Find the SecondStar and soar, and then straight on till the morning…

SecondStar

Got a copy of my deed, which was useless as far as boundary responsibilities go - just a fat red line around my property, so looks like we’ll do 50/50 to get it done and dusted.

Landlord’s contractor quoted a whopping £525 to replace 4 upright posts, postcrete them in, and rehang the 2 panels. My partner was appalled, and said he would do it for the cost of materials instead to save me some money. I’ve asked if he can write something up as an invoice, so I can pitch it to the landlord and see how that goes. Surely everyone wants things cheaper, and it’s a simple job. It makes sense for me to obtain my own ‘quotes’ too, since it’s 50/50.



NI just got upgraded to a red warning for wind, ahead of Storm Eowyn tomorrow. I hope I don’t lose anymore fence posts, and that my roof keeps out the Weather. We’ve never had a red warning for wind before, ever, and it’s covering the whole island. It’s very worrisome.

I’m working at home today, so once I’m finished I’ll go out and bring any loose items into the kitchen - plant pots, stepladder, patio chairs, etc. It’s not ideal, but I’ve nowhere outdoors to store or lash things down outside, so they’ll need to come in.

Speaking of coming in, I’ve also decided to catch and bring my rabbit inside this time. I had him outside during Storm Darragh, and secured the tarp down with extra weights and ties, but it wasn’t a comfortable experience for either of us. He isn’t particularly tame, but he’ll be safer indoors - this is going to be a much bigger storm, and I can set up the extra large dog crate for him and he’ll be just fine.

Wishing I’d asked if my partner could bring up the gas camping stove we use when we’re at events, but will just have to hope that the power stays on!



I got a flimsy bird feeding stand last year which likes to fall over more than remain upright, but I filled up the seed feeders yesterday and got 8 sparrows, several starlings, and 2 bluetits(!) visiting!

We have lots of gulls, and a huge family of rooks who live locally, but you don’t often see the small birds. Our housing area is at the edge of the village, and butts against fields and farmland, so I’m sure there are small birds nearby, just maybe not many. It felt really lovely to help encourage them.



As far as birds go, I would love for my garden plans to include chickens - Pekin bantams, specifically.

The 5 bullet points in my last post are still the priority to get organised first, but I’ve a spot by the back door which may be earmarked for a chook enclosure in the future!

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Crikey, what a day.

I didn’t get any long standing power cuts, thank goodness, although the power kept cutting in and out which made working very unreliable and so I got stood down and marked as special leave for the day.

1 short fence panel, and 1 double length one have come down. The double one has fallen across our shared alley, and it’s too heavy for me to lift by myself, so I’ll need to ask one of the neighbours for help with it. That makes 4 panels down. Lots of my other uprights were compromised during the last storm, and had been temporarily shored up. These seem to have held, thank goodness, but the whole fence line needs urgently repaired. There’s maybe 10 uprights to replace, so I may take a day off next week to help my partner with the work, it’ll be a big job.

My rabbit’s run has taken another beating too. It gave 7 years of good service when we lived inland, but 18 months on the coast has it in shambles. It’ll be top priority to build him a new run, after essential fence work is done. For now, he’ll be spending another day inside until I can make it safe for him to go back out again.

My partner and his parents haven’t had power or phone lines all day, and contact has been very sporadic. They lost their beautiful, huge chestnut tree, which also took down some cabling on the property - not sure if it was power or phone. Something must’ve been watching over them though - the tree snapped part way down the trunk, and if it had been any further down it would’ve hit the house. It was short maybe 2m.

Not sure if they’ve had any other damage, and I’ve not been able to get through to them.

I had been due to work my 2nd job tomorrow, but the site is closed due to damage. I’ll take the opportunity to liaise with my partner about repairs to both properties, and to fix up my rabbit’s run. If I thought he could do-exist peacefully with my cat, I’d just keep him inside! Unfortunately though he’s not very tame, and being indoors is stressful for him. He’s currently set up in a large crate in my porch, which is the coldest part of the house, so he doesn’t acclimatise to the heating and lose his winter coat.

All in all, it definitely could’ve been much much worse. If we hadn’t shored the fence, then I’m certain the whole thing would’ve gone over.

It’s so difficult to know that you’re essentially powerless against things like this. That there’s only so much you can do ahead of time, and then you just have to hope that the damage isn’t too great.

