All Clear.

I spoke to my GP on the phone this morning and although I have atrial and ventricular ectopic (extra) beats they are nothing to be concerned about. The funny thing is that it feels like a beat is being skipped. When the surgery left a message to phone them on Monday it got me worried but when they arranged a phone consultation for today I knew it was nothing serious. My GP said unless they were bothering me (in which case I could take beta blockers) to continue as normal. Dr Google said much the same thing though as they could be an indicator of heart disease next time I see my GP I might see if having a yearly heart check would be advisable. 

While Peter went out to buy the drill bit I baked some chocolate chunk cookies. As I had a bag of desiccated coconut I added a generous portion to half of the biscuit mixture and the resulting chocolate and coconut cookies turned out well.

I couldn't believe the size of our new big drill which Peter got last week to replace the old heavy duty drill which had stopped working after 25 years of use. I did try and use the big drill but didn't do very well so Peter took over once I'd made the guide holes with the ordinary drill. Later, between showers, I trimmed the ends of the planks some of which had rotted where they were against a flower bed. I'd found a roll of lead flashing in the old shed which I cut along the length to use to keep the soil away from the wood. My last outside task was to paint the holes and the ends of the decking with the stain and treatment. 

The day had started bright and sunny but later we had rain and hail showers. There is a yellow warning for snow from tomorrow which just reaches us (red arrow). No worries about being cold now. I spent the end of the afternoon trying to learn song words and watching curtains of heavy rain falling over the sea. 

Warm.

It has been quite Spring-like today with plenty of sun and a southerly winds. However it is looking ominously grey this evening. I overheard somebody in town talking about snow for this weekend and sure enough a look at Metcheck forecasts sleet on Saturday. Those extra radiators will come in useful if that turns out to be the case. Looking at the free local newspaper it seems we were lucky to escape the worst of Storm Emma probably because we are a few miles upstream from the coast and protected by the surrounding hills. The article told of significant damage on Lundy from what was the worst storm anyone could recall. Indeed I've just seen yellow warnings for snow and ice across much of the country this weekend.

Having got together rope, metal end caps and jute string to wrap around the ends of the rope to make a sung fit in each end cap my plan to get the decking rope barrier  in place today came to a stop. This was because after getting the box with the extra wide drill bits from the garage it turned out that the 36mm bit is missing. 25mm and 32mm bits are there but there is only a space where the bit I need should be. Peter has offered to go and get the right size bit tomorrow. Instead I got on with splitting and potting up some of the hardy geraniums I brought from Dingles.

Grey.

Today has been wet, windy and turning colder. Nothing for it but to go back to scraping paint. The porch door frame is more or less done though I still need to think about what to do about the green& yellow electrical wire that has simply been tacked onto the outside of the wood as well as along the skirting board in the hall. Not illegal but definitely unsightly. After the door frame I moved on to the newel post. I got quite excited when all the paint from the top piece came off very easily as I prefer the classic style of bannister, dark wood newel post and hand rail with white spindles. Unfortunately although the grey emulsion paint came off easily it was hard work to get back to the wood. I don't think it would be worth the effort so I'll stick to painting it all white. I might just leave the little cap wood. 

Once it had been raining for some time I ran out to the stained decking to drill a few drainage holes at the points where water was gathering.

The nasturtium seedlings on the kitchen window sill have germinated. A little leggy but I am turning the pot around each day. I took the trays of ornamental grass seeds up to our bedroom which gets more light and the Pony Tails is germinating nicely.

I've just returned home from choir where we didn't quite get through the 20 songs we will be singing at our concert. Tonight was the first time I've heard the choir leader, a lovely lady called Jackie, be rather less than positive. At one point she let us finish Happy Together with her hands over her ears! We sing standing, or sitting, in a semi-circle but for one song she got us to turn round so that we really had to concentrate on listening to the other parts as well as our own. A hard task when the melody and words are unfamiliar. Certainly got my brain working tonight.

Sunny.

It's been a warm and sunny day, perfect for working in the garden. I was able to do two coats of stain on the scruffy old decking. I wouldn't normally have chosen such an orange shade but I needed to tone in with the dark upright posts. At least now the decking looks a bit smarter. Later I gave myself a long break sitting at the top of the garden, sunhat on head and book in hand.

In between staining the decking I mowed the lawn in the front garden. It's such a tiny patch it almost took longer to go and get the mower from the garage than to do the mowing. I decided to show some community spirit and cut the section of the communal grass in front of our house. Apparently everybody used to do this but gave up once our selfish neighbour began driving over the grass so that he could park right by his house. Hopefully we are far enough over to be safe from his depredations. 

After I took this photo we were chatting to our neighbour who was trimming the shrubs in her front garden and she borrowed our mower to cut the grass right up to the path. Grass cutting should be done by the council but I doubt if they'll ever get round to it in spite of the council tax going up 4.9%. Blame our Conservative government who in the past 7 years have  cut the council's budget by 76% in real terms.

