Posts Tagged ‘Home and Garden’
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 28, 2012
Cover of Jinxed!
Monday turned out to be a really good day. I got back to the old lady’s house and fitted her wall lights and new bell push with only a minor problem concerning the bell push. Well something had to be problematical given what happened on Friday. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear her house was jinxed! Whilst there I received another request to do a job some miles away in the next town and that turned out to be quite lucrative and easy to do. Swings and roundabouts I guess. I finally got home around 2.30 and fixed myself a snack after which I took my guitar outside and sat in the sunshine-soaked patio playing for an hour. A neighbour was having a glass and brick-constructed conservatory demolished ready for a single-storey extension to be built in its place, something that required planning permission from the local council and which had been granted last year. In order to gain permission to build it is necessary to post a formal proposition so that people living in the immediate area can oppose it if they consider it might cause a problem of one sort or another. In most cases like this one there are no reasonable objections. I sat far enough away from the work in progress for it to be a ‘nuisance noise pollution‘ as it were and my music drowned out the sound anyway. Before long they had demolished most of the structure. I don’t know what it is with me but I love watching the progress of a building being erected, the various stages leading up to that final finish. I shall be taking an interest over the next few weeks as the work progresses. I do have an interest in buildings, in their architecture, they are one of the success stories of the human race I think and some of them are really imaginative in their construction. They are beautiful things in their own way, well I think so anyway. I heard that we are going to continue having warm weather at least until Friday. Currently the temperature is twice the seasonal average at 19, 20 and even 21 degrees celsius. I suppose next week will see a marked change to cooler days. I’m happy with that as long as it doesn’t get too cold!
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Activity, General Chat, Life, People | Tagged: Building, Environment, General Chat, Home and Garden, Life, Listed building, Noise pollution, Planning permission | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on February 18, 2012
On Monday we have someone arriving to install the roller-shutter door on the garage. It has been quite some time since we purchased the door so we hope it works! I shall be fitting the control panel this weekend ready for the door wiring to be connected via its plug. Earlier in the week I purchased an extract fan and transformer for the new wet room and I plan to begin work in that room this coming week. There is plenty of work to do but at least we have the room stripped and ready. I cannot make any more excuses for delaying this project. I didn’t want to work on it over the last couple of months for several reasons but now I am eager to start. On Wednesday I finished clearing away all the tree branches and shrubs we had cut down a few weeks ago. The weather, coupled with other things I had to do prevented me from finishing the task beforehand. We still need to dig out all the roots and remove the many large stones that had been laid there years ago. The whole area needs sculpturing and that will take quite some time to do but I am afraid it will have to wait a while yet. I might be able to do something with it in the meantime but that will depend on my other commitments. It is time to start the ball rolling. On Thursday when E went out to do the weekly shop I set about knocking the hole through the wall for fitting the extract fan. I set up the ladder to get on the new garage roof and I drilled two pilot holes where the hole would be on the outside but I didn’t remove the brick as I didn’t have the grill to fit over the hole. Apart from that it began to rain a little so I abandoned the idea. Instead, I went indoors and dug out the brick on the inside together with some plaster that had become loose over the years and which needs replacing. I had to stop work after this because I had other things to do but it has put me in the mood to continue as soon as I am able. Yesterday, Friday, E and I went out to lunch so nothing much got done in the morning. Maybe I’ll do something tomorrow instead. Watch this space.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Activity, Garden, House and Home, Time, Work | Tagged: Construction and Maintenance, Garage door, Home and Garden, Home Improvement, Roller shutter, Work | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on January 27, 2012
The year has been slow in starting for me on the whole. Last year as with previous years I have found plenty of things to do, most of it work related either at home or in my capacity as an electrician but not all of it work related. I usually have goals that I wish to complete and set my mind on those things. Once I have an idea in mind that I know I can do or have done for me if it is too much or outside of my capabilities, then I get on with it. The main problem I have is that I tend to procrastinate regarding setting the starting point, that is the day I’ll begin the work. This year is no exception! Two of my projects have been started but after long periods of dragging my heels thinking about them! I do have excuses, especially if I have electrical work scheduled but sometimes I simply don’t want to start. On Tuesday E and I started work on our proposed wet room by disconnecting and removing the existing furniture and fittings and as I didn’t have work scheduled for Wednesday I should have continued with that but instead I decided to chop up the tree branches and twigs that we had felled the week before. We couldn’t put off that job any longer but it will still take a few days to complete. Here is a picture taken when about a third of the branches had already been removed and disposed of.
