Helicopters buzzing the house

          Our lovely English house has been a wonderful place for us.  We have tons of wildlife around although the bigger birds have slowly chased away some of the smaller songbirds.  We have foxes and badgers, deer and feral cats.  No dogs about and no hedgehogs - to my sorrow.  We have a wonderful view out the back garden of the first hole of a golf course with rolling hills and majestic trees.  But we also live fairly close to a whole plethora of different military ranges, grenade ranges, Sandhurst Military College, gunnery ranges and so forth.  So some days there is the distant rumble of artillery shells or gunfire.  Took a bit of getting used to at first and every time someone opened up on their course, we'd all come up in our seats - alert - to identify the sounds and how far away.  This is not because we've ever lived in an area where we were in danger from any such thing but just more of a really unusual experience for us and it took a bit of adjustment.

          Part of the normal scenario of being close to military areas are also some helicopters that fly fairly regularly over the golf course and our small bit of woods and the neighbourhood houses.  When I'm outside, I always stop to watch them pass.  They are huge 'copters, usually with front and rear rotors.  They look like workhorses of the military and while I have no clue on what they are doing, where they came from or where they are going, I do like to watch them because they are so impressive.  And you can hear them coming a from a good distance which gives me time to finish my chore and look up to watch them pass.

          Lately, they have been passing by more often and seems like the helicopters have either gotten much bigger or they are flying a lot closer to the tree tops.  The other day, I was inside when I heard one coming and really had to go outside to see if it was landing - it was so loud!  Then last night, after we had gone to bed, we heard one coming.  Didn't feel like jumping up to run outside and see if we could spot it in the dark but as we were sitting there, reading in bed, the helicopter flew overhead and vibrated the entire bed!  That seems like it's flying awfully close to vibrate you and shake you.  Next time one comes by at night, I'm going to have to go outside and see if it is flying with lots of lights or if indeed, it is just buzzing by the house in the dark.  Rather exciting - sort of, maybe, well, hmm, not sure!

Mushy Garden

We have been quite fortunate this winter not to be in one of the flooded areas in the south of England.  We almost were as we had looked at several properties in areas that have had problems with flooding but - knock on wood - so far, our rental house has been fine through all the rain.  Not that we haven't had some problems as the conservatory has been pumped up as it was breaking away from the house.  But so far, we're good.  No flooding. 


That said, our back garden is mush.  Walking across it yesterday to retrieve some of the fallen branches and debris from the wind, it was like walking through a plate of mushy peas - I imagine.  Squish, squash, mush, splat, splash.  Our back garden has always been a lot more moss than grass but it is green so who really cares.  But now, it is pretty much turned into a swamp.  If the weather were warmer, I'd be looking for mangrove stumps or cypress knees or lotus blossoms in the middle of the yard.  I am still feeding the birds and squirrels and neighborhood feral cats and foxes and badgers so do need to squish across the garden periodically to fill the freeloaders bowls.  The mush pulls at my shoes and spits water up at me as I gingerly traipse to the feeders.  Rather unique feeling.


 We have a lovely back garden that overlooks the golf course where we can see that the sand traps have turned into small lakes.  Yet still the golfers come almost every day.   And our garden was built up to equal the level of the house and to hold a deck rather than slope down to the golf course.  Underneath the deck, we can see the whole garden buildup straining against the brick wall that has already been braced against the pressure.  My hubby thinks that the broken gap between the dirt and the bricks has grown and the pressure has increased.  We are rather intimidated by it and a bit afraid to measure the gap in case we are right and it is increasing.  While I think we are OK and won't flood, I think it is now a race.  We need enough dry days for the garden to dry and quit being mush.   If that doesn't happen and we get more rain, I fear the brick wall might finally succumb to the pressure and the whole garden might slide down the slope to the golf course.  Gone will be the deck, gone will be my workshop under the deck.   Mush, mush, mush.  Still, not as bad as the Somerset Levels (had to ask my gardener what they were) but never had such a mushy yard.   

Stealth Chopping

Our rental home is lovely.  Truly a gem nestled in some trees and overlooking one of the many surrounding golf courses.  When you open the front door, you see right through the house to the back garden and the golf course fairway expanse.  Sitting in the conservatory or working in the kitchen, you have that gorgeous view.  It is probably why we rented this house as other parts of it are less than stellar but we love the place and have been very thankful to live here and have a good landlord as well who is tolerant of my messing around in the garden and hanging many pictures on the walls (yes, I always do that but I always repair the walls when I leave!)


