Today was D Day; the day I decorated the outside of the house with Christmas lights. The weather was perfect for it. It didn’t rain until about 7:30pm and the wind was kept to a minimum. Mind you, it was pretty cold. Not Sweden cold, I should add.
People have started making an effort. Maybe they spotted our neighbours and thought it was time. I noticed, for instance, on the way back from Farnham, that the Hop Blossom had decorated their front door.
Okay, the pub doesn’t have any obvious lights but, even so, even a small effort is an effort.
Mind you, I’m pretty sure this is early for us. Not that Mirinda’s complaining. If she’d had her way, we’d have had lights up in October.
Normally, I copy Neighbour Dave with his timings but he may be a bit behind because of his mother-in-law.
Speaking of Neighbour Dave, the family was out today and they asked us to go in and feed Rodney and Corkie at lunchtime. And let them out for a bit of relief. Rodney, as usual, was delighted to see me and we had a right proper romp around the back garden. I love the fact that he always looks like he’s smiling.
I was a bit concerned about Corkie. She is clearly confused and is missing Dave’s MiL. She came and greeted me, ate her biscuits then went and curled up in her bed, where she stayed. When I returned later for another bit of play, she didn’t even come outside. It brought back memories of Day-z and how she was after Carmen died.
Mind you, while it was very sad, in one way it was excellent for Rodney. Whenever he’s left in the house alone, he spends all the time barking. Today, with Corkie for company even if she is morose, he didn’t bark at all. Maybe that’s why he’s smiling.
Doggy care was but a small bit of my day. First, I unevenly distributed the lights around the front of the house, careful to avoid any sort of symmetry or system. I went for a different layout this year, winding lights in and around the wisteria and up and down the porch uprights. It’s all very merry.
It’s a bit difficult to see but ours are pink and white. This is in beautiful contrast to our new neighbours whose are blue and white.
Out the back, I hung them, as usual, along one side of my office, however, I mixed it up a bit by dribbling the coloured lights through the branches above the Don King arch.
Another job I had to do, and which I’d forgotten about, was the cleaning of the channel on the extension roof. It needs to be cleared out every year around this time because the leaves and mulch builds up and stops the downpipe from clearing the water away. If it’s not cleared away, the funnel at the top of the pipe fills up, and the water can spill back into the ceiling. Like it did before.
So, I leant over the edge and pull out the small tree that had started growing in the funnel along with handfuls of sludge. It was not pleasant but very necessary.
I didn’t take a photo of it.
