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Tuesday 5th 39F/3.9C [6.00] Another sunny day. 67F/199C in the room.41F/5C in the greenhouse. I left the skylights open out there to shed the heat. I don't want the pond water getting too warm.
Up at 5.30 after a very busy night at the fire bucket. My back is painful again. I shall be visiting my English friend.
12.00 Safely back from my visit. Countryside beautiful.
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Monday 4th 47F/8C [7.50] Heavy overcast. Heavy overnight rain last night. Possible sunshine this afternoon. Peaking at a miserable 13C/55F. A bit breezy from the west.
Up at 7am after a typical night. I was cold in bed at 70F/21C. So I put on a thick jumper. It's still 69F/21C in the room without any heating. The greenhouse is at 57F/14C.
9.15 Trying a walk.
9.45 Back again in bright sunshine. Just the usual loop. I almost walked off the back pain. Not aware of the buttock pain today.
I hovered to watch the Husqvarna robot mower at work. Having greatly underestimated the large area of lawn near their house yesterday. Despite there being no obvious sign of grass being actively cut. The overall appearance has improved since yesterday. The mower may be set at maximum height. So it is removing only the tips of the grass and any weeds.
Robot mowers are ideally meant for lawn maintenance. Not as a weed wacker. The general advice online is to use a conventional mower to get the grass short enough in spring. Then let the robot mower repeatedly trim the grass to taste. It is only the repetition which makes it practical. Because it never exceeds the rather limited cutting capacity.
All of this discussion is my attempt to decide. If, or how I can continue maintaining the drive and western lawn myself. With my continuing bad back a major factor in the decision. I do not want to pay somebody to come in to cut the grass. Minimum of (say) 500kr [~£50] per trim. 12 trims per year and a 6,000kr robot mower would pay for itself. If, hiring somebody was the only other option. Cutting the grass with the Makita battery mower is proving quite hard work.
Repeatedly emptying the large grass box is even harder work. It used to mean using a wheelbarrow to remove the cuttings. To the far NE corner of the garden behind the shed. There is plenty of space for compost heaps at the edges of the western lawn. The huge bushes can easily hide a multitude of sins. Few, if anybody, ever visit the western garden. The drive more often. How do you stop occasional vehicles from running over a mower?
Local grass dumping doesn't really make life any easier. The heavy grass box still has to be removed [very awkwardly!] from the mower, carried and tipped. A robot mower would not be producing huge quantities of cuttings. At least not once the lawn is safely under its control. Which nicely solves the weight problem. But, which leaves the serious problem of improving the western lawn to manageable smoothness first. Before a robot mower can even be unleashed.
12.30 I'll have to go shopping. I have run out of rolls for lunch.
13.00 Back again. Warm, breezy and sunny.
14.00 60F/15.6C. 110F/43C in the greenhouse! I have opened the skylights and end door.
I went outside and moved the unused paving slabs away from the house. The plants, pots, furniture and recycling bins also need a temporary new home. All done.
I am open for bidding on the Danish "Handyman" website to have my new doors fitted professionally. I could easily do it myself if I didn't have a bad back and didn't feel so old. It now occurs to me that the display cabinets are a hindrance to door fitting activities. While I might take great care others might not. Hundreds of china cats and the Finnish glass collection will have to be moved somewhere else!
Now I have a fixed date I really do need to start clearing the display cabinets. Though the cat cabinet in the corner could be shielded with plywood. Or a sleeping bag? The glass collection cabinet does need to move but is easily managed and returned to its former state. There being so few ornaments to handle.
Dinner was the four sausage rolls I put in the fridge last night. With fresh salad.
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Sunday 3rd 51F/11C [7.30] Overcast. Slightly misty. A complete change from the recent run of sunny weather. Peaking at 18C after lunch. Rain also starting after lunch. Becoming very wet overnight. With up to 20mm of rain! Heaviest in the evening. Thunder, hail and all sorts of noisy goings on. Though with very modest winds. 21C/70F in the room with the heat pump set to 18C on the remote. Greenhouse at 60F/16C. Pond water at 66F/19C.
Up at 6am after a fairly quiet night. Back/hip/buttock region still hurting. I haven't considered a walk yet.
8.40 Back from a walk around the drive loop. My lower back was almost normal today. The hip less painful. I kept going and managed to increase my speed from a toddle to a reasonable pace.
Today's entertainment was the neighbour's robot mower. A modestly sized Husqvarna. It was trundling along at a decent walking pace parallel with my route. Though encumbered by the steep sideways slope. It was all but silent. Except for the moments when it hit rougher ground and rattled slightly. It would never disturb anyone even close to its vicinity.
The strange thing was that I was completely unable to see any evidence of its passing. One dandelion clock lay in its path but it only showed some damage from the mower. Certainly not clipped. Nor did the grass show any signs of being chopped. At all! Very odd. I watched while it decided how to mow a hooked area near the road. A couple of turns and it headed back home.
The area of grass it has to work on is truly vast. At least 160m x 15m. Heavily sloping away from the gravel drive. Wider at both ends. If it were really able to tame such an area it would save a lot of time and effort. Not having to mow it with their usual tractor drawn implement. With some considerable risk from the steep sideways slope.
I have seen quite a number of robot mowers doing a great job on similar sized lawns and even much larger. Schools seem to like them. The can produce a sward far better than most manual or ride-on tractor mowers. Since the robot leaves no strips of fallen grass between its tracks. It can provide really impressive results over time. My western lawn is far too rough for an affordable robot mower.
11.30 It has already rained and is still raining lightly. I had a look around the garden. Most of the Buddleias are dead. Only one has survived out of six. My wife couldn't keep them alive either.
Now that I have the printer I can decide how best to reach the hospital from home. I can catch a bus at 7am from the end of the drive. This bus goes within a reasonable distance of the hospital. Roughly 1.5km away at 8.15. My appointment is at 9.30
Can I get off the bus as close as possible? There is no stated stop. I will have one hour to reach the hospital from the nearest, listed bus stop. That should be doable. Assuming by back isn't killing me.
Or, I can get a bus into the village going the opposite way. Change to the Odense bus at the
bottom of the village. Then be delivered straight to the hospital.
Sunday dinner was sausage rolls, peas, carrots and boiled potatoes. I should have made gravy!
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