Archives: garden

Well – on the stupidity of technology front… I think I’ve managed to burn a couple of CD’s on the burner. Allocating the damn software oodles more memory seemed to make that work a little more normality (not take years to do anything). CD’s were burnt disarmingly quickly (the hardware is, as suggested good), but coming to read the CD’s again on the DVD player that is incorporated into the mac… it didn’t recognise them… It didn’t recognise them when I put them in the CD burner for mounting on the desktop either… Wanted to initialise them… in a PC format as well! If it was not all so frustrating it would be funny… Mind you I’ve got past frustration & have now settled on bemused puzzlement. Oh, & Louise says that she is not against the idea of moving to OS X… coo (for those that do not know of what I speak: I presently use OS 9.0.4, & this would mean an upgrade to OS 10.2… which is a very radical shift as the whole thing changed completely on 10). Although this is an ambition of mine, I’m not so sure as to not think it wise to pursue a couple or other avenues 1st.
On the home front…. Louise got her eyes tested & has gone for a new pair with metal frames! Smaller than the ones that she was looking at the other day as well! Lawks! Oh, & the sunglasses as well – confirmed as the 1st time she will have some.
I collected Jack from school on my own yesterday & he was happy. Coming thru the front garden, he muttered that he wanted to get changed & do some work on the garden. Louise’s mum came back with her as she was visiting today & she & Jack & Eve did a little work in the garden. I have not had time to look at what was done, but weeds were pulled & Jack did a lot of snipping with the securers (as that is what he likes to do).
Jude was a little off form yesterday apparently. He ate his tea OK though & when he was upset a bit later; he did not throw it all up. He seems to be getting to that age when throwing up in protest at something is more commonplace than it should be. He had such a hardy constitution when he was younger (didn’t let anything go). Hopefully this is just a phase. Eve has not quite grown out of that phase yet.

Eek! Another month is fast evaporating.
A bank holiday & feel nearly rested. One of the 3 days off I recall being quite stressful – but I couldn’t be certain now. Possibly Sunday as Jack was playing up, Eve was winding Jack up & whinging constantly as her top right molar is coming through & Louise was feeling off as well. I was probably feeling over tired, as there are not that many occasions when I don’t feel over tired, but that’s just a symptom of there never being enough hours in the day for me to do anything close to what I want to do. At the moment, for instance, I think our garden looks the worst on the street. The hedge is half cut & the grass is – well – it’s green, but it’s uneven, & the beds are lacking any distinction. Oh, & there are a few holes where things have been dug up & the kids have been digging up. Hmmmm… At this point I actually lament having any form of personal transport as although I can get things done in the garden there’s always one thing that does put me off – having bags of hedge clippings hanging about & being beholden on the good nature of neighbours to take them away (when they’ve been our for quite a while & are full of water & rotting garden matter). It’s not that I resent them taking it, but I feel guilty about being beholden & not really having anything I can do in return & being impatient that the rubbish sits in the garden collecting water when it rain & smell as it rots down in the bag… sigh.

Anyway – the Spofforths next door have sorted out their pond recently & smartened up their flower beds & it all looks rather spiffy. Jack is interested as their water feature contains a waterfall, a fountain & fish. He climbs the wall to look at it – which worries me & weakens the wall. He goes round next door &, in his good natured way still (in my mind) makes a nuisance of himself. Also – their garden puts me to shame – it used to be unkempt a little more & let me fell less guilty about our garden. Now I just have to put up with feeling guilty. Hey ho.
I know it still won’t make me actually do something about it as I still have other things to do.

Everyone was out when I got home yesterday. They’d all gone to Safeway & the park (or both?). I ran about getting a few jobs done – moving stuff about in the attic so that I could get to more skirting board & paint it… Sanding the wall I had put varnish on so that it could be painted, clearing up the mud around Jack’s excavation in the front garden – stuff like that.
Also nipped off with a requested chat with neighbour Nick as he was thinking of buying some new stuff for his mac. Waffled a bit, but I don’t think I gave him any misinformation.
Was Jack any better behaved yesterday? Well… not out & out aiming to be naughty when he was around me, but he was being cheeky & giving some back chat. It was just as well I was not at Safeway cafe with them as he apparently was pinching all the milk portions (for coffee & tea) & drinking them. Louise said that he got through quite a lot That would have wound me up terribly – it annoys me when he does that. Having said that… I have to admit that if I have a plate of chips there I will have an obscene amount of mayonnaise with them. I get through quite a pile of little sachets, so that’s me abusing the system as well.

