Here is this weeks “Sunday” Sevens post, linking up to Natalie to give a snap shot view of how the last week has gone.
Wow how has almost 3 weeks gone by since we last posted! It has been a bit of a whirlwind few weeks and normal activities have taken a bit of a back seat, so here goes a wrap up of the last two weeks up till Monday (3-16th).
We started at our parents house finishing off all the gardening that we had started at the end of the week before.
Cleaning out all the old soil in the front bed down to the depth of Nikki’s knees took quite a lot of effort and many wheelbarrow loads being taken away. The lawn also needed mowing, that compost heap was empty at the start of the day… And how else would you get your compost that is ready out without the aid of a Mattock!
On the drive back from Devon we decided to catch the sunset somewhere on the Jurassic coast so scurried off down little side lanes to end up in the carpark at Durdle door caravan site. It was a lovely if somewhat brisk sunset, but a lovely end to our day, or so we thought!
After arriving in Poole we found out that the nice end to the day that we thought we had had was not going to be the end of the day for us!
When we arrived the flood light didn’t come on *suspicion no1*, no big deal we could have accidentally turned it off. Then the kitchen light didn’t turn on *suspicion no2*, Oh a fuse has gone… Try the hall light, *squelch squelch* *hmm that’s not right, that’s definitely water on that light switch* Uhoh We have a problem…
Queue manic fumbling around lighting the way with our phones to find out what had started leaking, emptying half of the water tank in the attic and then rushing out to get takeaway before everywhere closed for the night…
Thankfully half of the house had light so we had a takeaway curry camped on the Lounge floor and managed to stop the actual drips by removing some of the sodden insulation. The next morning we took up half of the floor coverings to let the place dry out before we hot footed it back to Soton for a going away dinner for a friend of ours that we were hosting!
Once back in Soton Nikki decided that the garden needed “some” work done to it! Lots of large roots were taken out again…
The main section of the garden got quite a makeover whilst Philip had some time off work. (This might get a few extra posts on the whole garden transformation) But the lawn was taken up, including removing the brick paths, relaying the patio, resetting the edging wall and relaying the broken brick paths. All of the soil under the lawn was broken up, and all the roots/stones removed. Lots of use of our Mattock (it seems to be the tool of the fortnight!). Then it was all prepared again ready for re-laying the turf. (This actually happened this week, but shhh!)
The good weather prompted more DIY work and the weird flowery mirror surround that we inherited with the house many years ago has finally got a lick of paint to make it a little more understated. And our under stairs cupboard gained an extra set of wine racks and some more permanent lights which has turned it into some what of a Grotto…i personally think everyone should have their own wine grotto!
Returning to Poole for the Easter weekend we had a bit of a work party and both of the water tanks in the Attic were replaced along with a chunk of the pipework, the fan in the boiler was changed for a new one and the garden got attacked. I think Nikki has a new weapon! Byebye stupidly spikey Yukka-like plant. 🙂 This plant had some serious ‘roots’ thankfully Mum has some cool tools with a saw on a long pole and Pippa’s mattock which seems to have been sharpened nicely (yes we do all have our own personal Mattocks), which also did a very good job on the brambles which have taken over the garden slightly – Thank you Mummy!
During the Easter weekend we took nan out for a drive to Studland and the rest of us had a nice evening walk on the beach, judging by the queue of traffic that we passed waiting for the ferry off of the headland it had been quite busy during the day! And yes that is the best photo that we managed of Ed and Pippa!
Before the Easter closure of all the shops we did a bit of a food shop and picked up some (lots) of reduced food so we had a packaging session utilising the vacuum sealer in anger for the first time. We now have a very well stocked freezers 🙂
And because this wouldn’t be finished without a silly photo here is Nikki standing on the windowsill attempting to work out how to get the overflow pipe out of the soffit as it had been painted inplace so many times that it didn’t want to move at all!
You can click here to see the rest of our Sunday/Monday Sevens posts.
Blimey, not a good end to the day! Have you got a lot of fixing to do now? New water tanks, too – will you be living off baked beans for a while now?! You both obviously love gardening if you can muster up the enthusiasm to do your parents as well as your own – lawn looks great.
Thankfully most of it was done over the easter weekend. So the systems are up and running again (except two radiators bizarrely) just the walls that need re doing now. And always more gardening…