Filling in some days

Been hiding from the wind for a couple of days and trying to stay calm as a family crises unfolded at the other end of the country. Eventually everything was resolved and the wind died down.  Not too much damage in the garden and had to spent a few hours tying up things.  The clematis blew off the garage roof again and buried the blackbird nests on the side.  My husband saw them trying to find more dried vegetation so thought they were mending their nest. He put some dried grasses on the flower bed, dug over some earth for them to find some worms and fed them extra meal worms! It was fairly quite this afternoon so we assume they had settled back on the nest. Meanwhile the starlings have fledged and are flying round in a group of 7 mobbing the bird feeder for seed.  Another blue tit fledgling got lost and spent an hour in the poly tunnel before my husband ushered it out towards the elderberry tree where the others are.

As I was hanging around the house I tackled some housekeeping jobs. The kitchen drain had not been checked  when we moved in so I was not surprised to find it needed the fat and gunge dug out. I try not to out fat down the sink and soak any oily or fatty deposits into kitchen towels and throw those into the bin but there was fair build up all the way down. I thought the drain grid was broken and had a new one to hand, but when I went to put it in I found the previous grid was deliberately "broken" as the pipe went below the grid. It is suppose to end just above the grid to stop the build up I had just dug out! Another job to cut the drain pipe at some point!

I then decided to clear some more drains with some hot water and soda crystals. Then keeping in the old fashioned theme cleaned the shower screen with a weak vinegar and water solution - it cuts through the soap scum build up nicely and leaves it shiny for some time!

Last task for the day was to start to tackle the white plastic window frame in the bedroom. At some point in the distant past someone must have left masking tape on it too long and painted very badly

I have experience with these frames! Our last house renovation needed all the frames to be rescued; one builder quoted £6000 to rip them all out - I spent £5 on cleaning materials and rescued all of them except 2. Armed with old fine sandpaper (you just need a slight key to break through the glue but not the plastic coating), a flat blade for any hard lumps, PVC restorer liquid and lots of rags. I set about cleaning off the flat bit of the frame for about an hour.

Still need to deal with the plastic beading on the side which is thick with emulsion paint but it is looking much better.

Better weather now promised so back out to help with the grass cutting and watering the vegetables! Phew - if I had stayed in any longer I might have to do the ironing!!!