52 Week Challenge - week by week through 2013

[Sheneval]

Can't wait to see this cage Shen...Gonna have a go at one myself, so might be looking for advice and tips...

Apologies Trip - have only now remembered to take a couple of photos of the Brassica cage - measurements 3' high to allow for growing Brussels and Kail - wire is galvanised but I think I will cover entire cage, sides and top, with Debris netting. The general opinion here is that it stops everything from getting in except the sun and the rain.

[Tripmeup]

Apologies Trip - have only now remembered to take a couple of photos of the Brassica cage - measurements 3' high to allow for growing Brussels and Kail - wire is galvanised but I think I will cover entire cage, sides and top, with Debris netting. The general opinion here is that it stops everything from getting in except the sun and the rain.

About time Shen!! I thought you were somehow in the GR and had forgotten
How did you get the wire on without knocking the frame about if you know what I mean
That's the sort of design I was thinking of but need to get the build order right... Although today, I thought of another possibility to cover stuff with..

[Sheneval]

Trip, You have guessed my guilty secret AP was buying and insisted there be no cameras to witness the event in case all the usual suspects turned up to join the free spree

I used a staple gun to join the netting to the wood - can be bought for a few pounds in many stores such as Home Bargains, and Wilco.

I used power tools at home to join the wooden pieces together then unscrewed all the bits, other than the 2 end frames, and transported the lot up to the allotment and used battery operated screwdriver to re-join them. I used two of my neighbours' fences, which were only a couple of metres apart, to act as a second or even third pair of hands and keep the framework erect whilst I screwed the bits together.

Thereafter I stretched the wire round the frame and stapled the top of one side first, then stretched it down one side and worked my way across stretching the wire all the way - same procedure for other 3 sides.

Fortunately the job didn't take too long as I was blocking the central path and the grass paths round the site were being mowed while I worked and the considerate mower driver co-operated by cutting the outside paths first.

[PyreneesPlot]

This week (21?) I finally reclaimed my study.
In the winter it is used as the veg store as it is east facing and with the shutters down gets pretty cold in there. In December we brought the last of our stuff over from the UK including three boxes of books which are now unpacked and shelved. It's only taken three years and a half years from packing them away in Oxford to getting them here!!

Work in progress
Nice view of the waterbutt out of the window
Fiction in order

[veggiechicken]

Looks good PP. I can see some titles that are on my shelves too

[Sheneval]

Week 21 - I intend to cover my brassica cage with debris netting

[zazen999]

I haven't partaken as yet as I have enough challenges this year at the moment; however this lunchtime I went to the fridge to see what I could cook for lunch to find another full bag of carrots [Mr Z does the shopping and this week I was too pre-occupied with clay ovens to give him a list] so my challenge is to use 3 carrots [4 if I can] every meal except breakfast for a week for two of us.

First one successfully completed - 3 large grated carrots added instead of veggie mince to our spag bol style lunch. Tick that box.

[veggiechicken]

Week 21 challenge - failed to finish reading Treasure Island for the 2nd week running However I do have a new insult that may come in useful " If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit.........."
My week 21 Challenge became the creation of another Nail -free single pallet raised bed using a different method to the previous one - because the pallet was of different construction. Allow me to introduce Mk II. (on the left) using 4 planks of T&G for the sides.

May challenges recap :-
Week 18 - Take a photo with my phone
Week 19 - Go to an Unusual Plants Fair
Week 20 - Make a Bean frame from a rotary clothes line.
Week 21 - Make a raised bed from a pallet.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Week 21 Challenge

Clean the Car

I reckon that there are two sorts of car owner in the world - the first category is those who clean the car on a Sunday, never miss a service (probably at the main dealer), check tyre pressure and fluid levels regularly and generally treat their pride and joy with respect. The car will be perhaps 3 or 4 years old, and they keep an eye out for scratches which they get fixed, so that the car keeps its value. They may even have a name for their car, and imbue it with a personality.

The second category is those who treat the car as a tool - a means to an end. They grumble at the running costs and put any essential servicing through the local grease monkey garage. They don't check under the bonnet unless a light on the dashboard comes on. They turn up the radio to drown out any inconvenient noises that the car might make, and realise that at ten years old, its resale value is negligible - and as for the odd scratch or dent, well, that's life, isn't it?

I fall into the second category, and as such, cleaning the car is the same level of priority as painting the shed. It has to be done every couple of years in order to stop it becoming a total eyesore, but it's a vile job which is to be put off for as long as possible.

But that's what the 52week challenge is all about - doing things that are different. So today, the banana car got the clean of it's life - outside a wash, rinse, alloy wheel scrub, window wash and e-cloth dry. Including sills, door frames and wheel arches.

Inside, the inventory included a lumphammer, pencil, plant labels, pair of secateurs, pliers, wire (thick and thin), string, drill, towels, two sticks of rhubarb, bradawl, sweet papers, parking receipts, a desiccated radish, two old bathtowels, a couple of rubble sacks, a potato sack, an umbrella, road atlas, cassette (no case), cd case (no cd), paintbrushes (1 for fence painting, 1 tiny thin one), 4 hooks, a 'car box' including tow rope, windscreen de-icer, 3-in-1 oil can (but no jumpleads as my brother has borrowed them), a miscellaneous round token, presumably for a parking barrier.

All that lot was cleared out, and the mats too, and I vacuumed all the inside, polished the dash, washed, dried and de-smeared the windows.

Useful gardening things went back in (confined to ONE small trug which fits in the boot), along with the umbrella and the 'car box', but that's it.

Now it doesn't quite feel like I'm driving my own car.....



Week 21 Challenge: done!

[Hazel at the Hill]

And my challenges to date:

wk1 update blogs
wk2 sort out photos
wk3 sort out attic room
wk4 participate in a seed swap

wk5 visit a cathedral
wk6 complete a jigsaw
wk7 complete a quilt
wk8 buy a pair of glasses

wk9 make bath bombs
wk10 tidy fabric stash
wk11 paint the toolshed
wk12 go for a bra fitting
wk13 smarten up clothes/shoes

wk14 repair mini greenhouse
wk15 clean the windows
wk16 give credit where it is due
wk17 have a beauty treatment

wk18 swim in the sea
wk19 read a classic novel
wk20 make alterations to a garment
wk21 clean the car

[julesapple]

Well, that's all of the 'Bay listing finished. All I need to do for now anyway.

I must find half an hour to sit down and update my challenges. I have them written in my diary but not on here. I'm not slacking honest, just some things got done a little backwards and not when planned.

[Sheneval]

Hazel - so that is what the inside of a car is supposed to look like

[Tripmeup]

Got last week's task done. it was to get all my brassicas direct sown to their final growing place. Done on Saturday..will post pic later if I remember...

[Hazel at the Hill]

Hazel - so that is what the inside of a car is supposed to look like

Apparently so - it'll not last. There's the 8' canes to take to the Hill for the bean frame for a start...

[veggiechicken]

Week 22 May 27th - June 2nd

Here we go again. On your marks, get set..................