A new knee, a birthday and other ramblings.
In June, June was recovering from her knee replacement which was carried out in May. The recovery was more painful than the previous hip replacements and bruising/discolouration was greater. We even managed to get some frequent patient discount this time. Not sure how much more of her that needs replacing before her gender is classified as bionic. She’s defiantly worth more than me on the scrap metal market.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the garden working on the riverside area and generally clearing away weeds that seem to erupt every time I turn my back. I seem to have accumulated lots of shrubs and plants propagated over the winter which needed planting up, besides the hydrangeas and willow cuttings from last year. I can always find some corner or other that needs a bit of greenery and colour. In addition, in planning for next winter, I have built a little log store. It measures about 4m long by 1.4m high and 2m deep. I built it out of pallets for the base and left over treated timber from the river garden steps for the frame. After a bit of gathering, chainsawing and stacking, it is now full. That leaves only one other bulk log stack in the woods, much more manageable than the previous 6! I’ve also purchased a couple of large metal (LBS) cages to store logs while drying out, which are filling up steadily ready for winter.
June picked up a real bargain of some standard lamps for the garden, reduced from £29 to £7 on eBay; we think the seller meant to offer £27, but miss typed. They are Kingfisher brand (B&Q, Screwfix etc) and are 2.7m tall and needed proper fixing and mains cabling with armoured variety for safety. Mind you, it helps if they also supply decent instructions, or at least something that has been pre-read. Added some eWlink modules for remote control either from phone or a key fob. Each light is 33w of leds and with four covering the terrace, patio and greenhouse areas, makes evening strolls safer from trip hazards.
I’ve decided that after 5 years living here, I can safely throw out another skip full of unwanted/hoarded/grandfathers (and fathers) keepsakes/will be worth something one day/just in case bits. Hopefully this will be the last – anything else can get sorted after my days. As time has gone on, priorities have changed and what used to be a prized possession is now a relic from the dim and distant past and fills space needed for working items. I’m going to put a load of electronic development tools on freecycle in the hope someone locally can benefit. It’s too much hassle to sell some stuff on eBay with scammers and charity shops wouldn’t understand the value of evaluation boards and programmers.
I hit the grand old age of 70 in July and we had about 25 friends and family around. I think it was one of the hottest days of the year to date, but we had enough shade to prevent people turning into crisps. It was a lovely day and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with both short and long distance travellers. I think I’ve got enough bottles of alcohol to last till my next birthday. Steve did a sterling job as barman doling out Pimms and Perroni while Margaret had created a sugar crafted John Deere mower to adorn my cake. We tried one of these new fangled “grazing platters”, which looked wonderful, but wasted a lot of food at the end of the day due to the heat. It’s not as if you can roll it up and put it in the fridge. All the hours spent on the garden paid off and looked wonderful on the day.
I’ve been making various garden art items (or objayfart) to add some interest made out of leftover stuff in true Jim (my dad) style, even though it takes a lot to compete with his birdbath conjured from the central agitator from a Hotpoint washing machine. I purchased a small MIG welder to try my hand at metal ornaments. Well it’s a bit like soldering but hotter, so there’s a chance I can master it, we’ll see, if not I know a Dave. My first real attempt was a bracket for the mower to attach a winch that I purchased a while ago. I purchased some scrap steel to practice on, but I thought “why not make something useful” while having a practice. Not a professional finish, but it’s not going to fall apart in a hurry. The bracket is easily removed from the mower with two bolts and looks the part. Wow, I’m now a professional welder – NOT.
Just sitting and thinking of the next project (levelling and reseeding the central area of the woods), I realise how much I’ve learnt over the years and more so in the last 5 years, and how much I’ve forgotten from my decades before. I love living here with June; it’s become a truly relaxing and enjoyable place to reside and with pretty much all the big jobs complete, we can sit back and watch the grass grow and listen to the birds (when motorbikes have ceased screaming past).
Till next time.
