Gullies, Gables and Gutters

Hi! I'm  back.  First of all I want to thank you for you comments on my first attempt at a blog.  The reason for my delay in posting anything new is that our son Mark and daughter in law Carol were down from Prince George for a visit, and to help us with a few repairs around the house.

They parked their huge recreational trailer at Carol's sister's place and used their large diesel-powered truck for transportation.  I could hear its thundering approach for blocks (see previous post on Peace in our Time).  

They also brought their dog, an intelligent, devoted ACTIVE border collie, named Lucy.  We have a ten year old, DEAF corgi, named Miller, who loves people but does not like other dogs, especially on his territory.  A great deal of time was spent ensuring they did not encounter each other.  

We worked till we dropped each day and then stopped for a well-deserved gin and tonic.  My darling daughter in law who is an obsessive cleaner, had a great time tossing out 'old stuff' she found lurking in the bushes and weeds.  If it wasn't nailed down, it ended up in the garbage.  

Top priority job - to repair the toilet handle on our ancient toilet.  This required a little more invention than Mark had counted on, as he had to resort to using a twist-tie to anchor the chain after drilling a hole in the 'too long' lever (or something like that).

I accompanied him to the dump with five garbage cans and numerous bags of garden debris, having first perched myself on a stool to climb into the 'heavens' to sit on the front seat of the cab.  The view from up there is really something....

We thundered on to the garden nursery where we purchased six empty bags - they provide the shovel, Mark filled the bags with soil and compost.  We also bought grass seed for another 'little' project I had in mind.

Then there was cleaning the roof gullies (love those oak trees!), scrubbing the gables and scrubbing the green algae-like mold off the gutters. This required using our heavy duty extension ladder.  Good thing I was there to steady the ladder for my baby boy. 

Because deer had finally encroached upon my vegetable garden (safe from harm these past 67 years), I decided to confine the garden to the enclosed back patio.  This required creating an area into which some of the newly purchased soil was shovelled after removal of roots and assorted other hardy growth - Mark is so strong!!  I can already see rows beans, onions, and you name it.

We (that means Mark) also transformed the back seating area into a red (orange) light district with a Japanese paper lantern skillfully placed over the existing naked bulb which hangs over the back door. 

For several years the walls of the back patio have been covered with  a variety of posters depicting Italian scenes of wine and cheese and other relaxing sights which remind Ken and I of our travels.  They were covered in plastic and the damp had begun to take its toll.  Mark and Carol enthusiastically told me about the latest rage in framing - the use of old beaten-up wood.  I in my wisdom said, "oh, I did that years ago" and produced an example (I never throw anything away).  As I just happened to have a small stack of well-worn lath on hand (a story for another blog), I presented this to Mark, who exclaimed with excitement "This is just the thing!  The girls (his daughters) go to garage sales looking for wood just like this."  The plastic-covered posters were soon transformed into works of art and I must say they bring a certain extra 'warmth' to the red light district....

Oh - Terry says this post is quite long enough and we want to add pictures...and Ken just piped up that he wants to start his own blog...so...stay tuned....