Skip to main content

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!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

More frustrations!

An old one to remind myself how cute they were! Sunday evening, back to school after half term and the normal shouting match ensues as we ask where all Abi's kit is and she shrugs and says "it's not my fault..." There are a number of aspects that drive us nuts here - first that her immediate response is denial and abdication of all responsibility, the second that she genuinely doesn't care and the third that it still doesn't help is with where her (mostly new) sports kit is! While this is going on we have Izzy sorting her kit out while weeping quietly because she has decided (18 months after we said goodbye to him) that she misses Scooby! We decided it was just easier to suggest everyone gets an early night and packed them off to their rooms - there really isn't an answer for some of this I think! This week has been a mix of school testing - the kids went of to St Gabriel's for their tests on Wednesday, Abi riding, Izzy doing her gym practice and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lockdown - month 3

Bertie hoping to be allowed to move into Abi's shed As we pass the mark of 2 months in lockdown it has become all very normal - in fact as I walked Bertie yesterday I was resentful of the cars whizzing past me when it's been so peaceful for so long. We have now moved from 'Stay at Home' to 'Stay Alert' (England anyway, the wee Krankie up North refuses to do anything remotely aligned to the rest of the UK on principal). Apparently the majority of the country finds the new message very confusing - " what does it mean?" they ask themselves. This is what the media would have us believe anyway, because what else is there to do in lockdown but shit stir and create confusion when there is no need. We have definitely now  moved past the point of being in this together and gone back to the normal blame game. So much for solidarity. Friday also marked the end of the first half of term, although half term has never felt so much like school, or more accurate...
Post a Comment
Read more