3.03.2024 Going, going..?

 

 

 ~o~

 

  Sunday 3rd 44F/7C. Misty and overcast. Up at 6.15. Aching all over as expected. 

 8.15 A walk would be sensible before starting work again. On dismantling the big, green dome.

 9.15 Back from a damp walk to the lanes. A strangely variable wind came and went. Making it slightly unpleasant at times. The traffic was all but non-existent. Birds singing everywhere. Skylarks overhead. Wheezing greenfinches at the tops of roadside trees. Great tits moving about and beeping in the hedgerows. Chaffinches complaining as I plodded past. 

 9.30 Morning coffee over. I had better start work. Before I get bogged down on the computer.

 10.45 I have removed all the bolts and screws. Which were holding the final segment to the centre one. Nothing is moving yet. I shall have to saw up the laminated base ring. Over which I spent many hours fabricating as accurately as possible. The ring is stiff enough to prevent the free movement of the outer segments. It didn't help that I levered the entire dome towards the observatory before giving up. 

 My lifelong obsession with astronomy ended with the death of my wife. I was up in the observatory capturing solar images as usual. As my wife lay alone on the freezing kitchen floor after a fall. Her first and her last. Once discovered, it took two hours to move her onto a comfortable and warmer surface. She had no idea how long she had lain there or if anything was broken. 

 

 The agony on her face with every movement remains as an indelible memory. I wasn't strong enough to lift her bodily. So had to drag her under the arms. To turn her around and then along the narrow, tiled floor of the kitchen. It had two layers of furniture back then.

 

 
  I ended up dragging her on a blanket into the living room. Where I arranged a thin, foam mattress to protect her from the hard floor. Even then I couldn't lift her onto it. So had to literally roll here onto a thinner foam pad. She wanted to be sitting up but was in continuous agony. Her face contorted every time I tried to pull her back up onto a hastily arranged, sloping backrest.  

 I used her unexpected fall as a final lever to agree that the the doctor should call. My wife was livid, but reluctantly went into hospital "for a check-up." Where she suffered for a further few days before discharging herself. After a nightmare weekend, without any nursing support, my wife died not long afterwards.

 Cancer had unknowingly spread to her major organs. The close association between my wife's fall and her death is linked irrevocably to my astronomy. The long decades of building telescopes and observatories were finally at an end. 

 I still follow the astronomy forums. To try and rekindle my interest. Nothing works so far. Which is why my major building projects are being demolished or dismantled. It will be two years next month that I lost my poor, dear wife. Fifty five years of memories still keep me awake at night.

12.00 With the base ring sawn into pieces I managed to pull two segments over onto their backs. Where they can be slid around on the grass with some difficulty. The sheer scale of the segments doesn't really show in my pictures. 

 I managed to stab my thumb with a protruding screw. So had to come in for rinsing and a rest. It looks like a cut and stings but quickly stopped bleeding. After lunch I tipped the last segment with the help of a long strap. 

 They are now all clear of the hideous pigsty of a mess which has accumulated. Three years of damp mud has left its mark on all the timber. Most of it will probably become kindling for the stove. The rest can go to the recycling yard.

 I will try to move the huge segments to the bottom of the garden. Where they can safely be ignored. Or, taken away by a local farmer? That might work and would save me some pointless struggle. I checked the small ads websites but they had nothing remotely similar.

 14.00 I have been on a tour of the local farms. Carrying large coloured pictures of the dome. They were all very helpful but had no use for it. They recommended another farmer up the road. This third young chap seemed interested. Not for animals, but in having a domed playhouse for the children. In the safety of the walled yard. There were lots of toys and a sandbox already. 

 What a brilliant idea! It would be quite magical for a child to have their own green igloo den. The farmer has to clear it with his wife first. Only a short distance away and he has all sorts of heavy equipment to take it away. Getting the segments past the house is the critical part. They will have to go out lengthways. I'll have another rest and then start tidying the debris. What an absolute tip! 

 16.30 I managed to throw all the timber offcuts into a heap. Collected all the fallen screws, nuts and bolts I could find. All of the countless shelf brackets I used to reinforce the base ring attachment. 

 Still a long way to go and the local recycling yard isn't open until Wednesday. I may have to go further afield to clear the unwanted stuff. Now the entire parking space is taken up with the three, giant segments! I backed the Morris Minor up to the heap of timber. If the timber were not there, then there was room for two Morris Minors, nose to tail.

 To add to today's problem the heavy shed door was stuck. I had to lever it off its hinges and trim the bottom. Getting it back onto its hinges took me half an hour of exhausting work with a crowbar and batten.

 Sunday dinner was chicken, mushrooms, peas, chips and gravy. I was a bit mean with the gravy. I usually use a small cup to measure the water. Tonight I just put some water in the pan. Wrong!

  ~o~

2.03.2024 Another day older but no wiser.

 ~o~

 Saturday 2nd 41F/5C. Overcast and misty. A long streak of cloud is sliding just pass us heading north on the radar.  Possible light showers this morning. Possible sunshine this afternoon. It could reach nearly 10C/50F after lunch.

 Up at 6.30. My back is aching from yesterday's gardening. I need to shop again. Bike ride into the village?

 8.00  Time for a walk to sort out my back.

 8.40 Back from my walk. The sky was dripping. It would be an exaggeration to say it was actually raining. I reached the lanes before my back pain eased. It was colder and wetter walking back against the southerly breeze. 

 9.00 No idea what I am doing this morning. I still have a trailer full of garden waste to empty. Do the shopping while I am in the village? Save a journey.

