Author: peterb51

13th April 2019

I made the mistake of going to Wickes after 10.00am because the place was crawling with part- time DIYers. All the carts had gone, I waited around for a while hoping to grab one as soon as it became available, but there were others waiting with the same objective.

Feeling frustrated, I left, intending to return later when it was quieter.

I met up with my Art School chums for a coffee and a chat.

After that I headed back to Wickes to hopefully purchase some ballast. Things looked promising, there were plenty of carts, but the stack of ballast had dwindled to five bags which was just the quantity I wanted. There were other, but the bags had split, and other customers had set them aside.

I had a good stash of bags ready to finish the path and steps.

12th April 2019

Today was a good day. I held my new grandson, George for the first time, he was so small and chilled out, not a trouble in the world. His elder brother Ethan, doesn’t really know what’s happening, but it will be great to see them both grow together.

Next it was Ryan’s birthday, the real one.

The other fantastic news is that we bought a house. It is right next door to the one we live in now. The previous owner Lynn, had died a few weeks ago, and his family wanted to settle his affairs quickly, so without it even going on the market, our offer was accepted.

Now starts another chapter in our lives.

Kelli had already started decorating it in her head, but we didn’t want to get too excited just in case, she would have been devastated it we couldn’t get it.

So by the end of April we will get the keys and a month to get it how we want it. Ironic that I finish one house referb and start all over again on a new one, plus keeping the business going.

By the end of the evening Kelli had chosen all the paint colours, and sourced new light fixtures, if only doing all the decorating jobs could be that easy.

11th April 2019

I started off by wishing my son Ryan a happy Birthday, which was dumb because it is tomorrow,which he was at pains to tell me.

If that hadn’t convinced him I’m going doo-dally then nothing will.

I dropped the Shogun into the garage for a service. I had a phone call later informing me that it had only done a couple of thousand miles since the last one, so didn’t need anything doing. There were a few sensors that needed attention but at £142 each I said I’ll make another appointment for that.

It looks like we’re another step closer to buying a house in the US. The neighbour’s family who had recently died, needed to sell the house quickly. This was our opportunity to get the place of our own in the area that we wanted, and, we would only have to carry the furniture a few feet, perfect.

I finished filling the gabions. I was talking to a local chap who offered me stones that had been taken from an old wall. These has been stacked up against a wall for about ten years. I jumped at this free offer, and there was more than enough to finish the job.

10th April 2019

My friend Dave came over to help me fix an old reel to reel tape recorder. I had to forgo my garden work. The machine was one I had bought in 1979 from Dixon’s in Weston Super Mare. A few years ago I had replaced all the rubber belts, but some felt pads fell off the pause device and I tried an alternative material but that didn’t work. I had mentioned it to Dave a couple of weeks back, and he was keen to have a go at fixing it. The trouble was. I had forgotten what the problem was until we went through each part checking how it functioned then it all came back to me. Finally we removed the pause function link and found the pads I had fitted had been destroyed. Dave was over the moon at identifying the fault whilst I was embarrassed at using the wrong material.

Later I attempted to build one of the gabions, thankfully it was quite a simple job.

9th April 2019

Today is Kelli’s birthday, and also the birth of my latest Grandson, George Edison, quite a day and it only just started.

I managed to get six more bags of ballast, and a panic attack. I still have so much to do, and I am not sure I will get done before I head back to the US.

I try to set out my daily tasks everyday, but often I find other jobs that I had forgotten about, that have to added to the list.

I have very little things to do in the house, I have now finished the bed frame, I have one small piece of skirting that has to be painted and fitted, and caulking in the bedroom.

I have to get more ballast every day, and then I have to get the top layer of Romney Red to finish the path.

At the end of each day I am exhausted, I get a shower, and that revitalises me ready for the next day.

I had to drive to some place in the wildness of wiltshire to collect the gabions.

It was in a village called Clyffe Pypard.

The name itself looked like a spelling mistake, or somewhere deep in Wales.

I pulled into a large yard littered with piles of gabion grids, in one corner was a wooden shed, which must have been mission control.

It took all of five minutes to load my order into the truck, and then I was back on the road.

8th April 2019

An early morning trip to the tip to dump some large stones, then on to Wickes for more ballast. I also bought some armour cable to bury in the ground to supply the shed with power. That was some serious stuff, weight a lot and as stiff as a corpse.

So just as I have been covering the old path with soil, I have to dig it up again to sink the cable.

We are getting close to finding a house. The place next door has become available due to the passing of the guy that lived there.

Fortunately we had a friend who was working with the family to sell off the contents, she mentioned that we were interested. We heard that they had already listed it with a Realtor, so we were afraid that it would be sold right under our noses. We had our own Realtor who immediately contacted the family’s agent, to register our interest.

7th April 2019

Nicola and Colin drove up to help me with the garden. I was busy cutting up timber to make a frame for the bottom part of the new path.

I instructed Colin on what needed to be done, and left them to it.

I had dug down as much as I needed, and they had to clear out the rest of the loose soil. When I checked a little later I was shocked to find they had dug even deeper. I was worried that they might expose the waste water pipes, or damage them. I controlled the tone of my voice, and suggested they fill up the trench with the small stones and concrete pieces from the path. They even laid the pad on which the gabions will sit, so all in all a good days work.

6th April 2019

Another day of hard graft. I had ordered the gabions, so I needed to prepare the ground ready for them. Whilst digging away the soil, I realised I had messed up with my measurements, and needed an additional size.

I quickly sent off an email, and got an reply quickly. I decided to collect them as the company was located close to Swindon

5th April Friday

The list of jobs for today were varied, tedious, and uninspiring. They are the last few percent, the ones nobody wants to do. I think there are five small tasks to complete. At the end of the day two got done, the others are can wait till a rainy day.

I went in search of wooden sleepers, not the ones covered in pitch and piss, I managed to find some oak examples that weighed a ton, fortunately they offered to cut them in half for me, and deliver. I still had the task of carrying all six of them up the slope, my fault for choosing such a heavy timber.

4th April 2019

It was my Granddaughter’s birthday, she had reached the grand old age of eighteen. This was a busy day for me, I wanted to cut the steps into the bank. The removal of the earth was not a problem it was the moving of the stone blocks that was nerve-racking. One slip and that’s a broken foot.

With the skill of ancient druid I managed to manipulate the stone monoliths into something that resembles a set of steps.

The day was complete with a wonderful evening with Jeanine and Mark.