It doesn’t seem a lot but when we have to chop it up to fit into our wheelie bins it takes a considerable time. Burning them is out of the question as they are not dry so we have no choice but to cut them by hand. We do possess one of those machines which chips up the branches. If you remember (those who have been regular readers last year) it was used quite a lot last year when we had an even larger tree chopping exercise. However it won’t tackle the thinner twigs and branches or the long and sinewy ivy as they simply clog the machinery. Clicking on the picture will enlarge it and perhaps you will then appreciate the task we have. I spend about three and a half hours cutting and chopping it on Wednesday and still only half of what was left is done, for we had already disposed of a third of it last week. My upper arms were left aching for quite some time afterwards. I seem to have more than one job on the go at any one time at home but I find that better than just doing them one at a time. For one, it relieves the boredom and gives me a break from some of the larger projects which can become a burden. To be honest I like the variety. There is plenty for me to be doing this year but there will also be plenty of days for leisure too, same old routines or not!
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Activity, Gardening, House and Home | Tagged: Activity, Home and Garden, Waste collector, Waste container, Wednesday | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 28, 2011
Yesterday was another glorious day here on the north-west coast at Southport. 
Weather for sitting around in and relaxing but I had to do the work I promised I would do the day before. The garage electrical circuits are now all fully functioning. E took me to a local store to purchase a light fitting for the roof above the rear steps as we had forgotten to buy it the day before. I also diverted the supply to the floodlight on the garage front so that it, along with everything else in and around the garage would be supplied by the garage distribution board. After I had completed that work I set about fixing some wooden battens over the rear access to the storage area which is inside the garage but above the rear steps to the garage. I need to make this opening secure by fitting some heavy-duty plywood over the hole. I have a small job to do for someone this morning so I will have to continue with the garage later. I also have to fit the woodwork for the roller door’s metal guides on each side of the garage opening and the newly cleaned and painted brackets need to be replaced on the wall. I didn’t finish working until 6.30 last night after starting at 9.30 in the morning so I was glad for the rest but I’m ready to start again today! It looks like we are in for some more fine weather this weekend so maybe a barbie is on the cards? Must remember to get some charcoal though!
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Activity, House and Home | Tagged: Distribution board, Garage, Home and Garden, Southport | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 24, 2011
Today I shall be making a start on clearing out the garage of bricks (we have a few hundred stacked there) and many large natural stones which we accumulated when we knocked down the dry-stone walling at the front of the house some weeks ago. If you remember (those who read my meanderings) we had a brick wall built in its place. Anyway these need a new home, probably either inside the other garage at the rear where there is ample space or at the rear but outside on a large concrete platform which is there behind the garage. Then there are the several sheets of plywood which need treating with preserver before being stored alongside existing sheets of plywood in the other garage too. If anyone wants to build a shed using plywood we have plenty of it! A few other things will need to be disposed of too then I can sweep the floor and get on with treating the roof timbers and finishing off the electrical work and the remainder of the woodwork around the new partition wall. I’ve plenty of time on my hands these days so I am not bothered by the amount of work that needs to be done.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in House and Home | Tagged: Brick, drystone, Garage, Home and Garden, Plywood, Roller shutter, Wall | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 13, 2011
