Windy.

This morning's sunshine and brisk winds had me loading towels into the washing machine and planning a day of gentle garden tidying. 

But it was not to be as rain soon arrived and it's been shower after shower all day long. (50mph gusts and 90% chance of rain says the weather forecast.) The towels which I thought would blow dry in a couple of hours are hanging in the utility room and the gardening will have to wait for another day.

I wonder what the weather will be like for the Grand National? I am not a fan of horse racing, not when so many horses end up being shot. I noticed that this morning there was no mention on the radio of one of yesterday's race winners being shot after it was discovered that it had broken its back. That's what they said on the radio when I was listening in the night.

Instead I decided to deal with the large amount of carrots I bought when they were on special offer. I peeled and chopped and blanched and we now have plenty of carrots in the freezer. 

But of course I didn't stop there. Having seen recipes for roasted carrots I thought I'd give that a go too. One recipe called for a honey and olive oil glaze which I made. Another suggested herbs and spices so I added part of a packet of mixed Brazilian barbecue spices and then worried that it was going to be too hot for my delicate palate (almost) and finally I grated Parmesan cheese over the top as suggested by a third recipe. They turned out alright but I'd made too much glaze for the amount of carrots. Rather than waste what was still on the baking tray I then made some roasted potatoes which turned out fine too. We've kept some back in the fridge and the rest are in the freezer.

I'm not the most enthusiastic of cooks and all the washing up afterwards makes me realise why people have dishwashers. Plus I needed to clean the oven which as I'm the only one that does it meant more than just a quick wipe over. I'm afraid there was a lot of internal grumbling by that time.

The grumbling carried on as I turned to the next job. Having bought more sandpaper yesterday there was no reason not to get on with sanding down the knots in the skirting boards and door frames that are bleeding oil into the paint. 

I do have a small electric hand sander but not only is it too big for the job but although it has a bag it would be too messy to use indoors. Instead I have to sand each knot, 13 today, by hand. It's so annoying having to redress an issue caused by sloppy work on the part of our first builder. That's my grumbling over, at least I've got the job started.