Today’s picture has nothing to do with today’s post, but it was a freebie from DepositPhotos and I liked it. So now you’ve got it.
On Monday, we had builders here dismantling and carting away a car port, and the fridge/freezer was delivered. I didn’t get any work done throughout the day as I was either supervising builders or delivery men or keeping an eye on the dog to make sure he (a) didn’t escape through the constantly open gate, or (b) get under everyone’s feet and cause an accident. We also nipped out to buy supplies to store in the new fridge/freezer.
On Tuesday, the builders were up on the roof, replacing a few cracked tiles, rebedding the ridge tiles and fitting a new ridge tile. The new cooker was delivered. (Eventually.) We had the roller shutters on the door and windows removed and carted away. And we had the roller shutter garage door inspected and repaired. Tuesday was a lot like Monday in that I was busy supervising or making drinks for everyone to keep them hydrated. All day.
We did manage to take the dog for his walk at a more civilised hour and the temperatures have dropped considerably, which is great considering the forecast is for temperatures to soar again. But I didn’t do any work, other than respond to the editing client via my phone. I paid a few big bills, for the work we’ve been having done, and calculated our remaining budget after works we’ve already committed to have been taken into account, like the new windows and the decorating.
I also let one of the other builders know that he can go ahead and book the garden in for an overhaul. We have a raised patio that needs levelling and turfing over. We have a wall and a gate that need taking down and carting away. We have two old coal bunkers that need demolishing and carting away. And we have a fenced off aviary that needs taking down and carting away. When the gate, the wall and the bunkers have all been taken away and the area tidied up, we can buy a new shed to slot in behind the garage. And when we have the new shed, we can empty the old shed into it and then get that one taken away too.
The poet and I discussed the garden and the priority of the garden and we decided that, if possible, we’d like to enjoy the garden this year for the tail end of the summer if we can. Plus, the dog needs a lawn to roll around on, and grass is, in my opinion, much nicer and much more wildlife-friendly than slabs and paving stones and bricks and concrete.
We know there are birds at the back of the houses here, we’ve heard them. We can hear robins, wrens and greenfinches singing. Where there are finches there are usually blue and great tits and other finches. Wood pigeons, collared doves, jackdaws and a crow have all visited the garden. The poor crows (the jackdaws and the carrion crow) were both panting with their beaks open, so I put a lot of water in the garden in the hope they’ll see it. There’s an inadequate bird bath where the water evaporates before any birds have chance to drink or bathe, so I filled a grow bag tray with water too, the surface of which ripples in the breeze.
A neighbour has hedgehogs living under her greenhouse, we’ve even seen one of them crossing the road from her house to a neighbour’s hedged garden. Hopefully our garden will be included in the march of the hedgehogs one night too. Apparently they roam for miles and miles, visiting lots of watering holes and eating places. We had a lot of hedgehogs at the last house, but I don’t think we’ll get many until the garden has been landscaped.
The poet mowed the front lawn at the weekend, after the skip had been taken away, and he edged it and watered it too. He’s never been so interested in ordinary gardening! It’s nice he’s happy to do so now. We’ve had more crows on the front lawn since, though, probably boring for insects and worms. Now that the car port and the window shutters have been removed, it looks more like a house than a commercial premises. Removing the car port has opened up the side of the house and made it easier to park my car. I don’t think it will be long before we see how the campervan fits up there too.
Today, we have no one coming, nothing being done, and we don’t have to do anything. Yay! I will celebrate by having a lie-in, but the poor poet has to go to work. Boo! When I surface, I have the usual washing to put through and hang out. But I also want to crack on with some work. I want to have a go at writing a short story (flash fiction) in one sitting and get it sent off to a submissions call, and I have a client edit that I’d like to at least touch base with.
It’s also St Swithun’s Day, so the rain dance will be engaged. We’re desperate for some rain now, and forty days and nights of rain would be divine!
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You’re getting so much done! The garden plans sound wonderful, and I think it’s a good idea to be able to enjoy it this year. I don’t know how it’s going over there, but here, winter’s been creeping in later, so we have a longer summer and then autumn is later than usual, although often truncated. We had a late start to summer, with a cool, wet spring, so who knows what’s going on? The weather app sure doesn’t.
Enjoy your rest!
I’m trying to make sure everything that needs doing is done in the right order to make the next job on the list easier to access and do. It is tiring, though. And, of course, we still have to pay for it all. But that’s what we saved up for, and we’re still saving by not paying rent every month. The garden restoration will be temporary, so we can at least use it and enjoy it while at the same time trying to work out how we’d like it to be in the future. If it was already landscaped, we’d be living with it for at least a year to see what comes up where. But we can’t do that with hard surfaces everywhere.
Yeah, it’s hard to jump in and know right away. And it is exhausting. I hope you get to work in some breaks, and not just because contractors don’t show up when they’re supposed to!
Thank you!