Turning Cold.

Peter has just returned home from the eye clinic. The good news is that though it was quite a serious scratch it is healing up nicely. The not so good news is that he is developing cataracts but that is fairly normal for anyone over 65. On the up side he has been referred to the cataract clinic so hopefully will be on the way to having the cataracts dealt with. He's fine to drive and has driving glasses anyway. He had thought his sight difficulties were due to age related short sight and had been looking into lens replacement to deal with that problem.

Today has been colder and windier than of late with very low temperatures (snow, ice that sort of thing) predicted for much of the country. Well I remember the days of leaving Barnstaple looking green only to get up to Shirwell to find light snow blowing across the road. This morning I took a chance and got some washing out on the line. However I chickened out when it began to ran and brought the not quite dry washing back inside. The light rain soon blew away but I didn't bother taking the washing out again. Instead it is draped over a radiator in the kitchen. Yes we have a radiator in the kitchen but none in the bedrooms!

I spent a lot of my day outside in the front garden where for a time the sun was shining. I dug up the large clumps of woodrush replanting some by the side which I suspect will be a bit shady and dumped the rest. Then I was able to plant out some of the plants from Dingles. (I can't help thinking of it as home though I will probably never go there again.) I planted out 3 varieties of crocosmia along the side and then in the main bed amongst what looks like a holly plantation are 10 varieties of hardy geranium. That holly bush is turning out to be very useful.

My neighbour stopped to chat in the afternoon and to give us a Christmas card which I thought was very neighbourly. It turns out that her daughter and son both went to Pilton Infants' School and while they weren't in my class I may well have taught them at some point. 

More Gardening.

We had the cat confrontation this morning. Our two cats had walked through the open conservatory door while the tabby cat was at the top of the garden. Speedy spotted him, went up to investigate and bam, there was a hissing, spitting ball of fur as a cat fight began. Patch, in the meantime had quietly turned and walked back into the house even though he is dominant in the house. The fight lasted a few minutes and then the pair of them were in a stand off taking turns to yowl at each other. The other cat looked bigger and a bit more confident so I tipped the scales in Speedy's favour by stepping towards the door. That caused the tabby cat to turn tail and leave the garden so technically Speedy was the victor.

This morning I made my Christmas wreath using a 25p strand of tinsel from a charity shop and other bits from around the place. I have a proper over-the-door hangar which doesn't fit over our front door but there was a handy nail in the wall beside the door.

While the weather is still quite mild I did some more gardening in the front garden. The weeding is more or less done so I was able to put a few of my plants in, knautia macedonia in between two red fuchsias and a fluorescent purple buddleia and a couple of types of crocosmia up nearer the house. There were primroses/primulas scattered around the place so I relocated up some of them to under a hydrangea and the acer tree that grows in the middle of the lawn. I also planted the narcissi bulbs around the acer and in a couple of spots by the path. Fearing that the freshly dug soil might be tempting for cats I scattered holly branches around. The holly bush is looking a bit lopsided now.

The man from Sky came today as we had been offered a free upgrade to the Q Box. However it turns out that if we had it the TV in the bedroom wouldn't work unless we paid out more money for a third box. So off went the Sky man and we're sticking with the set up we already have which suits us.

Christmas is Coming.

Today I had a check up at the dentist and no doubt thanks to my water pick my teeth were in excellent condition, apart that is from the tooth that needs a new crown. I want to check out Peter's insurance package from the union first as I may be able to get the £250 cost refunded. 

Afterwards I drove over to the dump and got rid of three bags of weeds, scooped up half a bag of leylandii cuttings as someone else was throwing them in and got rid of some broken pots that had been lurking in the garden. I wanted the leylandii for making a Christmas wreath to hang on the front door. That's for tomorrow.

I went over to BJ's for some gold spray paint and couldn't help smiling at these tinsel decked traffic cones. Inside, BJ's is a homage to Christmas. I don't intend to put up any indoor decorations this year which helped me resist the lure of buying more 'shiny stuff'. This 5ft high moving polar bear and cub took my eye though I wonder who would pay £2,600 for it?

