:: sprouting broccoli sprouts shock

I thought it was never going to happen, but it finally did: the purple sprouting broccoli sprouted.



And so I ate it.



It's out of focus because I was shaking with excitement! Hee hee. It was delicious - a handful of broccoli sprouts and some spinach, straight from garden to pot, just a couple of minutes' cooking and a sprinkle of salt.

haven't gotten too far with the plans for the vege plot expansion. I've got the extra planks and stakes, and I've grubbed out the grass. But I haven't bought any extra soil or actually built the new bed. I'm sort of swithering about whether to make it half width, whether to step it out from the other bed or keep it separate ... so many decisions! And meanwhile time is ticking away and I should have had the peas and beans in by now.

Oh well, at least I have broccoli and spinach...

And it really is spring, at last.



Bertie is well but slowing down all the time. He still enjoys his walks, and we've had some quite long ones lately, like an excursion to Cramond Island via the causeway:



But really likes lying in front of the heater. He grizzles until I turn it on! And he doesn't run around like he used to either - if a younger dog pesters him for a race he'll usually send it off with a flea in its ear (unless it's a Jack Russell - for some reason he will just about always race a Jack Russell), and the rabbits are definitely safe. I had him at the vet's for his booster shots the other day and she listened for a long time to his chest. "He might have a heart murmur," she said. "But it might be that he's trembling so much his hair is rubbing on the stethoscope." She said if it was a heart murmur it was only slight and probably just due to his age (11 next birthday).

She confirmed my suspicion that he's lost weight - 3kg since his last shot - but said he's not too thin. He still has an appetite, but he's gotten more picky. I think that's in part because a woman across the road has started giving him leftovers - yesterday it was a chicken Kiev, sometimes it's sliced ham or beef stew. Why eat boring old dog biscuits when you can have lamb chops?

He likes his greens though:



Mmmm, a whole paddock of his favourite brand of grass!

I'm at work right now and had better go and do some...