 12.00 50F/10C Sunny from mid morning. Greenhouse and internal doors open to share the warmth. I saved two journeys this morning. First I delivered the garden waste and shopped. Then collected a trailer full of crushed concrete gravel on the way home. After putting the shopping away I started filling the cleared space. To make it firm and level. Just finished. Though it needs more to make the space wider. 

 It falls away quite sharply near the western and northern edges. Which would easily eat up another trailer full to little avail. It's not the modest expense but the considerable effort involved. I am thinking I could park the Morris Minor on the new pad. Which would allow a lorry load of gravel to be dumped at the inner end of the drive in its place. While still allowing access to the parking area. So the cars would not be trapped. 

 Which would relieve me of the pressure to complete the landscaping task quickly. Because the cars would not be behind a mound of gravel. I don't think his tipper truck would reach the sunken area for direct tipping. Due to a lack of space for turning however slightly. Otherwise the filling would be so much easier.  

 The gravel man suggested I bring up the bulk of the sunken garden level with sand. It being much cheaper than gravel. Then a thick layer of gravel can be laid on top. As the load bearing surface. A plate vibrator would do a much better job than stamping. 

 This major levelling job is probably some time away. I have a load of trees to remove first. The back garden would expand to twice its present size. If this huge strip were cleared and levelled. To match the rest. Taking down the two storey observatory ought to be the first priority.

 17.30 Several hours spent dismantling the big green dome. A build project to provide me with an enlarged 4.3m Ø observatory. Which I started exactly three years ago. The last time I worked on it my wife was still alive. First I had to remove all the junk which had accumulated inside. It was a handy place to throw things when I was desperately tidying indoors two years ago. I haven't looked at it since.

 Dozens of bolts, screws, washers and nuts had to be removed. The nearside segment is now free. While I have the centre section propped on a stepladder. The left and right segments are stable and self supporting by their lower edges on the ground. 

 The centre section rests on those two. Removing both sides requires great care. The segments are far too heavy for one person to handle! Hopefully, the arched reinforcing bar will avoid my being crushed. 

 18.00 I have had a cup of tea and a much needed rest. It has been a long day but it is getting dark now. So I'll have to collect my tools together and stop for the night. Mist is forecast but no rain until late tomorrow afternoon. Easterly winds are too light to cause any problems overnight.

 18.20 Stove lit and more logs brought in. 62F in the room all day but I wasn't indoors. So I didn't bother to light the stove.

 Dinner was poached eggs on toast. Both broke as I cracked them open.

 

  ~o~

1st March 2024 March hare gardening?

 ~o~

  Friday 1st 38F/3C. Up at 5am, sweating, after having bad dreams. I am aching from carrying the heavy ladders yesterday. 64F/18C in the room.

 8.00-8.30 Went for my loopy walk in bright, early sunshine. There were birds everywhere. Calling, fighting, chattering and singing. Skylarks were scrapping in mid air while continuing their singing. There was a cold SE breeze. Not a day for bare hands.

 Dry and sunny. A good day for a ride? But where? It is expected to peak at 5C/41F at 16.00. So a morning ride won't really benefit. Warmer over the next few days. I had better have a look at the map. East/West would avoid a headwind.

 10.30 I should have escaped, as usual, but decided to stay at home, Where I worked on the garden. I have cleared my wife's large flower bed. As she was mostly interested in perennials there is a good chance of something coming up. Last year it was all hidden by the masses of dead material and looked awful. 

 I also trimmed the apple tree and cut back some of the brambles. Despite the cold wind I was soon sweating. There is a trailer full if I can get it in there. Without further damage to my forearms from the vicious thorns. 

 The bare earth is now about 7x9 metres. It used to be in deep shade for most of the day, year round. Until I felled trees and huge hedges after my wife died. The shadow of the house roof and chimney are visible in the foreground. Not bad for the 1st of March. It clouded over at 11.00. So I had to shut the greenhouse door again. No more free heat!

 I'd share some pictures of the cleared ground but Google is being a bløødy nuisance again. The images aren't being transferred to Google Photos. I finally found out how to transfer them. Somebody at Google has been promoted. So they wanted to wield their new power. By making life as difficult as possible for billions of shackled customers. Just because they can. 

 With luck, their empty and completely pointless appointment will disappear with the arrival of AGI next month. Then we can all relax. Because things will finally be working again. Without the weekly change of name. For exactly the same, 10-year-old service, but with four more key presses required. All to make room for 98.9% advertising over content.
 

12.10  I need a rest! I have just demolished an unwanted privet bush. 8' high x 12' across. It was sitting beside the trailer parking area. Once it has gone it can become the trailer parking spot. Clear of the parking area altogether. The privet bush used to guard the old well. I was required to trim the bush at intervals but never too much.  

 Even after two years I am still inhibited against making any new changes to the garden. The whole space goes right back to the northern boundary. Over ten meters more if I needed it. Running for almost the whole 30m width of the garden. Minus the observatory and shed of course.

 It presently consists of a sprawl of willow stems, overhanging blackthorn and a few bushes. A complete waste of space. There is a drop of about a metre just there but tapering away to the west. 

 It would need a lorry load of something to bring it up to the parking area level. If I wanted to use the extra space for a carport. Or just more hard standing for parking. My old telescope piers need to be tidied away first.

 15.00 Misty rain from the overcast sky. Returned from the recycling yard. After delivering a huge mound of privet. Well lashed down. The entire bush has been cut down to the ground and disposed of. The cast iron, manual well pump is exposed for the first time in years.

 Dinner was salad. I had run out of tomatoes.

 

  ~o~