Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles · 14 July 2019 at 9:30PM

It's been a productive day even though I slept through half of it :eek:

Mr F woke me at 4 am getting up to open a window. Then FDawg started whining at 5 am so I had to get up in case it turned into barking and woke our guests

Mr F got up at 8 am so I left him to walk FDawg and went back to bed. I woke up 4 hours later :eek:

Mr F did check out for our guests. They left some really nice comments in our guest book so I'm hopeful we'll get a good official review. They did suggest we provide more detailed instructions for one of the local walks we left a map for as they'd got lost :rotfl: I hope they managed to get home ok today :rotfl:

We all went to the garden centre this afternoon (FDawg's first visit there). We bought some canes and netting to protect the blackcurrants from the birds, a few posts for staking some leaning trees and a couple of plants to revive the entrance to the annex. £86 :eek: And that was with my members' discount.

I picked some pinkcurrants which I'll make gin with tomorrow, raspberries which are currently being frozen and some new potatoes. We've certainly met our goal of growing more of our own produce this year. Also got some pruning and weeding done which was well overdue.

Lunch was a blue cheese and grape salad made with lettuce from the veg patch. Supper was Penne with Halloumi & Cherry Tomatoes - nom, nom

Builder man is coming to start the drive repair tomorrow. He'll be scraping up all the old gravel. Mr F is under strict instructions to keep the windows and doors closed as I expect it will be dusty work. Fortunately I have plans to be out for the day so I'm hoping the worst of the work will be done before I get home.

This morning's long lay in has made me realise just how sleep deprived I am at the moment. FDawg has been waking us up between 5 and 6 most mornings

I'm wondering if he is hungry so tonight we gave him a later supper and will see if that makes any difference. I've also realised that we are spending a lot of money on treats for him. This is mainly to help keep him occupied during the day. However, there are cheaper ways of doing this so I today I bought a couple of feeding activity toys we can use with his regular feed. He already has a couple (which I'd forgotten about) but these are too noisy and heavy to be used indoors. I've washed them out today ready to start using again while the weather is fine. He'll still get treats now and then but not every day. Don't feel too sorry for him - he's been helping out with the raspberry glut :rotfl:

I've just a couple of small chores to get done before bed and then it's an early night for me just in case FDawg's later supper doesn't have the desired effect.

Hope you've all had a good weekend.

Fortune x

in_need_of_direction · 15 July 2019 at 8:48AM

Our dog eats raspberries off the cane.

Fortune_Smiles · 15 July 2019 at 9:15PM

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Our dog eats raspberries off the cane.

I'm sure FDawg would do that too if he could get into the fruit cage :rotfl: My neighbours' dog truffles all their strawberries :rotfl:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles · 15 July 2019 at 9:37PM

FDawg woke us a little later this morning and went back to sleep quickly when we told him to be quiet. Is a later supper time working? I think we will have to wait and see.

His new feeder toys arrived today and we tried one out - the snuffle mat

FDawg was ambivalent about it until he realised it was a food game - then he loved it :rotfl: Tomorrow we will try out his treat ball.

I had a lovely day out today in the big town to the south. Met up with some of my favourite people and had lunch out courtesy of some T£$c0 vouchers. Also picked up several items on my shopping list which I hadn't bought on line as I didn't want to pay the delivery costs. Some were in the sales as well

When I got home the builder had left for the day and the place looked quite tidy (I had expected it to look like the Somme

). All was calm and quiet

My windows are filthy though and there will be more noise and mess tomorrow as rolling will commence. I hate having any work done around the house - it upsets my equilibrium :rotfl:

Tonight's supper was leftover Halloumi and Cherry Tomato Penne so I didn't have to do any cooking. I spent the time saved making the pink currant gin

I'm not sure what to get done tomorrow. The Annex will need turning over as we have guests arriving Saturday but I don't want to be in and out of there when all the dust is flying about. I have a few loads of washing that need doing but can only do what I can get dry in the house at the moment. There's plenty of other housework outstanding so I'm sure I'll find something to keep myself occupied.

What I must do is call the garage as my car tyre is still slowly deflating. Also the Council as the refuse trucks currently turn around on our drive and they won't be able to do that this week. Plus I want to know what will happen if they cause any damage in the future.

