Paul was in hospital for chemo for four days and when he came home he was very poorly for over a week. When he went back for his review he was admitted and it turns out he had a chest infection which had probably been caused by his PICC line. The line was removed and tests identified the infection as Bacteremia which his doctor explained is one step away from Septicemia, which it may well have turned into if it had been left any longer and his lowered immune system probably couldn't have fought it. Paul says PICC means Provides Infection Can Kill - well his sense of humour hasn't suffered then!
So, what's been happening at the house then? As Bradley was due to come back and fit the remaining carpet today (Saturday, 4 July), it became urgent that the two remaining pieces of skirting board for the dining area were fixed and that the door was trimmed to allow it to open over the new carpet. The bannisters and spindles also needed sanding before the hall, stairs and landing carpet was laid, I didn't fancy trying to get the resulting fine dust out of it afterwards. As Paul was in hospital I had to make arrangements to get these jobs done. I bumped into Steve the carpenter at the local garden centre and asked if he could come and look to see if he could do anything about some built in wardrobes. While he was here he also agreed to do this work for me. So he came along for a couple of hours on Monday and Friday and made a good job of it.
We then heard that poor Bradley had been rushed into hospital with suspected Pancreatitis so he wouldn't be coming to lay the carpets after all. Steve still has to come back on Tuesday to finish off the spindles as he ran out of time on Friday. Funny how things work out. Get well soon Bradley, and thanks Steve for jumping in and helping out at such short notice.
To keep myself busy while Paul was in hospital I decided that now the rendering on the porch had dried out, thanks to the rainwater gully that Neil created for us a few weeks ago, it was time to paint it. I'd previously sprayed the moss to kill it and it was a nice shade of brown so I got stuck in with a stiff brush and a plastic scraper and removed as much sand, dirt and dead moss as was possible without dislodging all the little stones. Two coats of white Weathershield was possible in one day thanks to the hot, dry weather. One coat of colour the following day and a second coat of colour the day after saw the job finished. I quite enjoyed myself and despite using masking tape and covering the path I still managed to make a mess. Never mind, job done and after all I'm only nearly perfect (wink!).
Here's my masterpiece:
Paul came home on Thursday night so on Friday we set about discussing storage in the loft, along with Steve. We decided that as the room was quite deep, and that if we put the head of the bed under the sloping ceiling the occupants would hit their heads on the ceiling on getting out of bed, then we could lose some of the depth and bring the bed forward a couple of feet. This would then allow us to build something like this:
Steve said he'd be able to do it so we ordered some Harrison Double Top track and floor track and we'll be able to get some MDF for the sliding doors locally. Hopefully the track will come next week and Steve should be able to make a start on it then. We're still pondering over what to do about the wardrobes in the bedroom so no progress there yet.
Today Paul has fixed the dummy drawer fronts on the utility room sink unit and also fixed the towel rail in there. Neil is coming on Wednesday to tile the utility room and then it will be finished apart from getting some kickboards and fixing them.
That's about it for now, but if you want to see how the veggies are doing here are the potatoes and some of the dwarf runner beans:
and here are the leeks, carrots and peppers:
The pepper is quite big considering the plants are only about 6"-8" high. I've probably done something wrong, I'm sure the plants should be bigger. I must find out more if I want to do it again next year!
I've cleared out the strawberry/rhubarb corner a bit. The rhubarb was coming up quite hollow so I got rid of those sticks and have been watering the new growth diligently and they're quite firm. I've potted up a few strawberry runners so next year should be better. Seven squash plants are doing well. Again, I don't know what I'm doing but have realised that if I do get any fruit on them then there isn't enough room. I'm beginning to think that a bigger garden with a veggie plot is needed for squash, but at least I can hopefully have some baby ones:
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