"Bring me.... a shrubbery!"
Men of LJ, you will soon have new headquarters!
Yesterday, the lovely in-laws came down to help with a spot of gardening. Father had specifically come to help Pete lay the foundations for the new shed/headquarters (stove and bar still in the planning stages) and while they merrily hacked away at the flinty soil, Mother and I indulged in a little light pruning. After a few minutes' light pruning, I started channelling Attila the Hun and set about the foliage with a vengeance. 2 hours later, I'd hacked away about 3 years worth of growth along the top sides of the garden and had Pruning Fever - what next, what next? Sadly, it was Clearing Up.
But then - oh joy. I got to play with a bow saw and take down the mini-forest which had grown unchecked down by the garage and would encroach upon the shed if we weren't careful. It's very satisfying, felling a tree/plant that's 3 times your size and dragging it down into the garden with a triumphant cry. Father merely looked on indulgently while hacking away at twice my pace.
Being a one-man B&Q, Father brought down his chipper machine. It looks like a lawnmower that's gone a bit wrong, with a large funnel on the top and a smaller one on the side. It makes lots of noise and mess and absolute verdant mincemeat of the enormous piles of pruning/felling we'd done. Excellent! It also made next door's little girl cry, and the father very envious (it's odd to see that "I want to play" expression on a 40+ year old man when you're talking garden equipment). Still, they very kindly gave us a courgette...
The pruning urge has subsided a little, but I can still feel the strong pull of the long loppers. May do a bit more hacking later, but first I need to go and buy a printer so I can check in online for tomorrow's flight to Germany. I do have some posts about the crazy New Project and will put them up, probably next week as things go even more mad than I had really expected. Think of me, getting my little airport bus at 5am, won't you?
Yesterday, the lovely in-laws came down to help with a spot of gardening. Father had specifically come to help Pete lay the foundations for the new shed/headquarters (stove and bar still in the planning stages) and while they merrily hacked away at the flinty soil, Mother and I indulged in a little light pruning. After a few minutes' light pruning, I started channelling Attila the Hun and set about the foliage with a vengeance. 2 hours later, I'd hacked away about 3 years worth of growth along the top sides of the garden and had Pruning Fever - what next, what next? Sadly, it was Clearing Up.
But then - oh joy. I got to play with a bow saw and take down the mini-forest which had grown unchecked down by the garage and would encroach upon the shed if we weren't careful. It's very satisfying, felling a tree/plant that's 3 times your size and dragging it down into the garden with a triumphant cry. Father merely looked on indulgently while hacking away at twice my pace.
Being a one-man B&Q, Father brought down his chipper machine. It looks like a lawnmower that's gone a bit wrong, with a large funnel on the top and a smaller one on the side. It makes lots of noise and mess and absolute verdant mincemeat of the enormous piles of pruning/felling we'd done. Excellent! It also made next door's little girl cry, and the father very envious (it's odd to see that "I want to play" expression on a 40+ year old man when you're talking garden equipment). Still, they very kindly gave us a courgette...
The pruning urge has subsided a little, but I can still feel the strong pull of the long loppers. May do a bit more hacking later, but first I need to go and buy a printer so I can check in online for tomorrow's flight to Germany. I do have some posts about the crazy New Project and will put them up, probably next week as things go even more mad than I had really expected. Think of me, getting my little airport bus at 5am, won't you?