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I got out yesterday to collect new fence posts - like the rest of the world apparently, the builder’s yard was packed! - and found out that I can fit 8ft lengths into my tiny city car, which is very helpful and good to know. I also got my rabbit’s run repaired, it’s all been lashed together with cable ties and prayers, and has a new tarp over it. I’m drawing up plans for a new run as we speak.

My partner and I were up bright and early this morning. We got 4 new upright posts put in, and rehung the panels which came down on Friday. There is still the dividing fence line, and the rear fences on both mine and the neighbour’s side to do, but we need the landlord’s agreement before doing any work. The landlord’s contractor quoted £525 for the work! To replace 6 uprights and rehang 2 panels! Robbery. I bought today’s materials for £50, and it took the two of us about 3 hours.

The rain and wind started lashing again at around 1pm, and hasn’t stopped, with more high winds to come on Tuesday. Partner’s parents have been told 1 week - 10 days before the power is back on. I suggested he stay here, but it’s a 2 hour commute to his work which isn’t sustainable. Instead he got plied with hot food and drinks, a long hot shower, and has headed off back home with my fully charged power banks.

Hoping to goodness for no more damage! Partner will be back up tomorrow night, and if we get agreement then we’ll do the dividing fence on Tuesday. I desperately want my boundary back in place, it’s felt very unsettling having that compromised. Once the fence is back up then it can be scrubbed down and re-stained, and we can move to building the rabbit run, and then onto other hard landscaping.

Lots of our friends are also still without power and / or have lots of damage done. We’re all meeting up on Saturday to divvy up help and to begin the larger repairs.

SecondStar

We made it through January! Payday seemed like a very long way off.

With today’s pay, I’m just over £700 / £1,000 towards my pet emergency fund, which I’m very satisfied with.

I couldn’t put as much as I would’ve liked towards it, as I’ve decided to start buying my cat’s meds in 6 month quantities again. For the last year I’ve had to buy her meds from the vets as they weren’t available online, but they’ve recently become in stock again. This means buying written prescriptions from the vets, and ordering online - each script gets you 6 months of meds.

When I did this for my dog I could only afford 1 month of meds at a time, and trying to coordinate ordering in time before running out, and ordering in line with the dates on each script, used to take so much effort and brain power. This time I’m going to cut that out and order all the 6 months worth in one go, and then save for the next lot over the next 6 months. 

SecondStar

Dividing fence is still down, but is on the list.

We’ve started digging over the area for the new rabbit run - when I moved in it was an 3 x 2m empty area of wood chipping on top of cheap thin plastic weed membrane. After a year of neglect it had been taken over by bindweed, and last autumn I lay some carpet down to kill off the weeds over the winter. It’s mostly done the job, and so now we need to dig out the weeds, and lift the chips and old membrane out.

Once the ground is cleared down to the top soil, we can dig out a bit further and then put new membrane down, level it with sand and then either concrete some flags in, or pour a concrete base, for the run to stand on. The sand, flags, and timber will come from the builder’s yard, and we can use 10ft and 6ft lengths for the space, to minimise the cuts needed.

A trip to Homebase this afternoon gave us 2 6m rolls of wire mesh for 40% off, along with the hose that I’ve had my eye on since my last one died, fresh weed membrane, plus 15m of woven willow border edging which I’ve been dying for but couldn’t justify purchasing when there was still so much essential work in the garden to be done first. £165 all together which my partner balked at a little, until I explained that I’ve been setting aside money each month specifically for the house / garden / DIY projects I want to do, and that this was affordable without compromising anything.

Nothing that I bought today was an impulse, it was all things which have been considered, planned for, or wanted and then saved up to afford. Nothing was spur of the moment which will come with regrets.



On that same note, I’ve been wanting to buy a good quality set of 100% merino wool thermals since last autumn. I’ve been muddling through with a combination of pure wool tights, and man-made thermal tops, but I’ve been uncomfortable and unsatisfied. I’ve been researching to find the best product for the lowest price and the brand that I settled on, and have been wanting to buy from for a few months, has a 25% sale this weekend, so I’ll be placing my order.