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So Tuesday was going to be harder than Monday, it had to be, I did almost nothing on Monday! When I went to work I had a rough idea of what was entailed but not an exact knowledge. I was prepared for work, I was feeling much, much better and I knew I would be alright. Did I tell you that E likes to run over walls with her car? If you look at one of my earlier posts, a few weeks ago, I posted a picture showing the older garage at the right of the house. To the left of the garage is a wall which slopes down to ground level over the last few feet. My van is parked in that garage overnight so I had to pass the wall to get to it. The first thing I noticed was the bottom two bricks had been dislodged and moved about a foot from the wall. Now E has always parked her car in front of the shrubbery to the left of that wall. She drives into the driveway and heads for the garage then reverses back around the wall to park ready to drive off by turning right, out of the driveway. She must have driven over the bottom two bricks and loosened them. When I got back home at 2.00 after my job, I mentioned that she must have dislodged the bricks. She looked a bit perplexed, she hadn’t noticed that she had done that. It is a simple matter to reset the bricks and we do have a small amount of ready-mixed mortar so it isn’t a problem. Many times in the past I have suggested she not park quite so close to the shrubbery as there is plenty of room to do so. She might also have less spiders and cobwebs on her vehicle and possibly less scratches (from the shrubbery when the wind is high). The funniest thing is she didn’t know she’d run over the wall! Strangely enough, a couple of months ago we had various pieces of concrete and stone standing alongside the perimeter wall which is the wall on the right-hand-side of the garage. There was space in front of them (along the wall) to park a vehicle. Now at that time my van was parked in the garage as usual and as work was going on around the front of the house E decided to park her car in this space to keep it out-of-the-way although she could have parked it in front of the garage or even in it (that would have meant moving some stuff but the garage is built for two cars after all). I was behind her car whilst she parked it, ready to stop her from hitting the pile of concrete standing there. This I did but she wanted to manoeuvre the car more precisely. I was shouting stop, stop and banging on the back of the car for her to cease letting it creep any further backwards. Too late! She backed into the concrete and dented the skirt beneath the rear bumper. Fortunately it is a plastic skirt and it was easy to pop back into shape. she does crazy stuff like that sometimes! That’s probably one of the reasons I love her. Incidentally, I park my van in the garage by reversing it all the way from the street so that I can simply drive out in the morning, or any other time. I have yet to hit a brick wall though…LOL!
I got to my electrical job and the lady and I discussed her needs. All the work was in her bedroom, fitting extra power points but the job itself wasn’t all that easy to actually do. I spent four hours there and was quite tired when I’d finished. whilst the lady had gone to get some cash to pay me I walked up the road to where her mom lives, a mere 50 metres or so. I had done some work for her mom last year when she had employed this guy to do all sorts of general joinery and plumbing jobs. She had also asked him to do some alterations to the electrics upstairs but he made a mess of it (well he wasn’t an electrician and shouldn’t really have been doing it). My job had been to correct those mistakes. Later she told me that she had been stupid to allow him to fiddle with the electrics (what can I say?). Anyhow this time she was asking about installing a supply to a water feature in her front garden. I told her what she might expect depending on what materials and fittings came with the water feature and to buy what she wanted (from the reputable supplier she had chosen) and I would make a better assessment having seen what was involved. Personally I don’t think it will be difficult or expensive, quite the opposite and she will be happy about that!
At home, after a quick snack I fixed myself a drink, took my guitar onto the patio and sat playing random songs for an hour. I simply let the songs come into my head, a mixture of pop melodies, Christian songs and some of my own stuff. E had gone to her moms for an hour or two so I was left undisturbed. So the day wasn’t quite exactly as planned. I didn’t do any more work in the other garage (I was too tired!), the electrical job put paid to that. Now today?