The shouty drunk leaves the train when it’s pointed out to him that this is the train to Manchester, not the train to Bradford. He railed for a while at the bald bearded suit who may work for Manchester council as an accountant, so I looked round & watched him, & he railed at me a little while, then when he realisd that I was not particularly bother by this he railed at the door behind me (surely he meant the door all along). The shrewy blond business lady noted him muttering about Bradford & when we pulled into Rochdale negotiated him off the train & pointed him in the right direction. He dropped his crusty woolly hat, so amazed that he was being helped, I guess, so I darted to pick it up for him. He ambled off the train & we left him there. Cooo an ‘incident’ in the train.

Missed yesterday typing, as it was one of those crappy trains without tables. It is again this morning, but I thought I’d try to dodge travel sickness & type on my knee. Now I can’t even remember much of the weekend. Ah – I remember… It was not that much of a weekend as I was working on Saturday. I did manage to sort out a lot of the diary pages though. Over a month behind, I was. It’s still not completely up to date. Pictures & that sort of malarkey still needs to be done, but on the whole, It’s now actually as up to date as it gets.
Jack was digging his hole agian yesterday evening. He has started to dig at the bottom of the garden by the front gate. It’s a spot where there’s nothing really growing. I worry he will hit the rose roots, but as he has not yet, I don’t really see it happening to any great extent now. It’s not, by any means a big hole (well – it might be to him) & there’s no a lot of scope for making it larger. But he’s happy in his pursuit. I remember my brother having similar ambitions & digging what seemed an enormous hole. I know there’s a photo somewhere of him digging it, & for the young boy he was, it was truly huge. He’s standing in the hole in his photo, which is up to his waist. He has room to swing his spade in it as well.

Jude is not so well at the moment. He has a bit of a cough & is having to deal with a blocked nose & all that. He’s coping quite well really… He’s not especially happy, but he complains little. He’s not throwing up or anything more than usual. Speaking of which – Eve did yesterday evening. She tripped up over her ball, & the boy who passed it to her & probably caused it, “Didn’t say sorry”. She fell over again coming up the street home, so whether it was that fall of before (it’s difficult to say – not seeing the initial, but the latter being a nasty fall) but she managed to bump her head quite badly. The reason she was sick was because she was so upset. Poor lamb.
Jack started nagging me about the garden before I even got him home from school yesterday. I would say that he likes gardening. For want of anything else to do, & to quiet his pleadings, we ‘dead headed’ the daffodils – which are getting quite past their best by now. I suspect that it was enough to satiate him as I ended up finishing it off. He’d disappeared for a while, but now I realise he must have been taking in Louise a flower that Eve had plucked as her contribution to the activity. Hey – they’re puling flowers – I’ll pull …this!… one. “Eeya-ar daddy!”. Mauve primula by the kitchen sink in a little jar.
Plans that Louise & I do the attic went awry. Louise went to bed & I did a little bit of filling between the wall & skirting where I noted a gap the other day. I then proceeded to scan an old comic as I found the ‘printing’ proofs on Sunday when we were tidying & sorting – 1st stage to putting those on my web space as well.
Still not made my definitive decision on what colour paint to but – but I will buy some on the way home tonight.

