Sunday

Today is handover day and the end of doggy daycare. I have to be honest that it wasn’t quite as easy as I’d expected, but mostly due to the issues around personal space. Basil will never let you face the bathroom plumbing alone, and you definitely need multiple, or at least much larger sofas to be comfortable for an evening. With the decent TV in the kitchen we’re rather compromised on space so will definitely have to give more thought to how we start making the move into the salon. It’s been great though and we loved having them. The only casualty was one flip flop and thankfully a pair that was quite uncomfortable anyway. I count that as a win.

Not long before Jonny arrived to collect the boys however we found a tick on Woody’s eyelid. No way we are tackling this alone, however once Jonny arrived to keep him calm, Matt’s pro-moves were demonstrated yet again and it was quickly and safely removed.

With the boys gone and the house back to ourselves it was time for a swim, but while doing so we spotted something in the filter of the pool. Much to our surprise it was a massive toad. Having carefully removed and ‘freed it’ back into the bushes and long grass nearby we realised what a smart move he’d made, and to be honest I felt pretty bad about it. He seemed quite comfortable, and why wouldn’t he. The pool filter is basically the toad equivalent of a 5* all you can eat buffet. It’s shallow enough that you can just sit there and all kinds of bugs and insects are swept in and float past you like a sushi train. We basically just ruined his best ever summer holiday and put him at the potential mercy of the cat and anything else out there.

The wildflower meadow is still very much blooming and teeming with life. We are keeping the paths down and will mow it back at some point but for now it’s literally humming. We’ve also had a message from Jonny and it appears that the dogs have had a great time and are exhausted, I wasn’t even sure that Woody could get tired, he certainly never was while he was here, but I assume they will both dream of running wild round the grounds.

[22 May 2022]

Monday

Weather had turned somewhat and was significantly colder today as well as being rather damp. Another busy day at work today preparing for this launch in a couple of weeks but did manage to briefly venture into the garden and smell the peonies. I’d never really been much of a fan, however the good ones smell incredible and are an absolute joy. Sadly you can’t smell the picture.

Later the heating engineer turned up. We explained the problem with the leaking tank and seems that it’s probably a broken seal so he’s going to be back to replace it tomorrow evening. Back to work for a bit while Matt makes a pizza for dinner.

Eventually the cat turns up again. She’s very timid and can smell dog everywhere which isn’t helping. Matt fed her on the stairs while I swept the kitchen and mopped the floors in the hope that it would help. It seemed to work and she was incredibly pleased to be back inside and to get some cuddles again.

Matt’s off to bed while I try to get the blog updated and a bit back on track.

[23 May 2022]

Tuesday

Spent all day working. Got a call from the boiler company and it seems that there is a manufacturing fault with the ballon (tank) so they are going to have to come and replace the whole thing. They have a different one that they can use however and that will fix the problem so they will be here tomorrow morning to switch them over. Yay and early morning wake up, just what I need this week.

Cat was being very weirdly skittish now that she is back in the house, guess we shouldn’t expect much else considering the speed at which the boys chased her out the kitchen yesterday and across the garden.

Clearly she can smell them everywhere so she’s super wary. They weren’t in the salon much so she’s been mostly fine there, and it’s where Matt was, but strangely doesn’t want to cross the hallway. Matt fed her on the stairs as she seemed very anxious about entering the kitchen and I swept and mopped the kitchen to try to remove the dog smell. I also made dinner as Matt had picked up some meatballs at Intermarche. I did change the sheets however and she seems much happier curled up with Matt.

[24 May 2022]

Wednesday

Early start to the day as Matt is beckoning me since the boiler people have arrived. Two different guys this time, a bit younger than the last ones and seem to be more ‘on it’. I made them coffee and left them to it while I went back to work.

A message from Jonny and it appears that his car needs to go to the garage so can we look after the dogs for a few hours. Not a problem but they may have to stay in the house for part of it with the boiler guys here.

A reasonable amount of juggling was required as Matt had quite a few conference calls, but I needed to juggle the dogs and managing the workmen and never the two shall mix. I warned them about the dogs and that they absolutely must knock before coming in. They did and I had Woody close while I told him the coast was clear to go to the salon to bleed the radiator, Basil however went bounding down the corridor as I watched the poor young man run away as fast as possible – oh, I forgot to mention which dog needed to be at a distance and that Basil would only kill him with kisses. It was highly amusing however as the realisation dawned on me. He didn’t trust me again though so Matt had to bleed the last radiator.

