Travelling On

themadvix

Karmacat said:

Email from U3A - a zoom meeting - on Wednesday morning!  The minute life opens up at all, there's so much to juggle!  

This is so true - I may not be leaving the house much, but as we all adapt to virtual life in a more sustainable way (than the initial crazy 'how-will-we-ever-cope-with-lockdown' enthusiasm), life has been getting very busy!

Karmacat

The zoom meeting went by the way, completely forgot, both to sign up for it and to try to attend  the fencer arrived at 7.30 that day to try to beat the rain this time, so by 10am I was ker-nackered.

But I have a fence!  And a side gate that opens, as well as my nice metal front gate hung again.  I've lost the catch that goes on the support, so fencer guy fashioned a piece of wood that sort of has a snick to it.  Very cool.  

Supermarket delivery arrived - erm, twice as many toilet rolls as I ordered?  Cans of tomato that I didn't order.  And the hash browns that I buy as a treat were scrunched open by a machine claw or something.  I've thrown out half the pack (its the "or something" that I wonder about, could be anything, including a rat) and 20% of my order was a no-show - I think supply lines are getting a bit stretched.

Tidying and re-ordering the house has been the order of the day - shopping still to be disinfected etc, and the garden tidied, though I made a second pass at gathering the leaves today.  Bit by bit

beanielou

Great news on the fence & the gate. 

Less good news on the shopping though. 

Karmacat

Hi beanie, yes, absolutely. 

I wasn't quite sure what to focus on yesterday - I knew I had to pay the fencer, and between getting online, getting the card reader, finding I'd forgotten the debit card pin, and phoning the bank, that took almost an hour so there were no big jobs done, and no more shopping washed and put away, sadly.  I forgive myself for that ...

I'm tidying under the sink ... I've realised I have 3 jars full of very old flour: the intention was to make cute little flour animals, but I'm never going to do that, so its going out, and the jars (Kilner etc) will be repurposed.  That gets me a lot more space. 

Otherwise, tidying, cleaning, blah blah.  That extends to clearing the front yard, where the fencing work was done, if it ever stops raining.  The yard still looks lovely though

rtandon27

Fabulous news on the fence & gates!  I'm sure you are quite pleased to check another one off of your list!

I'm with you on the grocery disinfecting!  I had a large am@z0n order arrive over the course of last week - various storecupboard items we use regularly that were cheaper by far to buy from 'the beast' rather than the supermarkets & a bonus is completely contactless delivery by default. Still though - everything needs a good clean & then the kitchen floor given a good wash down - but it's been a challenging work week & all I really want to do is veg!  At some point though, I'll get to it!

Karmacat

Thanks RT!   I think I've just about managed the juggling of all the stuff I've been doing over the last few days, I can finally start to come on here twice a day like I usually do (erm, for the past 14 years or so

I *did* get out to do the weeding at the front, greatly helped by the fencer, who'd had to dig out spaces for the fence posts and the concreting them in, oops But I'm losing the whole top 3" of topsoil, sadly - some kind of invasive ground cover has really taken over, all mixed up with grass, "ornamental" and otherwise.  I'm digging it all out now, and just replacing it with bark chippings and the soil thats drifted onto the yard area - it will give what few worms I could rescue something to burrow through, because the soil is *horrible*.   Ready to plant next year, first thing.

Green bin  as been filled with it all, and more, and gone.

Roasted eggshells have been found - a stash at the back of the sink cupboard, oops, plus a plastic bag and more sitting ready in the halogen oven, waiting to be roasted.  I *will* have nice soil!

Fencer has come back to me with a quote for renewal of the fence at the back thats collapsed.  Accepted the next day - he'll start whenever he can, given the current situation.

Finances - heavens above, no idea.  I haven't done anything for ages - but getting the old debit card pin up to date will be a good start.  The letter's yet to arrive.

Lots of family shenanigans in the background, all very happy, actually, but not my story to tell, even anonymously on here.  Definitely means that 2021 is looking up - though I can't say the same about  Christmas 2020.  I think I'd rather be on my own and have a veggie-centred feast than try to scrabble a family Christmas out of it.  Then I can host a really lovely picnic somewhere next summer, partly in celebration of getting my pension, woo hoo .

In the meantime - a bit of chat on here is just what I need.

Cheery_Daff

Good to see you back KC, and congratulations on the family news, it's good to see that there is good news in the world! good garden planning there too. Mine is entirely neglected at the minute - I only have the weekends and the weather has been atrocious lately. Urgh! 

debtfreeoneday

What do you do with the eggshells. I’m intrigued. 

beanielou

Not sure if you know that the bark can blow away? 

Karmacat

Thanks Cheery - yes, good news is in short supply, I try to make the most of whatever there is.  Seeing a cat out of the window, or a buzzard over the nature reserve, or going to the agricultural section of the local school (they have cows!  and I live in a proper town, but they have cows!) 

Debtfreeoneday - I roast the eggshells, crush them to fairly little bits, and throw them on/into the soil.  They don't attract rats, but they do gradually disintegrate and feed the soil.  If they're on the surface, in great enough quantities, they're said to discourage slugs!

Beanie - it would be very exceptional round here for bark chippings to blow away (especially the size of mine, quite frankly!)  these ones in particular are in the leeward side of the new fence, so they should be fine.  But thank you!

I did more work at the back of the garden - ivy pruning, and moving slate chips from under the kitchen window where I so carefully placed them.  They don't work there, it needs to be smoothed out so it can be used as patio, not something to be avoided.  Learning by doing, thats all.