busybusybusy

Weekends are supposed to be for relaxing, they say. My last few have been ridiculously busy, albeit very productive. So many house and garden jobs to do - I'm hoping for a break by August.

A. continuing to insulate the crawlspaces on the top floor of the house, in an effort to keep our insane oil heating costs down in wintertime. Going reasonably well so far, but it's a slow job - and my newly-painted spare room and hallway are disaster areas again, as everything from the crawlspaces (which serve as very handy storage) had to be removed so the work could be done.

Meantime, I spent a couple of hours weeding the garden Saturday and Sunday. All the rain we've had the last few weeks made the job easier than usual, but it's still fairly strenuous. Yesterday afternoon I vacuumed and washed the car, which hadn't been cleaned properly since late last summer (yuck) and was littered with A.'s veterinary detritus. The trunk had a pervasive odour of horse, which happily has now been banished.

Lucky the weather was so beautiful this weekend. Last night after dinner, even though we were knackered, we moved the woodpile, just so we could be outside for a bit longer before the bugs started getting bad. We had the woodpile in a corner of the deck, handy for the winter, but it's looking ugly now so we shifted it to under the shed. In the process, we disturbed a colony of salamanders like this one. I caught about eight of them and moved them to the other side of the garden, but at least as many escaped my clutches. They're such neat lil critters - I love 'em. I should add, however, that I had no regard whatsoever for the welfare of the legions of wood lice we encountered, as they are Very Horrible creatures. And yes, I know they play an important role in the ecosystem and that I am guilty of species prejudice, but there you are.

Anyway, no rest for me - packing tonight as tomorrow evening I am off to Montreal for a short holiday. It will be a great trip, but continuing very busy - J. and I have loads of stuff planned. Full details in due course.