About Me

Saturday 29 March 2014

Saturday 29 March

Back out in the garden today, soaking up the Vitamin D - actually does one soak it up or do we create it when in sunshine?  Anyway, never mind, it felt brilliant.  Classic FM on the radio and hands in dirt, how to make Claire happy :)

Ian got home from ringing a peal around 3pm I guess and joined me for some more clearance.

Here are some photos:

Memories of the "Ladybird Hotels" I used to set up as a child for all my pet ladybirds:


My new clematis (Clematis armandii 'Little White Charm') to climb up this very bare structure:



Pear tree leaves and blossom just about coming out...


I never thought strawberries could be a weed, but they really are here... still, I'll keep enough!


No idea what this is, big waxy leaves and very close to the ground.


Bluebells coming into bud:


I adore my hellebores:






Clearing the veg patch some more (cleared the plants that covered the back of the greenhouse.  Lost a pane of glass in the process (from the apex):


(Just as a reminder, this was how this view looked beforehand:)


And the resulting mess:


Usual view from Bedroom 4:


Tuesday 25 March 2014

Making a mess...

I didn't think it was possible, but I have certainly managed to make the house look worse than it did.  Oh well!

Graham hung lots more radiators the other day, which was great but made me feel guilty AGAIN that I hadn't stripped the wallpaper behind them...  He was very reassuring that it is totally possible to disconnect the pipework and lift them off the walls down the line, but the concept of plumbing is way beyond my tiny brain, so I decided to just get on and do it before the pipes get connected!

So here are the Study, Bedroom 3, and Bedroom 2 yesterday:




And here they are tonight...  ummmmm!




I'm awaiting the return of my super strong hubby from orchestra tonight to re-hang the rads :)

On the positive side, the wallpaper in these three rooms came off like a DREAM so far!  That's not to say it's all perfect, there are a few patches of blistered paint etc, but it's along the same lines as the downstairs loo, compared to the Living Room and Bedroom 1 which are definitely going to need the walls skimming.  

Have a couple of bonus photos:

Landing vent grille off:


Rad in Bedroom 1, along with awful paintwork:



Sunday 23 March 2014

Sunshine and Showers

Today we have done pretty much nothing to the house or garden, but in between the hailstorms I nipped out into the garden to measure up my veg patch for potential raised beds, and took a few snaps of the emerging garden too...












Friday 21 March 2014

Thursday 20 March

Just a little update from yesterday; Graham cut a channel through the concrete hall floor to link the pipework (which route through the ducting and vents) to the hall radiator (on the other side of the hall).

He then concreted the pipework in, which I reckon is pretty brave prior to filling the system, but Graham's like that ;)

One pic:


Wednesday 19 March 2014

Heating begins...

Nothing quite like coming home and finding a radiator on the wall!  I did a genuine double-take, haha!  Very exciting.

This one doesn't have any pipework attached...


Pipework disappearing into part of the existing ducting that runs under the hallway floor - this is where there was a grille as the warm air is still passing through the ducting.


Other end of the pipework leads to the corner of the kitchen where the warm air heater currently is.  I think this will then be boxed in and go up to the first floor then the loft and to the boiler.


Radiator number two in the living room - this one has actual pipes attached which go into the floor.  Seriously exciting!  Again obviously they're not connected to anything at the moment.  


View through the carpet into the ducting again.  No idea why the blog insists on rotating this image!


More anon...


Monday 17 March 2014

Monday 17 March

The western edge of the garden had three huge shrubs on it - a myrtle, a bay and a buddleia.  They were too huge to deal with, really, so we made the decision to take them out.

Before shots, from a month ago:



We decided that this sort of heavy digging was beyond us, so in the interests of our backs, we paid a company to come and do the removal.  They also took out the gnarled buddleia on the other side of the garden.  I wanted to keep it, but the roots were making the soil come up in a mound and I can just replace it with a young one.

NB. This is Ian digging, but he was just digging over the soil to get a last root out, I didn't actually make him do hardcore digging!



This is going to be my veg patch!  Very exciting.  One small snag - the bay hid a large manhole cover.  Potentially for the drains.  Which probably also means pipework runs underneath.  Ugh.  Never simple!  Manhole cover:


View from Bedroom 4:


(They also took away all our garden waste that had piled up for a bit extra money... phew!)

Sunday 16 March 2014

Sunday 16 March 2014

We were away up north with family this weekend, and we had got a good deal on flights so the journey was a lot less arduous than normal!  We landed back in Southampton not long after midday to 16 degree temps (and much warmer in the sun!) Did a Waitrose shop, ate lunch and did some choir admin and then I got out into the garden - bliss!

I actually even put suncream on today as I was a bit worried but the sun started hiding behind the tall tops of the shrubs at the edge of the garden pretty quickly so I needn't have bothered.

Ian came out and helped me with the heavy work - the boy is handy with a garden fork!

So, here goes with the photos...

I'll take any opportunity to get some sun on my skin!


Clearing more of the path round to the left of the garden:







A perfectly-sized hideyhole:








Mr P joining me for a cuppa - we switched mugs, oops!:



A cleared patch of soil:


There is still so much moss and weeds to clear...!


Kerria Japonica:


Three weeks' difference: