Mobile property services and other jobs
Last week, a trip to Derbyshire to help younger son and his wife with installing their new kitchen.
This week a trip to Oxford to do some jobs for older daughter and her family and some for younger daughter in her new flat. I think Ian should buy a nice white van and have it fitted out with his tools. This would stop us going through the process of packing the car, unpacking it and packing it up again only to unpack it when we get home. Beats the gym I guess.
It is very good to be able to help adult children like this, although it is Ian who does all the work if I am honest. I hang around making tea, carrying the baby or walking the dog, gardening if there is a garden.
Now weeks stretch in front of us with no long distance DIY. There is work to be done of the paying variety and lots of work in the house and garden too.
The garden is at that stage in the year when everything looks tired and needs revitalising. Veg needs to be sown into the beds which are being vacated by onions and early salad stuff. Pots are beginning to look thin and sad, except for the petunias which for some reason are fabulous this year. The nicotiana, which I normally love and would grow for scent alone, are thin and weedy and pathetic. They need to be taken out for the compost heap and something else which will flower until the frost put in their place. Some serious thought needs to be given to September and October. When the thought is complete, some serious action needs to follow.
In the house the kitchen is painted except for the ceiling. I never realised when I lived in 1930s and Victorian houses how much work there would be in painting a beamed ceiling. Maybe I could regard putting up masking tape as the job for August, yards and yards of the stuff up and down either side of the beams. Most of the rest of the work has Ian's name on it - plumbing in the sink, making a unit for fridge. Close your eyes and ignore the fact that the existing back kitchen has also to be refitted as a utility. One step at a time.
There are cushions to be made for the cottage.
There is my new resolution to take up running again.
There is our shared resolution to get out a bit as well and lift our heads from the compelling and beloved work of home.
This week a trip to Oxford to do some jobs for older daughter and her family and some for younger daughter in her new flat. I think Ian should buy a nice white van and have it fitted out with his tools. This would stop us going through the process of packing the car, unpacking it and packing it up again only to unpack it when we get home. Beats the gym I guess.
It is very good to be able to help adult children like this, although it is Ian who does all the work if I am honest. I hang around making tea, carrying the baby or walking the dog, gardening if there is a garden.
Now weeks stretch in front of us with no long distance DIY. There is work to be done of the paying variety and lots of work in the house and garden too.
The garden is at that stage in the year when everything looks tired and needs revitalising. Veg needs to be sown into the beds which are being vacated by onions and early salad stuff. Pots are beginning to look thin and sad, except for the petunias which for some reason are fabulous this year. The nicotiana, which I normally love and would grow for scent alone, are thin and weedy and pathetic. They need to be taken out for the compost heap and something else which will flower until the frost put in their place. Some serious thought needs to be given to September and October. When the thought is complete, some serious action needs to follow.
In the house the kitchen is painted except for the ceiling. I never realised when I lived in 1930s and Victorian houses how much work there would be in painting a beamed ceiling. Maybe I could regard putting up masking tape as the job for August, yards and yards of the stuff up and down either side of the beams. Most of the rest of the work has Ian's name on it - plumbing in the sink, making a unit for fridge. Close your eyes and ignore the fact that the existing back kitchen has also to be refitted as a utility. One step at a time.
There are cushions to be made for the cottage.
There is my new resolution to take up running again.
There is our shared resolution to get out a bit as well and lift our heads from the compelling and beloved work of home.
You do, indeed, have a lot on your plate. I certainly don't envy you the task of painting that beamed ceiling. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou certainly do have your share of jobs to do. I doubt you ever have a dull moment. It's a wonder you can juggle it all.Yes, do go out and find some enjoyment as well. You do need that.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what vegs you're going to sow. I'm hopeless at continuity. At this time of year a newly vacant plot remains vacant until next spring.
ReplyDeleteYes I'm interested too as to what veggies you'll sow this time of year.
ReplyDeleteAre you in an area that's had a deluge of rain this season?
Helen Reeley
Sounds as if you are busy as usual. We've just painted a beamed ceiling (royal We there of course as I am not allowed to do the bits that show) and it takes ages. Things are never finished in houses like these...
ReplyDeleteHow busy you are! My garden's looking a bit tired and overgrown. My empty veg beds will get weeded over and a layer of well rotted muck put on the top. I have brassica and leeks in to overwinter - I too would love to know what you will put in now. I do love the notion of continuity.
ReplyDeleteA day out would be a lovely idea. Can you spare the time? Dare I ask....
I can certainly recognise the long distance DIY. Not that I am any good at DIY - like you I tend to do the non DIY things like looking after Theo. But I try to give what I imagine to be advice. I do feel you might write a little book Elizabeth entitled 'How to get through it all with energy to spare.' Running? Internally I die a little at the thought.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see the kitchen is coming on nicely. What would our grown up children do without us, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteCarrying the baby is a Proper Job, and just as useful to said baby's parents as doing DIY with them! How lucky you are.....
ReplyDeleteMy parents also do mobile DIY for me and my brother-in-law and increasingly for their neighbours! I wrote a list of jobs that need doing round the house to help focus my mind when I have time on my hands (ha ha). My garden is also at that stage. My nicotana has been subjected to slug damage and I dont think they will flower at all. I think we have just reached that dip in the middle of the year where we are all run out of steam
ReplyDeleteI am not good at the whole continuity, successional sowing thing but I do aspire to be! I find I tend to lose interest in August but I am fighting that hard this year. I have sown rocket (flowered, went bitter), salad leaves (ditto) and beetroot which I think might still have time to grow. I am also going to sow more kale and chard. The earlier stuff is bulking up nicely but I may extend the season in the spring with some later sown plants. I thought I might also have a try with some French beans. My beans so far have not been great this year but the soil is warm and moist enough now after a couple of weeks of rain to have another go so fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteOther suggestions gratefully received!
Well normally I'm passionate about running, but my long run this morning has really caught up with me - I'm in the mood to throw myself on a pile of cusions rather than making any. I do like reading about what you're up to.
ReplyDeleteI too have ceilings to attack, you have reminded me. Good luck with yours.
ReplyDeleteAugust is a sad, bit of a messy month for gardens, I agree.
My garden is suffering from my having been away for almost two weeks. The blackberries are starting to look ripe though and I have fully formed peas in their pods :)
ReplyDelete