Busy Week

Firstly, I finished revamping the coffee table in record time, having changed the edge of the table from a roundover to a chamfer, has made it look quite modern, surprising how little things can make such a difference, and the darker Oak colour is an improvement as well.

That done it was time to get the Dog crate finished, fortunately the weather has picked up, and stain and varnish drying time was a lot faster. As a result, yesterday I started the assembly

I finished that last night, and with Marcela’s help moved it into the house.

This morning I attached the table top, and the crate was finished

Our concern, was that we wanted this to be Pepe’s personal space, and of the two dogs you would think he was the Boss, but unfortunately what Tito wants, Tito gets, as far as they go, Pepe is a total wuss! I think it’s because he has always known that Tito suffers from ill-treatment in his former life, and gives in on everything, including his beds… not this time, we will ensure that.

There again, I built Pepe a brick kennel at our last house, and he point blank refuses to have anything to do with it, so that could have been the case here.

As it turned out, we needn’t have worried, I put one of Pepe’s beds inside, and he knew it was for him, and he has made himself at home, now we just have to watch that Tito doesn’t try to sneak in. We are considering removing the door, it is not our intention to shut Pepe in, so I might just take it off, and keep it handy, in case it is ever needed.

Having finished my current woodwork projects, it’s time to turn my attention to the outside again, as much as I love woodwork, neglecting everything else, would turn out to be a costly exercise.

I started by spraying all the weeds with weedkiller, my small sprayer is getting a bit long in the tooth, and keeping clogging, so I stripped it down, cleaned it, but when it came to re assembling it, a vital collar holding the spray nozzle in place, has disappeared, I searched everywhere for it, even asking Marcela to come for a look, as usually a second pair of eyes is all it takes, but not on this occasion. Fortunately I had finished spraying, but if it doesn’t turn up, I will have to buy a replacement, and use bits off the old one for spares.

I have always had a bad memory, but lately I have found myeself forgetting the most basic of things, I hope that this isn’t a sign of things to come!

I then decided, that it was time to visit the far extremities of our land, just to see how things are looking, and to re-install the wildlife camera, before uninvited guests start helping themselves again.

There is one lone tree at the bottom of the garden before falling in the stream, it’s in the middle of the land I cleared during the pandemic, and in many cases, in plain sight, is the same as invisible, so the camera is strapped on to it, I’ll give it three or four days before retrieving it again.

Most of our Avocados are Hass, which are the most sought after, and productive, but we have a couple of trees with different varieties, one grows huge avocados, which I dont like, the other two, grow another variety, which no one here seems to be able to identify. They are laden with fruit, but not quite ready yet.

The Hass are also laden, but they wont be ready for another couple of months, and since they bring in the cash, with the exception of a couple we have growing up near the house, we try not to help ourselves, to those.

Platano are growing, but they still have some way to go, unfortunately there are a number of plants that are not looking too healthy, I will monitor them, and if there is no improvement, they will be chopped down, and allowed to regrow from the ground up.

Now I need to decide what outside jobs need doing, and get stuck in, for two reasons, firstly because they have to be done by someone, and whilst I can still do them, I will do.

Secondly, I can now hear the bones in my knees rubbing, bone on bone, Marcela says it makes her feel sick, so I guess, I will be limited in what I can accomplish before too long, I already have to use a stick to get up and down the garden and orchard, due to my hip. I just thank my lucky stars that I am still better off than many. On that note I will sign off.