Jack had been nagging me for a couple of days to mow the lawn, so I finally got off my arse yesterday & did. Well… Jack did… I felt a bit like the gardeners assistant. Whenever tried to do something like use the mower or rake up some grass I would have one of them complaining at me & wanting to do it themselves. We used a hover mower that has a ‘safe blade’ (a nylon thread rather that a blade) & it has made me realise that this is all I can have. Anything else would be too dangerous. I did draw the line at either of them using the edge trimmers – which are somewhere between a pair of secateurs & scissors. Lawn tidy now anyway & it kept them busy & me occupied.
Louise & I had a good talk about the attic again the other day. Louise is concerned at the lack of progress again, but Jack was fighting the inevitability of sleep last week, so half an hour seemed to be a little pointless. Louise has now said that she will join in & we will both try to spend half an hour in the evenings, so in theory that puts in, at least an hour in the evenings between us, which seems more worthwhile. We’ve done some all important tidying & sorting up there – so we have a couple more ‘charity’ bags that we need to donate to the recycling thing in town. This is one of the points where we wish we had a car – to be able to take stuff to the dump or recycling in one big lot – rather than me lump it into town bit by bit. Also a major change of plan; Louise says that as there is possible staining on the plaster due to the leaks in the roof. These are taking an age to dry out due to the fact that the chimneys are so silicone sealed now that they stonework is no longer porous. Hey ho. So it’s paint the plaster now… & I have to think about colour again & what we should use etc. I scrap the present colour scheme & try to rethink, but I end up in confusion. We shall see… I’m going to by the paint tomorrow…
On the tech geek side… if I get time I’ll try to get my emate & mac communicating via ethernet. I have a working ethernet card off ebay now – cooo! Now then – how do I get it working?

The kids where in the front garden as I got home yesterday, so it seemed natural to do some gardening. We got some plants from our neighbour, Caroline, for Easter, & popped those in where I hope they will go well. Jack & I also set about trying to dig some of the moss from the beds. Its been trying to take over & makes it all look rather untidy. Jack does like gardening. It’s not just the mud (which seem to be Eve’s favorite) but the plants & the care as well.

Eve was ill again yesterday. Louise is worried that she has a milk intolerance (basically doe to the consistency of yesterday’s puke). It seems to have started all of a sudden if that be the case… She is reported as falling asleep twice during the day, & refusing medicine. Although, after tea, she did ask me if she could have some medicine -which I found worrying… Was she feeling poorly? I quizzed her as to where it might be hurting? Head? Stomach? She pointed to the back teeth in her mouth we know is teething at the moment… Hmmm… I really can’t conceive that all this disruption to her system is caused by teething.

Jude & I played ‘put the baby down/pick the baby up’ at bed time yesterday. Jack & Eve were asleep, & so (in theory) was Jude… So Pick Jude up to put him in the cot. He lays down fine. Put some books away… Snuffling noises – Oh, Jude’s got his eyes open & is waving indignant arms & legs. I picked him up & he’s a mad little boy, but hold him firm & he soon drifts off to sleep again (before we’ve made our way to the end of the hall). Delicately meander back to the bedroom & try to put him down. He detects the horizontal, so eyes are open once more, & protest starts. OK – back to shoulder …and hey, he’s asleep again… How does he do that? Different tack. Still holding at carrying height, I get him to the horizontal. Purses lips & relaxes again. Try to lower him into the cot… gently… slowly… head on the cot… let go of his bum so only my hand on the back of his head… slip my hand gently from the back of his head.. EYES OPEN!
Doh!
Start again.
All the above only more cautiously, but this time I keep my hands around his head… he holds onto my arm, but starts to relax & his arm drifts back… He has his face nuzzled into my palm, so gradually move. Not gradually enough – he starts to stir. Lean over right into him so that it might just give the impression I’m still holding him. It work – he relaxes again. Pull back again to the point where he release my arm & I can start moving my palm away again… ok – just a little further… Yes – he is asleep in the cot. YES! Pootle off switching the baby monitor on & triumphantly let Louise know that he’s asleep at last. Turn the monitor on downstairs – wait 2 minutes & dash back upstairs as I can hear him waking up again <sigh>. This time he’s not so easily tricked. He is mad at me & calm down won’t so easily when I pick him up. Bother. Louise comes up to announce that she’ll go to bed, & he can go in with her. It’s a good excuse to go to bed (she admits later) as she’s tired out anyway. By the time Louise is ready for me to pass him over he’s just about calmed asleep again – but what the hell – if he wasn’t with Louise he probably wouldn’t be happy. Some nights he’s compliant, some not.

