) and you just might be lucky enough to have the special present you asked for, if we can still see at least part your carpet on 11th April.

lots of love to you Posiemice,
   Trumble xxxx

PS Mammy and Daddy need to do some serious tidy-ups too!

Another sunny day means another delay!

Hello again!

Today has been lovely. Earlier, it was so sunny and hot that I got out my bathing trunks and summer hat.

I sat amongst the flowers and rested my paws. 

As you can see, my paws can get quite sore. I'm going to hospital soon to have an operation, but I keep putting it off as I'll miss Mammy and Daddy. So I just wear my shoes most of the time and pretend everything is OK.

This afternoon, we got an urgent message. Our friend on the next farm had gone off to market and forgotten to give his little girl some money to spend at her school spring bring and buy sale. She needed money to buy even more toys than she already has - which is more than two tons of toys, I think. Anyway, we took her some money and then had a look to see if there was anything for my hutch. There wasn't anyTHING, only a little someBODY.

I found him in a box under a table. Mammy said to be careful or somebody might think I was for sale too, so I grabbed his paw, pulled him out and then hung on tight to him and to Mammy.  

When I asked him what he was doing in the box of broken plastic toys, he looked miserable and said, 'Nuffin.'
So I asked him what the human he last owned called him and he said, 'Nuffin.'
When I told him that I'm a gardener bear and asked him what he did to help out he said, 'Nuffin.'
I asked him what he had had for lunch and he said, 'Nuffin.'

Mammy adopted him for 25p and we brought him home. He is my protege and, of course, we are going to call him Nuffin. That's a fine name for a bear and one of our twin bears is called Muffin ( the other one is Waffle ) so Nuffin sounds really quite bear appropriate.

Here he is. Meet Nuffin!
He has a lot to learn and I have to look after him, so he'll be living in the bear hutch too. He looks a little sorry for himself just now, but we'll soon find out what he's good at and help him to develop self confidence. Everybear in our hug has his or her own special skill and we all help each other out.


Today has been a great day. Only two things stop it from being a perfect day. The first is that I STILL haven't properly started on the hutch conversion. That doesn't really matter, I've got the whole summer to work on it and Brendan O'Button is having a hibernation extension. It would be mean to do too much of our joint project without his input.
The second thing that stops today being perfect is that I have to say goodbye to two of my friends.

Here they are. The one on the left is Deputy and the one on the right is his son Kwadjo. Deputy is father to about half our flock and, of course, that makes Kwadjo brother to about half the flock. It's time for them to leave us and each to find a nice big flock of ewes they aren't related to. They are pedigree Ryeland sheep and Deputy is a champion, so it should be easy for them to find a new home each. Don't be fooled, they look as though they love other just now but they argue over which of them is husband to each of our ewes in the autumn. The ewes just find it funny and won't tell whether it is Deputy or Kwadjo that is their husband.

I'm just a teeny bit sad, but wish both Deputy and Kwadjo a happy life and lots of lambs.


All for now,
  Trumble xxx


PS Daddy has started going to bed really late and getting up really early and I know that means that we will soon have lambs to look after. I'll show you pics as soon as I can.


PPS Yes Posiemice, that is you that I'm talking about. It is fine to have two tons of toys if you put them away sometimes, but I don't want to visit you until you TIDY UP! A small bear like me could get seriously lost in your bedroom. I have forgotten what colour your bedroom carpet is because I haven't seen it for A VERY LONG TIME. I love you Posiemice and I don't want to lose you under two tons of toys. xxxxx

Thinking.

Today I have done lots of thinking. It has been too chilly for outdoor things as Mammy isn't feeling too well these days. I think it might be  to do with the come-home-therapy, or what ever it's called. Anyway, I feel it's my job to stay with her and make sure she stays cheerful. So we bundled up in a cuddly Welsh blanket and played Pollyanna's game.

Do you know what Pollyanna's game is? It's the Glad Game and it can be quite hard to play. You have to think of something to be glad about in any situation.

It's easy sometimes. For example, I was sorry Mammy was feeling poorly but if she hadn't been having the nasty medicine, she wouldn't have received this beautiful bouquet from Aunty Sue.

If Aunty Sue hadn't sent Mammy the flowers, I wouldn't have dragged up my chair to help arrange them and Mammy wouldn't have had the idea of me building a bear-size house to put all my treasures in and to give me a quiet place to share with my friends.


So these are all things to be glad about. So is sitting wrapped in a cosy blanket, which could have been boring, but I'm glad we did it because it gave me time to think really hard.


I thought about all my friends and how lucky I am to have met them. I thought about how wonderful it is to live here on a little farm and have my own goat. I thought about how lucky I am to have books about Pooh Bear , Paddington Bear, Albert the Bear and Teddy Robinson. I thought about how lucky it was that I found my rabbit hutch.


All these thoughts stopped me thinking about how slowly work is progressing on the hutch conversion.


