One of the things that I love about the house is that it has ample space around it, including a fairly big back garden. Unfortunately nobody had done anything with the garden in years. The garden at the front of the house was kept reasonably tidy, but the area at the back of the house was completely wild. A few weeks ago a friend cut the grass for me, but by the time I came back from a recent trip the grass and weeds had grown so long that there was no way a lawn mower would be able to cope with it.
While getting a loan of a goat might have solved the problem I don't know anyone who could lend me one. Leaving it the way it was wasn't going to work either, as it was ridiculous. The solution was to get someone in with a strimmer to tame the beast.
So yesterday the beast was tamed.
It'll still need quite a bit of work to bring it back to something manageable ie. convert it from a field to a lawn, but at least for now the grass has been cut.
Ideally I'd like to plant a few herbs in the area close to the back door, as fresh herbs taste so much better than their dry counterparts. I've no interest in having some kind of fancy garden that requires constant tending. It's just not something I can see myself doing. Having a couple of fruit trees or similar? Maybe. Beyond that? Unlikely.
There's also still a few things outstanding inside the house and so I was delighted that the electrician came around this week so I've finally got the outside socket I wanted.
Having an outside socket and an outside tap were two of the things on my wishlist for the new house from before I moved in. Being able to check them off the list was a nice feeling.
Another small detail that I'd asked for was a light for under the stairs. Fumbling around in the dark, or with a torch is never my idea of fun, so getting a light installed just made sense.
As I mentioned previously, I have designated the house a no smoking zone, so anyone who wants to smoke has to go outside. Normally that means outside the back door. So what do you do with the cigarette butts? I won't bore you with the details of jam jars and other DIY solutions, as I've now got a proper outdoor ashtray:
It's not "pretty", but it's a hell of a lot better than anything else.
Now that the grass is under control I'm able to use the back garden a little for other things, including taking my DJI Phantom drone for a spin. I'd wanted to get a few shots of the house from the air so I was delighted to be able to do that yesterday evening.
At times I forget how close to the countryside Carlow town is, but once you take a drone up a few metres it becomes really clear:
Even when the weather is unpleasant it still looks good:
Hopefully those dark clouds won't turn into rain for another few hours!
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