It’s incredibly rare that I buy any clothing brand new anymore, and secondhand I’ve got far more particular as well. I’ve also been saving into a small clothing allowance, so I won’t be pinching from elsewhere to buy these. They’ll be used under my clothing at my second job, as well as under my reenactment clothing at cold events, under my mucky clothes for working outside, and to layer under the dresses and skirts I’ve been wearing to the office lately.



Partner’s electric finally came back on yesterday! There are still some places with no power which is awful, but they were very pleased to get the lights back on and get back to normal. 

I have an interview tomorrow! It’s a temporary, part-time, internal role with my 2nd job - it would be 2 days a week, for about 3 months. It was advertised back before Christmas, but they’re only getting around to interviewing for it now. It’s within a particular specialist area of a department which would be right up my street, both academically and personally.

If it’s only going to be a 3 month post, I would ask my primary employer if I’m able to go part time to accommodate. Still lots of question marks about whether it would be doable, and that’s even if I’m offered the role! But it would suit me well, and I would be good at it, so there’s no harm in approaching the interview positively.

SecondStar

The interview went well, right up until the very end when they told me that the 2 days of work wouldn’t be the same days each week, and they couldn’t tell me what days they would fall on, the only reason I had applied was because the advert very clearly stated - in bold underline, no less! - that the days were fixed and would not / could not be changed. It felt like such a waste of time not to inform applicants of such a major change to the job description.

I’m still annoyed at the waste of an annual leave day, but when I got home I ordered my cats prescriptions, arranged for the council to come and remove my old double mattress, deep cleaned the bathroom, aaaaannnddd… found out the my partner’s sister and her husband have had their first child!

A beautiful little boy, who was so keen to meet his parents that he came 4 weeks early! Mother and baby are both well, and we’ll be meeting the newbie once they’re all home and settled, and open for visitors. 

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So not only was the job role not as advertised, I also didn’t get it! To add insult to injury, I was told via WhatsApp *voice note*.

I’ve just about gotten over being completely stunned at the sheer level of unprofessionalism, I’ve never come across anything like that before. Wild.

I took this secondary employment on really more as a hobby and to make friends, but it has been a string of disappointments so far. I’m glad I don’t rely on it to pay my bills - it’s a real ‘don’t meet your heroes’ thing!



The mattress has been removed from the garden, revealing an area which I would love to eventually be a chicken coop and enclosure. That’s getting ahead of myself though! For now, I’ll be keeping it clear and weed free - digging out the matching area for the rabbit run is adding years to my back.

I’ve got about 2/3rds of the groundwork done for the run - wood chips and old membrane lifted, weeds and roots lifted, soil dug and turned to a couple of inches, and roughly levelled. There’s still the back corner to do, but I’ve run out of wheelie bin space again.

Jobs are starting to back up - the lovely willow border edging I got is still in my car, because I don’t have room in the shed to store them. And I need the car empty, so that I can do dump runs for things in the shed!

The next in-house thing which has to be done is boarding the loft. That way I can remove the bottom most shed layer into the roof space - boxes from when I moved, which got stacked into the shed and promptly ignored for 18 months.

I hate going up the ladder, but I’ll maybe have a go at starting that on Saturday and then my partner can give me a hand to finish up on Sunday. Once the non-shed bits are out of the shed, it’ll be a much easier environment to work in. We might even be able to move the shed down the garden at the same time as we’re laying slabs for the rabbit run, which would be great.

SecondStar

Busy, productive weekend!

I was up bright and early on Saturday, collected my cat’s 2nd prescription, bought my partner’s valentines gifts (a matching pair of fancy pens), and then took a run to B&Q to get loft legs and boards. It’ll take some getting used to, going to B&Q rather than Homebase, but that’s a post for another time.

Back home I dressed head to toe in rough working clothes, and forced myself up into the attic. It’s a bungalow, and it’s a tight fit up there at the best of times. Once I began to roll the new insulation back, I could see where I needed to work - a few YouTube videos had shown the best was to pre-drill and load screws into the loft legs before taking them up, to save faffing about in the attic. After the first few sets of legs and boards, I was getting the hang of it.

6 hours later, and the majority of the centre space is now leg’d and boarded! By the end my hands and arms were so sore I couldn’t hold the drill, and every part of me was itching with insulation. All of my body still aches, I didn’t sleep well for being so sore!

