And one step back

 Up and out on time this morning, just after 8am, to take cardboard, a bag of green waste ( brambles), the old ripped polytunnel covers and a "dead" vacuum cleaner and fan heater to the cowp...the tip, or recycling centre.

It is run by a private company for the council.

Unload all that, then fill my four bags with free compost (council bags, £2 each then yours to use again) ..no more than four at a time,  but as many visits as you want. Since lockdown you have to book every visit, but that is no big deal.

It isn't perfect, you do get a certain amount of woody material..and are advised to use it 1:1 with garden soil. I do that, plus using it as one of the layers in the compost heap.

A quick visit to the nearest small town, Cumnock, the home of Kier Hardie, for a small top up shop....

And back to see how Pirate was getting on.

The district nurse yesterday had advised a doctor's phone call...and thankfully the doctor asked him to call by the surgery..verdict, fluid on his lungs.  Not surprising, with a serious bout of pneumonia 70 years ago, plus covid two years ago, plus weather too cold and wet to keep walking after his op....luckily there is an alternative to penicillin (which he can't take)...

Picked up the new meds..we are so fortunate to have a medical centre and a pharmacy in our village, just 200 metres apart.

Then he had a bright idea....lunch out!  The first place in the next village was full....we should have thought before going on to the next place..a garden centre cafe....it wasn't overfull, but he couldn't relax and eat even half...

Back home, him for a nap and me to do some research...which was confirmed by next door's daughter who is a nurse...I am doing the right things!

Then our daily walk, this time IN THE SUNSHINE!!!! and the walk was slow but steady, not painstakingly slow any more.

It does feel like Spring..even if we are heading for a cold snap.

Hopefully I will be able to get out on the garden and be destructive and constructive tomorrow... weather permitting!!

Just ticking along

 Just doing the ordinary things...trying to get a short walk in for Pirate morning and afternoon. Working on his cardio vascular fitness and rebuilding muscle. Use it or lose it comes home at times like this, for both of us.

The weather isn't much help..dreich...damp, cold, and Easterly with a windchill bringing the feel down to freezing.  Which means walks are even shorter!  So having stairs is coming in handy. Ad break on the TV? Up and down stairs once or twice...keeps the circulation going, keeps him feeling warmer! 

One day at a time....and if it ends up being two steps forward and one back....that ends up as one step forward!

Meanwhile I am trying to do jobs for me...starting to clear out the kiln shed, sorting things to go to the cowp, hopefully listing more things on fleabay...in between house sorting...making feel less cluttered as well as decluttering... and increased washing. 

Getting to the town on the bus is a relief..a break from home and from driving!  A good chance to get the car in for a bit more work, getting jobs done bit by bit instead of a huge amount before it's annual MoT test.

We have just watched the final of the Pottery Throwdown Programme.

A worthy winner, but close. Good to see, and inspiration for me as well.

Progress

 

Despite the rain, progress is being made. 

The tender plants are in the kitchen, and we have done half the runway extension.

Then we will be able to have our car right back and on concrete slabs when our friends comes to stay. They both have 23 foot long vans..good thing they don't both come at the same time!!

The workshop extension now has guttering both sides and the water is being directed away from the building. One side goes into an old wheelie bin for now, but there will be water butts both sides next year.

We have had a bucketful of rain overnight and everything is sodden. Luckily today's yellow and orange weather warnings are over on the East of Scotland. Not lucky for them. 

Ta Daa!!!!

 

It was hot...but Fife friend and Pirate started at 8, and our cycling joiner arrived before 10. So nearly all the preparation work was done before he arrived, thankfully.

It isn't the roofing I had planned...but is half the cost....

Plan B....sell lots of work so that we can change it in a couple of years' time!!

Between having plenty of breaks for drinks and cooling down, the window didn't get fitted...but the groundwork has been done, fitting hopefully on Thursday.

Fife friend and Pirate have moved the doors to the front..now it is my turn with the paintbrush!

Meanwhile, I was on catering duty and hold this duty...and have you seen that?????.....

And in between times I lifted the shallots and they are in the polytunnel to dry off, cleaned the earth from the garlic crop, and after a welcome shower of cooling rain (it reached a good 27⁰C today) sowed carrots, beetroot and dwarf french beans.

