Back in Grizzly's Workshop

Ay up, everyone!  It's Hanley Bear again, with another look at Grizzly's model railway and more match reports.  

Stoke have a tough game against Leeds tonight, away, and I have my paws and claws crossed for a good result, so it is tricky trying to type as well.

First, I'll give you the answer to the question in my last post.  Here's a closer look at that big ceramic thing - which is a 'conductor pot' for insulating the 'third rail' on railway lines where the electric power reaches the engines that way, rather than with overhead wires.   

Grizzly lived and worked in the south of England for many years, so he is used to seeing trains using the third rail.  His old railway layout was all third rail and he and Polar had to thread hundreds of tiny little conductor pots onto the third rail for that.  He just has a little section in one corner of the workshop now, where he can display his Southern stock on a fantastic fly-over bridge.

The main layout is based on Stoke-on-Trent in the 1950s, so it doesn't have any electric wires or third rail, because the engines were almost all steam engines back then.

Here are a few more pictures of it.  I like this view of the station, which has the local train to Leek about to leave.  Grizzly says there are plans to reopen the line from Stoke to Leek, but Polar says we shouldn't get too excited because there were plans to do that several years ago, and some of the line got cleared of vegetation, but then nothing happened.

And here's an aerial view of the canal and the deep lock, just outside the station.  It is my favourite part of the layout.

After Grizzly had made the fly-over for his Southern multiple units, he had some board left over, which he has turned into a seat for us to sit on when we listen to the match.

 It is just the right size for the three of us!  Polar is painting it with canal roses and is going to make us a cushion for it too, so it will be very comfortable.

Two Saturdays ago, we all settled down, with Grizzly, to listen to Stoke v Middlesborough, a game that all the experts on the radio thought we ought to win.  Middlesborough had just appointed a new manager and, although he isn't a bear, he does seem to know his stuff and has made a big difference to how they are playing.

About half an hour into the game, Middlesborough scored the first goal and I went 'Boooo!' and gave the radio a hard stare, but I was sure we would soon strike back.

I thought Mr James McClean would equalise for us, as he was working very hard.  Although he came close several times, he just couldn't score, and nor could anyone else playing for our team.  But Middlesborough could and they scored again in the second half.

Some other teams doing about as badly as us won their games and, on Tuesday of last week we lost 3 - 0 to Wigan.  This moved Stoke into the 'relegation zone', which made me very sad.  I didn't like it when we were relegated from the Premiership and I will be even sadder if we end up in League One.  Polar says we have to make sure we beat Portsmouth if that happens.

But there was another game at the weekend, when we played Barnsley, who are also in trouble.  Polar was painting our seat so we sat around the radio like we used to, and soon the game was underway.

And what a difference - we scored two goals in the first ten minutes!  I told the other bears that I thought Mr Michael O'Neill, our manager, must have given the players some of Mrs Kay's oatcakes for their lunch. 

 Polar came in to listen after half-time.  I didn't think we would get any more goals but we did - Mr Tyrese Campbell scored his second one just before the end of the game.

We had won, and it had been almost as exciting a game as the last one we had watched live at the football ground. 

But I do not think we are going to win tonight, as we have already let in three goals without scoring any.  I am glad I have my pals to cheer me up and our first boat journey in ages to look forward to tomorrow. 

Yay! 

Garden Bears' World - An Evening in the Garden

Hanley Bear is still too sad about the outcome of yesterday's Stoke City game to write a guest blog about his day in the workshop with Grizzly, so here is one from me, Sonning.

We had two very warm days earlier this week, when it was too hot in the garden for furry creatures like us, at least until after the sun had gone down.  So we waited until the evening to explore the garden.

Hanley's priority was to check that 'his' runner bean plant was still the tallest which, at that stage, it was.  And it was the first one with a flower.  However, it has now been overtaken by two of the Chomper Beans!

Growing on the other side of the path are the brassicas - kale and cabbages - which Polar has surrounded with nets to try to keep the butterflies and pigeons off, although it makes getting at them to do weeding very awkward. 

Hanley suggested us bears could crawl under the netting to do the weeding, which Polar said would be very helpful.

The vegetable garden at home is full of lots of tasty things to eat.  The broad beans are ready for picking now and we have been enjoying fresh, crunchy lettuce for weeks and weeks.   

Endon Bear has been helping Polar take cuttings for a new herb garden in the plot next to the cold frame, where there are onions and lettuces growing this year. 

He climbed up to show us where the loganberries grow.  They are rather sharp to eat fresh, which means the birds leave them alone, but we picked some for jam-making and nibbled a few of the very ripest ones.

As we came back up the path from the vegetable garden, we could see the lights on in Grizzly's workshop, where the model railway is.  Grizzly built it himself, with a little bit of help from Polar, Polar's dad and a nice man called Eric, who used to live next-door and had been a coal miner. 

There is a big wisteria near the greenhouse which the smaller bears love to climb, although I am not as nimble as them and find the branches rather smooth to hold on to.  Hanley and Endon encourage me to be brave, but I don't like to climb too high.

