We were up early because the poet was off to the midlands for a week-long business trip. The dog had a mad run around the garden, but then went back to bed. So I did as well. We got up about an hour later and he (the dog!) had another mad run around the garden. I fed the birds, put some washing through, fed the dog, and had breakfast. Once I was dressed, we went for a quick walk around the village.
When we got back, he had another mad run around the garden, but then settled down in the office with me. I finished yesterday’s blog post and published it then started today’s, while I was in the swing and in the program. My first work job of the day was Week 2 of the applied depth workshop.
I did use my new noise-cancelling headphones while I watched the workshop. Because the laptop’s connected to an external monitor, the sound is always quiet on these workshops. But if I plug headphones into the actual laptop, it’s much, much louder. I made sure the dog was settled, he’d been for a walk, he’d had a drink and his breakfast, and he’d had a mad run around the garden. I figured we might be okay for an hour or so.
He did wander around for a bit and keep nuzzling my elbow, but I got through it. And then he wanted to play ball. We played for a bit but then I took the client edit into the living room as well as my workbook for THE HAUNTED HOUSE HOTEL. I didn’t get much work done, though, because I was distracted by a couple of things.
First of all I wanted to see what we could be doing with the garden. It was already overgrown and strewn with rubbish when we got it and we’ve never really got going in it, other than to feed the birds, hang out washing, and cut the grass. During the winter, we had a load of bushes cut down or back, and those are still okay on the front. The poet was able to check them at around 7 feet.
But the ones along the back of the back garden are held together with ivy, brambles and stinging nettles. If we remove the stuff we don’t want, there will be nothing there, and there’s a right of way along a track on the other side of the bushes, and even though it’s private, for the residents that back onto it only, it seems the world and his dog use it.
So we might have to leave the wall of green at the back and work in front of it. If we owned this house, and we still might if the price is right when we’re ready, then we’d put up a new fence with a new but hidden gate. But as we don’t yet own the house, I’m really loath to spend a lot of money on it. I didn’t like having the bushes cut back in the winter!
The first thing we need to do is get rid of the rubbish. We have a lot of broken plastic and broken glass. The greenhouse has entire panels that have smashed or cracked and the stinging nettles are invading that. There may also be a robin’s nest in there, though. We also have large plastic containers, including an old plastic dustbin, filled to the rim with silt. We have to get rid of the silt before we can get rid of the containers.
We need to keep on top of the grass-cutting and the weed-strimming, and we need to keep the bushes and trees at an accessible level. All of that means power tools, and power tools means M.A.N. I don’t mind that at all, particularly as I can’t even lift the lawn mower it’s so heavy.
The only other thing we can think of doing right now is getting rid of the unwanted green. The weeds, the brambles, the ivy that isn’t holding anything else up, the stingers. And then we need to look at what needs saving, what needs splitting, and what’s on its last legs.
Then, and only then, can we start to look at reinstating our portable or kitchen garden. But it’s a lot of work. I bought a book to help with the pruning and the revival. I know a lot of it, but knowing it and doing it are two different things when you look out and feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the job.
Before the end of the day, an interesting email came in from JetPack: They’re bringing back unlimited social sharing… This was something that was always included in the free version. Then they limited it to 30 shares a month. Then I saw that they were possibly getting rid of it completely. There were a lot of complaints and, I believe, a lot of voting with the feet. Perhaps they took a bigger hit to the coffers than they expected.
Today I need to try and get a bit more done. The dog and I are still getting used to each other, but I live in hope.
You did get a lot done. Wow, the garden sounds like a lot of work. Tackle it in increments, I guess?
It’ll be like painting the Forth Bridge – once we finish it, we’ll have to start again. There are some structural issues that I don’t think the owner will want to pay for, but we’re not paying for it either. (e.g. the retaining wall around the terrace/patio has slippage.) I suppose we’ll just have to make the best of what we’ve got, in the time we have.