After buying paint and some narcissi bulbs for the garden I stopped by this tree. I rather like these big, unlit glass lights. If they happen to be on sale after Christmas I might be tempted.

 Alternative Christmas Trees.

The tide was out as walked over the bridge to do a little shopping on the High Street. I bought one present and then treated myself to a new purple,light waterproof jacket in the Millets sale. My current jacket, also from Millets is a vivid pink and I chose it mainly for the fleece top that zips into it and there are times I would prefer not to be so conspicuous.  

Peter picked up his new prescriptions this morning and is getting relief from the anaesthetic drops. Hopefully on Thursday he'll get the all clear from the hospital or at least know his eye is on the road to recovery.

A Poke in the Eye.

While he was clearing up at the boat shed yesterday Peter managed to get poked in the eye by a small twig. He thought nothing of it at the time but later in the evening his eye was very sore and already too bloodshot for me to see anything. He didn't have a very good night though paracetamol helped and in the morning he rang the surgery. When he went there later in the day  the doctor said that he had scratched the cornea and gave him some antibiotic stuff to put in his eye until he could be seen by the eye clinic at the hospital. However when he got back home she rang again and said that after looking at the photo of his eye again she felt he needed stronger antibiotics and some anaesthetic drops to relieve the pain but they won't be ready until tomorrow morning. He's got an appointment on Thursday at the hospital which is now within walking distance.

Meanwhile as the weather was relatively mild I got on with weeding the front garden. For a town garden it's actually quite large and I'm already making a few plans. There are a couple of red fuchsias at the front along with a holly bush (great for using as a cat deterrent), an acer, a buddleia, two hydrangeas and a couple of unidentified shrubs.  

Having loaded three bags of weeds into the back of my car I took myself off for a short walk around the local streets. I got chatting to a young woman whose dog was barking and growling at me. I stood quietly and let it sniff my hand before patting it but every noise or movement set it off barking again. It was like a Weimaraner but more brown. She told me it was quite young and a rescue dog. Noticing she was carrying a horse blanket I surmised correctly that she had a horse which led to more chat. She had moved here from a farm a year ago and knew of our ex-neighbours' stables. I do try and make an effort to chat to people as we Brits are often too reserved.

The countryside begins on one side of the road next to ours. This is private land with Bradiford Water running through it but a bit further up is Manning's Pit, the water meadows through which there are public rights of way. That'll be the next place to explore. 

On the other side of the road are more houses similar to ours. I walked through the passageway to another green space that leads back to our turning. All the houses have large front gardens and it is interesting to see what people have done with their gardens. 

This fluffy cat has been coming into the garden recently and seems to be waiting to meet our two. They however take no notice even when the conservatory door was open and the visiting cat had come close to the house. Earlier in the day I had seen a robin sitting on the wall and as I worked in the front garden I could hear the wail of a solitary seagull which reminded me of my early days living in St Ives.

I'm now getting back into my exercise routine though I've toned down the weights I use for my arm exercises. The main set back has been with the stretches, not surprising considering how much heavy work I've been doing. 

Mostly Grey.

Now that we're into December some of my neighbours have begun to put up Christmas decorations. Our next door neighbour has some sort of laser projector that sends green and red sparkles dancing all over the back garden which was certainly eye catching. Across the way I can see some lights around a porch, one Christmas wreath and an indoor tree bedecked with purple lights. The lights weren't the only thing to see last night. I heard some bangs outside and being ever nosey curious, I looked out of the window to see quite a large fireworks display coming from either Chivenor or somewhere towards Braunton. I've had a look on line and in the local free paper where I didn't find any mention of fireworks but Braunton was holding a Christmas market yesterday from 3 -11pm so that might be the explanation.

Taken at 4.00.

A bit less rain today and even a hint of blue sky in the afternoon. While Peter went down to the boat shed for a 'yard tidy' I got on with painting another coat of paint in the dining room. Yesterday's efforts didn't look that bad once the paint had dried but the second coat of paint still looks messy. I just wanted to get the walls to a reasonable state and then tidy up the room as best as I could.

