It’s finished!

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At last. It has taken me three months, but as of this morning, the retaining wall is finished. It has partially taken so long because I was a bit slack at the beginning, and because I have had to do everything “by hand”. The access into the garden is too narrow for even the smallest Bobcat digger, and I didn’t fancy hiring a powered augur for making the post holes after seeing the problems that the guys doing the fence encountered. However it’s done, and Nicky has started planting on the south side already of the retaining wall.


I haven’t trimmed the posts as we have plans. I intended to get 2m posts but they had been on back order at the timber yard for eight months, so I bought 2.7m instead, assuming I would trim them. However, we soon decided on seeing them installed that some trellis would be good. Along with providing support for climbing plants, it would give a visual and low physical edge to the boardwalk, once it is installed. The posts may be trimmed once the trellis has been installed.


This hasn’t been the only excitement of the week. We were up in Auckland last weekend for a shared family lunch on Easter Monday, hosted by Clem and Pat. The food was up to its usual standard (Nicky made a Simnel Cake which was gorgeous), and we had a really good afternoon catching up with everyone (it was just siblings and spouses). We stayed with Paul and Jenny who were excellent hosts and fed us very well. We drove back to Whanganui on Tuesday. We enjoyed the trip and seeing everyone, but it was really nice to be home again.



Wednesday was hot and sunny, so laundry was washed and hung. Comestibles were purchased. Gardening and wall building were done. It made afternoon tea al fresco even more enjoyable.


I started feeling unwell on Thursday, with something very similar to what Nicky had recently. My RATs have come out negative, so I assume it’s just a cold. It hasn’t cleared up completely yet, which has made finishing the wall more challenging, but then so does my age, so it one thing or another!


Nicky had a Pastoral Care catch-up meeting with Louise on Thursday afternoon, and got her hair done on Friday morning before visiting the library. She was delighted to borrow several Alexander McCall Smith short story collections. I haven’t had any work, but have started a jigsaw. The warm sunshine has given us some lovely solar gain inside. We have had some rain too, but not as much as expected from the weather forecasts, earlier in the week. Jacqui and Frances have called in, and life has started to resume its usual rhythm. Nice.


Take care, Rick and Nicky.

Comments

Gill said…
The wall looks really well after all your hard work.
April 24, 2022 at 12:48 PM
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