14.04.2026 A Bloodbath!

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  Tuesday 14th 41F/5C Heavy overcast and a wet morning. Brighter this afternoon. 66F/19C in the room. 47F/8.3C in the greenhouse. I put a fresh log in to let the stove burn on after bedtime. This seems to have helped maintain overnight temperatures.

 Up at 6.30 after a busy night. I have an appointment with the doctor after lunch. As a follow up to various tests last week. 

 9.30 I am using the wet morning as an excuse to prepare the site of the internal heat pump unit. The recently purchased, recycled carpet runner needs to run along that wall. This involved removing the existing runner. Which was trapped under the big, old, oak chest of drawers. All the furniture had to be pushed to the far end of the room. Then I had to remove the heavy drawers to be able to lift the chest at all. Old runner removed. Now I have to tidy up before fitting the new. 

 I was struggling with the rudimentary skirting board. Which was held at intervals by large, rusty nails. My intention is to replace the ugly board with box shaped conduit. The board really did not want to come away from the wall. I was lying on my stomach under the dining table. Levering away with a crowbar. When it suddenly swung up and hit me viciously on the forehead. 

 A deep gash and lots of blood followed. I dashed off to the bathroom. To flood the site of the gaping wound. Taking blood thinners is apt to cause problems with clotting but the bleeding soon stopped. Unfortunately my career as a septuagenarian babe magnet may be temporarily over. At least until the wound heals. I am recovering my composure by updating the blog. 

 Now I need some plastic conduit. To hide all the cables running across the floor. There are three security camera cables. Three TV cables. A standard lamps. A table lamp and the mains cable for the computer and all its associated accessories. Most of which are never switched off. There is an alternative socket behind my bed. Which could become the continuous mains supply. It just needs to be connected to the present multi-sockets to tidy up the "knitting."  

 10.00 I'll have morning coffee. While what remains of my senses return to normal. I use the latter term loosely of course. 

 

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13.04.2026 Promises-promises.

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 Monday 13th 40F/4.4C. Overcast. Possible early brightness. 24 hours of rain arriving at lunch time. Easterly winds. 63F/17C in the room. 50F/10C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 6.45 after another night of weird dreams. Not weird in appearance but just unlikely and often boring subject matter. Highly realistic. Mixed contexts. Mixed casts from different walks of life.

 09.30 Back from my short walk. It was unpleasantly cold in the easterly breeze. Plenty of birds about.  

 15.00 48F/9C. No rain yet. I lit the stove. It had dropped to 62F/17C in the room. There had been none of the brightness to warm the greenhouse and thus the house.

 It was nearly 19.00 before it finally started raining. 

 19.30 72F/22C. Dinner was poached egs on toast. Another day wasted on YouTube.

 

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12.04.2026 41km

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  Sunday 12th 42F/5.6C. Overcast as a heavy band of overnight rain moves eastwards. Sunshine is possible later. 63F/17C in the room. 50F/10C in the greenhouse. The fish seem more active after I changed their bathwater.

 Up at 7.20 after a ridiculously busy night. I had moved the big digital clock away from the bed. After being reminded of magnetic smog surrounding electronics. I saw every hour being indicated and twice in some cases.

 I must go shopping. There wasn't even enough milk for my muesli. I had to put the milk in first. Then add organic porridge oats. A little at a time. Until I reached a satisfactory level of saturation. Finally adding a few organic raisins to taste. Reason enough to avoid an old peoples home. They'd never get it right! 

 9.40 Back from a walk down the road and back. Lots of birds. Both audible and visible. Including a small bird of prey. Flapping wildly to make headway against a gentle headwind. Another bird call which left me baffled. A deep sound emanating from a roadside tree. Without at any sign of a bird being present. 

 The nice neighbor's cat nodded at me as I passed. I'll have to go shopping if I want to have morning coffee. 

 10.40 Full sunshine. Back from the village. Loads of groceries and petrol refill. I'll go for a ride after morning coffee. I went outside to sort out the recycling bins.

 12.00 I have just had a nice chat with my neighbours. It was beautiful outside in the sunshine. Almost no breeze and comfortably warm. They had returned my wheelbarrows after I had loaned them for a job. 

 They both speak excellent English and seem to enjoy practicing their skills. Both use English to some extent in their work. Which suits me perfectly of course. Not to mention them not having to suffer my awful pronunciation and mangled grammar in Danish.

 13.20 Off we go for a ride. Dressed warmly but not overdressed. The Endura rain jacket is fine for blocking the wind. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my back. While the cold headwind tried to sneak in at the front. The GripGrab gloves were fine today. The lobster mitts went into a pannier just in case. I wore an old pair of DHB, padded cycling shorts to increase comfort.

 15.30 58F/14.4C. Back from another ride. To inspect progress on the new railway line. 41km. A comfortable distance today. I kept to the narrow, rural lanes as much as possible. Almost devoid of traffic. Though the main roads were quite busy.

 I passed a cat rolling on its back in the middle of the road on a narrow winding lane. Enjoying the warm asphalt. The road and bridge I keep going back to is very close to completion. It just needs some asphalt to reopen.  [Image top right] The sign says opening on the 31st April.

 67F/19C indoors. 81F/27C in the greenhouse. All skylights and the end door open.

 Back on the computer to watch YouTube videos. I have closed the door and skylights now that I am back. So the sun's warmth can be transferred to the indoors.

 Dinner was baked chicken, roast potatoes, mushrooms, carrots and peas. The best roast potatoes so far. They had 15 minutes simmering in salty water. Before going into the baking pan for 40 minutes. I let the cooked chicken rest for five minutes. 

 

 

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