Sunday 6 April 2008

Busy, Busy, Busy

Just where does time go? One glimmer of sunshine and time races past so fast; still there is time today for an update.

Having finally made the decision not to register as organic I have decided to spray the couch grass on the new vegetable patch. I’ve been waiting for a dry spell and one finally turned up. Friday, Saturday and probably Sunday were shown as dry on the long range forecast. However, Friday the electrician was due, I’d arranged to see friends who were going away for a while and agreed to go out for meal; Sunday I was also out for a meal with another friend who was returning to the UK for a while and I was providing the starter. All this after weeks of doing nothing, it all falls on the same couple of days.

Never mind, I got a couple of tanks full of spraying done each day. The backpack sprayer holds 16 litres, which is quite a weight for me and leaves bruises on the front of my shoulders. Added to that, the field has already been ploughed and the furrows are beginning to dry out enough that they are crumbling so every so often I find myself falling off or through them, past my knees into the bottom of the rut, completely unable to re-balance myself because of the weight on my back. It’s been a slow process especially as I have to stop between each fill to unlock my neck shoulders and back.

The up side is that with luck, I won’t have to do it again. I’m fully aware that it is very unlikely to kill off all the grass but I’m hoping it will knock it back far enough that I stand a chance of dealing with it without having to resort to chemicals from now on. The walk through the furrows has also shown me a lot of bindweed beginning to sprout. That has come as a bit of a shock as I didn’t see any bindweed when I walked the field in the summer months.

It’s now Sunday morning and the weather has deteriorated a lot from yesterday. While the dew is nowhere near as heavy, there is no sun, so I have a bit of time to blog before the grass dries ready for spraying. I also need to cut the grass, but that too requires dry grass.

Oh and my hot water saga…still none, the electrician arrived and has fitted the immersion heater and timer but the plumber is waiting for the final bits to fit the range so won’t come to finish off until he has the bits. Add to that, the missing bit for the kitchen hasn’t arrived, everything inside, that I could be doing while waiting for the grass to dry is on hold too.


3 comments:

softinthehead said...

dND - what a life you lead, I am very envious of the lifestyle, if not your chore today. Keep up the good work.

aims said...

Oh drats! Here I was thinking - hot water for Deb!!

That is quite a chore you've taken on...and even tho SITH is envious - I don't think I am - not quite anyway..that's almost too much heavy labour for me my friend...

On the other hand - if it had to be done and there was no-one else - I'd be doing it too!!

dND said...

Hi SITH & Aims

Well I got one more tankful done today while the weather and my back held out. In the end it didn't rain but my back didn't un-seize either. I might be able to get some more done tomorrow but then we've rain forecast for a week.

As for the hot water, well I've learnt never to expect anything here, that way I'm not disappointed. It's a step closer and that is better than a step backwards.

Aims, I just can't comment on your last piece - every time I start I just get confused with emotion and recollections. Thankfully nothing I went through was anywhere near as severe as you but it still triggers memories and really complex emotions.