Tag: Chewie

Watch sports, gardening in & out, cleaning

F1

Empty dishwasher

Groom the boy

Vacuum non carpeted parts of the house

Soak and part clean the air fryer tray, etc

Clean kitchen

Refill & start the dishwasher

Water indoor plants

Liège Bastogne Liège

Quick grocery trip to Tesco

Liège Bastogne Liège

Empty dishwasher

Make kongs for the week

Watch a bit of FA cup semi final

Prepare the window baskets on the front for planting

Trim the fuchsia

Clear the vines from far end of the garden

Trim all the vines to transport to the bins in front

Play with the boy on the lawn in between

Clean 💩

Clean up the trimmings

Vacuum the carpeted parts of the house, including the bedroom

Feed the boy

Feed me

Watch an episode of House

In bed, listening to some easy, vocal heavy jazz. The boy is heavy, fast asleep next to me. The whisky is nearly over. Eyes are drooping.

I’m scared

I’m scared for me. I’m going out for a longer hike today. It’s expected to be warm. Both the peaks and the final gill descent are rocky/bouldery.

I’m not sure whether I’m strong enough yet. And on the last similar long hike that I did, I ran out of water and struggled with the last descent in dehydration.

I’m scared for my boy. He’s not been well. He’s visibly sluggish. He hasn’t enjoyed the lakes like he used to. He sticks to me when he’s in this state, but I won’t be around today.

I’m scared for R. She has to manage the boy and my mom today. Mom switches between dumb and forgetful, and scheming and pigheaded. She’s a handful even when I’m around. R will have to manage her alone today. While also taking care of my boy.

Continue reading I’m scared

Weekend diary

Saturday

Lazy wake-up. Walk to the pool, swim, sauna, steam, walk back.

Brunch. Croissants with ham. Wash & dry clothes.

Cleaned kitchen. Cooked lunch – chicken schnitzel with stir fried beans.

Went to David’s, checked out the table (👍🏽) and dresser (🖐🏽). He also offered the garden set (👍🏽).

Went to town after ages. Got a haircut. Didn’t buy anything.

Got pizza from the good local place for dinner. Our old cleaner delivered it; he now works for just eat.

Went for a late walk with Chewie and R. Sat on the mount and watched the setting sun while taking about work and people.

Sunday

Lazy morning in bed. Did a bit of work converting Autoconvert to typescript.

Went to Tesco. R did grocery shopping. I bought a 4 pack of Asiatic lilies.

Went to Lidl. Bought 2 Acers. R bought some misc stuff.

Walked over to B&Q. Bought coleus seeds and some planter trays. R finally got her jumbo sponge.

Walked back to Lidl. Bought 2 more Acers (☺️), some compost, a watering jug for me and, tomatoes for Benu.

Heated lasagna for lunch. Fixed the Virgin router (again!). Saw Leclerc was already out of F1, so lost interest.

Installed two new hangers for hanging baskets. Moved the small petunia basket to backyard, and large petunia basket to the front.

Spent more on garden – ordered lavender plugs for planting under the hedge, and lots of valerian seeds on eBay.

Went back to Tesco to get rajmah. Didn’t buy any plants this time.

Went to David’s to negotiate the cost of tables and dressers. He said yes to my first offer. Had mild regret that I could’ve gone lower. Got his spare, old step ladder (for free). Got two Roxanne geraniums. Saw a painting of 18 month old Maisie. Saw puppy photos of Maisie. Missed Maisie. A lot.

R came over to tell the scores – Liverpool had equalised, City were losing, United were losing, West ham were winning. She was grinning ear to ear.

Returned home and got back to the garden. Planted all 12 marigolds. Topped up last year’s chocolate & chili begonias with fresh compost. Planted the remaining red begonia tubers and 11 new chocolate & chili begonias. Planted the two Roxanne geraniums from David. Cleaned up a few weeds.

Sometime in between, city scored 3 goals and won the league. House went silent. R has been sulking and mourning since. Garden was a safe place to be for me. Chewie joined me too; with his ball.

Did more gardening. Then watered everything – front and back. Forgot the grass, but it was already quite dark.

Now getting ready for a shower and shave, before crashing for the night.

Good weekend. Lazy, but not very 🙂

(Post written to be read as if the John Gregor voice from Marley and me was announcing it)

Long weekend diary

Thursday evening

Bought and brought P’s new car home — a Tucson. It’s full of jazz and gadgets, but the lack of acceleration is a major bummer, especially after getting used to the Leaf.

Good Friday


Started the day with gardening. Potted the last two hydrangeas, three new mums, a bougainville, and a huechera – all nearly dead from thirst.
Deadheaded some daffodils, and watered all the pots.