After a busy afternoon sleeping in the sun the cats curled up together in the sitting room. I went off to Pilates this evening and have returned tired but with a feeling of achievement. Patch has just returned from his evening wanderings outside. It's still fairly mild even though it's a clear starlit night. I had thought we might not see the stars now we're living in town but they're still visible. The street light at the bottom of the garden turns off around midnight and then I can watch the night sky. 

Change of Tap.

We were up early again to be ready for the plumbers who came to replace the kitchen tap (hooray) and tighten up a few radiator nuts which were letting a tiny amount of water through. Our impression is that the plumbers are under a lot of pressure to get things done quickly and don't check as thoroughly as they should. Even today they turned off the hot water at the boiler and forgot to turn it back on before they left. Luckily Peter was able to turn it back on.

The morning was wet with a steady drizzle that didn't clear up until late in the afternoon. A good day to carry on scraping off the loose paint from the porch door frame. I've just about done the lock side of the frame which has 12 faces from front to back. I'm only trying to remove the flaking paint but in some places got down to bare wood once I began sanding down. 

Again the evening sky has been very distracting with the photos not doing justice to the liquid gold of the setting sun. Right now soft grey clouds stretch across the sky some of which are edged with vivid pink.

Mothering Sunday.

Today is Mothers' Day or as the sticklers for correctness would say, Mothering Sunday. In addition to cards from the boys I was treated to warm croissants with my morning cuppa and a box of Lindt D'or. Not to mention the beautiful bouquet from Vytas delivered by a man from Twigs the florist in Pilton Street. Romas phoned in the morning and we had a lovely long chat. After yesterday's exertions Peter and I were both glad of a chance to lie-in. Peter's planned row was cancelled due to the extra low tides. Apparently the chap who does most of the boat maintenance said he wouldn't be happy, to put it politely if they took the gigs out and damaged the bottoms (keels) on the many mud banks.

It has been a dry and fairly sunny day so in the afternoon I relaxed by working in the front garden. I tidied up the hydrangeas and gave a couple of bushes a trim. I don't recognise either of them but the one near the front door had lots of tiny leaves, a spirea maybe? and by the rotund shape looks as if it has always been trimmed. The other shrub is just a bundle of sticks so I just cut back some extra long branches that were sticking out. I also trimmed my neighbour's small conifer that was hanging over the path. I had checked with her yesterday when we were chatting over the wall yesterday that she didn't mind.

At the end of the afternoon I wondered if I should paint the decking which looked as if it had dried out but decided to take things easy and watch the ever changing cloudscape from the sofa. If the southerly winds continue bringing warm weather I will need to get the mower from the garage and cut the grass in the front garden. I might even mow part of the communal grass hoping that our less than considerate neighbour doesn't decide to drive his car over it.
Now for a happy evening watching Dancing on Ice with roast sweet potatoes to go with my salad and some naughty roulade to follow.

Lots Done.

Today has been an excellent day. Not only has it been the warmest day of the year but a whole load of jobs have been completed. The main achievement was to bring home all of the things we had in the storage unit. This was done by the chap who did our loft and his mate. Peter also went along to the unit and loaded up his car and in my opinion did far too much carrying. As well as making coffee my task was to nab a parking space near the house for the van and car. On the first trip I asked a chap who was parking his car if he wouldn't mind moving further back so that there would be room for the van. He kindly moved his car right out of the way so that there was room for both vehicles. For the second trip I sat in my car at front of the space keeping it clear. Being the weekend everybody's cars including vans and trucks were parked up with not an inch of space to spare. Generally everybody is considerate and as soon as all our stuff had been unloaded I parked my car in front of the garage and Peter found a space on the road. Last night our difficult neighbour had driven his 4x4 up over the grass making even more mess. 

We had light rain at the start of the morning but for the second trip it absolutely poured. I was glad that I wrapped every picture securely in bubble wrap which I was able to wipe dry before they were taken up to the loft. It was a lot of hard work, even for two fit men, to get everything into the loft. I haven't dared take a look up there but have been told it is completely full. 

There were some pieces of furniture in store including this antique desk which I've already put up for sale as I finally decided we don't need it. I'm keeping a smaller mahogany desk which will fit under the mirror once the bigger one goes. A small wooden chest has ended up in my study and a side table just fitted by my side of our bed.  

Almost as soon as the great move had been done the sun came out making it a lovely warm day. I slotted the second washing line post into its holder and strung up the washing line. (That's the wet door mat drying in the breeze.) I then scrubbed down the posts around the decking to get rid of the green algae on them. I also scrubbed the ends of the decking planks even though they will probably be hidden by the planters I intend to make. Then it was time to head indoors and paint the last coat of paint on the radiators before venturing into the front garden to cut back the established buddleia bush. 

Once again this photo doesn't show the intensity of the pink clouds lit by the setting sun.