Just a point of interest, that is of course if you are interested, many are not! Tuesday or to be precise 12th July (actual date is 11th July and in the old calendar 1st July) marks the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne here in the UK (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Boyne ) and in Southport (as in a few towns and cities) there are marching bands dressed in their orange regalia who visit the town from places like Liverpool just down the coast. I remember every year walking into Liverpool where I lived as a youngster, to see them. Some feel these events are an excuse for drunkenness and violence and indeed that is often the result during the day so they are against them being held. It is also an excuse for religious hatred and bigotry between Catholics and Protestants. If you read the short history you will understand why this is so. One would think that to continue to celebrate an event that happened 321 years ago should now cease but in fact it seems to get stronger year by year! It appears that another brick has been put in the wall between Catholics and Protestants.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Activity, Behaviour, Celebration, Driving, Music, Religion, Rest and relaxation, Work | Tagged: Automobile, Battle of the Boyne, Behaviour, Driving, Garage, Home and Garden, Liverpool, Music, Patio, Protestantism, Work | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 7, 2011
The last couple of days have been a lot cooler than of late and it has been most welcome. I am not a hot weather person and prefer the temperature to hover around 18 to 20 degrees with an average humidity of around 50%. To me that is heaven on earth, besides which I can perform much better when working in these conditions. So over the last couple of days I have been able to complete many jobs in and around the new garage, one of which was the installation and plumbing of the water-butt, another was the ceiling above the passageway and the storage area above that which is inside the garage. We are making headway into completing the preparations for fitting the roller-shutter door (not before time – we have had it for well over ten years! Just hope it works!). I have plans to build a small office area inside the garage and to build some internal walls. Of course there is the electrical installation to do in there too but at least I have the power board installed ready. It was put there when I did the electrical supply to the patio. This part of the house and garden has been sadly neglected over the years but after much work it has at last begun to take shape. Still a lot to do but it is now all indoors. We still have to make a start on the wet-room but there is no immediate hurry for that to be done. You can see why I like the weather to be cooler, it keeps me occupied! Hot weather is for lazing about in, nice if you are having a barbecue but useless for working in. Give me cooler any day.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Weather, Work | Tagged: Construction and Maintenance, Garage, Home and Garden, Rainwater tank, Roller shutter, Weather | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 4, 2011
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I got up very early on Sunday morning with another view to do some work in the garage once more. I get these urges to do things but as I mentioned in my last post I also promised myself that I would only work for a couple of hours and take a break for the remainder of the day. Again I was dressed and downstairs by eight o’clock, had my breakfast and went straight out to my van and donned a pair of overalls and boots. Really looking the part (lol) I proceeded to carry on where I had left off the day before. I spent four hours finishing off the woodwork and giving it all an undercoat of paint both inside and out. True to my word I packed everything away at one o’clock and prepared some salad and fruit to go with the steaks E was going to cook on the barbecue once I’d help her get it out and on to the patio. There was only the two of us this weekend, ten less than came last week but of course we hadn’t planned on entertaining this week! The weather has been glorious and it would be a shame not to enjoy it whilst we can. For two people who actually like working at home doing different things we find it difficult to just sit and relax sometimes. We took time over our lunch and sat chatting for a while but I could tell E was biting at the bit, eager to start doing something once more. I insisted that she stay put and take time out and relax. She had been busy in the morning but doing different things than I had been doing so she deserved a break. She saw sense and sat a while longer in the heat of the sun. I kept out of the sun as much as possible and stayed in the shadow of the awning. I had caught too much sun last time and my chest was sore for days so I wasn’t about to do that again! Sitting there looking at the barbecue E couldn’t resist giving it a clean. She went indoors and came out with a hot bucket of soapy water and a cloth and proceeded to clean away the dirt and grease. It wasn’t long after we had put the barbecue back in storage (we keep it in the old garage, there’s plenty of space in there) when we had a visit from our eldest son and his wife who, when they realised we’d had a barbecue bemoaned the fact that we hadn’t invited them. They were and are always welcome but they came rather late and we hadn’t told them we were having a barbecue, we didn’t know ourselves until we suggested having one on the spur of the moment. They didn’t stay long, about an hour, and then they had to get home. I didn’t do any more work but E continued to potter about in the garden for a couple of hours. I stayed indoors and played my guitar for a while and did other things after my evening meal. Today, if I am not working as an electrician, I plan to go out with E and buy in some things we need to complete various jobs around the garage. And so………..life goes on.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Leisure, Lifestyle | Tagged: Barbecue, Garage, Home and Garden, Leisure | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 28, 2011
Our first barbecue on our new patio went down extremely well even though some of our guests had to back out because of other pressing matters. One friend, who was supposed to be bringing his mate, turned up with his daughter and her husband and two (grown-up) children instead assuming we wouldn’t mind! Well, as he is a friend and we did have the space and food we didn’t mind. As it turned out they were very good company and were the last to depart. It seems they enjoyed it that much they didn’t want to leave.
