Getting in My Garden

Posted on April 28, 2013 by HippyDave

Hopefully what my veg will turn out like

This weekend has been pretty successful, I have managed to get a lot of work done in the garden, and its great haven’t had good weather for a while, well not enough to get all the jobs done. I even managed to top up my tan! Anyway hopefully this weather keeps going and I can get out a bit more. I have really logged far too many Xbox hours in the last few months!

The garden room is particularly handy for getting my veg off the ground; it’s a nice sun trap so it’s warm in there during the day and light so my seedlings are getting off to a strong start. Inside I have Summer Radish, Summer Lettuce, Peas and tomatoes. Outside in my beds I have also planted onions and new potatoes, ready for a summer crop. I am also working on my other beds and pots, for the radishes and lettuces etc. As well as sorting out my veg, I cut our grass, as it was growing like crazy and power washed our patio steps as they were covered in moss and quite slippery.

After a hard days graft, I was looking forward to getting in and watching the final score, waiting to see how Leeds fared. Badly really, we lost at home 2-1 to Brighton. They took an early lead and after that we were just trying to catch up. We got a break when Diouf scored a penalty however when he celebrated at the away fans, he was sent off, which is bloody annoying. Add to that Austin was given a red card for a bad tackle. It did help that Brighton went down to ten men, but with us down to nine in the last minutes we couldn’t grasp anything back. And now Diouf and Austin will be out for the next couple of games. And really we don’t have anyone else. What a nightmare.

Our last game is next Saturday away at Watford; hopefully we can bring out a win for the end of the season, although I am not hopeful. I am just looking forward to next season now and maybe a stronger squad. One can only hope! I caught the highlights of Manures game at the Emirates against Arsenal, I was really hoping the London side would beat them, they were pretty lucky in the first half, scoring an early goal and being given an easy time by the ref. But they squandered that and in the last minutes of the second half by giving a penalty away to Manure. RVP took it and scored and that was it. Anyway Manure have the title, urgh, glad it’s not plastic Citeh, or Chelski, but would have preferred Arsenal or Tottenham. Not sure if Manure will still be able to dominate next season as I reckon Citeh and Chelski will be investing heavily and fully changing their teams to get the edge.

Image courtesy of smith_cl9

Weekend in the sun!

Posted on March 4, 2013 by HippyDave

I have had a busy weekend this weekend, with the good weather to the end of last week I have been out in the garden, tidying and planting a few plants as well as sorting out a small vegetable plot. On Saturday the wife and I were able to get out our garden furniture and sit out for a bit on our decking. We didn’t get to enjoy it that much last year, thanks to a rubbish summer, so it was nice to be able to sit out and see the house and garden from a different perspective.

Saturday afternoon/evening saw the guys and I celebrating Leeds win over Millwall, we only won 1-0 but it was good enough, my mate Keith went to the game, said the atmosphere from the Leeds Fans was fantastic, not so much Millwall as hardly any turned up! We do need to be getting more goals in though, Saturdays only goal came from a penalty and although any goal is good would have like to see us strike some in the net. We had quite a few shots and more on target than Milwall, but nothing was converted. Next time hopefully. Speaking of next time we face Leicester on Tuesday (away) and then away again on Saturday down to Crystal Palace. We really need to build on points and goals if we are going to get into the playoffs. However I won’t be holding my breath!

On Sunday I had a day of rest which meant catching up playing Crysis 3, a review of which I will put on in a day or so. I also watched the Tottenham Arsenal game, the first half was actually quite boring, apart from the two Tottenham goals being scored. The reason I thought it was boring, was that Arsenal didn’t seem to show up. Defence was poor not marking very well nor keeping up with the pace of Bale and Lennon. There were only two minutes between both goals and Arsenal I think had dozed off at that point! After the break, and probably a massive bollocking from an anxious Wenger, Arsenal found some more pace and the ability to defend

The second half was much better, end to end, unfortunately injury scuppered Tottenham at times with Adebayor being stretchered off. In the end Arsenal only got one goal back from Mertesacker, but one thing for sure, they are missing something. Oh Yeah RVP! Anyway Tottenham move above Chelsea into third which is pretty good, you never know if Bale keeps on his scoring streak Tottenham could catch up Citeh. Anyway you can catch some Wenger mumblings on the defeat here on the BBC.

Gardening – Planting in February

Posted on February 5, 2013 by HippyDave

After our clear out last year the garden is pretty bare, well apart from the Oeco garden rooms. So we have been waiting to plant some things until this year and we will also be starting of small. Because we are both gardening novices this will be a learning curve, anyway here’s what we have so far:

Vegetables

Tomatoes – Staring off inside on window sills.
Peppers – Like tomatoes.
Potatoes – Chitting them.
Raspberries – Planting new bushes.
Brambles – Planting new bushes.

Plants

Currently have some fuchsia cuttings on the go in my garden rooms as well as chrysanthemums.
The wife is in charge of buying bulbs and new pots for the next month.

