Too Much Shopping.

It's been a busy day. Peter had taken today and tomorrow off so we didn't have to wake up so early which was good. He's taken the time off to deal with some of the things that need urgent work. Apart from the recent loss of the shed roof the pump that brings water up from the bore hole has stopped working (luckily we still get water but slowly), the air pump for the septic tank has also stopped working and we lost our terrestrial TV signal. So which gets done first? The TV of course. A man came and connected the kitchen TV to a second satellite dish (where the original one was under Romas' window). I wasn't that thrilled when I came home to find that Peter had chosen a black rather than a white cable to run across a white window sill and wall. We have got someone coming to fix/replace the bore hole pump tomorrow morning and the air pump is in hand. 

I left the house early today so that I could walk into town and stock up on seeds at the health food shop and also buy a pair of black leggings. It's hard to find proper thick ones rather than the almost see-through ones that the youngsters wear with shorts so when a friend at work told me where she had bought hers I went there to get some for myself. 

I had a good afternoon with one of the Year 2 classes. They did the final part of our kings and queens work and once again it was interesting to see what they had remembered from our earlier lessons. A good thing for me that the main focus of the lesson was writing a (spider) web chart as some of them were very vague while others remembered all sorts of things such as Queen Victoria was home schooled though I don't think she was married 6 times!

After the usual sticking in of work at school I then drove to the other side of town to shop at Lidl's, Tesco' s and B&Q. That's too much shopping for one day and I drove past the entrance to B&Q and had to turn around to go back to buy some paint that I need for tomorrow.

I didn't get around to taking any photos today so here are some from Peter's regatta last Sunday.

Lovely Evening.

Another day of sun and showers. As I was working in the afternoon I had some time to work outside in the morning, well sort of outside. I went up and scrubbed the cobwebs and algae from the beams and the ceiling of the shelter up by the scree garden. I was standing on my ladder when my hat caught on a nail sticking out of a rafter. I tried to catch it but no, down it fell straight into my bucket of water. Luckily the job was nearly done and I finished off without any of the mucky water +bleach dripping on my head. A normal school afternoon down in Reception followed a lunchtime staff meeting (which I had been told we weren't having any more) and then a long staff meeting after school to talk about how we are teaching literacy. 

Even though it was after 5.00 when I left school it was still light as I drove home.  

There was time to repair the dam on the road and add extra gravel dug out of the drainage ditch in the field. If we actually owned the road we would put in a rubber speed hump to act as a dam but the only ones I have found have to be bolted into the road surface and I think that Paul might take exception to us making holes in his road.  My makeshift dam does the job and is easy to repair, unlike the massive ruts we used too get in the drive when the water flowed straight down.

Showers.

Not having to go to work this afternoon made today feel like a bonus day. Weather-wise it's been a mixture of sunshine and showers again but the sun was brighter and the showers heavier than yesterday.

I had a long gardening session outside and I cleared all the moss from the flag iris rhizomes. I had to use my bare fingers because the new iris leaves are quite delicate and every now and again I would hear a crunch as another leaf got broken when I was wearing gloves. During the brief showers I made a start on cleaning up the ceiling in the shelter. I have plans for that ceiling. I thought I had cleared all the rest of the scree garden but I still found a few bits that needed doing.  

Later in the afternoon I settled down to look at some DVDs that had been made from video footage we took about 15 years ago. I didn't find it as hard as I thought I might because it was so long ago and the boys were still children with short hair. It was mainly a couple of Christmases including a rare snowy one, when our friends were visiting. Most of the footage was shot by the youngsters and they were very harsh with their comments about the state of each other's rooms. And lots of footage of the cats and the dogs we had then. Romas was a real cutie and such a performer even at that age. There is a long tour around the garden shot by me which is nice to have as a record but I cringe when I hear my voice. Actually most of the voices are different to the reality so I hope that I don't sound like that. It was funny to see how some things have changed around the place and other things are just the same. 

Mixed Weather.

First thing this morning it was bright and sunny which made for a cheerful start to the week. Things had turned grey by the time I got outside but I enjoyed my hour spent clearing moss and leaves from a big clump of iris. All too soon it was time to get ready for work as I had been asked to work today instead of Tuesday this week. The sun was shining once more as I drove to work and at school the children were playing outside without their coats. Around the school grounds daffodils, narcissi and crocuses are welcome heralds of the spring which is not far off now. 

