IT'S STILL GOING ON

Today started out beautifully after a violent thunderstorm yesterday. A couple of the 'claps were so loud that they shook the house.

The Old Girl has it in her mind that we need a path along the top of the work-in-progress front garden and just below the deck. This (very) little used area is basically good for nothing - except for a path apparently.

A few weeks back we bought a lot of big and very heavy paving squares to build the path with. Some lucky readers might have read this post. If not just go back through the list pf posts to one named WHAT'S GOING ON? Anyway, the ground was too hard to dig a few weeks ago but now after the huge downpour yesterday and some other days of showers it seemed to have softened. I got out a spade and had a go at lifting the crappy grass that we had sprayed with weedkiller. Unfortunately this grass is kikuyu which is a bastard to remove. The tendril-type roots made it difficult to simply 'spade' the surface and I had to get down on hands and knees to use my trusty DigiDigi.

This mean machine is like something a Navy Seal would use. It's a very sharp and heavy knife with one sharp edge and one serrated edge crossed with a spade for digging. It slipped between the ribs cut through the kikuyu roots easily and I was able to dig out a long strip suitable for paving. Taking Robert's advice I'll lay some gravel and cement, on top of weed-mat before putting down the pavers. Even though I started the job early, about 8.30, after a couple of hours it was getting hot. I finished  though but have decided to do things in small bites so I'll get out the spade for digging and levelling tomorrow - maybe at 7AM.

Now that the birds have flown the nest I can get back to trimming the cabbage trees along the side of the house. I got out a ladder and the trimming tools and got busy. It's reasonably shady along the side of the house so I wasn't too fussed by the sun. I wanted to do the good neighbour thing and trim the fronds that go over the neighbour's fence so that they don't fall down on their lawn. 

At one stage I heard the bread-maker 'beep' in the kitchen signifying that the loaf I was making was ready. I climbed down the ladder, removed the hot loaf and put on a rack and went back outside and up the ladder again. It was then I noticed that I still had the oven mitts on my hands that I'd replaced the gardening gloves with.

I think I'm going doolally.

I put the gardening gloves on and went back up the ladder but the beautiful sunny day had greyed over and then the rain started. Bugger. I persevered for a while but even in my sheltered position I was getting wet. This job will have to be put off to another day.

Lunch will be  fresh bread, canned red salmon and tomato sandwich. Yummy.