Once the new tank was fitted, taps and heating tested they were off and the dogs could go outside, which they’d been itching to do since they got here – it’s definitely not 5* when they aren’t allowed out. Managed to balance the last bit of work with just about enough ball throwing for Woody before Jonny came back to collect them. Also, Harriers (or whatever they are) are really bloody noisy.

The cat had stayed away but she was back in the evening demanding dinner and insisting that we don’t move but give her cuddles. When Matt went to bed and I was updating the blog she asserted herself by laying across my legs and pinning me down. Eventually however she had to be moved as it was definitely my bedtime.

[25 May 2022]

Thursday

Another early start to the day today with the clinical academic department heads. Busy day though getting lots of event stuff signed off to print. After work Matt had spotted some more strawberries that needed covering before the birds got to them. I spent my time thinking about what on earth we are going to do with all the large rocks that currently litter what we want to make the games lawn. I still haven’t really worked this out as there are a lot of rocks!

Then for a quick walk around the garden to appreciate some of the flowers. I’ve never managed to sucessfully grow Nigella but they seem to grow in the most unexpected places, mostly in gravel, again for the peonies, our have a very heady rose type aroma which is beautiful, and the bees are also liking the Siberian/Flag (?) irises.

Clearly I hadn’t actually looked at the jasmine that we bought properly before I planted it up – school girl error – it was surrounded by black elastic holding all the bits together, no wonder it wasn’t doing so well. I pulled it off, added some more supports and wound them round. Hopefully they will be much happier now, and more importantly they will climb the frame like I want them to. They do look as though they are starting to prepare their next flush of flowers though which is a plus. Big question will be whether they continue to flower all the way to autumn. I do hope so!

A few more quick emails about things I’d forgotten before off to help Matt put up the last of the plasterboard in the ensuite. Not very easy given the amount of space and I got shouted at for taking pictures of a hot sweaty Matt who was clearly not having fun. Unfortunately it seems that when he measured the location for the hole for the light he measured from the wrong side of the board so going to have to stick that bit back in, plaster over it and make a new hole. It’s another inch closer though so guess it’s still progress. The next jobs here are all Matt jobs though so I’d best get dinner on. Just pizza tonight, we’ve been too busy with work this week and I can’t quite understand how it’s not Friday already.

Time to relax and update the blog again.

[26 May 2022]

Friday

Started the day in the usual way with my early conference call and lots of work to get done.

After work I potted up the tomatoes while Matt went to trim some of the worst bits of the hedges. Yes, it’s not the right time of year but it’s only the very outer bits, away from any potentially nesting birds, and we can’t let it grow out over the path again after we had our wrists slapped by the Maire last year (or at least a polite note reminding us that we have to keep our hedged trimmed back from the public foothpath). He then trimmed back a few of the internal hedges.

Matt’s next job was to try fixing the strimmers, all of which seem to think that they have had enough. Thankfully he got the push mower running for me first so that I could tackle the rather overrun vegetable garden, there’s a lot of work to be done in there and it’s in no state for that right now.

Matt had the strimmer working, at least for a few minutes anyway, and tidied up a few of the edges while I finished weeding the last of the beds. Ok, not the last one, I’d forgotten about the small one. Turns out that was more work than I had anticipated as it was significantly overgrown and despite being less than half the size of the other bed I pulled out twice as much rubbish.

While pottering about we noticed a cluster of bees hanging about around the ‘gate’ to the vegetable patch. It turns out that there is a type of burrowing honey bee, and somehow we had managed to cause the bee equivalent of the Chillean mining disaster. Matt to the rescue and managed to use a tent peg to reopen the hole and release the trapped bees. He’s such a hero.

Time to make dinner and for me to sort through the pot of change that Matt bought back – well to at least pull out the euros, swiss francs and UK change, the rest of the foreign currency is still mixed up but not highly useful. I also found some Namco tokens, guess I know what I will be doing next time I go back to London.

Time to relax for a bit and then go to bed.

