Friday 31 August 2007

Z is resting

I've come in for lunch, but I'm too knackered to go and get it for a few minutes. I've been turning my attention to the rest of the hedge, carrying on from the area I was clearing a few weeks ago. I said I'd put up pictures, but I haven't got around to it yet.

There are a few tall pieces of elm and hawthorn that have died, but I hadn't noticed, because I am so very unobservant, that most of the healthy stuff in the hedge is actually ivy. There is some straggly privet, some lilac and some wild plum trees that have suckered, but there's a lot of dead stuff in there. Little attention has been paid to it for the best part of 40 years.

The most annoying thing is the wire. I found old wire and posts that the Sage said were put in in the late 20s/30s*, and some slightly later chicken wire which, for no reason I can see, is topped with barbed wire. All this has become entwined with the bushes which date from much the same time and it all needs to be painstakingly cut out. No sign of rust, oh no. The old posts have rotted at the bottom, so once the ivy has been removed they can be heaved upwards and out. Some of the trunks of the elm and thorn are rotted enough to be pulled out too, but they are big and heavy and my mouth is full of dust and my arms ache.

This feels good. No, wrong word. Satisfying, in that I have a feeling of accomplishment.

I have now fetched lunch and am eating scrambled eggs on toast and drinking beer.

*The Sage, as some of you know, was born here - his parents bought the house in 1928, the year after they were married.

10 comments:

Dave said...

it is satisfying, doing things, isn't it?

Z said...

It is, Dave. :-)

Anonymous said...

You are up to date on your tetanus vaccine aren't you? Be careful around that wire-rusty or not.

A wildlife gardener said...

What a lot of hard work you've been doing! Come and rest awhile in the Barleycorn garden and see the little video I took of the butterflies that came to feast on the nectar of the inula daisies :) I'll keep a cool glass of wine in the fridge to open when you arrive.

AFC 30K said...

I am sat at my desk contemplating the latest Housing White Paper and the prospect of a project management job for the olympic delivery authority.

Me heart is in my back garden where I have yet to complete the cutting back of some stupidly large lleylandi (not ours so I can't top them).

Oh, and I need to sand the walls down in the dining room ready to be washed and painted tomorrow.....

Sorry, back to the White Paper.

Z said...

Martina, I am. It's one of the things I'm sensible about.

Wildlife gardener, that's the most enticing offer I've had for a long time. Gorgeous butterfly pictures.

afc, hard luck. My husband and I have always been self-employed, but he used to work 9-5 (and then some). He doesn't now, but only because he's so old. Give yourself a few decades and you can be like us!

luckyzmom said...

Yesterday I experienced that feeling of accomplishment when after several months of putting it off I washed our house. Let me explain. We have a stucco house that little bits and pieces of stuff stick to because the wind blows here often. So, it took me several hours and I was soaking wet after hosing it off but the feeling of accomplishment was the best.

Z said...

Dear girl, you are a hero!

Dave said...

This is turning out to be a very long lunch break.

Z said...

Oh Dave, have you missed me? I love it when you miss me. I'm writing a post this minute, but dinner's nearly ready so it won't be up until later.