Then, when Mammy felt a little better, we went on line and looked for other bear blogs. I think I might have found some more friends! Something else to be glad about!

Here's a picture of me with the real Pollyanna. She taught us the Glad Game. She might not be the prettiest girl I know, but she is the happiest. She always finds things to be glad about, even when something awful happens, like falling in a puddle on a very cold day. I can't imagine how you could be glad about that, but I bet Pollyanna could.

A sad week

Hello friends.
I'm sorry I haven't blooged for a while. With all the terrible things that have happened in the world I have been feeling very sad and a little grumpy. So I put on my favourite Paddington Bear pjs and hibernated for a few days. Bears have duvet weeks, not duvet days.
I'll get up tomorrow and send more pictures to you.
In the meantime, please remember all those poor people in Japan and the Middle East who have lost friends and loved ones in the earth quake and tsunami and in the fighting.
 Goodnight for now,
  Trumble xxx

Gardening Day

I know I promised to show you the progress of the bear hutch, but sunny weather has obstructed progress.
When we got up this morning, it was so sunny and warm that Brendan just had to go off and sit outside to sketch.

Daddy started working in the garden and I felt as though the best thing in the world would be to join him. So I climbed up the cherry tree we planted last year, to look at the leaf buds. They are coming along well.

Next, I went off to find some pots for my own garden. I found a bear-size strawberry pot and knew straight away that I'd be making strawberry jam in a few months time. Yummmy!

The pot was empty. 

So I found my spade and began filling it with a mixture of seived top soil, compost and a little grit.

Such tiring work! I can't wait to get my strawberry plants in though.

After all that work, I took a break, resting against the garden wall. 

The flowers are coming out a little early, so I hope we don't get too hard a frost this week.

My next job was to check on the primroses and daffodils. The primroses look as though the cats have been lying on them again. I'm not sure what we could do to stop them.

Lovely, bright spring flowers cheer me up though, even if they are a little squashed. Mind you, I shall have to start weeding. Just look at all the grass growing behind the primroses. That is NOT meant to be there.

My last task for today was to choose a large pot to grow my own flowers in. I want to have some fresh flowers for our hutch home every day next summer.

This pot looks a good size and it is obviously not being looked after by anyone else. So this is my very own flower bed. I'll find a veg patch soon but I'm going to sit down for a rest now.

Happy gardening and happy spring!
  Trumble xxxx

PS Why do seed companies put the seeds into such huge and hard for a bear to handle packets, when there are only ever enough seeds to fill a tiny corner of the packet???

My latest treasures.

This week, several new treasures came my way. I have been collecting a few things ready for our new home and now have a large storage carton to keep them safe until we have our hutch conversion organised.

Here are some of my latest goodies. 

One of the best things about being only 28cm tall is that lots of human-size things can be recycled into something with a completely different use for me. Take my new biscuit barrel (OK, friends from the US - that's a cookie jar to you!), it used to be a mustard jar but fits my need for something to store and carry my ginger snaps around in perfectly. As to the little hole where the spoon used to stick out, well that's no problem, because my ginger snaps never last long enough to go stale - there are always lots of willing paws to help eat them up around here!

Do you like my vintage City of London crest tea-cup? It's one of those not-very-practical-for-humans souvenir things that are sold at tourist venues but is just ideal for my morning cuppa. It was only a few pence and much cheaper than a brand new doll's tea cup, which would have been another option. I am an eco-bear and love recycling things. 

The bench in my photo is very special. It's a genuine American antique. I thought very hard about having it sent from Auntie Jane's Attic shop in the U.S. because of the air miles. I don't want to leave gigantic carbon pawprints everywhere, but the UK has never really catered to the need of bears or dolls to own furniture, so I saved up and took the plunge. A big THANK YOU goes out to Auntie Jane for holding it for me until I had enough money in my honey jar to pay for the mail cost. 

I have to go now. We are taking a trip to the Mid-Wales Air Ambulance Service charity/thrift shop. I may find more little goodies for our new home.
Bye for now,
  Trumble 

Hello new friends!

Hello!
I'm Trumble Gardener-Bear and I'm about to begin work on converting and furnishing a deserted rabbit hutch. That's the ursine equivalent of a barn conversion.
If you would like to watch the progress of my venture and meet other members of my hug, drop by from time to time.
The Radnor Forest Hug members are a friendly crowd and I have no desire to leave, it's just that we smaller bears need a space of our own, where we won't get lost between the cushions of our human Mammy's and Daddy's sofa or dragged up the stairs by our ears when the kitten is feeling energetic.
Most of the conversion and interior design work will be carried out under the supervision of myself and my best friend Brendan O'Button. Brendan came to live here in Radnor Forest from Ireland via Ebay. It was a very interesting experience, adopting a friend that way, and I began to see the potential of Ebay as a way of finding a few home comforts for an 11" and 12" bear. More of that another time.
Drop by again soon.
 Trumble xxx