And the potted rose in the greenhouse looks as if it is doing its job of attracting pollenators to the tomatoes and cucumbers....and the courgette that is lurking at the back!!

Wind

 We worked today inside our conservatent...and the noise was awful..and that and the wind pressure made us both rather grumpy!

By late teatime we had at least painted one doorpost and added four bits of bracing wood...and tidied Pirate's shed a little....

We only opened one corner of the tarp, in case it blew away with the 40 mph gusts!

We have asked a local chippie for a quote for finishing the roof..but he will need restraining with regard to the use of plastic!!....roof only please!! ( Glass is not only too expensive, but wouldn't survive next door's footballs....

At least the roses are beginning to bloom

This is Arthur Bell..and it smells beautifully!

Testing...

 They fit! And we got the doorposts straight!!

They are back in their old place now. The wind has risen again, which we could do without. Retying the tarp was.... interesting!! 

Next job for me is sand and paint the doorposts, but that needs better weather!!

I am glad of the rain, however.  The garden was parched, waterbutts empty and some plants lost. 

Getting there..

 In garden and house!

Hopefully they will be out of there soon!

And in my study...

I stopped...at least the heaps aren't mixed up now!!

More tomorrow....reducing is in order...

Pirate has been talking to my brother who had covid 15 months ago.....he has to avoid being energetic for a couple of months at least....he doesn't see that as good news as he is 83 in July. However he does want to avoid long covid. Patience must be developed!!

Building progress

 No, the bricks at the front ARE level...we measured them! Tablet camera and camera angle, probably!!

You will be glad to know that I am assisting where possible and that he is taking breaks!!

Frosty Morning and progress

 We are having a couple of days of high pressure...sunny days and cold nights!

There has been a little progress on the workshop front, but nothing much to see yet!

It still looks a muddy patch in front of the workshop , but the old pallets have been cleared away and one new one put in their place to give a dry place to stand for now.

Slabs and oggin/windust to go under sand and under the slabs should arrive on Tuesday...

The cost has more than doubled in the past year,   and if you look back to 2016 it has quadrupled since then.... Time to get on with it..and be thankful that we have most of the wood we need!!

Now to get on with selling bike bits and stuff to pay for the roof!!

Gardening.

 We have been away working on a friend's garden...but left ours like this...

I have just had harvested a large box of redcurrants...I would love to have half a dozen bushes like that!! The garlic looks nearly ready, the shallots are not far off. That will give me room to plant the cabbages and celeriac that are doing well in pots.

The tomatoes are starting to set fruit and the cucumber plants are starting to get on with it. The pepper plants are looking hopeful as well. The peas  and broad beans are beginning to fill out...so it's mostly going in the right direction!!

I could so easily use twice as much ground!!

Inky fingers

 Oil based ink gives the best results..but is the devil to remove! 

The reason that printing apprentices were called printers' devils?!

A day for tidying loose ends and starting jobs that have been waiting...

Pirate has started cleaning the next batch of eBay sales items. I might put some clothes on there that I hardly have worn, no point them packing out the wardrobe.

We have a gardening job coming up...not a huge one, but we keep on saying that we won't work there again....it's a nice place to go, however!

Pirate is out for his daily bike ride..then on his return we will be watching track racing from St Petersburg, a world cup meeting moved from Newport in Wales.

Friends are competing in it. So it is good to watch.

tissottracktv.uci.org if you are interested.

Grow, grow.....

 

So far so good...far behind what we would expect, but as weather patterns change we have to work with them.

In the front garden we have a newcomer ....Ladies Smock! In a rough meadow type edge.

In another meadow patch the creamy yellow orchids' leaves are appearing...two places so far. The edge shrubs are coming along..I will try and photograph them tomorrow.

Other news..good news I have bought a secondhand Adana letterpress....brother is to collect it for me, luckily it is not too far from where he lives. I don't think I would trust that to a courier.So I will be able to print the backs of cards without battling with the computer and the printer!!

Bad news but not unexpected.. pirate's PSA count is rising again, which means his prostate cancer is creeping back again. He will be back on the hormone therapy again we think. The next check in three months will decide that, we think.

Positively, we have had seven more years than if he had had no treatment from 2013.

And also the therapy will keep him ok all being well.