Hammer House Of Horror

WARNING - THIS POST CONTAINS IMAGES OF GRAPHIC FINGER VIOLENCE!

Firstly though, albeit slowly, because the owners have been away, work on the house in Sandbanks has finally started. The mature Eucalyptus tree that was to the left in the picture has been removed, and the corner border I am working on has been cleared and enlarged.

Due to the minimilistic and abstract design of the house, all of the existing borders are being redesigned. Plants already in place shall be removed, and replaced with a more formal and focused layout. All curves are to be replaced with angular straight lines, and work on the first has now started. Once edging timber is in place, this particular border will be covered with weed proof membrane through which the chosen shrubs shall be planted, and then the whole surface covered with granite pebbles.

The picture below shows half of the side of the property. An old existing hedge of conifers, approximately 20ft high, has been removed, and Laurels are now in their place. These shall be kept in a hedge, but kept in shape using secateurs rather than a trimmer, as the damaged surface of the leaves can look unsightly when a trimmer is used.

The work at this place inspired us to get on and renovate our own path at home. It's been about ten years since we put the original gravel track in, and over time the edging has deteriorated, and the shingle become untidy. The first side, although a little tricky, went fairly smoothly, regardless of the fact that what I thought was a tree root, was in fact the power cable to the garden office, and I promptly severed it with the large pruners. The second half however, led to what must be remembered by all as an important point of note..........NEVER, NEVER use a sledgehammer with one hand. I did, to thump in the edging support posts, and unfortunately learnt this lesson the hard way.......GRUESOME PICS COMING UP FOLKS.......

Sledgehammers are powerful things, and should be used with respect, and one should never let their concentration lapse for a second...........

............or this happens!
It hurt, believe me when I say that it hurt bad. The hammer had messed it up real good, but fortunately the two doctors working on it informed me that I had been incredibly lucky. I didn't feel lucky, well, you wouldn't would you? But, be that as it may, the tendons were still intact, even though everything else was mashed. Let me say here that I am a huge fan of the NHS, and once again they excelled in every way. Anaesthetic injected into the finger numbed it pleasantly, if a little strangely. The finger was twisted this way and that as the wound was cleaned, and finally the whole lot was expertly stitched up and put back together. Fourteen sutures and three butterfly stitches later......finally arrived home tired out at about 8pm.

The moral of the story?.........Don't let a chaffinch distract you when wielding heavy weapons!

It has created a few logistical problems workwise. Being effectively one-handed is going to present some difficulties, and the first is getting the hanging baskets made up for the nursing home. The following day, today, started off beautifully sunny, and so we promised ourselves a coffee and light lunch on Bournemouth beach, before returning home and getting stuck into the baskets.

The gardens in Bournemouth were a joy to walk through, and provided plenty of interest and points for discussion as we both watched the parks department gardeners revamping all of the borders and beds.
The promenade was crowded, not least with runners in their droves, and prompted by this, we have now arranged a joint training session with Claire and Rebecca, in preparation for the sponsored run.

Reality did reach us in the end though, and after making some mugs of tea, we both wrapped up against what was now a very clear but icy cold day, and set about planting up the hanging baskets. Normally Amanda would hand me the plants in order of colour, for me to do the planting, but my finger has meant a little role reversal for the next week at least.

And we finished them all just as darkness fell. Now all loaded into the van, they shall be taken to site and hung tomorrow.

Thanks for having a look, I hope it wasn't too gross, but it is A Day In The Life after all.......and this that was most certainly A Day!