Watty's Awakening

badmemory

So glad to hear there was no sign of limping, that must be a massive relief.

savingholmes

Glad you had fun riding your horse and that his and your skills were shown off to good effect. 

Watty1

More bird talk: some sparrows are nesting in the hedge just outside the office window. The feral is beside herself. She sits on the windowsill with her teeth chattering and furious little growls coming out of her and her tail thrashing.  I am glad she is an indoor cat as I am sure there would be carnage out there if she were to get out.

Watty1

This morning the house is warm, the water hot and there was just me and the animals.  This might not sound like a lot but after all the cold it was most welcome to have a peaceful warm house with hot water.  I've managed to shower and wash my hair, find "product" amongst the chaos to use on me and my hair and have clean clothes. 

The tatty grey fleece I've worn for most of the renovation has been decluttered to the bin and i am wearing a very lovely bright red/pink the VNM found on bay of E.  It was brand new with tags and apparently so cheap he felt sorry for the seller and sent a donation to charity.  I love it and this morning was a rich reminder of how clothes and a little self care really lift the mood.  

beanielou

That sounds perfect. The new fleece sounds great. 

badmemory

Talking about birds.  I spent some time yesterday watching a local cat on my path.  It was sitting there staring something out as they do.  Then one of the other local cats would come strolling passed & the one on the path would wander nonchalently away as if to say nothing to see here just passing through.  Then come back.  It was quite windy so whatever it was moved from time to time.  Eventually after it had pawed it a few times the cat moved to the top of the bins still totally focused.  It was a light blue eggshell with about a third missing.  I checked back where it had come from & couldn't see anything, so no idea why the cat was so interested but I suspect it must not have been there long.  Their behaviour can be fascinating.

Watty1

@badmemory i do love cat watching, they are fascinating.  Madam Feral here has spent another day imprisoned in the office whilst people work on the house. She is furious about this naturally.

The repointing has been done and the damaged bricks sorted, the soffit and fascia is now nicely painted white and the windows are all painted. The front door surround has been stained to match the windows and my office has been checked for damp and is fine because to my surprise there was some plastic sheeting between the two walls and this has now been sealed.  Little things but all add up.   Snagging on Monday, with the final coat on the door and the hallway wall and one of the windows that was weathered and so needs another coat.

We had a discussion about two painted concrete windowsills which were painted many years ago and the paint flaking off. I wanted the paint sanded off or stripped off but it seems that is not a workable option.   This means painting all the concrete sills (there are another 4 which are raw concrete) which I am not keen to do or leaving as is.  I'm thinking that over and that then led to a discussion about what to to with "the front".   

Many years ago "the front" had the grass taken up because I was fed up with the mud the very first winter we were here and some slate put down on top of a membrane and hardcore. Over time this has disintegrated and now it is a mess. The front of the house looks lovely and the discussion centred around options.  I'd like it put back to grass but grass on those grids you can drive on because that would suit the rural property.

The builder has suggested block paving it and gave me a rough price which was sticker shock but it is a very large area, say 14 by 10 metres  (It will easily take 8 cars).  Or maybe concrete. I'm not keen because that seems very "townie" 

The VNM was here and sensibly pointed out that I need to do something to improve the look. I'm not sure what though.  Ideas welcome because you have all had sensible thoughts in the past.

Slinky

We put down block paving in our previous house. It gets dirty and weeds come up between the blocks, however well they are laid. We had it pressure washed and sealed, to be honest the sealing was an expensive waste of money. We had it pressure washed before putting it up for sale and it did help a lot with the kerb appeal, but it doesn't stay clean for long.

In our current house there's a nasty broken concrete drive. We're waiting on a date to have it replaced by tarmac as the neatest option in our circumstances. We did think about having a bound resin drive but ours has quite a slope on it, and they can be slippy when icy.

PennysIntoPounds

Grass on grids sounds good. That is a big space, could you just have big work done on bits that are used for cars and turn the rest into a wildflower garden with a winding path through it? And a little space to take out a chair to read and admire it?
Or have planters/containers with herbs/rocket/spuds/flowers in, strategically placed in a rustic manner?
Or maybe some sort of shed would take up a fair bit of the space and give you more storage options?
What a thoroughly nice quandry to have, enjoy your ponderings 😊

badmemory

Showing my ignorance here, but isn't there a concrete type thing that is imprinted to look like block paving.  Very technical language there obviously!