Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

zippygeorgeandben said:

I have only read the first page of this diary so far and a bit like a page turner, I need to know where the Harley Davidsons are!  Have they been sold? Still in the garage?  Holding their value!? Eek!

Missed this - Not sure about the value but both still in residence and the cartlodge (double) has been rearranged entirely around them!

Suffolk_lass

I have been GOB (Grumpy Old Bag) recently and it has to stop. We had our lovely friend join our bubble as planned - really enjoyable time, saw our Son briefly - long enough for him to sit and drink a glass of cordial and receive a pep talk. We involved him in a problem we needed to solve and while he did not say "I know, do this!" we pinged off something he mused about and we think we have an answer (and he definitely helped) - he left here with a bit of purpose and has rearranged his room so his desk is in there - a private study/reflection space will help him enormously. And I zoomed my Mum. We have so many problems on the landline as she can't hear me. Lots of frustration disappeared.
And my new freezer is coming tomorrow (old one failing, I am convinced). 

All is well and I should take my steer from @themadvix and be grateful for simple pleasures. 

Ripening fruit
Good friends
Lovely relatives
Each other

themadvix

Glad things are taking a turn for the cheerier SL! (And if you'd heard me grumping about the kitchen this morning, you'd know I'm definitely not perfect when it comes to gratitude! Poor cat really got shouted at and DH wondered what on earth the matter was!)

They are good gratitudes

greent

I had to concede to being a GoW (woman)at the weekend, when online chatting with some mums from school (some of whom are up to 15 years younger than me with kids in same class as DS3)

Glad you have potential resolution to the problem

Suffolk_lass

Busy day yesterday as our friend came with his big trailer to transport 15 ton-bags sized bags of garden waste to the bonfire on a neighbouring farmer's land. We had filled most available bags (!) and because you have to book a slot at the local recycling centre and cannot currently take trailers, I was not going to put it in the back of my car, however much it had dried out/rotted down. On the way back from the first of two runs, I was dropped off with four bags to collect logs from an old Ash tree that had come down in winter storms and been logged. About a ton or so I reckon with four bulk bags half full. It took two of us to drag them into the trailer on his way back from the bonfire pile on his second run. Meanwhile DH had to make a space for my new freezer (coming this morning) which involved a lot of time in the cart lodge with his motorbikes(!)

Our friend spent most of the afternoon with his chain saw (he is a licensed operator with all the proper kit) and had to change into his chainsaw trousers (who knew?) in the workshop before reducing a hedge with tree ambitions. It was mostly hawthorn and very prickly. I helped, cleared cut branches, made lots of drinks and then offered to stack the logs under the shelving on a pallet in the cart lodge when DH was flagging. We swapped and he lopped the branches down small enough to get the vegetation into the trailer again.

By the time I had talked to my Mum, we had both showered, and he had been to run an eBay collection errand for a friend, it was time for beans on toast with a fried egg on top, with the last of the chocolate brownies, greek-style yogurt and fresh berries. Top supper, done by 9pm, we attempted a couple of crosswords and being too tired, both felt very stupid when even the easy clues defeated us. I have been up since six, watering and moving cars around, ahead of another day of physical work. I do feel much happier doing this sort of work. @0 years younger I would happily set up a gardening business.

themadvix

Sounds exhausting! But very productive!

rtandon27

Wow SL that is hard graft!  What an amazing productive day!

trix-a-belle

just reading that makes me feel tired!

Suffolk_lass

This morning I have been pottering and having tidied the 2 banks accounts we use most (one bills, one running costs and a minimum number of DDs), I have done the shopping list for DH for this morning, unloaded the dishwasher, changed the fuse on the washing machine/tumble drier extension cable (that is plugged in in the back of an inaccessible cupboard) and tidied the kitchen. I need to measure out some bread flour next, to deliver around to our sourdough baking group. I indulged and bought another 25kilo sack of the lovely Italian Patisserie grade (00) flour that we all enjoyed using. By sharing at cost price, I am able to justify it as we turn it over fast enough between us. 

I needed to get going this morning as we have another day of cutting stuff in the garden planned. Having hedged the 60m of hawthorn hedge down from maybe 20 foot to 5 on the inside (2m on the outside) and sent all of that to the bonfire on the farm (shuttle runs with quad bike and trailer) over the last three days, we still have to take down the pyracantha that has taken over the trellis between the veg garden and the area with fruit trees - I am reluctant to call it an orchard as there are 3 apple trees, a cherry, a crabapple and two ornamental shrubs and my greenhouse, but quite a small area. Q to self - why would you plant a pyracantha on a trellis in the middle of your garden? - this is known as the burglar bush and the thorns are completely vicious (as was the hawthorn with three inch thorns). Anyway, then we can tackle the holly (yes, another prickly tree) and lift the crown on a massive Portugese laurel (I think it is Portugese, not cherry s the blossom flower clusters hand down instead of up) that has just finished flowering. It needs to be reduced and now is the time to do it. Then DH can resume pruning the herbaceous border shrubs that are now under it - I say DH because his hedge trimmer is too heavy for me to use. This will mean I can look to lift and divide some of the perennials because I can actually get at them! There is a mahoosive cherry tree that DH thinks is too close to the house but all the cherries are ripening so that must wait.

I am a bit shattered but mercifully it is raining this morning so it might be time to burn all the waste while not quite so dangerous for a huge bonfire. The shower board stuff for the van bathroom walls arrived yesterday, so we need to get going with that too.

Oh yes, DH contacted a fabricator about making a brushed steel top for the infamous broken glass hob and it will be less than £300 so we are going for that. Not sure of lead time. 

This retirement thing isn't what it is cracked up to be! I thought I was going to have more time to do stuff but all go at the moment.

Suffolk_lass

Gosh four days since I posted. I have had too much garden maintenance going on - we pruned the Holly tree (another two trailer loads), pulled out a dead laburnum stump and pruned a couple of badly overgrown shrubs on Friday - 3 trailer loads to the bonfire. Saturday and Sunday have been pottering and recovery sort of days. Hopefully my chain-saw man is coming back today to remove some plants on a trellis (pyracantha or burglar bush on a trellis in the middle of the garden - it has seeded at least 4 more plants in entirely the wrong place and its thorns are lethal. I know the flowers are lovely but the thorns are not so it is going from its' current location.

I picked gooseberries and stewed them, making custard I plan to make gooseberry fool (a favourite). I might freeze a bit as poor man's ice cream too. Lots of raspberries too - might need to make a breakfast compote.

Progress in the motorhome is at half the speed I hoped but is getting done. We might even get to move one of the 8x4 foot sheet off the dining room floor today!

Money is in the dead zone. Nothing happens but I do need to read the electric meter so it is based on our summer consumption, not a winter estimate. Off to do that now.