Hello There!!  The Easter weekend was cold and wet so it kinda allowed  an enforced rest.  Then Monday came and nothing came out of Monday.  Mondays can be write off a lot of the time, I’ve noticed.  I personally think that the beginning of the week should start Tuesday!

Anyway, we started Tuesday.  We are trying to do all the tidying up and construction that we had stored up for the dry weather.

Firstly, the tree that fell on the roof of the house (about 8 months ago) which has been perching precariously over the Internet antenna, was removed.  We had been waiting to buy a chainsaw (because our cheapo one broke…it was a luminous green and purple one and looked like a Fisher Price toy!).  Just as an aside, I usually start Gnome with cheap tools so that he learns to use them without getting worried about wear and tear and breakage.  Once he shows that he actually knows how to use the tool, we graduate onto more expensive tools.

Well, we haven’t got the good chainsaw yet!  So, Gnome had to take the tree down, traditional-style with a machete.

With the usual one Gnome heroics, the tree was cut down, pulled to the side and cut into pieces.

Moving swiftly on, we (Gnome actually, I do all the cleaning up after) has taken the back wall off the house to replace with zinc because it is water-proof and sturdier.  With all this messing around at the back of the house, we had a better chance to intensely scrutinise the wooden posts that were holding up the stairs.  We knew they were rotting and we had to fix them…sometime.  The posts had actually rotted right through and the stairs were being held up by…I don’t know… magic and air.  Anyway, the stairs were pulled out and now replaced with a ladder (Ha-Ha).  Also, the posts holding up the door are rotting through!

It’s funny because the cat comes up to the house from the back stairs and we were both worried that he wouldn’t be able to get into the house in the usual way.  The cat didn’t have a problem with the ladder…of course!!  Savvy cats can get up and down ladders!!

So, today, instead of getting the zinc up, Gnome has to cut extra pieces of wood to hold the door up!

Yes, the place is falling apart but we must save the sinking ship!!