Not a lot really but with the bad weather there really isn’t much you can do. In the future we may try growing more veg, just don’t really want to be overgrown with it all though. Ideally we want to keep the garden looking aesthetically pleasing as possible. The garden room has come in very handy, we have used it all through winter and no doubt once the better weather arrives we can use it more, and the great decking.

I was also thinking about getting a bigger bbq, as the portable Smokey Joe one I bought last year is a bit small if we want to serve more than just my wife and I. I will still keep it as its portable, plus if we have a big bbq party we may need two. Weber seem like a good brand, I haven’t had any problems with the one I bought last year so may just go for another Weber one, maybe the One-Touch Gold. It’s a charcoal one (I believe charcoal is the only way for proper bbqing) it’s a good size, has a built-in lid thermometer, the Weber Tuck-Away™ lid holder and 2 Char-Basket™ charcoal fuel holders.

I just hope we have some better weather this summer so I can enjoy my garden!

Bad Timing

Posted on December 21, 2012 by HippyDave

So with Christmas just around the corner and family visiting for Christmas the toilet in our guest bathroom has decided to break. Having a look at it I think the mechanism inside has cracked and not working properly. Also the handle used to flush is damaged and the seat cracked.

I called round one of my mates who is a plumber to have a look to see if it could be sorted. He said it could but as it’s an old toilet anyway it probably would be better just to get a new one. Great more expense and hassle. So I had to order a plain white toilet from UK bathrooms, the company who sorted out our house bathroom which should hopefully be here tomorrow ready to fit.

My brother has been here for two days, luckily we still have two other working toilets and the one in the guest bathroom can be used in an emergency with a bucket of water to flush it. However I doubt a situation would be become that bad unless the wife gives everyone food poisoning or we all contract the Novo Virus!

Weekend and DIY

Posted on September 24, 2012 by HippyDave

Having to fit a new bathroom extractor fan today. On Friday my old one stopped working out of the blue. So it meant a trip into town to get one this morning as I couldn’t be bothered this weekend! The wife nagged me so much to sort it which is why I had to go out this morning.

I am no major DIY expert but fitting an extractor fan was too challenging, just swapping over parts and rewiring. So we have a working fan again, just not too sure for how long going by my past DIY experience.

Weather has been a bloody nightmare though, pissing it down! Garden is looking at it flooded need to sort out my water run off once the rain subsides. Another job for the list! It says there is going to be lots of floods on the roads, queue usual pictures of knob sacks attempting to cross fords in their little cars, and people getting trapped because they couldn’t have possibly stayed at home!

Anyway t’was good to get a win on Saturday against Notts Forest, was a little touch and go in parts but luckily we pulled it back and Forest couldn’t catch up, few. Although they did try right into stoppage time. Becchio and Poleon scored, it was Poleon’s first start for Leeds and a good one at that. Oh and apparently Bates is in ‘talks’ with a ‘banking institution’ over some sort of proposed investment into Leeds.

Anyway, Wednesday to come, we face Everton at home in the League cup, not got a massive amount of hope for a win, Everton are currently third in the table, which aint bad.

Clothing clear-out

Posted on July 16, 2012 by HippyDave

So this bad weather has seen our house go over a transformation. Because we can’t get out and about we have been confined inside which has meant a lot of cleaning and clearing of junk. To be honest I thought a lot of the wife’s junk would end up in the garden room however she really has had a good clear out.

Old clothes some worn some never worn have been taken to charity shop and the clothing bank. Random junk such as unwanted Christmas smellies and other misc. items have also been binned/recycled/charity shopped which means the house looks so much tidier. Unfortunately I had to do the same.

I never thought I hand that much clothing to be fair, I don’t really remember buying much of it; however the wife thinks that I have never had a clear out of my clothes since we lived up here. Suits from my days in the city (which really I have no chance of getting into) have been sent to the charity shop for someone to get use out of them. Really old dodgy band t-shirts have also gone the same way as have all my funky ties. And apparently so will my holey trainers and much worn out shoes once my new ones come.

Yesterday I ordered a pair of Mr KG shoes for smarter outings; I also ordered a new pair of trainers; some Nike Blazer Vintage for casualwear and a new pair of walking boots after my old ones seemed to be host to a whole new microorganism society. To be fair I haven’t spent this much money for a while but I can’t go out with shoe or trainers that have holes in, not with this weather we have!

Anyway hopefully we will have some good weather, I ordered some BBQ coals and smoked wood for my BBQ in the hope we have some sun long enough to get it fired up! The wife also bought some burgers from the supermarket which were on offer, like nearly giving them away. They are in the freezer ready to go too!

New Shoes!

More rain = More money spent online

Posted on July 9, 2012 by HippyDave

So this bad weather has really made a dent in my wallet as I aim to alleviate my boredom of been stuck indoors by shopping online. Mainly random gadgets, Xbox games and DVDs but still its money I probably wouldn’t have spent if I could just get out for more than five minutes.

I’m ready to fire up my BBQ and have a few friends round to enjoy my new garden room and decking well I just want to show it off and I can’t do that when it’s pissing it down! I keep nipping outside when I get any dry weather to do a bit more to the garden, but all this rain has left it overgrown and most of the flowers have not come out which just makes it look messy.

