A Busy Bee.

The rain held off today so I have been able to spend plenty of time working outside. I did my usual thing of walking up in the night (I sleep badly these days), and because I had lots of school plans whizzing through my head I ended up getting up at 4.30 to work on the PC. Then I remembered that Peter had plans to give the Rayburn burner a clean which involves turning it off for the day so I put a large chicken (which I had bought reduced yesterday), into the oven at 5.45. After that I decided not to go back to bed and instead did more school work before making an early start outside.

When Peter eventually dismantled the Rayburn burner he was absolutely furious with the man we had called in last time when Peter's wrists were too bad for him to do the job himself. We used a local firm who are normally very good but an older chap came and apparently did a really bad job which caused damage to the burner. He cut the wicks too long and folded them instead of cutting the right shape. This allowed the flame to get down into the burner tray and the pipes clogging them up with carbon (solid soot). Luckily Peter got someone at his firm to make some tailored tools that can be fitted into a drill which made the job of grinding out the carbon a little easier. The chap also bent the oil feed pipe but Peter has sorted that. All these parts would cost hundreds to replace so it is vital to look after them properly.

I planted out more seedlings today, all that is left are the beetroot and the sweet peas which look a little too vulnerable at the moment. This orchid flowered for many weeks last autumn and is now delighting me with a new set of blooms as I sit and add the odd piece to my giant puzzle.