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Stig of the dump

What will the girls do when all the piles of earth have gone, and the house is back to normal? More to the point, what will the dogs do without their daily dose of additional dogs to play with, people to watch and mud to bring into the house?  

We on the other hand are quite looking forward to not having to sweep up the daily mountain of mud and sand that gets walked into the house by everyone, and constantly tidying up whatever corner we can that is nearing completion. The garden is looking amazing and it's definitely been worth the 6 weeks of upheaval. We both agree that this has been easier than having the house done which was pretty awful. We have been incredibly lucky with the weather which has been fantastic pretty much throughout. If we'd had the normal April showers it would have been just horrible - the mud would have been everywhere. This week the block paving outside the garage has been completed which makes that area look very smart. Once we've moved the piles of chippings, cement mixer, boards etc hopefully the whole front will look great. We've had an incredibly 200 tonnes of aggregate brought in which seems to have just been swallowed up by the garden. The girls have been having a lovely time this weekend scooting around the new paving and then around to the patio at the back.

While they have been playing various make believe games, I spent today sorting out the bed between the pod and paving. It's the first one I've been able to do and it was lovely to start to get some plants in, albeit it makes me realise how much planting we have to do and how much money is still to be spent before we finish. For what seemed like a fairly quick task, it took all day to dig the bed over properly, plant a row of Photinia to make an instant hedge and then add some more plants before topping off with bark. There is something so satisfying about gardening, I guess to do with being able to immediately see the fruits of your labour in a way that's so much more difficult with day to day work. Glenn was in his garage at the same time and it felt very good to have all of us in one place enjoying ourselves - life is good.

Next weekend we have the pleasure of Kerrie staying, home after a month in Thailand. She has had an amazing time and is full of her travels. It's opened her eyes to the fact that there is a great big world out there and maybe Taunton isn't the centre of the universe - finally! Perfect timing, she turns 25 tomorrow and the world should be her playground. It also made Glenn think that there could be an adventure to be had if we travel a bit further afield, so maybe next year we will. I think if we do it we'll be 5 - Kerrie definitely has the bug!

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