The sod I laid down hasn’t taken that well yet, it got quite water logged but I’m hoping it will make it. I am just glad my new decking and railings for the garden room came treated as this weather would have defiantly warped it.

I did venture out over the weekend to look for some a sofa bed, shelving, cabinets and a new TV stand for the man cave. I used City Visitor to find local furniture retailers that I could check out as I didn’t fancy a trip out to Ikea, well not on a Saturday. I managed to come back with a sofa bed, TV stand and matching cabinet but no shelving yet. Going to get everything in place then see if I actually need shelves or if my stuff will just go into cabinets. The wife mentioned if I had shelves I would have to dust them as she will not be cleaning the man cave

Garden room finishing touches

Posted on May 25, 2012 by HippyDave

I got some new blinds fitted yesterday for our garden room I got them made to measure from Blinds 2 Go, the inside has been painted and toilet and fixtures have been fitted plus the leccy is also up and running. All that is needed now is some furniture and some storage and it will be ready to use. This week I have made the most of the decking around it with our new furniture and had a couple of BBQ’s using my Webber since we have had gloriously hot weather. The wife is eager to get her junk in it now, however I will have to be firm with her and make sure it doesn’t end up getting used as a dumping ground like the garage and my shed which has her stuff in too!

After I came back from Vegas I found out that the wife has booked herself a little holiday. She has decided that it’s only fair that she goes on a girl’s holiday to Ibiza because I went away with the lads. She seemed apprehensive telling me this, not sure why I relish the thought of having the house to myself and a week free of nagging. I am quite pleased to hear that she also got a really good deal for her and the girls with a last minute break, flights, hotel and transfers all in one and it’s all inclusive so she won’t need to take much money with her. So next Friday she buggers of for a week in the sun (yey).

Tomorrow night brings a friendly match for England against Norway; it will be interesting to see the final line up although I am not that bothered about friendlies. If it’s a nice night then I will most probably be having yet another BBQ so won’t watch it. I do hope however we win as it would be a much needed boost to a very beleaguered team that we have.

Skip weekend

Posted on April 16, 2012 by HippyDave

We got a skip delivered on Friday to and this weekend I have been busily filling it with garden junk ready for the new garden room I mentioned back in February which we are getting this week. I had to finish clearing a space for it as well as tidying up the area where it is going to go. I think there is also a good chance there will be some additional decking involved which is why I was directed by the missus do dig up our brown grass patch.

The garden looks a bit bare today and uninviting, but hopefully when the work is finished (which I am pleased to say I don’t have to do any) it will look great and we have a good summer in which to enjoy our new back garden. The wife has been looking at new garden furniture too after she made me put our old stuff in the skip (despite the fact I said I could probably flog it down the pub). Going by what she has been looking at she obviously seems to think we live in some hot country and also have a pool in the garden as well. I sometimes think the pictures of garden furniture look more like an advertisement for a holiday villa!

After all the work has been done I will then need to have a look at getting some sod to put down the sides and around part of the decking, although the missus isn’t keen on grass (not sure why didn’t ask) I feel a garden isn’t complete without a bit of grass. Plus it would make my new mower which I got earlier in the year obsolete otherwise!

Oh yeah how could I forget Leeds won a game, yes that’s right we actually won a game. In fact we came from a goal behind to beat Peterborough four goals to one, get in! McCormick scored two and Paynter also scored two which is a nice result and keeps us above Derby now on goal difference. It seems like we had a bit of form on Saturday and a good stride, no only if we can keep it up into the remaining games. One can only hope.

Buying a second home (for the family)

Posted on April 12, 2012 by HippyDave

I have a bit of capital that I am looking to invest and have been thinking about buying a second home I just can’t decide whether or not to buy in the UK or abroad. If I do go for the UK then I will probably buy somewhere down south, and abroad, well I’m not sure yet. As this house will be for all my family to use its best I see what other people fancy too, it’s no good buying somewhere, then no one wants to go there and use it!

Plymouth

I have currently been looking at houses for sale in Plymouth, as somewhere both the missus and I have holidayed before and enjoyed it I thought it might make a good base for the south. There is a lot to see and do down there such as the National Marine Aquarium and he Blackfriars Gin Distillery which is great for first time visitors. There is also plenty of museums and art galleries to visit as well as plenty of historical sites and natural assets to explore.

Bristol

I also looked at houses for sale in Bristol and the surrounding area as it’s a great gateway to the south west. I have only ever been here for a quick business trip a few years ago and I quite liked it, but I have never got around to visiting again. From what I can see house prices here aren’t too bad and there is again plenty to do here.

I do have a feeling though when I speak to my brother, sister and mum they would probably like me to buy a second home somewhere warm and although the south is generally warmer than up here I think they will be thinking south of France or Spain! But with the Euro as precarious as it is I am just not comfortable buying in Spain and well France can be expensive, well the south of the country is there going on my last visit.

South of France

Plymouth picture courtesy of sterte

Bristol picture courtesy of Agatha & Andrew Mleczko

South of France picture courtesy of dingatx

Resident Hippy

Category Archives: Home & Garden