A Frog He Would A Wooing Go

Fifth day of consecutive sun from a cloudless sky. A week or so ago I never though I'd be writing that.

My visitors have gone and I am back in Blogland.

The frogs have completely taken over the pond and are making sure that the world knows that Spring is here.

It Can't Be Spring....Surely

As I write this (Sunday 1730) the sun is still shining out of an unblemished sky and the wind is little more than a Hebridean breeze. This morning there was no wind at all but it was really dull and miserable. Why am telling you this? Yesterday there was a fairly rare occurrence in the garden of  a Song Thrush smashing a snail on rocks next to the pond. This morning the pond was full of frogs enjoying considerable rumpy pumpy. One was even chasing a goldfish (which was twice it's size). So presumably the pond will soon be awash with frogspawn some of which will doubtless end up as fish food.

Unfortunately the light was very poor so the pictures of the thrush are a bit blurred because of the motion.

Bloggers Block

I'm not quite sure what it is but I seem to have Bloggers Block at the moment.  It's not that there is nothing to blog about it's just that, well, to be honest I can't explain. Ah well. Some photos might help:

When Pigeons are milling around like this they look for all the world like a load of crawling insects.

This part of the garden is beginning to look presentable now despite the winds

A little froglet emerged from the pond yesterday.  It's about the size of my fingernail.

The Ravens are frolicking around on the thermals and wind this morning - it's the first time I've seen them doing it this year

Not quite sure what this one was doing there was no other being pounced upon which is as it would appear

The Frogs Have Been Busy

I wondered whether the frogs had returned again to the pond.  They have.  And how.  Pat took this photo for me:

A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go

One of our family's saying is "'Hey ho', said Rowley". So many times have people asked where the saying came from I have decided to depart from the usual 'diary' aspect of this blog and repeat the nursery rhyme from which the saying originates.

A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go

A frog he would a-wooing go,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
A frog he would a-wooing go,
Whether his mother would let him or no.
With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinich,
Hey ho, says Anthony Rowley.
So of he set with his opera hat,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
So of he set with his opera hat,
And on the road he met with a rat
With a rowley, etc.
Pray Mr Rat, will you go with me?
Hey ho, says Rowley,
Pray, Mr Rat, will you go with me,
With a rowley, etc.
They came to the door of Mousey’s hall,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
They gave a loud knock, and they gave a loud call.
With a rowley, etc.
Pray Mrs Mouse, are you within?
Hey ho, says Rowley,
Oh yes, kind sirs, I’m sitting to spin.
With a rowley, etc.
Pray, Mrs Mouse, will you give us some beer?
Hey ho, says Rowley,
For Froggy and I are fond of good cheer.
With a rowley, etc.
Pray, Mr Frog, will you give us a song?
Hey ho, says Rowley,
Let it be something that’s not very long.
With a rowley, etc.
Indeed, Mrs Mouse, replied Mr Frog,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
A cold has made me as hoarse as a dog.
With a rowley, etc.
Since you have a cold, Mr Frog, Mousey said,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
I’ll sing you a song that I have just made.
With a rowley, etc.
But while they were all a-merry-making
Hey ho, says Rowley,
A cat and her kittens came tumbling in.
With a rowley, etc.
The cat she seized the rat by the crown,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
The kittens they pulled the little mouse down.
With a rowley, etc.
This put Mr Frog in a terrible fright,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
He took up his hat and wished them goodnight.
With a rowley, etc.
But as Froggy was crossing over a brook,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
A lily-white duck came and gobbled him up.
With a rowley, etc.
So there was the end of one, two, three,
Hey ho, says Rowley,
The rat, the mouse, and the little frog-ee.

With a rowley, etc.

Wind Vanes and Windfrogs

I can't decide whether 'wind vane' is one word or two. The same goes for 'windsock' and 'wind frog'. I'm having a bad day for spelling. I've also had a bad few weeks with wind vanes. My £5 plastic weather station which had sat on a fencepost (or is it fence post?) for some years (it even survived the hurricane although I did have to go and retrieve it from down the croft) finally gave up the ghost last winter whilst I was away. I think Pat muttered an incantation at it because she liked it only marginally better than the red back door to the garage which, she claims, offends her view. From half a mile across the valley? I don't think so! Anyway, for whatever reason, it gave up the ghost. So when I was in the Garden Centre in Stornoway and saw a wind vane I decided to treat myself. I do like to know which way the wind is blowing and it's not always convenient to pop outside.

I set up the wind vane on a strainer at the far corner of the garden away from the air turbulence created by the house and garage. I was puzzled by the fact that the wind for 4 days appeared to be coming from the same direction when I didn't think it had been. The vane didn't turn even with our strong winds. Grease was a mistake. WD 40 helped. It turned. However it decided that it would always be a 90 deg to the wind direction. How can that happen? I went back and they replaced the vane itself (a robin by a cockerel). The result was the same. I took the whole thing back. The gave me a new one. Same results. The whole things gone back and I have my money back. But I still didn't have a wind vane.

Then came my birthday and with it came my frog in shining armour. Or rather on top of a tube of nylon material. Not a wind sock but a wind frog. And he works. What will Pat say now that there's a green frog with pink and yellow entrails blowing in the wind and offending the view?

The original vane

Wind vane with hanky showing the true wind direction.

Wind frog: this pic is to prove that it can 'fly' what CJ calls the right way up. Personally I like to be able to see the frog.

The Frog

The 'right' way up. Everything is a point of view.