Off to bed soon. I've been so much more productive today having caught up on some sleep. It's made an enormous difference. And just in case FDawg's later supper time doesn't have the desired effect, it's an early night for me.

Sleep tight all

Fortune x

beanielou · 15 July 2019 at 9:46PM

Sleep well & long

teapot2 · 16 July 2019 at 9:33AM

Hope Fdawg's new regime is effective longer term and helps with your sleep.

Its so disruptive having work done in the house but worth it when its finished. Glad you had a good day yesterday with some bargains thrown in.

The refuse lorries round here are huge and very heavy - would they potentially damage your drive do you think?

Fortune_Smiles · 16 July 2019 at 8:37PM

beanielou wrote: »

Sleep well & long

teapot2 wrote: »

Hope Fdawg's new regime is effective longer term and helps with your sleep.

Its so disruptive having work done in the house but worth it when its finished. Glad you had a good day yesterday with some bargains thrown in.

The refuse lorries round here are huge and very heavy - would they potentially damage your drive do you think?

Thanks guys - I think further experimenting is required but here certainly seems to be some improvement with FDawg.

The refuse lorries may cause some damage Teapot so I'm looking into that.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles · 16 July 2019 at 9:03PM

There does seem to be a little improvement in FDawg's sleeping patterns. He is still waking up around 5 am which I think is to alert us to the imminent danger posed by our resident Jackdaws who like to tap dance on the roof and argue loudly at that time. We are used to it and sleep through but FDawg must feel they pose some risk we should be made aware of

We call down to say we're safe and unmolested and he quietens down. He then sleeps through and only whines again if we sleep past our usual alarm call. It's a little too early to say but the later supper does seem to be making a difference so we'll carry on with it. As the mornings become darker the Jackdaw cabaret should start later and we might get to sleep right through. Here's hoping.

Well I needn't have worried about how to fill my day today. I discovered that, in my absence yesterday, Mr F had asked the builder to dump some of the old drive gravel into our courtyard. He thought we should use it to patch up the surface in there. Good idea in theory only our wheelbarrow is broken so we would have to spread this couple of tons with a bucket :eek: And I'd been put on first shift :eek: It's been a very noisy and dusty day :rotfl:

The builders should finish tomorrow :j and I can see that the drive and patio will look fabulous. Can't wait to get back to normal though.

I called the car dealer and booked my car in for the wheel repair. Also the Council to talk through the possibility that the refuse trucks will damage our drive. The contractor they use want me to give them an idea of potential costs. I'll try and find that out tomorrow.

Lunch was pitta filled with tuna, spring onion, sweetcorn and mayonnaise. Supper was Chorizo, New Potato & Haddock One-Pot made with potatoes from the veg patch

I also picked more raspberries.

I'm off for a badly needed shower now :rotfl:

Night, night

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles · 18 July 2019 at 10:53AM

FDawg slept through :j:j:j I'm really surprised as Mr F left for a business trip last night and FDawg is always a bit needy the first night he leaves. Let's see if it lasts.

The builders didn't finish yesterday and may not finish today

I've asked them to get all the dusty work done first so that I can at least get in to the Annex tomorrow and turn it over ready for our guests arriving on Saturday. Our original plan for the patio was to dig out just those pieces of old mortar that were loose and re-point. However, it turns out that about 90% of the mortar was loose and the remainder isn't in great condition. We've agreed to take out all the old mortar and re-point the lot. It's extra work and, therefore, extra cost but it makes sense to have it done properly now rather than have to call the builders back to make further repairs at a later stage. It'll be an extra £250 which I'll take from the emergency fund.

The refuse collectors will have to reverse down part of our lane today to collect the bins. If it works out ok they may decide to do that in future rather than come on to our drive. The grocery shop is being delivered but not until after 5.00 pm so, hopefully, the drive will be clear of machinery by then.

Meals yesterday were of the quick and easy variety - prawn salad with lettuce from the garden and fish and chips from the freezer.

The drive is looking good but I can't wait for the work to be done now. One more day and the worst will be over.

Nearly the weekend.

Fortune x

Karmacat · 18 July 2019 at 11:37AM

I've just added repointing/ relaying the patio to the jobs list. Hope yours goes well.

Tales from The Shire

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