It stayed sunny for most of the afternoon until 5 minutes before hometime. when it started raining heavily. Not much fun for the parents waiting in the playground. Driving home I met Sarah at the top of the road leading 2 children out on ponies. All were rather wet. Sarah told me that Coral the Exmoor pony, is due to foal in the middle of March though as she has a tendency to hang on to her foals for a couple of weeks we might have to wait until April. It will be nice to have a foal around especially as Sarah's ponies are used to people and very friendly.

Grey.

Despite the grey sky the wind has been surprisingly warm today. Not that nasty icy blast that was blowing a few days ago. Peter went off early to a regatta and has just returned hours later than expected. The regatta was at Appledore and the strong wind slowed things down a lot. Not the rowing but the changeovers. This time instead of each of the 14 clubs bringing their own gigs there were 8 gigs from the local clubs to be used in every race. The gigs were all the same, lighter plastic ones not the heavy wooden gigs, but each club had their own oars and seats so the changeovers took a while. Especially as the wind was blowing the gigs against each other and the quay so that people were up to their waists in the water pushing the gigs apart. Peter rowed in the super-vets (over 50) crew and is happy that they came 4th in each of their heats. Many of the other crews had been rowing all their lives so 4th is a good result for a club that is only 4 years old.

After a spot of housework and a leisurely pot of coffee rather than my usual decaff instant I got to work on the shed panel. At first I thought that all I needed to do was nail the planks to a couple of battens before nailing the panel to the shed but I had to leave gaps for the shed supports. I made sure to measure and check a number of times before nailing all the bits together but now it is done. Not that it can be seen in the summer when the blackcurrant bushes are in leaf but the shed now has a respectable looking side. And all done with oddments we already had. I'll have to think about the back which is an equally dilapidated state. We will have to have the other shed's roof panels delivered as neither of us can fit 2.5m panels in our cars.

Now for a relaxing evening with a wood fire and ice dancing to watch.

Mostly Dry.

It was lovely and sunny this morning after the early showers had finished but that didn't stop Speedy sleeping as close as possible to the warm rayburn.

By the time I got myself outside it was bright but not so sunny. Today's job was to strip the rotten wood from the side of the shed and replace it with fresh boards. Part of the problem with the shed is due to the fact that after the previous owners put up the sheds they piled wet soil/clay over the bottom 12". I dug down and laid a row of blocks and bricks so that the new wood is above the soil. We don't use the sheds but when we do put the place on the market it will be better to have something that looks like a shed rather than a heap of rotten wood. I've used up all the planks that I had and there are still another 23" to go so maybe I can make a panel out of the off-cuts. As I sawed the wood by hand I remembered how, until I was about 4 or 5 if anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up my reply was always "A carpenter." I've no idea why and I'm not naturally good at measuring and cutting carefully. Perhaps it was to do with going to church and hearing how Jesus had been a carpenter. Later my ambition changed and I was going to become a vet. I even got a provisional place at veterinary college but didn't get the grades and studied biology instead.

Colder.

We did have some bright spells today but there were a lot of icy showers too. (That's hail in the yard.) I did manage to get out in the afternoon and put back all the boards that had fallen off half the side of the shed. I used screws rather than nails as I thought the whole shed might collapse if I started hammering nails into it. Once I had done that job I did some weeding in the ornamental grasses. I sat out one brief shower in the shelter but then the showers got heavier so I ran for home.

I did some rainy day jobs in the kitchen including spring cleaning my earring trees. Everything got a wipe and the few silver earrings had a polish too. (My very best silver and moonstone jewellery lives in its own boxes.) I like fun earrings and luckily I can wear cheap metal without reacting. The cutlery drawer got a clean out too. For some reason it always seems to be full of crumbs.The tv in the kitchen is out of action since the last big storm did something fatal to the aerial in the hedge at the top of the hill at the back of the house. Being down in a valley the radio never had very good reception so I used to listen to the radio through the tv. The other day I brought down a little radio but somewhere along the line the wire aerial had been broken and I couldn't get anything. I thought I was being quite ingenious when I taped the end of a pair of headphones to the wire, fixed the other end of the headphones to the window and got a reasonable signal. Then Peter suggested using some kitchen foil. I folded the foil to about 6" square and taped the radio wire to it. The result was perfect reception and it didn't matter where I put the foil. You learn something new every day. Peter has decided that it is cheaper to have the kitchen tv linked to the satellite signal we have for the sitting room tv than to keep paying for the man to come and fix the aerial.