By the time this photo was taken three of our guests had gone home. Peter, the friend I refer to is being his usual self by giving my camera the sly fingers! He is a real character and once he starts to tell stories about his life we end up in stitches with laughter. A real life-and-soul of the party type is Peter. We put away some wine between us all and the beer was hardly touched. You can just about make out the little drinks fridge on the left of the picture which had been stacked with different beers but only four bottles got drank! There was plenty more in the cellar which didn’t see the light of day. It is handy being able to use the fridge outdoors, it saves having to dash indoors every time you want a drink! The red wine didn’t need refrigerating of course and the white wine wasn’t on the table long enough for it to warm up! We did have to make a couple of trips indoors to replenish the white wine which is kept in the kitchen fridge. Anyway a splendid time was had by all.
Yesterday I went to do a job in a house some eighteen miles away where I had been asked to disconnect the wiring to a large garden shed and to trace the fault that had cut off the supply to the power outlets in the kitchen. The strange thing was the power was leaving the distribution point but not arriving at the kitchen! Obviously a break in the cable somewhere along the way. This meant a physical trace on the cable, lifting boards and such to find perhaps a broken connection in a junction box. Unfortunately, having determined that the fault probably lay beneath the bedroom floor, the client was reluctant to allow lifting the boards until she had spoken with her husband who was at that time in work. The problem is the large amount of furniture in that room which makes lifting floorboards extremely difficult. It appears they will clear the room themselves and decide on any further action later. I was able to locate were the supply to the shed was connected within the kitchen and I disconnected it. So the job has been left only half done! The circuit itself requires altering in any case, even after the fault has been located and rectified. It is one single cable presently supplying about eight power points! The limit for that size cable is two and they have to be in the same area! Converting it to a ring circuit is relatively easy though but requires an extra cable be run under that same bedroom floor!
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Enjoyment, Family, Food, Friendship, Leisure, Work | Tagged: Food, Home and Garden, Kitchen and Dining, Recreation, Wine | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 24, 2011
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Yesterday was such a busy day in one way or another. I had no private electrical work again (I seem to be in a slump just now but I am not dependent on my occupational work, fortunately) so I wasn’t in any particular hurry to get out of bed. Having said that I managed to get downstairs before 9 o’clock. At the moment I am suffering a rather unpleasant condition, something many women experience from time to time. To put it bluntly I have a possible infection of the clitoris for it has become inflamed and sore. E thinks it might just be irritation caused by urine. If it doesn’t improve I will need to see the doctor. That aside, I ventured out into the cool morning air and began working in the garage. There were sheets of plywood to cut and fit. If you look at the picture I posted here two days ago you can see the rear opening (will have a door on it when finished) above which is a large storage area under which steps lead into the garage proper. It is this area that I am currently working on. Bearing in mind that the sheets of plywood I needed to be cut were 8 feet by 4 feet 5 ply and one was 7 ply making them difficult to manoeuvre around the garage with everything else that is stored there! I had nobody to assist me. All I had on which to cut the boards was a ‘Workmate‘ and an old chair! Sawing by hand takes a long time, especially if the saw is old and worn out! To be fair it isn’t a bad saw at all, it simply required the blade lubricating but it isn’t a new saw and has seen better days. I didn’t fancy the idea of cutting the 7 ply sheet which I had to do as it was needed to complete the unfinished ‘floor’ of the storage area. The other surfaces only require a thinner sheet so I used the 5 ply for them but they are not yet finished. So if I wasn’t to cut the sheets by hand what was I going to use seeing that I don’t own a circular electric