My partner helped me finish off this morning - he cut the last few boards which needed to be in halves, and then passed me the things which needed to go back up. After that, we stripped everything out of the shed and put things destined for the attic up on the new boards - and there’s still room up there! The shed got swept out and cleaned, my partner built in 2 shelves out of scrap wood, and put up a row of cup hooks to hang all of my garden tools neatly.

There are still some items which have been out back in for now, until they can be sold or donated, but you can actually walk into the shed again, and everything is neat and tidy. It feels wonderful to know that the attic is properly boarded, and that the shed only has shed-things in it now, it’s such a weight off my mind.



Partner also made more headway into the rabbit run area - there was a shrub which put up a fight, but has now been taken out at the roots, and the old washing line pole which was concreted over 2 feet deep and put up even more of a fight. Now that they’re out, the site is clear to finish up the last of the weeding, and then to be made level ready for the sand.

Lots of very hard work done these past 2 days, but I’m feeling good about it all. I’m especially proud of all the work I did for the attic - it was a good reminder that I am very capable of DIY jobs on my own, and that whilst it’s wonderful to have willing, keen, enthusiastic help; I don’t need to wait for someone to come along and participate, or to do it for me.

I am, as ever, incredibly thankful to have such a kind, generous, partner, who cares about things because he knows that I care about them.

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I had bought 6 packs of loft boards, and 5 boxes of loft legs, for £142. I ended up not using 1 box of legs, and 3 packs of boards, so I’ll be returning them for £57 - means I spent just £85 on boarding the loft and emptying the shed; not bad going!

I’m still being conscious of scouring the free pages, and secondhand market places where possible. I want to keep costs as low as I can, so that I can do the most work for my money. Today I spotted a round bistro table and 2 matching chairs for £20 on fb marketplace - the same set is currently in stores for £60! It’s the same set I planned on buying, and for £20 I wasn’t about to pass it up. It’s only a year old, and in perfect condition.

Did need to buy a new washing line though, so I nipped into Argos and spent £21 on a small rotary airer and a cover for it. The washing line is being moved to the bottom of the garden, which is going to form my utility area with the shed and compost bins; and since my partner forcibly removed the old washing line on Saturday, it was prudent to get a replacement! It’s not quite outdoor drying weather here yet, so I’m still using my tumble drier. But the new line will be dug and concreted in in the next few weeks ready for the good weather.

As of today, I have £369 in my home / DIY pot. I top this up with whatever I earn at my second job, plus a bit at the end of each month from my primary job. I’m hoping that this amount will cover the sublayer, flag stones, and timber for the rabbit run, as well as the repairs needed for the rabbit playhouse.

If we can get nextdoor’s landlord to agree to letting us do the fence repair, it should cover that as well. I’d rather that than split the cost of a contractor, but will have to see.

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It’s ended up being a bit of a spendy morning.

I hiked over to B&Q to return the loft legs and boards, and took a nosey around to familiarise myself. No impulse purchases made! Returns came to £48.10, I’d forgotten that there was discount applied when I purchased.

Then it was off to Homebase with a list - 2 rolls of wire for the run, as I’d miscalculated the first time, and a soil scoop for filling pots. Their sale prices keep coming down, there’s an extra 20% off again. So I also got door knobs for my living room cupboard, which I’ve been meaning to do since it was built; 2 hanging baskets to go with the hooks I got the other week; and a 4-wheeled garden trolley for moving things between the front and back garden, and up and down to the shed.

Everything bar the trolley was covered by my refund amount, and the trolley with discount was only £36 - down from £75 originally.

I also picked up some presents for my partner’s new nephew - 2 books, some muslin cloths, and a cuddly cow toy. It’s all popped into a nice gift bag, along with a card, and I’ll grab a box of chocolates for partner’s sister tomorrow morning before we head over there. 

I’ve overspent on groceries this month - last week I picked up some different types of tofu and falafel to try, which were delicious but which weren’t budgeted for, and veggie / gluten free food isn’t cheap! So I’ve only got £32 till the end of the month, when I usually spend about £30 per week. It’ll be lots of baked potatoes and pasta with cheese sauce, and bringing homemade pancakes in for lunches I think, and the £32 will go on fresh dairy and eggs. 

I’ve got about an hour of light left today, so I’m off to do some more digging!