~~
The local recycling yard is open again today but do I have anything to take there? I could get rid of all my old bikes, trikes, frames and 12 large boxes of spares. Plenty to throw into the scrap bin.
I had advertised the Higgins trike on the Danish small ads website and received not one response.
Dare I throw my Higgins 'Ultralite" into the scrap bin? I'd better wait. Until I see if I want to start triking again in the warmer weather. I shan't be leaving my wife alone, again, as I ride off. I would become a tricycling widower instead.
At
8am I had my usual walk. Lots of birds in action and song. A cold wind and overnight snow melting made it
seem colder despite the warm sunshine. Normally, I would take note of
interesting things to tell my wife on my return. Not today. Nor any day. Nor ever again. This thought left me feeling very sad and lonely.
A
quick survey of the parking area threw up lots of stuff for the
recycling yard. Getting rid of "stuff" is wonderfully therapeutic. It works even better with other people's stuff. You should try it.
While I was close to the shops I bought some rubber
household gloves in a size Large. Though I had little faith they would fit my orangutan-like extremities. To the contrary, they are absolutely superb! Fit like a.. 👍 great grip
and protect my hands from the washing up detergent. Pack of 3 pairs for
pocket money.
Not a great revelation but you are reading the thoughts of the owner. Of a great many different pairs of work gloves, cycling gloves and mitts. I am not claiming to be an authority but I do have some experience and frequent disappointments.
14.00 Wintry showers and black skies punctuated the day. I sat in the car for ten minutes on my return home because of heavy hail! I had my usual lunch of tea, two wholemeal rolls, with cheese and raspberry jam respectively. Aided and abetted by salted crisps. A recent discovery when I started to lose my appetite. This fare was followed by bananas in cream. For years I have been having bananas in plain yogurt. Lately I seem to have completely lost interest in yogurt. I have rather gone off potatoes too. Let us hope the crisps are making up the difference in nutrients.
I have just tidied up some rotten timber and scrap metal left lying about by The Head Gardener. Placed ready for the next run to the recycling yard. Then I partially cleared the pond of weed. I ran out of patience and stamina after a quarter of an hour. Of raking heavy weed from the hidden depths.
The pond is situated in the SW corner of the garden and surrounded [completely overhung is the correct term] by tall trees. Many of which my wife planted many years ago. Think 15m or 50'. So the pond doesn't get much light. See attached image above. The pond is just right of centre below that lot!
A net had been strained across above the surface when herons started to remove our fast growing goldfish. We [I] even had to rescue a large heron which went fishing under the net! They have very sharp beaks!
The constant rain of twigs and leaves eventually pushed the net down under the pond's surface. Not ideal for amphibians but the goldfish had long been fished out. A sharp tug today and the net ripped to shreds. It had been there for years. I was careful not to fall in and become a statistic.
My rearrangement of the layout on the kitchen worktop is really taking shape. From the left corner I now have the mini-oven, toaster and electric kettle consecutively. A hidden, triple extension socket feeds them from a single, switched outlet. Which mean I can't use more than one item at a time. Or I will blow the 10A fuse.
Not a serious kitchen management problem for a food preparation sloth like myself. Rewiring with multiple kitchen sockets has been a plan, on hold, for many years. Further to the right I now have just a few spoons, forks and knives standing in mugs for easy access. Provided I maintain a minimum of washing up cycles I need no longer search for utensils. None of this has any interest to anybody else but keeps me and my silly little mind busy.
I can already feel myself slowing down on the house tidying. It takes real willpower to dump a lifetime collection of favourite music on vinyl. Most of it is readily available on CD so why should I [really] care? It's psychological. Or simply illogical. I hadn't played records for years! There! I've convinced myself. Just by typing it down on virtual paper. A cooler head has prevailed. I told you it worked!
My late wife's leaf mould is my next project. Housed for years in black bin bags scattered around the huge Horse chestnut but never [ever] used. Tiny Chestnut moths have been turning its leaves brown for years. So she did not want them multiplying in her leaf mould and then escaping en masse. So we [mostly she] laboriously filled heavy bags of wet leaves and left them where they looked just like... ?
What do you normally associate with black bin bags? That's right. Rubbish! So it looks like somebody lost interest in putting their rubbish in the bin quite a few years ago. Where to put it all? She can no longer answer. So I must make a difficult decision on her behalf. Which she is absolutely certain to disagree with. If I am to be haunted then this may well be the trigger!
I'm also going to trim the Horse chestnut. Its branches droop. Making access beneath it [often] a real pain. Its total removal would open up the garden and let the sunlight reach her favourite flower patch. There are real dangers to trimming heavy tree branches. So I must avoid becoming a statistic.
I once cut the entire crown off this tree. Including many vertical branches up to a foot thick. My method was to stand above and use a chainsaw working below me. That way I was mostly out of reach of the gravitational effects. I have no idea how I survived! Probably just incompetence.
The tree bled and split in protest but is still standing. Grr? Getting in a professional to remove it completely would be foolishly costly. It would probably need a cherry picker. To drop each limb from above. Access for such a machine is a non-starter. Best to take small sections and keep working towards the centre. Or just trim the eye-poking branches off the ends and call it a day.
About those bin bags...
~~
No comments:
Post a Comment