You'd think considering how tired we were last night that we'd all have slept really well, but whilst hubby would have liked to have slept solidly, neither Jack nor I were able to. At about 1am Jack decided he needed the loo (note to self: must buy hubby a decent torch for night time excursions), which meant that at least I didn't get the blame for waking hubby up. It also meant that I got brought a cup of camomile tea to try & calm me down, as for some inexplicable reason I was feeling really anxious & panicky; & since I couldn't find anything realistic (apart from impending dental work) to pin the anxiety on, my mind began to invent things to worry about. Top of the list came what was freshest in my memory, i.e. the pond; I decided that it was a total disaster: too deep, too shallow, too steep, too narrow, the wrong shape, bound to leak, you name it, I worried about it!

Unsurprisingly, I was tired & lethargic this morning, & couldn't work up the enthusiasm for anything. This is where my amazing hubby shines: I could have sworn I was destined for a duvet day, but he somehow managed to coax me into the garden, where he proceeded to allay my fears; firstly, the pond was still full of water (no leaks!), & by lifting various bit of the liner & shoving lumps of mud & turf under it, he changed the shape (& in places the depth) to my satisfaction. Once I'd stopped worrying & had decided I might quite like the pond after all, we began making plans for what to do with it next; we inherited a stack of decorative bricks which we'd originally thought would be ideal for going around the edge, but have realised that they'll make it look far too 'formal', and our aim all along has been to create something very natural-looking. We've decided that where the ground banks up towards the existing rockery we want to extend it; we thought about raiding the existing one for rocks - but beyond one large boulder, nothing else could be spared from there, so I've put out a 'wanted' message on Freecycle. I don't quite know what we'll do with the logs just yet, but we have a whole stack more of them, so can hopefully incorporate them somewhere near where they've been temporarily plonked: this will free up another area of garden which could form an additional veg bed. Beside the logs is a natural hollow, & we've decided to deepen it slightly to form a bog garden as an extension to the pond; & finally the turfs will go down on the lawn side of the pond. Jack enjoyed helping us make our pond plans, & hardly got in the way at all - although at one point he did manage to get his rope twisted around the bird bath, hubby's spade, a garden chair, & my walking aid, all at the same time! It took hubby several minutes to disentangle us all.
The plans we made today mean that I not only get to choose & order pond plants, but also marsh plants, rockery plants, & I'm sure I'll think of even more kinds of plants that we really 'need'. Shopping (& planning) is what I do best! Hopefully I will be lulled to sleep tonight by dreams of how our creation will look when it's established.

Things we've learned about Jack:
He now barks when he needs to go out; we don't mind this kind of barking - he even uses a different tone of voice so that we know it's a toilet bark. Unfortunately, needing to go out doesn't necessarily mean that he actually 'needs' to go out: sometimes it's because he's been surveying the garden from the conservatory or from the stool in my bedroom, & has spotted a squirrel he'd like to chase. And if a squirrel just happens to be in the garden when Jack really does need to go, he gets distracted & forgets what's he's out there for; he goes berserk instead. Hubby has therefore got into the habit of checking the garden for squirrels before taking Jack out; unfortunately this does mean that we're seeing less of the squirrels than we used to, but having Jack is ample compensation.
He can tell the time; he knows exactly what time to position himself beside my bed, poised to leap up between hubby & I as we kiss goodnight; he tries very hard to divide his tongue between both our necks at the same time in what almost resembles a 'triple kiss'. It's become quite a ritual now, & never fails to make us chuckle - it's good to end the day with a smile on your face! However, whilst we know that he's simply trying to share in our affection, we've decided that once a day is quite enough, so have begun discouraging him from pushing in between us at any other time: we'd hate it to turn into a kind of jealousy, which could potentially cause problems.

It's our 24th wedding anniversary tomorrow. We were hoping to take Jack & a picnic up on the moor, but the weather forecast isn't looking promising. Oh well, we've become very flexible in when we actually celebrate any occasion: last year I wasn't well enough to go out on our anniversary, & so we had our outing the following day: we had a trip to the town we now live in - little imagining that just 4 months later we would actually be living here. Life's twists & turns are endlessly fascinating.