The handyman has just been round to look at the work we want doing so that's the sitting room and the loft in progress.

Off now to make some supper before settling down to an evening of Strictly.

Grey.

One good thing today - Peter worked his IT magic and I'm now able to get back on to FaceBook. There was a lovely picture of Sally dressed as a wizard at a Terry Pratchett exhibition.

We've had a damp grey day with a slight rise in temperature. I can't say I've had a very constructive day. I really would like to get the dinning room and conservatory sorted but it's all a matter of logistics which seem to go round and round. Half of the remaining boxes there should be stored in the garage but can't be until 1- we get someone to check on the garage door and 2- until there is room in the garage which there would be if the big pine sideboard came out of the garage and back to the dinning room. Then the rest of the boxes can be unloaded into the cupboard. But we need to wait until the wall has been painted white before bringing in the cupboard and filling it back up. So, as I had a tub of white paint and Peter had bought me a paint roller and tray I thought I would work around the boxes and at least paint the back wall. However there's the question of how to remove the two floating shelves which are a bit wobbly anyway. Looking at the fittings and consulting Google gave me no clue as to how to undo the fittings. There's a nut which looks as if it is the key but they need two flat spanners which ............ you've guessed, are in the garage. Instead I painted the other three walls but not very successfully. I had a brush to do the edges but my tiny roller designed to do behind radiators would have been much better. The walls were grey so will need at least one more coat. Speaking of radiators I did solve one small problem. There is a radiator tucked behind the wall on the right and when I hoovered before painting I saw that it was full of dust. I couldn't get the nozzle of the hoover down between the metal folds and when I tried poking the dust out with a stick it stayed where it was. Then I remembered a tiny bottle brush that I keep for cleaning jobs. Taped on to the stick it proved to be ideal for getting the dust out.

It was awkward fitting around the furniture and I'll have to do another coat tomorrow. A handyman friend of Peter's is coming round tomorrow to look at the work he'll hopefully be doing; taking down the built out wall and putting up our largest mirror in the sitting room as well as boarding out the loft. Maybe he'll know how to take down those shelves.

The cats spent their afternoon sleeping in the sitting room. Remember those cat houses? Even though they are by the radiator in the dinning room the cats don't sleep in them. Patch sleeps on one of the chairs and Speedy finds a cosy spot on top of the boxes.

On his travels today Peter collected a set of shelves he had bought from a charity shop. They were new but flat packed so I was called in to help with the final assembly. As usual there was only a picture but no instructions to make the lean-against-the wall ladder style shelves. They wouldn't have been my choice but there you go.

Sunny.

Another crisp and cold day. There was a good drying wind but I didn't have anything to wash. The cats are getting more adventurous and spending some time outside. They both can come in through the cat flap but I don't know if they are using it to go out yet. With it being so cold they stick their noses outside when I open the front or back door and then retreat into the warmth.

The man from the window company came around this afternoon with a contract for me to sign and to measure up all the windows. He must have been a bit surprised to see a baking tray and the grills from the top of the cooker soaking in the bath. They are too big to fit in our circular kitchen sink and although I had successfully  soaked the inside of the tray last night the sides and bottom needed doing too.

 The view from the back garden.

The last owners built out one of the sitting room walls  hiding the radiator behind wooden planks. It all looked very neat but surely can't have been efficient in terms of heating. It was only after I had removed the wood using hammer, extra large screwdriver and brute force that I discovered the planks had been screwed on. In my defence the tops of the screws had been covered with filler before being painted and looked like nails. The sitting room already feels a lot warmer.

Something has gone awry with our internet network as I haven't been able to log on to FaceBook for the last two days. It was intermittent the day before and at first Peter put it down to my not responding to update notices (which I hadn't had had) but even after updates and a full scan the situation hadn't changed. It's not my PC as Peter couldn't get FaceBook either on his PC but could on his phone. It's annoying as FaceBook is my main means of communicating with friends and family.

Sunset.