Daydream fund challenge part 4

greenbee

Hope you all weather the storm OK. Alfie's right - autumn is arriving here, although its still warm. I'm hoping to spend this weekend clearing up the garden and starting to put it to bed. I really don't seem to spend enough time at home to be able to get properly on top of things.

Lurgy got worse but seems to be improving now I've been to the GP and got emergency ABs in case it was worse by tomorrow... However I've cancelled all my meetings this week, so if I am well enough to work I have a couple of days to do admin!

I've been using the time I'm awake and bored to research options for freestanding kitchen units. I think it could work well, although I may need 'fitted' units for the eye-level oven (freestanding ones cost more than the oven), the sink (because freestanding ones are for belfast sinks and I want a tiny round prep sink) and the gas hob. I just need to make a final decision on the aga, as that will influence how I get gas into the kitchen. Or I could just go for induction... but anyway, a freestanding kitchen will mean I can have a more sensible and organised kitchen sooner rather than later, as I won't have to wait for the floors to be done...

DaftyDuck

Have to confess it was another glorious day here today, hot, blue sky, little wind, felt like a summer's day. Could have done with cooler, as it was carrying-on with getting that hedge out entirely. There was ivy that was about 25 years old on the remaining trees, a dozen trees were now just ivy covering a long-dead stump, the brambles were, in places, nearly wrist-thick (but I'm a weedy, bony old fellow, so not that thick ). Oh, and the delightfully spread-by-the Council plant-that-should-not-be-named, most of which appears to be dead for now (but will come back like Voldemort, and be as popular).

But, the first field and wood border is now done, and I have 170 metres of beautifully tidy verge onto the lane, with a few surviving beech bushes, a few hawthorn, and several oak trees (which are a hundred years old at a guess, and definitely staying). Tomorrow I get a temporary fence up along that stretch, and get some grass seed out to stabilise the soil. The hedge will go in this winter, if my back survives.

It was lovely seeing the few villagers, and a couple of runners, who venture out this way. It's on the "old folks" walk, and a number of them have lived in the village since before the war (could even be 1st, from some of the wrinkles ). They all seemed pleased the old place is finally being tidied up. Donkeys currently get a good view of the lane, and watched (from a distance!) as I slaved away. Passers-by can now admire the donks, and the donks obviously love the attention. There's a thirty-yard tree belt between their field and the lane, so they aren't troubled at all.

I started on Saturday, and the bonfire has been huge and continuous since then, just wake it up at seven am, and off i go!. There is just so much tidying-up to be done here, it does get rather daunting. Anyway, that bit has been done, and certainly looks the better for it, if rather overdone at the moment. Has to be, to get rid of Voldemort, the bits of barbed wire rusting in the soil, and the collapsed metal fence that I know was erected in the 1960's. But, with some replanting and wilderness returning, it should look better still.

Hope those of you ill get better, those of you in storm have a quiet night, and those of you who adopting all those animals do win (a tenner at least) on the lottery!

DawnW

I_have_spoken wrote: »

One of my 'rescue' orchids

How do you keep their leaves so green and shiny? I have one just like this, had it for years, and the flowers are amazing - but the leaves look dull and dried up, and every so often one dies off

Davesnave

Today started with an early wake-up phone call from Horse Woman, who was raring to go with icing her huge Christmas cake.....Would I pick up 6 packets of marzipan on my travels today? :undecided

Well, err, no.... ....don't think so! :huh:

A bit of questioning revealed that she had made this cake last week; a time when she was still in hospital, so I knew then that I could safely leave that off the shopping list! Besides, she's diabetic now, so once we were up and dressed DW was dispatched to check things out. HW was fast asleep in bed! :rotfl:

But it's not really funny; just another 'sign.' Been here before. First, they start to lose track of time.....get up at all hours, meals and meds are missed, think they are doing stuff and nothing is getting done, etc

Meanwhile, the place down there is turning into a tip. Mice are rampant. :eek:

So....we have an action plan. Saturday, two ladies and myself are going in with Henry Hoover and many chemicals to blitz the place, so at least it'll be semi-clean for a week or two. Can't do much more. We know how this one is likely to play out now, but hopefully it won't be food poisoning!

Davesnave

DawnW wrote: »

How do you keep their leaves so green and shiny? I have one just like this, had it for years, and the flowers are amazing - but the leaves look dull and dried up, and every so often one dies off

Pledge???:D

greenbee

DawnW wrote: »

How do you keep their leaves so green and shiny? I have one just like this, had it for years, and the flowers are amazing - but the leaves look dull and dried up, and every so often one dies off

I need IHS to give my orchids a talking to as well. I have about a dozen and at the moment NONE of them are flowering (mind you, they probably all need a drink...)

choille

DawnW wrote: »

How do you keep their leaves so green and shiny? I have one just like this, had it for years, and the flowers are amazing - but the leaves look dull and dried up, and every so often one dies off

I used to sponge the leaves with milk - my Swiss Cheese plant - that is.

choille

Hope that HW gets some help from social services as it's all a bit care in the community - which is very good of folks, but it shouldn't be left to the neighbours.

Nasty dark gusty night out there - sounds like Winter - but it is the equinox I suppose.

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

Hope that HW gets some help from social services as it's all a bit care in the community - which is very good of folks, but it shouldn't be left to the neighbours.

She is getting carers once or twice a day, but that's supposed to ensure she gets up, washes, eats and takes pills etc.

Trouble is, it's not working too well, as she isn't the most cooperative patient! They make breakfast, then she doesn't eat it, and so it sits there. They get her up, and soon as they've gone, she goes back to bed! etc

None of that is about cleaning her house, though, and when you consider that nobody has, properly, not for many months, it isn't now an environment we feel comfortable in either. :eek:

So, we shall do it because it needs to be done, for our benefit as well as hers.

choille

Will she let you do it?

It's so good of you all. Maybe be careful incase she starts accusing you of stealing - as that can happen if they mislay things, forget where they've put things.

She should have a social worker who is making sure her needs are being met- but I know that's not happening.

Her son should be seeing to this. It sounds like she shouldn't be on her own. It's a shame. Goodness, you are good.