saw? I did have a ‘jig saw‘ though so I used that. Admittedly not as good as a circular saw but it saved a lot of arm ache! However near the completion of cutting the 7 ply it gave up. I took it apart to see what the problem was. It turned out that the gear drive for the reciprocating arm had become flat for part of its circumference. That meant it became detached from the motor once every revolution and the blade stopped reciprocating. There was no way to fix it short of buying new parts but the machine is quite old and not worth paying for a repair. It went into the waste bin. Thankfully the heavier sheet had almost been finished with but I still needed to cut the 5 ply sheets. By hand! So with all the lifting, shifting of materials and ladders, sawing of wood and so on I was completely worn out by 5 o’clock, so much so that I fell asleep on my bed for an hour! E had been out shopping and normally I would be at home to bring it all indoors for her but she came home whilst I was asleep. Later I heard the front doorbell and when I went downstairs I found that our eldest son was paying us a visit for a couple of hours. He was telling us about his visit to the dentist and how much it had cost him. £240 he said! Gosh! I was too tired to listen much to what he was saying and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind speaking a little more quietly. He didn’t realise how tired I really was when I told him what I had been up to but after I showed him he insisted on helping me fit the sheet of plywood I had cut for the underside of the storage area but couldn’t fit by myself as it was too heavy. I told him it would do another day but he persuaded me to enlist his help there and then. It took the three of us to get it in position and fix it, passing the cable I had partly installed earlier through a hole in the centre of the sheet. That will enable a light to be fitted there later as the passageway will be rather dark when in use later in the year. It was 8 o’clock before we got back indoors and he had to go visit his wifes parents for a meal they had prepared for them both. I finally sat down at 9 o’clock after my evening meal to set up my old compter for E to use as hers isn’t working because its supply lead is faulty. Now my old computer hasn’t been used since October and that meant its virus protection needed bring up to date. We use Norton 360 on all our machines which automatically updates itself. This machine however was 114 Mb out of date! It took almost an hour to update and more time for the machine to re-organise itself! Finally it was ready for E to use. Well no actually it didn’t like the guest settings so I had to log in and allow E to use it under my log-in. No problem there, no sensitive or should I say insensitive material there for her to come across. It was 10.30 before I could sit down with this computer and write all this down. During the day I received many phone calls too which all turned out to be a waste of time but one call, later in the day was from a friend who with her husband accepted our invitation to a barbecue on Sunday. I will most certainly be glad when Sunday arrives, I’ll be sorely needing that rest!
Shirley Anne
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Posted in House and Home, Uncategorized, Work | Tagged: Circular saw, Garage, Home and Garden, Norton 360, Plywood, Shopping | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 17, 2011
On Wednesday E and I went to do some shopping after I returned home from a job. We bought furniture oil for our outdoor furniture (seems logical) and some more brick sealant (we ran out of the stuff when we treated the patio brickwork last time). That will keep me occupied for a day or two I am sure! Whilst we were out E paid a visit to the store where we bought the materials and furniture for converting our toilet/cloakroom into a shower/wet room and cloakroom. Coats will only be left there temporarily by visitors, our own coats are stored in our bedrooms. It is the only room downstairs that can be used as a temporary cloakroom. I digress. She went into the store whilst I sat in the car. We were wondering why it was taking them so long to deliver our goods, E was told that it would all be delivered the same day, a matter of two hours later! They were true to their word and it was delivered as promised. This means when it is raining I have a job to do indoors and when it isn’t I have plenty yet to do outside! There is no escape. All this depends of course on my availability, I do work as an electrician too!
