The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

Florenceem

monnagran - I have done the knitted creme egg covers in the past - always stocked up on eggs when Mr T  had offer on. 
I have started 2 different bunnies today.
Cold here at the seaside.

ivyleaf

i love today's Thought Monna 

Nargleblast

Wakey wakey, Fencers! The Fence was languishing on page 2, we can't have that!
Time for morning exercise!

Breathe in slowly...hold...out slowly.

Get those muscles moving, follow my actions....Hup two three four! Again, Hup two three four.....Hup two three four!

Gooood.....now we'll try the other eyelid.

MingVase

Oww my eyelid aches now I'm EXHAUSTED!

monnagran

Oh my goodness Ming, we can't have you with exhausted eyelids.  Quick!  Back on that recliner.  Swift injection of jellybabies please!

Florenceem, this seaside is freezing cold too.  The English Riviera we might be, but the temperature is more typical of the North Pole.

Well, I caffeined up, put on my big girl's knickers and fought my way into the ROD yesterday.  I struggled for over an hour and am pleased to announce that it now looks ten times worse than it did before.
I know that you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, but broken eggs are about the only things I didn't come across.  What are all these things?  Where did they come from? Where am I going to put them?
Answers on a postcard please.

Today I am licking my wounds and deciding between attacking the so-called garden, another missionary expedition into the dreaded ROD, or slouching on the sofa knitting.
Don't bother with the postcards, I have a fair idea about the answer to that one.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY 

I always mean what I say.  I may not always mean to say it out loud, but I always mean it.

monnagran

Well, I seem to be alone in propping up this fence and waiting for someone to come along for a quick gossip.

Never mind.  I will find a 'thought' for you and explore a few chatty threads.  If I don't see you today I'll try again tomorrow.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY    (one of my favourites)

A recent study has shown that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.

pollyanna_26

You are not alone monna I was posting almost finished and whoosh off it went into the ether. I'm wondering if your tablet has taken over the fence. I don't have one so no idea what happened.

It was really cold here overnight frost and freezing fog. It's brght now but still cold. No idea if it's just coastal areas or more widespread. I'm avoiding the TV until Rishi has done his thing. I've already noted the price of a prescription is going up and also the Prepayment Certificate. Not by much but for anyone really struggling it will make a difference when added to the increase in utility bills. DDS PPC expires on 26th March so will cover the next repeats. I'll renew it then at the current cost .Increase doesn't come into effect until April so she'll already be covered for the year ahead.

I'm wondering has any tips for insomniacs. I've tried all the usual advice but still stuck with the sleepless nights. I'm not letting myself doze in the daytime so very overtired now.

I had planned a little shop in the local Coop but too tired to make any sort of list.

Your mention of Gangsta Granny made me laugh. We have a near neighbour who likes nothing more than climbing very tall ladders for no obvious reason. walking up and down his garage roof surveying the area. It wouldn't surprise me if a watchtower appeared one day on his land. Known as Neighbourhood Watch by all .

I haven't noticed many repeats of thought for the day. Todays is good and I dont recall seeing it before.

Take care leaning on the fence, it's a bit neglected of late.

pollyx

mothernerd

monnagran larger women are harder to kidnap. I'll chat a while, I don't want to move but feel the need for escape (recent encounter with the great Demotivator aka mum. I went outside yesterday. I was digging (a bit) and moving stones (a lot). It's hard and boring (I hurt a lot, only if I try to move) but 'needs' doing. Long story short, when mum was still looking after her partner (advanced dementia and she looked after him for much longer than she should and was basically killing herself to my despair - she kept leaving the decision as to when he should go in a home to his children) she had the garden 'landscaped'.

When she moved into this bungalow 5 years ago there was a line of mature shrubs along one side including a leylandii tree (which I hate but told her to keep because the house at right angles - mum's back fence is their side fence - had a window in the gable end). She had them all hacked back in stages and eventually decide to have it 'landscaped' (because mum looks at a garden full of beautiful things and focuses on the single dandelion). I'm not a huge fan of dandelions but they are good for bees, so they stay except when they interfere with my veg. The man who did it is a 'handyman' who works for reasonable rates. He did an excellent job of the central slabs but wasn't a gardener so all the excess soil was thrown onto the narrow 'beds' along the back and side fences and then golden stone chippings heaped on top. So we (me, the weekly cleaner and mum when she has a good day) spent about 3 years sweeping up stones and putting them back onto the 'beds' (only the odd rose, shrub or plant to break the monotony). Not a proper weed proof membrane so it still gets weeds (mum is fond of a poison spray).

