Weather Change.

We've had a change in the weather today. Instead of cool and wet it is now warm and wet. The decorating continues. This morning I did a second coat on all the walls in the room I've been doing. This evening the furniture has gone back and Linas is painting the outside of the door. There's still the ceiling to paint and the window sill but I might wait until next week to do those. Linas has also been painting the door of the room he's working on. Because we hadn't opened the tub of paint for the walls of that room I was able to exchange it for a lighter shade. In the tub it looks very pale but it will dry to a darker pink.

I was teaching for the afternoon while Linas spent some time in town and then it was back home for more decorating.

Chillin' In The Sun.

It has been another bright day, much nicer than yesterday. I had planned to paint some more of the wardrobe but lying in bed I noticed a few holes in the woodwork. So instead I filled those holes and then cleaned and filled all the gaps/dents in the door and frame.
Peter went off to row in the middle of the day so we didn't go out for our usual walk. By the time I was ready to go outside to relax and read the clouds had started to roll in and at times it was quite chilly. I compromised by dressing for both the cold and the sun, bare legs, flip-flops and a sun hat teamed with 2 fleeces and a body warmer. This unusual combination did the trick and I was able to enjoy the feel of the sun on my legs without getting cold. Although I was having an afternoon off I couldn't resist doing some weeding up in the scree garden, mainly of tree seedlings that were springing up all over the place. I'm going to try lots of cuttings directly into the veg plot but the forecast still says there is a possibility of frost so it is a little too early to do that.

Peter's battle with the rayburn continues, this is the longest it has ever taken but although it was alight and burning the temperature wasn't going up because somehow the burner wasn't totally level and the oil wasn't getting to all the wicks. What a stupid antiquated piece of junk it is. Actually this is a modern model but is known to be one of the hardest to maintain. (I've just been called in to look at the small spirit level balanced on top of the burner cage which shows it is not level. This is to prove that my suggestion to use a longer spirit level was useless. Oops.)

A Difficult Day.

It's been a bit of a frustrating day today. Peter turned the rayburn off yet again to reset everything but it is still not running properly. He thinks the problem is with the oil valve which regulates the flow of the oil into the feeder tube and then into the burner cage. The oil valve is incredibly temperamental and only needs the slightest touch to cause it to play up. If it is still no go by tomorrow then we will have to get an expert in but that could be a bill of hundreds. Ouch!

As part of my decorating I thought I should spruce up the cupboards/shelves that are part of our built in wardrobes. So today I assigned myself what I thought was the simple task of wiping down the shelves and painting the back of the cupboard. Hah! First everything had to come off the shelves - I wish I had the strength to dispose of most of the 'stuff' I have accumulated over the years. I mean do I really need to keep the wooden hairbrush I took to boarding school when I was 6? Some things have memories, others are in the 'might be useful one day' category and others are just things I like. The top 2 shelves where I keep my jewellery and where the kettle and morning tea making things are kept do get cleaned fairly regularly but the lower shelves which only house closed storage boxes seem to have been a bit neglected. So there was plenty of scrubbing to do, mostly of tea drip stains. Why are men so messy? Then I discovered I could take out the shelves so next the cupboard was half dismantled and every corner scrubbed to a pristine state. I painted the back wall with emulsion then it seemed silly not to paint the front frame with white gloss paint. Only then did I decide that I should paint all the internal woodwork as well. This involved leaning carefully past the bits I had already painted and trying not to get gloss paint on me. I don't think I organised myself too well today.
Outside it has been dry but cold so there was no major temptation to escape to the garden.

April Showers.

It has been a day of sunshine and April showers. I woke this morning to sun streaming through the window and over the field was a bright rainbow. (It had started to fade by the time I grabbed my camera and ran outside.)

In the morning I met a friend in town for coffee and cheesecake and a good chat. I also bought the magnolia paint I needed for the bedroom walls. Being the time of year when everyone has the urge to decorate there are all sorts of offers and B&Q were selling all paints on a 3 for 2 offer. So I took a chance and grabbed 2 more containers of paint for the spare bedrooms I intend to decorate next. When I got home I found I had managed to match the colours almost exactly.

I hung the second bathroom curtain up on the main washing line then snatched it back in again when we had a small shower. It has now been ironed almost dry and is finishing off over the rayburn. Then I spread out dust sheets in our bedroom and painted 1 wall and some extra bits. I couldn't carry on because I need the small paint spots on the dust sheets to dry before I cover up things on the other side of the room. I also mixed up some bicarb and thick bleach and brushed it on to some of the grout in the bathroom. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this cleaning method works.
Off now to put the bedroom to rights.

Weather Alert.

There was a weather alert this morning for heavy rain and possible flooding so my first job of the day was to go up and build my water diverters across the road and (possibly) dig a little ditch into my neighbour's field. That saves me the backbreaking task of raking up our dirt/gravel drive which slopes down to the house. It has been raining all day and the water has not come pouring down the drive so it obviously worked. So today was a good day to start clearing out cupboards in the kitchen. I started with the pull-out wire baskets which hold cleaning materials as well as anything else that got shoved in there, dogs' leads, saddle soap & hoof pick, chick crumbs and lawn seed. Those wire baskets are not a good storage solution and I have to keep most things in large ice cream tubs. Right now everything has been sorted and washed and is drying on the floor infront of the Rayburn. Hopefully now that I have thrown some stuff away and collated the rest the baskets will be tidier.

24C

The Indian summer continues. At lunchtime the garden thermometer read 24C which is hot, hot, hot for here at any time of the year. A good breeze made the day perfect so at school we made sure that the children had a nice long playtime. Once again we are advising the children to wear sunhats and I set a comical example in my battered canvas sunhat. The man from Sky came this morning to fix our satellite box (which was working again anyway) and said that he had heard several people saying that we are due for dreadful weather (snow!) in October and a really cold winter. Heating is expensive so it will be time to layer up first with all my fluffy tops, joggers, dressing gowns etc. Today at least I rushed home to change into shorts to take advantage of the sun and sat outside polishing brass door handles. A lot of the garden was in shade but the sunny patches were like being at the beach. In some places that had been in shade all day the plants and the ground were still soaking wet.
This morning at last I was able to start painting the downstairs woodwork. It is so satisfying to see the yellowing paintwork transforming into sparkling bright white. It took quite a while especially when some of the door frames are so elaborate. You wouldn't think so to look at them but I counted 13 faces on the frame of the bathroom door. Hopefully I'll get the first coat done on all of them tomorrow, then fill in any gaps that are still glaringly obvious and then I can paint a final coat and put all the door handles back.

As I stood outside admiring the butterflies, several landed in my hair and then this butterfly sat on my t-shirt. Luckily I was holding my camera and was able to get several clear pictures before it eventually flew off.

Warming Up

It has been very warm, humid and by the time I was on my way home, very wet. The black cloud seemed to follow me home so I gave up my plan to do a little garden work. The morning saw 2 sets of doors and frames washed, sandpapered and filled. Just the toilet door and the doors into the sitting room to prepare and then I can get stuck into the satisfying job of painting. I had the tv on in the kitchen and today's property show featured a kitchen with exactly the same wooden cupboards as are in our kitchen. They were described as 'tired' and by the end of the program had been replaced with a more modern kitchen. Apart from being a little old I don't think they look that bad. Our whole place has been looking rather battered, the result of bringing up 3 boys and having numerous pets. I haven't minded the worn farmhouse look and I wasn't going to expend energy on trying to keep the place pristine as that would only have led to rows and stress. But now we hope to sell in a few years time and I am only working part-time I can get the place to a much better standard while dreaming about a new home for the future.