the neighbours have trimmed their bush

I wondered what the neighbours over the road were doing to their massive bush the other day, and now l know. They have trimmed it back and made it look a lot better.
I'm impressed, but if it was mine l would never have started the job in the first place.

toodle pip

the gardening is on hold

I was trying to be a good lad and crack on with grass cutting the other day, as l had paid someone to strim it the week before, and didn't want it getting too long again before cutting it properly.
However.....when l went to the shed to get the lawnmower out, there was (unexpectedly) a load of free cds and beer left for me. I worked out it was probably from a mate in Darlington, and when l texted him, that turned out to be the case (Hello Stevie boy!).
A pleasant surprise, the rest of the afternoon was sorted, and the garden had to wait a while longer.
Hurrah!!

toodle pip

busy day with the garden and stockport

Well, it was a pretty productive day yesterday.
First off, l slaved away cutting the grass (with my fourth lawn mower of the year!), which had gotten unfeasibly long again, and trust me, it took bleeding ages, and there's still a little bit to do. Evidence is below.

Next, after cleaning myself up (a treat for everybody), l drove (with Mr Parrot to keep me company) to Stockport to pick up a load of Mojo music magazines that l bought the day before on ebay. Over 160 of the little beauties for under £14 (plus of course the petrol money). I am more than pleased with the purchase, but at some stage, l am going to need a bigger house for all my crap. Either that, or move out non essentials such as furniture.
Manchester United's first league game of the season later on, and no work till the 20th (apart from a trip to Wales next week), so l'm in heaven!!

toodle pip

cutting the bleeding grass again!

I've paid someone twice to do the garden this year, and the bleeding grass has managed to grow back again after both cuts, as every time l've been off work, the weather has been crap, or l've been out and about.
Yesterday however, l slaved away for hours trying to hack through thorns and bushes, plus cut the grass again and dig out roots, to find some semblance of a garden underneath. The grass bins are heaving, and will be emptied tomorrow, and l will hopefully finish it off afterwards, in preparation for the scorching sunshine that's about to appear (in my wildest dreams).
I may have to look at getting a false lawn down next year, and do away with all this crap.

toodle pip

cutting the bastard grass - again!

It's been pretty good weather since l finished work this afternoon, so l decided to get stuck into sorting the garden out.  I'd already cut the grass about four weeks ago, but it had regrown way too quickly for my liking, and it was a bugger to do again (Three hours l spent pratting about out there!).
I've also tidied up the paving slabs and an outside storage container, but the shed still has a teeny weeny bit of fine tuning still needing doing.
I've now got bins full of grass and crap, have killed numerous spiders (nearly crapping my pants whilst doing so), l'm knackered, probably smelly (no change there), and l need to have a soak in the bath, despite Mr Parrot screeching that he wants attention..
No work now till Wednesday afternoon, so the bloody sun had better make an appearance, then l can dust off the old hammock.and chill.

 The garden looking tidier

The bin full of crap

The outside storage container looking organised

Unlike the shed!

toodle pip

bloody rats

Whilst letting Mr Parrot out in the garden the other day to catch some rays, l wandered over to the overgrown and usually (at the moment) rabbit run, and idly leaned on it, passing the time by wondering if any rats still came over from the fields at the back of the garden, like they have in the past.  Then l noticed something from the corner of my eye - a big rat that was a bit sleepy or dazed.  I managed to kill it by whacking it over the head with a shovel, and then threw it into the farmers field (as you do in these circumstances), and although l felt a bit sorry for it and didn't want to particularly kill it, l also don't want to be having loads of rats by the house.  At least it wasn't as big as the one above, but l might have to keep a look out in case his mates start gathering, and invest in some rat poison. Then again, l may just build myself a rat trap like in the gif below.
One of the many joys of living out in the wilds.
Watch this space.

toodle pip

cutting the bleeding grass (again!)

Well, the lawnmower has eventually been fixed, and l have been able to cut the bleeding grass at long last.  I had already cut it once this year when it was really overgrown, so l was a bit pissed off it had grown so much  again.  I even got a blister on my hand, as the last thing l am used to these days  is hard manual work (soft handed girl that l am).
I also cut some branches off the trees and am going to have a bonfire to burn them all, but l had better make sure Tubbs isn't hiding among the crap, like he was doing today.
Maybe he has had enough of being stuck with me and has got a death wish. He certainly didn't look too happy to be bought back in.
Time to get his mind right, as he needs to know who's boss around these parts (or no carrots for him in the morning).

toodle pip

the bloody grass and the lawnmower

The downside of having a decent garden is having to cut the grass, especially the first cut of the summer.  I actually did this a few weeks ago (and cut the vines from the rabbit run), but the next time l went to cut the grass, the petrol lawnmower started spluttering  a bit, so l put in some oil.  Maybe the wrong oil, maybe too much oil.  Either way, it then stopped working, despite the vigorous and prolonged curses and kickings l administered (the vicious bastard, it's always had it in for me).  I have tried getting the oil out and also had a mate looking at it, but to no avail.  Since my return from Menorca though, l have dropped it off in the hands of Stan the Man, the lawnmower repairer extraordinaire.  He asked me to phone him today to see how he was getting on with it, and he said he has had it up and running, repaired the leaks, got rid of the oil and water, and l should be able to collect it on Tuesday.  Hurrah!!
The bad side of that is, l will then have to crack on with the garden again.

toodle pip

cutting the bloody grass (again)

Once again l have been slaving away in the garden, trying to make some kind of order out of it. I wouldn't have minded so much, but l cut the grass about four weeks ago, and it then proceeded to chuck it down, and   l was either at work (or away) when the weather was nice. It took bleeding ages doing it, and when l could finally cut it again, it was back to its overgrown state, resulting in waaaaaaay too much hard work for me.
I just managed to do it before the rains commenced again, but with a bit of luck, the worst is now over, and it should be OK for the rest of the 'summer', necessitating light cuts only. I bloody well hope so, for the sake of my poor old aching body.

toodle pip

back from corfu

It's a hard life and all of that, but l am now back from the work trip to Corfu, where it was blazing sunshine every day, and l got to do a lot of reading (and some work).
I also managed to catch the football and get a great tan, but l got bitten by mosquitos (which was not so good) as there were swarms of them on a couple of nights (the little spitty blood sucking bastards).
Pretty pleased it has been pissing down in England while l have been away, as l don't want other people enjoying themselves, but it could do with stopping now that l am back. The bloody grass in the garden will be 10 feet tall soon.

toodle pip

the nest for the garden

This is the sort of thing l should have in the garden for the summertime. As long as the spiders stayed out of it, l would never come indoors again.
More info here.

toodle pip

the bloody rain today

bloody grass cutting

The before picture of the garden

The after picture

Another after picture

The overgrown rabbit run

Tubbs, the idiot rabbit, taking shelter in the run

After a hard days slog at work (OK, a pretty easy day), l returned home and carried on slaving away (putting in the hours) by cutting the bloody grass, which has been growing quite a bit while l have been otherwise engaged. I did think about putting it off, but no-one else was going to do it, and l would have been cursing even more if l allowed it to get longer, so l cracked on, cursing and a sweating as l did so. Thankfully, the worst is now over, and as l am off work until next Wednesday afternoon, l will be praying for some sun at the start of next week ( a fat lot of good that will do me). I am off on a stag do in Newcastle tomorrow, so it had better not be a scorcher until l return home (probably on Sunday evening). British bloody summers... Never mind..soon be in Portugal!

toodle pip