Finishing the Decking...

Be under no illusion exactly how hot it is here at the moment - we don't think it was anything like this the same time last year.  It makes it difficult to get motivated and our thoughts turn (albeit briefly) to air conditioning!  Fortunately the humidity up here is very low so it is easier to cope with the extreme conditions and its not like we HAVE to do anything - we could just relax and jump in and out of the pool to cool down.  John, however, had other plans because having started the decking at the front he was keen to get it finished or as finished as we could.

So this was stage one.  We managed to get all the wood down although we are one piece short which John will get on Monday - we had the choice of adding a piece or having to cut the cross members off and with nine of them John opted for the former.  It looked great (to me) but John could see, with his engineer's eye, that it wasn't level and so we used some extra pieces of wood to level it up - John was happy!  Now at least if it rains then the water wont be directed towards the house wall which can only be a good thing after all the damp problems we had during the winter.

Stage two we decided that we would put the paving slabs around the outside of the decking.  These will have to be laid properly when we lay all the others but it makes it all look neater and will help to keep the weeds down.  This area has now become a right old hot spot ut should be a nice place to take breakfast when Debra is here.  We are trying to decide how best to hide the breezeblock wall between us and Paul next door which could look better.  I currently have a honeysuckle and a morning glory which I am growing with the hopes that they will cover the area sooner rather than later.

Our final job was to make a screen to hide our glory hole which is in the corner of the garden.  John used up one of the old shutter frames and some of the wicker stuff which came from Sean and Sharons and he is planning to put a hinge on it so that we can swing it open and shut.  On the subject of Sean and Sharon we are now hooked up via Skype which is great and we spoke to Sharon this morning although she was a chicken and didn't have the video on - I did even though I was sporting swimming pool hair!  They are out soon with Sharon's daughter which will be great and hopefully this time they will get good weather for the duration - the last twice they have been the weather has been very variable which is a shame when you only have a short time.  No doubt John and Sean will have a number of projects on the go and I know a trip to Steak and Prawns is on the agenda.

The weather is bringing some pretty weird and wonderful wildlife into the garden - I have no idea what this is - I am guessing it is some sort of grasshopper - but it was huge and sitting on the oleander - to be exact, having looked at the oleander today, it was feasting on it!