Breaking Through, Travelling On

beanielou

Good tidying indeed

Karmacat

It's the one that was on on New Year's Day, Cheery - I love the logic and the deductions, but I love the character as well, he's great :j and I love that Watson isn't a cartoon buffer any more :j as previous incarnations tended towards that.

I've done my little work phone call, so now the work for today is:
- check the blog drafts and post them.
- get going on the tax declaration.
- dishwasher is on, and when its done, use the mixed fruit liquid from Friday to make a savoury jelly. I really, really hope I actually get to do this.
- if in doubt, do a bit of gardening

Watty1

I often think of you and your little bits of gardening as I walk through mine on the way to the yard. I'm seriously considering re-doing it in a way that would be less work in the long run but of course that is a lot of work in the short term so maybe I wont :rotfl:

Karmacat

Aww, thats nice, Watty! As it turned out, it rained too often for me to both notice it was dry and have the energy and inclination to do some work. I *did* get a bit of a walk in, just 20 minutes, that was good.

Posting to the blogs took *so* long! And I'd 80% written them already too ... got to do something about that, time it better. That webinar I watched over the weekend certainly made the point that swift planning was important.

Anyway, I did a bit of tax declaration - I won't be under the personal allowance limit, because of all the French rental money that pays half the bills out there. There are a few pounds of tax claims I could make because of blog expenses, but I'm not going to do it, cos of the stress and the learning curve, its really not worth it. The French stuff is enough!

Going to stop in a few minutes and put my feet up Hope the rest of the evening goes well for all
xxx

greent

Your frequent bits of gardening keep inspiring me to do random bits here - if I'm walking past and see some weeds I go and pull them up (easy in the sodden soil), rather than leaving them like I normally would - I usually think of you as I'm pulling them up!


x

Firegirl

I have a lovely garden but all our plants die when we put them in! Clay soil and terrible gardeners give the poor plants little choice!!!

Karmacat

greent wrote: »

Your frequent bits of gardening keep inspiring me to do random bits here - if I'm walking past and see some weeds I go and pull them up (easy in the sodden soil), rather than leaving them like I normally would - I usually think of you as I'm pulling them up!


x

Yay! Sodden soil isn't yay, but it *does* have that easy-weeding benefit :rotfl: I've been out there this morning, just to peg the washing out (I love that I can say that :j) and tho the sky is blue its still really soggy out there. But here's another benefit of the weeding: there are bulbs coming up all over the place! I'd plant them in clumps, personally, but with having been left so long, they've kind of built into clumps anyway :rotfl: so I'm very happy. More weeding later, I need less time on the computer today

Firegirl wrote: »

I have a lovely garden but all our plants die when we put them in! Clay soil and terrible gardeners give the poor plants little choice!!!

Firegirl, the soil maintenance becomes even more important then! My soil is clay too, I can literally slice my soil with a knife its so bad but whether I stay here or not, I *am* improving it - teabags are opened up and go straight on, so do roasted eggshells, any plant is planted in new topsoil and the old clay stuff thrown (after I've investigated it for worms, which congregate around roots). It takes time. On the other hand, any plant that can't look after itself after the first year is left to die which is why perennials and bulbs are so important to me

Anyway, today there *will* be more garden activity - I'll be out there later on, at a "heavy cloud" forecast time, in case it turns to rain, but its beautiful right now, a little breeze too, the laundry should be drying. Eggshells are cooling down from the oven, soaked beans are ready to boil and put in the slow cooker, the last of the tax info is ready to list, and I made a start at inputting into HMRC.

So today, week 33 continues: tax declaration, some cleaning, some gardening. Opening the post would be good too :rotfl:

Karmacat

Well, the laundry isn't drying *all* that well (its cold out there!) and its also getting stuck on the thorns of the rose bushes towards the back of the border! The nylon clothes line has stretched again, so laundry is repegged in different order, and I'll be weeding toward the back of the border, which is really nastily overgrown - garlic planting, and the front border have taken precedence. Front border was nasty too, and thats almost under control now, so it'll be fine, just needs work.

Second breakfast first I'm a hobbit, y'know.

SueP19

And a huge film fan :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

As Pippin and Merry said to Aragorn

Karmacat

SueP19 wrote: »

And a huge film fan :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

As Pippin and Merry said to Aragorn

'Ere, are yoo sayin' I've got square eyes?




A whole binbag of weeding and pruning consigned outwards ... the tragedy (in a histrionic sort of way ) is that this ground has already been cleared, once again, and I had to abandon it over the past 18 months. Still, it means that its just a matter of pruning the perennials (erm, 7 feet high!), cutting back and digging up the brambles, and then pulling up the dead long grass. Then topsoil and bark mulch to go down.

37% of the tax form now completed, and I'm starting the French stuff :j