Sometimes you are presented with situations when you have to take the ‘if I don’t laugh, I will cry’ approach. If I am also keeping things in perspective, I also think the positives definitely out weight the negatives. Well they do now – possibly not at the time.

After a long day with a trip to Auckland yesterday to watch our son represent Northland at an U14 tournament, our first sleep in of the holidays was interrupted  unexpectedly this morning by the builder telling us they were on their way. After many delays, the tree damaged fence is fixed. They also completed the fence where we once had punga logs, which meant I could plant my dahlia tubers, and move a couple of roses into the area. 

They also started on the BBQ area and removing the rotten post. This is where we hit the first barrier of the day. We had to turn one lot of lights off on the mains. That was fine until we went to turn them back on. Unfortunately, the circuit kept tripping. After about 4 hours, the electrician turned up, who found the light on the other post (not the one that was removed) was the culprit. I am relieved it is sorted as I wasn’t looking forward to no lights in the kitchen, bathroom or toilet. Mostly the toilet.

While I was waiting for the electrician, I went under the house to check something, and discovered a pipe slowly dripping from the waste water above the kitchen. We now have a plumber coming tomorrow.  I was covered in cobwebs from crawling under the house. I was damp from the rain, and I was covered in mud, and hubby had decided to go out prior.

All that aside, while my intentions of tackling the planter boxes in the BBQ area did not unfold as planned, I did, however, manage to get my front gardens sorted. Two roses were shifted finally (I didn’t think the builders would enjoy putting a fence up with those blocking access points so delayed it). Over the next few weeks, I will feed them my favourite Yates Natural Thrive Range (fish and seaweed). I also put in my dahlia tubers. This garden is covered in river stones, but no matting. In summer, I shift the stones slightly to make way for the dahlias. At the end of their season, I remove the tubers, and put the stones back in place, which helps suppress the weeds, and makes managing this garden easier over winter. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play ball, and I had to dart back in between showers. During this time, I tackled another job much to hubby’s amusement when he came home and saw it. Coffee. I decided to slice the tops off the pods (which will be upcycled for a calf club project). I now have an icecream and yoghurt container full of coffee grounds which will be sprinkled lightly around the berries.

While this was all happening, I did manage to spend a few minutes checking out the seedlings. Our Indigo Fire Ball Tomatoes have made an appearance. 17 days to germinate. The only thing I think I have had take this long in the past would be capsicums. We also have lettuce up finally (just not sure which variety as I may have sprinkled new seeds over them). And we even have a single watermelon. We have also moved Connor’s sunflowers and corn to the storage containers that housed the dahlias, along with the capsicums and chillies. I thought this might be a wee bit warmer for them with the latest cold patch.