Next weekend we hope, weather permitting, to have our first barbecue of the year (we did have a small one a week or so ago, just the two of us) where we will invite family, friends and neighbours. This will make good use of the patio too, well that was one of the reasons for building it! If the weather is not fine we simply eat indoors but that means cooking indoors too which takes more time I find, especially when it comes to cleaning up! As long as it isn’t raining or it isn’t too windy we should be alright. I like having people around for drinks, food and fun. We usually have music, games or a quiz to help things along. As long as my guests are happy, I am happy.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Drink, Enjoyment, Family, Food, Friendship, Fun, Life, Lifestyle | Tagged: Drink, Food, Friendship, Fun, Garden furniture, Home and Garden, Life, Patio, Shopping | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 7, 2011
The day started early for me as I dragged myself out of bed to get ready for work. I had one job to do locally which turned out to be two jobs albeit at the same address. Even so I was back home just after ten o’clock! I wasn’t in the mood for work but today and tomorrow I cannot afford such luxury as I have two separate jobs to do which will take me the morning to do in each case. When I got home I washed my van, the first time in quite a few weeks as I have been too busy elsewhere. Later and before lunch I had some housekeeping to do and I spent some time on the treadmill but after lunch I’d simply had enough of work and exercise. There were things to do and there still are things to do but I wanted to rest instead. The morning wasn’t too bright but by noon the sun began to shine and it remained sunny all afternoon. I grabbed some beer (lager) and my guitar and went outside to sit in our new patio. after a while I took the guitar indoors but returned to just sitting quietly in the patio whilst appreciating the scenery. E had gone out for a couple of hours and there was no-one else in the house. Today we are expecting E’s nephew and his friend to turn up to lay the remaining paving slabs in the rear garden around the patio. Later, probably Wednesday and Thursday, we are hoping they will finish laying paving slabs in the front garden too. We are also expecting two deliveries this week, the first will be the materials and furniture for our proposed re-vamp of the downstairs toilet/cloakroom and the second will be the delivery of the windows for the new(er) garage. Of course this means more work so it is nice to be able to sit around occasionally, ‘Lazin’ on a sunny afternoon’.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Rest and relaxation | Tagged: Consumer Goods and Services, Furniture, Garden, Home and Garden, Patio, Rest and relaxation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 29, 2011
Yesterday morning E and I went to buy the materials and furniture that we need to refurbish the downstairs toilet. We had visited the store about two weeks ago and we knew what we wanted to purchase. Because most of the things were too large they would need to be delivered else I would need to empty my van and collect it all myself. I chose to have it delivered. We enlisted the help of a store employee who made out the list for us as we walked about the store pointing out the things we wanted. We then proceeded to the desk and paid the bill. Hopefully they will be delivered in two to three weeks time which gives us plenty of time to get organised.
It was approaching lunchtime when we left the store and I suggested dining out but E wanted to do some shopping first. It was around 1.30 before we decided to drive to a local pub/restaurant for a lovely carvery meal, very reasonably priced too! Whilst we were there I received a message on my phone from a guy I’ve known for a few years. He wasn’t sure if I was still living in Southport but was wondering if I could give him some advice regarding his plans to install lighting in his lounge. I answered via a text message that I could visit him in the afternoon. Shortly later he phoned me and we arranged to visit him after our lunch. He lives about a mile from where we live so it was no inconvenience to visit him and see what it was he was planning to do. It turns out that he is re-decorating several of the rooms in his house. We chatted about the work over a glass or two of red wine and after a short while his girlfriend returned with her dad. I had not seen either of them for over twelve months so it was nice to meet them again. We spent an hour or so there and had a really pleasant time before returning home. I am now awaiting the call to do the work some time in the near future. Today I shall be back working at home. I have plans to fit a window frame in the new garage and in the weeks ahead to fit three windows to match those we had installed in the house. I can fit those myself but they will need to be measured to fit the openings and subsequently manufactured to order but that is a few weeks away yet.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Drink, Food, House and Home, Shopping | Tagged: Home, Home and Garden, Shopping, Southport, Window | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 21, 2011