I came here at the start of lock down (initially for 12 weeks, I'll have been here for a year on the 18th March) and said I needed a polytunnel (it's kept me sane, growing things, being outside, giving us both time apart in a very small bungalow) which mum insisted had to go in a certain spot, so as not to spoil the 'view'. Neither of us would have chosen to be together all the time and it wasn't necessary yet but COVID made it so and for the time being I have no choice but to stay. Last year I used my polytunnel, containers I brought from home and a few scraps of 'garden' grudgingly given, bit by bit. I convinced mum that raised beds were the way to go (she can do bits if she sits in a chair and I really struggle with getting down to the ground, getting back up again and can only stay down for a short while). However all the stones and some soil (at least to the bottom of the flags layer and the top is about a foot higher than that in places) need to be shifted.

I wanted to do it in autumn but mum kept saying it was the wrong time of year for painting, delayed me buying the paint for weeks, wouldn't let me buy anything at all for over a month (sighing theatrically every time we had a food delivery), so in my mind I'm months behind (snow and then heavy rain stopped me as well - some of the stones and soil need separating by sieving and if the soil is wet it doesn't really work). I'm trying to do 2 small buckets of stones every day (10 l metal bucket and I can only move 3/4 full one realistically - if I have somewhere to put them I can add the extra 1/4 when they are in place and they do stack quite well).

I made really good progress on Monday (some prep on Sunday), filled 4 buckets (had to empty water from some of them first) and finished painting all the wooden slats for three raised beds. I have some recycled plastic board beds which were my first choice - so easy to put together and move round - but the manufacturer had a peculiar payment system so that fell through. On Monday I did 4 buckets, dug out a patch of soil to the depth of the flags and moved 4 edging pieces (2' x 9" x 6") out of the way - had been cemented down but only with small blobs.

Well that was a saga of a short story. I need to move all this soil and stones, put enough stones back to fill the space level with the top of the flags then build the raised beds and put them in place and put the soil inside. Then I get to do the fun stuff. But now I'm running out of buckets. Will have to use a very large bag (the builders 1 metre square ones, or a tonne whatever they are) and pile what I can on that. So yesterday I was moving things around trying to make room for the bag and to work. So heavy work and it' isn't very tidy (certainly not 'mum tidy' - I've spent about two weeks 'unpacking' the shed as she's quite happy as long as she can't see any mess and I still can't reach either of the far sides - only a 4' x 6' shed but it was full to the roof).

I did too much, I hurt everywhere, I had to bin my old painting jog pants (that's when I gave up for the day) and I'm waiting for the complaints to start. Mum is picking fights all the time and I'm doing my best not to respond. The sun has come out so I may just go and sit in a garden chair, work out a plan of action and think if there are any tiny bits I can do that won't hurt. I cooked extra at weekend (veg, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, pasta) and used all the leftover bits ( a single chicken breast, a sauce with celery, 2 wrinkly peppers, leeks and a bit of chicken stock) to make more meals so no need to cook today. Will sit in the garden to ponder and maybe go to town to escape or go and sit on the canal bank (on the support pillars for the road bridge). My be back later on.

 

Florenceem

monnagran - I am here - had a lie in.
Working on 2 bunnies today.
Had a request for a crochet lap blanket so starting that tonight - I sew in daylight hours and crochet while watching You Tube videos. 
My eldest Granddaughter is 20 years old today - where did the years go?

MrsCD

Goodness @mothernerd, you've put me to shame! I've only bought seeds so far, and looked at buying some wood to make raised beds. I keep thinking I 'should' do something outside, but it's been so cold I can't face it yet. I've almost finished my crochet Meadow blanket and I have some fabric drying that I've prewashed to make some more masks, but that's my limit today! We went to post a birthday card and it was so cold I had my scarf wrapped around my face like a bandit. Got a few funny looks but at least it didn't set the asthma off.