Breaking Through, Travelling On

Karmacat

Morning! Wow, lots of weather this morning - I'd hate to *have* to go out there I'm aware of how lucky I am :beer:

So, today, bit of this, bit of that - I *do* have to go out, actually, to post said DVD, so I'll do banking and this and that. Otherwise, cooking and some paperwork, finally, there's quite a stack building up and nearly all of it financial plus I have a matched bet to set up before the end of civilisation as we know it ...

I'm also regaining a bit of control over the garden - even the buttercups have fangs, they were attacking the garlic. Garlic has fought back now, with my help :j Thats a money issue

[Deleted User]

Yes, I agree, it's so nice not to have to go out on a day like this:j

I'm very concerned that OH has booked a man from a garden maintenance company (must have had a brain-storm as it will involve him spending money:rotfl:) to come today to treat a large problem patch of the garden. Normal DIY methods have failed miserably and there are some very dead looking patches of grass. It seems to be spreading rapidly too:eek:

We hate the use of any chemicals (that's why our garden is never good enough to be included in the annual Open Gardens charity tour of our local villages, certainly not a show garden ) but OH says this is an exception and these companies won't use substances lethal to wildlife. Problem is the cat and all the wildlife that share our garden (pheasants,newts, frogs, rabbits, shrews, hedgehogs,moles:eek:, etc etc, even a badger that lumbers across the far end some nights). The chap says it's OK for cats to walk on the grass when the substance has dried (fat chance of that today:() but having to keep the cat indoors for longer than a couple of hours will be a real battle of wills! Plus, what about grazing animals (rabbits etc)?

The rain is so intense and has been all night that he may not turn up:j. Only putting it off though as OH is determined to get the problem sorted:(.

Karmacat

Ouchie, that doesn't sound good, CBC - the disease *or* the cure

DVD is posted, cheques and cash banked, and I actually got blown along the street! Not good, when it's so slippy underfoot ... it's slightly calmer than that now, but the *big* trees are still waving around like crazy ...

Right, off to do the paperwork.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Well done on the eBay sales. How is the pension pot building?

[Deleted User]

Well done for braving the elements, KC, and getting home unscathed:T. Rain has finally stopped now, there's even a bit of blue sky visible, but it's still extremely windy.

Lawn care man turned up in the pouring rain but agreed to reschedule for Thursday when good weather is forecast. He insists his chemicals are harmless once dry. We'll have to take his word for it.

Karmacat

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

Well done on the eBay sales. How is the pension pot building?

Thanks Squirrel!

The pension pot ... sigh ... between all the various factors, its not going too well, tbh - and then I thought to myself, well, if having a house rather than a flat means I spend all my energy looking after the garden instead of going out - erm, I'd rather have a flat! So I may downsize anyway, and liberate money like that. Don't know yet. I appreciate the query

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Well done for braving the elements, KC, and getting home unscathed:T. Rain has finally stopped now, there's even a bit of blue sky visible, but it's still extremely windy.

Same here - bright blue now, in fact.

Lawn care man turned up in the pouring rain but agreed to reschedule for Thursday when good weather is forecast. He insists his chemicals are harmless once dry. We'll have to take his word for it.

Tricky. I confess, I do use systemic weedkiller, sprayed right on the plant, to kill that particular plant - sometimes, if you want things to go your way, there's no option. If you put old branches or something (I put buddleia prunings all over just-weeded sections!) cats etc *can't* walk on it ... might help?

Not done any paperwork ... quite bored

Karmacat

Morning! Felt a lot better after just ten minutes in the garden, digging up a few weeds - its not *all* systemic weedkiller, that's a last resort, most definitely. Now that Noah has decided his ark isn't needed after all in the south of England today, I'll be out there more, soil is lovely and loose to pull weeds up by the *roots*, hurray

Firegirl

I really need you in our garden KC- we have clay soil and everything we plant dies! It's very frustrating!

Goldiegirl

Hopefully the iPod auction will do well. I've sold 3 iPod for my friend ( not sure how one person could have three) and all reached a good price in the auction.

Our garden is quite small, but it takes effort from both of us to keep it looking ok. If it was just me, I would definitely move to a flat, as I couldn't keep the garden going by myself. But I'd try and find one with a balcony, so I could have a small outside space, and some containers with flowers.

You're doing a great job in your garden - let's hope summer is finally here to stay

Karmacat

Firegirl wrote: »

I really need you in our garden KC- we have clay soil and everything we plant dies! It's very frustrating!

I feel your pain! Really, its about finding what tolerates the soil - the blackcurrant, raspberry, sorrel and rhubarb do brilliantly, and even the lavender and rosemary are fine here. What have you tried on yours? Some of it surprises me, I must say...

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Hopefully the iPod auction will do well. I've sold 3 iPod for my friend ( not sure how one person could have three) and all reached a good price in the auction.

Thanks Goldie! The same bid is still there, but 6 more views. It'll probably go for this amount, but that's fine - it was a freebie I won on qype ... maybe that sort of thing is how your friend got 3? That's quite a lot tho, isn't it!

Our garden is quite small, but it takes effort from both of us to keep it looking ok. If it was just me, I would definitely move to a flat, as I couldn't keep the garden going by myself. But I'd try and find one with a balcony, so I could have a small outside space, and some containers with flowers.

That would definitely be the plan. My youngest nephew has a place he and his partner have bought, a first floor conversion, and they have decking on top of the ground floor extension, all the niceness without any of the work

You're doing a great job in your garden - let's hope summer is finally here to stay

Thank you! I really hope it is. Usually by this time of year, there's been a couple of nights when I've just slept under a duvet cover with no duvet at all in it, not even a summer weight one. This year, I'm still under my winter weight :eek:

Tidying is very important today, I've decided :rotfl: I was setting up a photo for the blog yesterday, gathering stuff from all over the house to get it in one shot, and I realised how nice it is to see clean lines and lots of light. Client work all afternoon, so that takes precedence, as always