Took the boys for a short walk, then drove to Coventry to see parents and sister. First long drive in P’s car. Acceleration is still totally crap, but it really comes into form on the motorways.

Spent the evening with family, including a trip to the pub.

Saturday

Dad and Chewie hugging
Dad and Chewie getting going

Lots of lazying around, and gorging on great food. Bit of shopping for Indian groceries. Some tidying up in Sis’ garden. Liverpool v City on the TV. Drive back home, with a bonus passenger – dad came along to spend the week with Chewie.

Easter Sunday


Bit of gardening – prepared a new basket, trimmed and topped up an old one, another attempt at getting a plant going in the fixed semi container. The mums and huechera that I potted and watered on Thursday were looking sprightly already.

Went swimming. Visited R’s friends, 3A+S. Was real fun to meet the two kids. Didn’t get to speak to A much.

Back holiday Monday

Morning of bit more gardening. Affixed the hanger for new basket. Watered the baskets and container, and the pelargoniums that spent the winter in the conservatory. Added support to two Clematis.

Cooked English breakfast for all. For lunch.

Went for a long walk in the Chantry woods with dad and the boys. Bluebells all around!

Five checkmark day

This is a first: a five checkmark day on a Monday.

Sleep well ✔️
Drink enough water ✔️
Climb a few floors ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Walk or run a bit ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Do at least 500 mins of medium intensity stuff ✔️

Gave the boy a little extra rest, and went for a short run around town in the morning.

Later we all went for the Grisedale tarn round from Patterdale.

It was beautiful, and not too hard. But everyone’s crashed out now, and I’m busy thinking of ways to get them out of the house again tomorrow 🙂

Five checkmark day

Been a long time since the last 5 checkmark day, but today’s been worth the wait.

Went for an 8AM hike up Wansfell pike with Chewie. Had the whole hill to ourselves. Met a fell runner on the way up, and sole woman on the way down. The quietest ascent of this hill I’ve done.

After a lazy afternoon, went for a walk down to Waterhead to stake out swimming and kayaking locations for later in the week.

Now opening a beer and looking up routes for tomorrow’s adventures.

Lakes, mountains and hikes, just the holidays I needed.

Almost a five checkmark day

Missing 17 mins of sleep.

Morning in bed with coffee, books and hugging boys. Followed by another (nearly) 10K run—felt and ran better than yesterday. Then a short walk, with a little chase play, for the boys. Lazy, hot afternoon. Capped off with another evening spent in the cool river water with Chewie and Dudley. All ready to crash now. Happy! 🙂

All in a day’s work

Morning—Work.
2 horas of work, 2 commits, one publish. An hour off. 2 hours of work, including responding to half a dozen emails.

Break.
Walk the dogs. Lunch. Watch an episode of Star Trek Discovery.

Afternoon—Fix the tap.
Clean the working area under the sink. Wiggle into the tiny space under the sink and remove the old kitchen tap. Boys try to join me under the sink, and lick me to ensure I’m fine. Find two right sized pieces of wood from the pile under the shed (thank you previous owners). Spend another 5 minutes trying to get both the dogs out from under the shed, and into the house. Saw them (the wood pieces, not the dogs) into correct size and shape. Measure, mark, drill holes for the piping into the wood pieces. Fit the piping and the tap on top of the kitchen board. Realise the hole is too small for the top, thick part of piping. Disassemble everything, drill a smaller secondary hole. Reassemble everything. Wiggle back under the sink and fit everything together. Connect the water pipes. The little dog has dozed off with my right leg as his pillow. After a few minutes of fruitless cajoling, replace my leg with my rolled-up hoodie for his pillow. Get up and test everything is working. Wiggle back under the sink and tighten all the connections. Clean all the tools and the removed tap. The little one is still sleeping on my hoodie next to the sink. Open the fridge. Both the dogs are awake and ready for something, anything, from in there.

All this while cooking the little one’s meal (boiled chicken and rice) for next 24 hours.

Late afternoon—work.
The big one is sleeping behind me on the carpet. The little one is sleeping across us on the bed. I’m trying to work. Good luck to me!

Tick. Tock.

Score hit 1600 on one page. Up.

Another proposal rejected, apparently withouta second read, by a team marketing solution for second reads. Down.

Spoke to ma pa for nearly 90 minutes. Up.

Had a short, 5-minute angry rant midway. Down.

Rested all day and stretched twice. Up.

Legs are still stiff and hurting, with 10 miles on the training plan tomorrow. Down.

Played and snuggled with boy. Up.

Lying alone on the sofa thinking bad thoughts, when I should be asleep. Down.