And anyway, I had spotted something interesting on the ground - wild strawberries!  As soon as I told the small bears, they were sliding down the wisteria trunk and running up the path to join me.

We were hungry bears after doing our running and climbing, so we ate a few straight away, then picked all the ripe ones we could find, in case Polar wanted them for making jam.

Even though it was getting quite dark, we found the ripe strawberries easily, because we could smell them, like wild bears do.  There are lots of nice smells in the garden in the evening at this time of year, especially the roses, honeysuckle, lavender and a shrub called Philadelphus.

Polar thanked us for the loganberries and said we could eat the little strawberries while we waited to see if there would be any bats flying that evening.  And there were but, unfortunately, it was too dark for Polar to get any pictures of them, so I can't show them to you.

Garden Bears' World - Allotment Update with Endon Bear

Good morning, everyone!  It's Endon Bear here, with an update on how everything is growing on Grizzly and Polar's allotment in North Staffordshire.

As you can see, the second early potatoes have now fully recovered from the setback they had when we had the late frost in May, although we think they might still be harvested later than usual this year.  They have no flowers yet.

The onions are now big enough that we can see their tops poking out of the soil, but it's not yet time to fold the leaves over or ease them out of the ground.  They will enjoy the wet weather we're due to have this coming week and hopefully get even bigger, but then we need some more dry weather to ripen them so they store well. 

The squashes and pumpkins, and the courgettes, would probably be happier with more hot and sunny weather too, as long as Polar and Grizzly keep them well-watered.  There are baby fruits on the courgettes so we might be picking the first ones to eat very soon.

Polar lifted the early garlic in the garden yesterday and the allotment garlic is almost ready for harvest as well.  We are going to have an awful lot!  We hope Polar can swap some for delicious Tiffin and Chai samosas from our friend Mrs Shug at Stoke Market.

And here are the runner bean plants, grown from our friend Chomper's seed beans - they are already a long way up their sticks and making lots of flowers.  They will be happy to have lots of rain as they drink a lot of water, although we want sunshine so the bees can pollinate the flowers, or there won't be any beans to eat.

From the top of the bean frame, I could see Grizzly digging over the last empty bed.  Polar lifted me down and showed me some potatoes they were going to plant in there, even though it is very late for starting taters.

'They are an experiment,' she explained.  'I'm not even sure what variety they are - they seem to be a hybrid between Sarpo Mira and either one of the reds or the Pink Fir Apple.  I think they grew from seeds one of our plants made a few years ago as they were growing in a bed where I hadn't planted any potatoes last year.  They kept for ages and made good roast potatoes, so we are going to plant a few we saved and see how they grow.'

How exciting!  I love garden experiments.  If they grow well and are good potatoes again, we'll have to give them a name.  Perhaps we could call them after a famous bear?

While we waited for Grizzly to finish digging his plot over, we checked the greenhouse and topped up the water reservoirs for the peppers and tomatoes - all plants us bears grew from tiny seeds back in March.  Look how big they are now!

Polar says tomatoes mustn't dry out but they also don't like to be too soggy, so we just give them enough water to last until we come back to the allotment in a couple of days. 

Like Mr Monty on Gardener's World, we do 'Feeding Friday' and give all the greenhouse plants some liquid fertiliser once a week.  We are hoping to make our own from comfrey next year, when we have transplanted some from the garden to our wildflower plot.

I was sad to see that there was still nothing growing there except a few strands of grass.  Polar said we could collect some poppy seeds in the garden and sow them, and transplant some foxgloves as well, if our seed balls didn't grow. 

'Don't give up yet, little bear!' she said.  'You never know what will come up after the rain.'

Polar said we could plant some Phycaelia there for the bees, if her seed-saving experiment worked.  Polar grows it as a green manure and usually digs it in before it flowers, but this year she and Grizzly left one patch to flower and set seed.  Most of the dead plants went onto the compost heap but she has saved some seed heads and is drying them off in the greenhouse.

I had a little nap in the sunshine while Polar and Grizzly planted the hybrid potatoes, then it was time to come home for lunch.  Before I went back to the other bears on Bear Hunt window duty, Polar said I could have a run around what she used to call the Herb Garden, as she has tidied up the rope-top edging and finally put in the corner posts.  

Polar was growing herbs and roses there but says the roses prefer richer soil then most of the herbs, so she is going to make a new herb garden in the vegetable patch where it is sunny and the ground is sandy, and plant more flowers and bulbs with the roses.

I thought this big Allium Christophii flower head was amazing - it looks like a firework!  Polar says it is a good one to grow here as it isn't too tall so doesn't get battered down when it is windy. 

She lifted me up to see the roses too.  The one in the picture is called Ferdinand Picard.  I think it is my favourite, as I like the stripy petals.

Then we picked the first few loganberries, which Polar added to some frozen apple to make crumble for tea.  There are lots more ripening, so we might make jam soon.

Happy gardening, everyone!