Yesterday morning I had to go and do an electrical job a short distance out-of-town but I didn’t need to get there until 9 o’clock which was just as well because the on the previous night I had very little sleep, less than three hours! By the time I got to bed I was walking about like a zombie but I had a really good night’s sleep when my head hit the pillow. So there I was yesterday morning, fit as a fiddle and rearing to go. It was very sunny yesterday morning although it was windy and not very warm too. I had it in mind to do some work on the patio when I returned home so when I did get back an hour later I collected all the materials I would need and put them in the patio area. I wanted to start ‘second fixing’ the electrical work, fixing the sockets and lights but before I could do that I wanted to give the wall another coating of sealant. The top part of the wall had not yet been coated even once so that needed doing first, however, when I climbed the ladder I noticed that many of the joints in the capping stones were not properly filled with mortar! I suppose the bricklayer thought ‘out of sight, out of mind’. I was disappointed that he’d left the job in that condition just because it was out of sight. I mixed a bucket full of mortar and set about correcting his poor workmanship. I had it done in a half-hour. In the meantime E had joined me and she got on with coating the walls with sealant. That meant that I could get on with the electrical work. The weather turned from being sunny to being showery, not a lot of rain but enough to stop us working. It was intermittent rain and it looked like it was on for the day so we collected everything and went back indoors for a late lunch at 1.30. I decided to take a trip to the supplier to purchase some stock for the van whilst E went to do the weekly shop. She normally does that on a Thursday but she had been in Birmingham for a day or so. When I got back home the weather had changed for the better so I decided to carry on with the patio electrics. This time I took a garden ‘brolly’ with me, you know the type, those that fit into a table but without the table. I was seated on a garden chair doing the sockets so it fitted easily into the chair and gave me protection in the event of another shower of rain. It did rain just the once and then stopped for the rest of the evening. I managed to install one of the twin sockets, a switch unit for the lights and one of the light fittings before coming back inside for my evening meal. I have two more twin sockets and two more lights to fit which shouldn’t take me long when the weather improves. The Sunday weather forecast looks promising! I shall be taking today off from working and in any case the weather isn’t that good for working outside. I was full of aches and pains last night, probably due to working outside in the cool, windy and damp air.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Activity, Garden, Weather, Work | Tagged: Birmingham, Garden, Home and Garden, Patio, Rain, Sealant, Shopping, Weather | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 15, 2011
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I have done no occupational work at all this last week but I have been fairly busy at home. Yesterday and Friday however I didn’t even do any work at home. To be honest I was too tired and needed the rest. I am ready to bite the bit again but the weather isn’t helping at all. It has turned cool and showery. I don’t mind it being cool because I don’t feel it if I am busy but when it rains it makes working difficult, especially if the work I am doing requires dry weather. We have sifted an awful lot of soil lately and more needs to be done but the soil also needs to be reasonably dry or the task becomes very hard. The builders have not been able to continue either which is preventing me from finishing my work, although once I get a clear and dry day it won’t take me long to do so. Yesterday I spent the afternoon watching the FA Cup final. I like watching football but don’t do that very often so it was nice to be able to relax and watch a good game. I hope to be able to do some work today but that depends on the weather of course. I have no idea what the forthcoming week has in store for me as far as my electrical work is concerned so I like to take the opportunity to work at home as and when I can. On Friday E and I went to assess the cost of completely refurbishing our downstairs cloakroom/toilet with a view to converting into a ‘wet’ room, that is one with a shower unit in it. The room is big enough and we will not be losing a toilet and hand wash basin but we will be gaining a shower. That means more work for us both in the near future but again it will be worth the effort. We had been looking to completely re-vamp the family bathroom upstairs but that can now wait a while as it will be too large a project to undertake at this moment. Having the cloakroom conversion done will enable us to strip out the bathroom at our leisure. Did I say ‘leisure’? What a laugh!
Shirley Anne
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Posted in House and Home, Rest and relaxation | Tagged: Bathroom, Home and Garden, Work | Leave a Comment »