Watching the clouds this morning on the station platform. 
Mainly blue sky, with a smattering of mackerel clouds (scientific
names lost years ago).  When I looked out of the window as I
got up this morning, there was mist lurking up the valley. 
This had mostly dissipated when I set off for work.  There
were wisps of misty  cloud in the sky & I was watching it
turn so slowly into mackerel.
Shame, but it seems that the days are noticeably starting to
shrink… sigh.  Waking in the morning, & the sun is only
just starting to make it’s presence felt.  Never really knew
when sunrise was supposed to be, but it was light enough to see
everything, but dull enough indoors to warrant a light being put on
to accompany breakfast.  A light also has to be put on for
reading if the kids are slightly late off to bed at the moment as
well.
This morning waiting at the station, crisp cold air & warm
sunlight.  I don’t think I’m ready to relinquish this year
yet.
Busy weekend. 2 days off due to working the Saturday, but at least
Bank Holiday made up the day!
Started Sunday business quite early.  Caroline, our
neighbour, was making a start on her side of our hedge. 
Panged by the guilt that I had not yet managed to get the half of
our side done all year (looking a distinctly afro-privet) &
started on that.  Also, it spurred Jack into getting dressed
to come out & join me (there are time when he just does not
want to get out of his pajamas).  Jack enjoyed himself
helping.  Even got to have a few goes with the electric hedge
trimmer.  It was held by me at all times though.  All
done – took a bit longer than intended, but all done. 
Caroline took the trimmings off to the town dump for us as well –
which was very good of her.  She is very good to us like that
though.
Up to the attic next (with Jack helping again).  Cleared out
the dust & debris from one of the attic eaves.  A job
started previously, but not finished.  Eve stayed downstairs
with Louise pottering between Louise &  the garden.. 
Not such a good day for Louise, as she had intended to get out –
that we go to Hebden Bridge or something, but as the hedge had
already taken longer than intended, it seemed off.  I think
this disappointed her a little; as have had a long working week
just previous, she has also.  She was looking forward to
getting out from the usual routine, & there was me trapping her
for another day.
Jack ultimately got bored of my cleaning in the attic, as there
was not that much that he could do.  I reached the limit of
what I could move back under the eaves as well.  We were all
very grubby; Eve as well, as Louise & Eve came up & 
joined us after Jack went downstairs to complain how boring it all
was.
All got clean again & I went out to the garden again &
Jack helped to cut the grass.  He got the hang of the hover
mower quite well, even figuring out the safety button to press
before the ‘on’ handle would activate.  Tidied up the grass
& edges & did a little weeding, by which time, it was tea
time.  Lawks!  Mind you – it’s amazing how much tidier
the garden looks now.  A little bit of a sense of achievement
as I never usually manage such a concentration of work.  Also
aching limbs the next day.  I hope Jack doesn’t expect that I
do such every weekend now!
Monday – shopping in Leeds – a few things bought for Jack’s
forthcoming school days & I managed to sneak in a trip to the
comic shop & popped into a record shop & got Lorimer’s 1st single. All
went smoothly enough, although Jack seems a little fragile
yesterday & did not take disappointment or frustration very
well.  Signs were there when he was getting tearful that his
trains were not joining together like they should.

Louise is going to the dentist in Hebden Bridge this morning. Just a check up. One of the benefits of pregnancy is the free NHS stuff; there are areas like dentistry & opticians that you have to pay a nominal fee for, but not in pregnancy.
Jack was in the garden 1st thing this morning playing with his wheelbarrow. It’s another ‘early’ birthday present. He was not keen on the idea of going to Hebden Bridge, but has come round now. He wanted us to stay doing the garden. Granted there is a bit to do -weeding, lawn privet hedge trimming, but we are better off going to hebden with Louise. He made a long exhausting fuss over the principal, but has accepted it now. We go in 5 mins.