13th
The Pit and a John Deere Room
Well, haven’t the last two weeks flown. Half way through February – the bulbs just starting to open and the birds pairing up and viewing their nesting options.
Work started in earnest, or at my pace at least, to clear the mower area or as I recently found out, a “John Deere Room” as its referred to in the USofA. It seems over there it’s an under the house garage with access to the garden at the rear, specifically for your ride-on mower. So now instead of referring to it as the garage with the mower or such, I officially renamed it as the John Deere Room. Will have to check with the council/land registry to see if the deeds need modifying. I found a ladder in the pit and after clearing dust and powdered plywood floor boards, it looks in good condition. It might benefit by having the walls rendered with waterproofing, but at 3.5m long x 1.6m deep x 1m wide, it’s a big job. The pit’s ceiling was quite wet, in fact dripping, but has been open and ventilated for the last few weeks and is starting to look and smell better. I will have to replace the exposed boards that the mower wheels sit on at some time as they are a tad spongy in parts. I’ve ordered some ducting from Screwfix to extract from the rear of the pit and with the aid of a Y piece and a pair of non-return flaps, I can extract through the existing 4″ (100mm) vent in the garage loft. The racks, shelves, clips etc have sorted out most of the wanted items and old tins, plasterboard and other unwanted crud found their way to the tip. Now I wait for the call (and invoice) for the return of the mower. Might even break open a new can of petrol to celebrate.
No further on the lumberjack station due to weather and still undecided on construction materials vs cost. No rush as I cut and split another trailer full last Thursday – a dry day. Finished tidying up just in time for my mother and sister to arrive for coffee. After lunch, Mags and I went on walkabout to survey the garden and bounce ideas for planting, borders etc while June and mum had a natter.
27th
Storms, Old Trousers and a Lake
We were let off lightly with storms Eunuch and Fanny decending on our region. One old tree next door came down and we had a branch fall on our garden lighting cable, oh and a large tree fell into the road about 200 yds away forcing the idiots to slow down from 60 to drive under it – numpties. However, the lesser winds with a yellow warning threw more branches and stuff around than before. I ventured into the garden wearing the added protection of a white safety helmet, just to be extra safe while picking up deadwood.
Back in 2011 when my dad passed away, I acquired a pair of his green padded Rohan (old man’s) trousers which I wore once as they were too big around the waist and not my style; they were confined to the wardrobe. As I come from a long line of hoarders, they never got thrown out, but with the last few dry but cold days, they have come into their own and seem to have shrunk in the wardrobe to fit my trim figure. Style goes out of the window when you need to wrap-up warm, in multiple non-matching layers and a fluorescent jacket. Not only keeping my kidney area warm, but also a bit more protection against thorns whilst gardening. And wow, all those zipped pockets to prevent things falling out – must have a look on eBay.
Talking of which, I ended up with a 2x3m poly tunnel for £135 to use as the log store/lumberjack thing. With the options of £200 ish for a wood and £500 for a steel structure, it seemed the best option for cost, speed of assembly and I picked it up locally. I made a tanalised wood frame, sitting on weed suppressing sheet and back filled the inside with a few inches of compacted grit. The frame was pinned to the ground with 10 x 500 mm rebar rods, but as it’s located in a sheltered spot, it should be safe from winds. Steve came over last Friday to help put on the cover – definitely a two man job.
After Steve left, June suggested a picnic lunch up at the Usk reservoir as the weather was set fine. We headed north via Llandeilo up into the Black Mountains where the roads got narrower and then down to single track with occasional passing places and a cattle grid. I’m sure I heard the sheep humming the dualing banjos music from the film Deliverance as I passed into the county of Powis. The lake supplies water to Swansea and was opened in 1955. We had a tranquil lunch with just the sound of the lapping water and chomping of sandwiches. There is a path all around the reservoir and even though there were about 15 vehicles in the car park by the dam, we only saw a few people. We walked just past the centre of the dam before the flying insect population took an unhealthy fancy to June; I just wonder what it’s like later in the season. I was pleased to get back onto roads wide enough for two vehicles on the return journey, but it was an enjoyable afternoon out after so long staying local and only an hour away. As I write this, I just had a squirrel try to run up the glass on the patio door next to me – it didn’t get very far!!
