The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

Softstuff, please can you and GQ come and stay at mine soon? I really could do with some help in the garden...

Like you I have found builders I trust. As I work from home I'm around for them to check/query things with. We discuss things, look at options and agree what's happening. I know they know how to do the job, so I tell them what the outcome is I want. If there are different ways to do it, they talk me through them and explain the implications of the options.

I also move things out of their way, and regularly remind them about the need to use dust sheets... the plumber is really really good about being clean and tidy. The rest of them aren't so good... But they have done a fantastic job. Having said that, I've just opened the bill from the last phase of work and need a little lie down!

Planning for the next phase is starting. Which will be messy as I need oil and gas lines put in to the kitchen for an Aga and a calor gas hob. Which means making a channel in the concrete floor...

I'm also still waiting for the electrician to come back and install a programmer for the heating/hot water as it now has more zones. And I'm hoping to connect the electric underfloor heating into it.

I think I might have to borrow some money to get the kitchen done by Christmas. But the builder is currently off looking at some granite that is being thrown out by someone replacing their old kitchen. I'm hopeful he'll be able to find most of what I need reclaimed from other customers which will minimise the cost. Then again, the kitchen needs a new floor and ceiling, the old door to the hall blocking up and the utility room door reversing as well as all the electrics and plumbing dealing with. Oh. And an aga, hob, oven and extractor fitting and a FF buying (I'm hoping to get a good deal on something with cosmetic damage).

I think I might need to ask for a new washing machine and dryer for Christmas as they will be 16 years old in November and occasionally scare me into thinking they're not going to work.

I had planned to leave the kitchen for a while and do the cheaper downstairs stuff first but realistically a kitchen will have most impact on my quality of life. I'll be able to cook properly again! (If I can remember how).

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

'Lo MONNA isn't it a wonderful day? I've got washing dry and back in the airing cupboard before lunch and have washed a single duvet which will certainly be dry before supper time, just love days like this. Just been for a walk with Cookie and Oh the roses in bloom in the village today, every colour and type you can imagine from tiny patio bushes to rampant climbers just covered in flowers and BEAUTIFUL! and bees everywhere just doing what bees do, I love to hear them while they're at work, particularly when they go inside the foxglove flowers in the garden and seem to be buzzing in a looooooong tunnel and then they pop out backwards covered in pollen, sweet! Hope you're enjoying your peaceful week and not spending ALL of it sorting and clearing, ENJOY THE SUNSHINE!!!!! Lyn xxx.

What a lovely image Lyn, I can just see those bees

We had a happy surprise the other day; we'd bought two "Flanders Poppy" plants in 2014, and to our disappointment they didn't seem to "take" very well and soon died. But two years on, they have suddenly come up and are flowering beautifully :j There wasn't a sign of them last year! And the hollyhock our neighbour gave us from her garden is in bud for the first time.
The roses are coming out too, and the peony, which kindly seeded itself in our garden several years ago.
The ants seem to love the peony buds; they must be covered in a sweet-smelling sap or something I suppose! The ants don't seem to eat the actual flowers though, luckily.

The Michaelmas daisies have sprung up like mad in the front border, and I've had to cut some of them down as they were choking the lavender. The bees will be glad when they are in flower though

We had some sun yesterday, but then it descended into heavy thundery showers. Better today though

Sending gentle hugs to MrsLW on this sad anniversary. Hope you and he who knows are coping ok today and that you can focus on all the fun you had with your fur face xx

Aw Lyn, so sorry I hadn't realised. I can't belong it's been that long, has it really been a year? Time seems to have flown by. Thinking of you both xx

I am so glad our cat isn't here any more, he would have been so confused and anxious about the building work over the road where there used to be trees under which he'd curl up for a snooze.

And Ize avent gon iver. I is inanother puppy called Jet.


Jet has a new "baby" brother. I took my mum for a walk last week and found a dog dumped in the middle of the turning circle for the tankers going to the waterworks. It was wet through, covered in wee and poo with big blobs hanging, couldn't stand and it's legs were stained wee and poo colour. It was also holding up a poorly paw.


Picked it up, took to vets who didn't know if it was too far gone to survive. I took it home and fed it every 2 hours. Had to advertise it for 7 days to make it legal. He had been kept in a very small cage and had never stood up. His paws were like babies, all soft.


I now have a bouncing "probably" 10 month old slightly mutated border collie as well as jet. It is legally mine as he is now chipped/insured/jabbed etc. One week on he is bouncing off the walls with Jet and can walk (nearly) properly.


That is one side of human nature that l deplore. On the other hand, the doggy people up the field have been lovely. One doggy's mummy, who has never met me as she is disabled and can't go there, has sent him some money to get chipped. Another doggy's mummy and daddy knocked on the door with a giant bag of biscuits and some doggy food. They got severely puppied.


Jane