Riding the wave

Keep_Buggering_On

Further progress on the gate- got the other two joints made, the frame glued and dowelled together and once that's cured, I am going to drive a few screws in as well to make sure it is nice and solid. I am only managing an hour or so straight after breakfast in this heat. Tomorrow I am going to cut the diagonal that stops the gate sagging and fit the slats and then its ready to hang and paint. Money saving went out the window this morning, but it was in a good cause. The house across the road has a plant sale once a year. They foster special needs children and the money goes to pay for them to have a summer holiday with all the right support etc. I went across and came back with a big white daisy thing (with free forget me nots hitching a ride in the pot) and a triffid that will apparently have big lupin like flowers. They are perennials so will last many years. OH lent me £10 out of her shopping budget until I get paid on Thursday. I wasn't planning to buy anything, but the plants are massive and its for a good cause. I will get them in the flower bed tonight when the sun has gone in, along with a big fox-glove that has set up home in a pot in the back garden.

We have a disposable barbeque ready for tea tonight, yes its a cliche, but when the sun is out like this it would be rude not to! We haven't gone mad, but there is a burger each, a sausage each and I got a chicken thigh out of the freezer that I will bone out, chop into pieces and make a chicken/mushroom/pepper skewer for each of us. I have plenty of beers in the fridge and will make OH up some cocktails and we can sit outside and enjoy the weather. I also made sure there were ice pops in the freezer so if the kids hear the ice cream van and start asking for something, they can have one of those instead!

Keep_Buggering_On

Decided to bite the bullet and finish off the gate as the back yard was still shaded. I am very pleased with how it turned out and its certainly solid! All the wood was salvaged out of skips and too useful for firewood so went in my stores. The screws were salvaged the same way, so its not cost a penny so far. I am going to reuse the old hinges, but I might have to buy a new latch as the old one was broke and I don't know if I have one in my workshop (again scavenged from skip wood) or not. Next job is to hang it and make sure it all works, before taking it back off and painting it. The shorter central rung is because I ran out of long bits of wood. When I find a replacement piece I will swap it out to match the others.

beanielou

Good job..

vampirotoothus

Great job and all for free. Well done, enjoy your evening, you deserve it. V x

Keep_Buggering_On

Payday tomorrow and very excited as my first debt will be cleared- its the tiny Klarna one but at least its one paid off! I will then look to shove an extra £50 a month to the PayPal debt to bring that down a little faster. I am having to put a big chunk of money into the holiday fund as we need to pay for the accommodation in July- its £990 and after the vet's bills last month, the holiday fund is currently sitting at £100! OH borrowed £100 to pay for little kitty's injections so that is going back in tomorrow and I am putting in £400 from my wage so that will bring it up to £600 and the rest will come out of June's pay packet. I am going to treat myself to a bookzine on modelling Network South East trains I want tomorrow (£12), but that will be my treat for the month! I am trying to fall back on my resources rather than buying more things I can't afford at the moment- I have loads of books and magazines to read and hundreds of DVDs I need to get around to watching, so the aim is to start working through the stash, rather than adding any more to the pile of things I need to get around to reading/watching!