bunn

That feeling when you've removed 9999 rusty flat-head screws (because of course they are flat-head, so harder to get a grip on) and you prod the thing that should now be easy to remove and realise glumly that it must be either nailed or glued.  Probably both.

*shakes fist*

Still, Theo is being very encouraging by watching wide-eyed and occasionally wagging sympathetically when I tell him how difficult it all is.

After some days of fabulous weather, today we have rain and sweeping gusts of wind stirring Milford Haven into small foamy crests. A good day for being indoors, at least!

I wrote about undercover Romans, walked the dogs many times (Brythen now doing really well off lead, he really is such an easy dog!) watched some Crufts (the Cardigan corgi looked amazingly like Tommy! I wanted the Borzoi to win overall, but alas, was disappointed) decorated a jamjar with twirly polymer clay (no, I don't know why I did this, it seemed like a good idea at the time) watched a quite good science fiction film - Moon -  and did DIY: 

( in which Painting of Walls is carried out, a Painful Lesson is Learned, and a Resolution is made )

The daffodils and camellias are well in bloom, and the primrose-yellow Azalea is over already. I've bought some seeds! They were impulse buys from Morrison's so not exactly carefully-chosen specials but still:
1) california poppies (last year they did so well strewn in the sunny spot along the driveway that I thought I had to give them another go!
2) mixed climbing nasturtians
3) container peppers for the greenhouse
4) basil (am not sure it is possible to grow too much basil...)
5) butternut squash

Now I desperately need to get out there and weed and plant!

Where I live, it's very damp.  It's a river valley and most mornings, the mist comes up off the river before it burns off.   Typically, our weather is damp and kind of warmish in the summer, and damp and kind of coldish in the winter.  It's a perfect environment for things to... grow.  

Our house has rendered painted walls - and all over the walls GREEN THINGS have started growing.  Then slugs and snails have wandered over the GREEN THINGS and made weird little tracks all over the walls.

Last time the house went green, we had it painted. If I remember rightly, the painter cleaned it all beforehand with soapy water with a sponge and a bucket. but then he was a man who thought nothing of whizzing up and down perilously balancing on ladders.

The paint still seems in good condition, so I'm kind of thinking rather than painting again, it would  be nice to just give it a good wash.  But how do you wash a two story house?  I can wash the bottom of it, but how do you get at the top half?

Any cunning ideas or ingenious tips? 

Things done
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Dog occurrances( Read more... )

Things undone ( Read more... )

Our cooker hood stopped working. 
-I checked for possible solutions in the manual
- I looked on the web
- I disassembled the hood and took all the screws out to check for blown fuses and checked the wiring with my electrical screwdriver
- I couldn't work out why there was no electricity going to the thing at all. 
- I thought maybe my screwdriver electrical detector thing was broken so I experimented, and managed to explode it.  Now I need a new screwdriver.

Finally, I took everything out of the cupboards.  And found the sodding switch right at the back of one of them, that had got turned off through inappropriate positioning of the tomato ketchup.

grrrrr.

Spend what seemed like most of yesterday in the loft, fixing the ***** fibre optic ceiling lights for the new bathroom. It is amazing how, after an hour or so, the relief you get from moving from a narrow rafter to a slightly wider piece of wood exceeds the joy produced by most everyday pleasures. I am still cramped all over from crouching over so as not to bump my head on the tarred paper stuff under the tiles.

Though in fact, I didn't spend the whole day in the loft because I did a good walk along the Lynher, and up to the Cadson Bury iron age hill fort. It is two hills over from Hingston Down (where the valiant Cornish were defeated by the villainous men of Wessex. Or possibly where noble King Egbert of Wessex overcame a dastardly confederation of Cornishmen and Viking mercenaries, depending). I have a (so far as I know wholly unsubstantiated) theory that the valiant (or villainous) Cornish rallied at Cadsonbury before marching East along the Tamar Valley to Hingston Down.