So last year, we noticed that our view was becoming a bit obstructed.  There has been growth!  Nature happened!  Trees get taller, shrubs get bushier, ferns shoot up.  Basically, nature is obstructing our view of the golf course.   We love looking out there because there are no houses in the way.  We see many birds and sometimes deer, and the golfers comprise some of the most interesting wildlife to hit the fairways.  


 There are about 12 branches that have grown over the years and are right in the middle of our view.  I noticed that with the leaves gone, it's not so bad.  I have 12 sticks in my view but it is easy to look around them and watch the flora and fauna that parades past our house.  But come spring and summer, that is going to change and our view will again be blocked by these twelve rather leafy branches.  So I determined that action must be taken.


I am fairly sure that the property upon which these branches sit is part of our house lot.  I'd heard this from our neighbors but honestly I'm not totally positive as I have seen the golf course gardeners plow into these small sections of woods when the trees and such seem to be overtaking the greens.  We determined that we needed to cut down the offending branches and we have the tools to do so but the timing needed to be right.  I think that meant we needed to do it when no golfers would be out and about.  Didn't want to disturb someone's putt with the sudden abrasive sound of a mini chain saw.  We also determined that we needed to do this now, before the trees started putting out leaves and flowering for spring.  I think it's better for them to be pruned in the winter - or at least that was the understanding I had from my gardener.


So we set out to trim our branches.  Because of the golfers, we waited until very late in the afternoon to do it, so we wouldn't bother them.  And because it's still winter, we ended up trimming them in the dark!  By torchlight!  It felt very stealthy to me, like we were being sneaky and underhanded to do this but it was still very important to us to do it to get our view back.    We had to push our way into the holly bushes - which wasn't pleasant.  Finally, we are close enough to barely reach the offending branches if I shoved as hard as I could against the prickly holly and reached as high as I could.  I was just able to lop off each of the 12 branches but it wasn't a pretty job.  some of them were rather chewed before they dropped.  I am thinking this is also why those 12 branches managed to sprout upwards when everything around them was trimmed.  They were just too hard to reach.


But we did it!  Our view is back.  And I am out of the holly with not too many scratches and scraps.  I only hope we cut them enough that we don't have to do a repeat performance next winter.  

 

The Empty Golf Course

We are lucky enough to have a lovely rental property that sits behind the first hole of a golf course.  It is quite nice not to have other homes behind us and we have a great view up the fairway for this hole.  The only time it is irritating is some mornings when the groundskeepers come riding down to their shack which is also behind the first hole and they are quite noisy as they get out their machines.   But for the most part it is peaceful and quiet and great.  We see deer cross the fairway sometimes and there's always some magpies and crows flying around down there.

 
Living here we have come to realize what a strange breed is the golfer and especially the British golfer.  It is not a sport that anyone in my family has ever taken up as a hobby or sport or vocation or love.  But the golfers that play the course behind us must be the most avid and determined and also frustrated golfers in the world.  They are out there every single day.  No matter the weather, no matter the date, no matter the time, we see golfers on the course.   The only times we have not seen golfers pursuing their passion have been the three times when the course has been covered in snow.  And quite frankly, we were a bit surprised that there weren't golfers in the snow.  I figured there would be colored golf balls by now so they could be tracked.  But snow means no golfers.


Until this week!  Surrey has taken some heavy rainfall this week and parts of Surrey have gone swimming involuntarily.  Our own garden is a mixture of swamp and muck but at least not underwater like some of my friends.  The first day after the big storm that dumped water on Surrey this week, I was home all day and not once did I see a golfer out on the course.  I didn't think much about it but then we kept having rain and more rain and more rain and now for three days there have been no golfers.  I imagine that it is so wet and muddy that the course has been closed because the golf cleats could probably tear up the grounds pretty badly.  There is a sand trap near our first hole and right now, it is a water feature.  

 So the golf course is empty and I rather miss the golfers.  They come in all sizes and shapes and all manner of odd golf clothes and bring everything from golf carts to remote controlled golf bags that roll across the course by themselves.  And as we have seen golfers in heavy rains and heavy winds, still out there whacking the ball, I believe that the course has been closed by the owners and that there would be golfers there in spite of all the wet and soggy conditions, were they allowed.    Hopefully we'll see some in the next few days.