[27 May 2022]

Saturday

We’ve worked out a wonderful new arrangement where Matt goes shopping in the morning and I get to stay in bed. By the time he gets back I’ve got up, made myself some breakfast and started work in the garden. The lavender needed to be moved to make some more space in the bed, and to prevent me having to work around it constantly. Putting it on the perimeter however should help to deter deer (well that and the large fence of course). I then started to lay out the corn along with some other supporting plants, sunflowers and sweet peas should work well.

My plan was disrupted by Matt’s return and what a return it was. Definitely a good choice for him to go shopping alone, it’s like Christmas, but better because there’s loads of plants! I helped Matt unload the car and then back to the corn rows.

Matt needed a hand though to hold the ladder so he could fix the broken tile above the new heating system pellet hopper. Back to the garden again to finish the job while Matt goes upstairs to work on the plastering of the ensuite ceiling. It’s going to need a couple of coats but obviously it will take time to dry. I then went to work out what to do with the new lime tree – thankfully there was a Gardener’s World video and explanation of the potting mix required, as well as the fact that we needed a terracotta pot (not plastic as we had planned). Thankfully there was one lying about that was just the right size, but needed both of us to repot it once I had everything prepared. The plastic pot however would be fine for the other tree. Finally, job done. Time for us to take a break and have a swim.

As the cat came to demand her dinner our attentions turned to what we would have. Thankfully Matt had the brilliant suggestion that we should go out for dinner. Yay, date night! Over dinner we realised that the last time we had been out to eat together was Jonny’s birthday, back in February – we should probably make time to do this a bit more often!

Back at the house we celebrated with some bubbles and I decided it was time to switch the sofas around. Matt was less than impressed with my timing but went along with it. While it may not be quite as comfortable it makes a hell of a difference to the kitchen with the amount of space available and not tripping over the reclining chair in the middle of the room.

Time for bed.

[28 May 2022]

Sunday

Matt was up early mowing the paths through the wildflower meadow. It’s a job that needs doing, but I’m not convinced that Sunday morning is really the best time, most importantly because it woke me up. I ignored it for as long as possible however, my bed and I have a very special bond, particularly before noon on a Sunday.

Now I’m up however the washing needs to be done. Stripped the bed first, removed the electric blankets (shouldn’t be needing those for another 5-6 months), and took off the topper. It seems however that while the washing machine is big, it’s not that big so back it goes.

Matt meanwhile has been working on the back door. He’s taken it off and has re-set the frame back into the wall. It’s going to need a proper lock at some point (currently it only bolts from the inside), we can then open it from the outside, which will be good once we put the new car charging point at the back of the house.

My next job is in the garden. I’ve been rather tardy putting the potatoes in for starters, they should have gone in a month ago.. oops! I had the ones that Cressida gave me as well as a few others which had been resting in the bottom of the cupboard and chitted themselves. No idea if they will still be any good or not but they’re better in the ground than in the bin (well compost). 12 should be plenty, the rest will go in the compost. Next up is the chillies. Most of them are still a bit small, they need to be large enough to sit above the mulch so that the roots meet the soil beneath. I managed to pick out 8 from the original selection of random peppers and shop bought chillies so again no idea how well these will work.

Lunch was New Zealand style hotdogs and Matt wanted to watch the F1. The next time I went inside however he was having a nap. I’ve got too much to do though as having emptied much of the cold frames I realised how many other plants desperately needed to be potted up. The sweet Williams Matt bought yesterday, geraniums and then all the smaller trays. Over 40 in total and the cold frame is now full again.

It’s already nearly 6pm though and I had promised to make Matt roast chicken for dinner this evening. I always forget how long a roast takes but a promise is a promise and will be worthwhile, a roast on a Sunday can’t be beaten. The cat wasn’t very happy however that it had delayed her dinner so she bought Matt a small vole. Enough to prompt him to come in and feed her so I could finish our dinner, get the bed remade and get the coloured wash on.

My feet are aching however and it’s time to sit and rest and watch Oceans 8 – apparently for the second time. I remembered bits of it but I suspect that I may have napped through others. Anyway Matt’s off to bed while I fold the sheets, put the second load in the dryer and then update the blog.

Night all

[29 May 2022]