Hungry Mouths.

We seem to be having alternate wet and dry days. Today was a dry day so I just had to spend the morning weeding up at the scree garden. One advantage of the recent wet weather is that the moss growing on the stones is easy to remove. In places it was like unravelling a bit of knitting, a gentle tug would yield a handful of mossy strands. It was lovely working outside. With the wind roaring through the trees I felt as if I was by the sea especially when the sun was blazing down across my shoulders. But just as I would be thinking about taking off my hoody the sun would go behind the clouds and it would turn quite chilly. While I was working up there my attention was distracted by the sound of a very noisy nest of swallow chicks.

Their nest is built on the eaves in the building at the end of the scree garden. It is in a vulnerable position so I got Romas to move away some stuff that might have provided the cats with a foothold up to the rafters. These chicks make so much noise that I'm sure the cats will soon be aware of them. An earlier brood was raised in another part of the shed which I have cat-proofed by stuffing chicken wire on the ledges making it impossible for the cats to climb up on them.
Fred came and did some more work on the sitting room. Hopefully all the plastering will be done by the end of the week. Eventually my back and my conscience forced me back inside to carry on painting the hall and stairs. I've reached a point where it is better to use a roller so the paint goes on quite quickly but there are so many walls and corners to do. I really want to get the stairs and hall painted before we go on holiday (Saturday - Hooray!), but now that the walls are icing sugar white I really will have to repaint the skirting boards, doors and frames. Only then will I put back the hall carpet and look into replacing the stair carpet. That carpet is so old it is threadbare with holes worn through by the pounding of many large feet. We have a good carpet remnant warehouse in town so I will see if I can find something to match the corridor carpet.