The Pipedream Blog

Chard, chard and more chard!

alexcthomas — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 08:44:27 +0000

After the deluge of rain and sunshine, the Project MoneyPit veg patch is loaded with green leaves and lovely looking produce. The chard has gone berserk and produced great big red and yellow sprouts, which look amazing. And the rocket has gone completely nuts and started producing pea pod-like seeds which makes me think it is past it’s prime. The lettuce is going great though, and the forst of my tomatoes are beginning to ripen.

In the main veg patch, the broccoli has taken over and the onions and garlic and looking ripe and ready for plcuking, but I’m going to hold off for now, and the parsnips have a set of big lush leaves so lets hope they’re nice and healthy underground too. However the big surprise of the day was found when I trimmed back the rampant brockles and actually found some peas growing under the foliage. I had all but given up on them, (and the beans who have again failed to grow up my canes this year and so look a bit weedy!) but there were a good half dozed pods which means we have almost got enough for a mini banquet – well a salad.

In the next couple of weeks am hoping the first batch of potatoes will also be ready and I might even try pulling out a carrot or two so we can enjoy a proper home grown feast!

Piran and Lucy get married

alexcthomas — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 09:12:05 +0000

We had a fantastic time this weekend at the wedding of Piran and the lovely Lucy ‘Awkins at Priston Mill. It was a fantastic day with the sun shining and it was a great chance to catch up with the whole gang for the first time [properly] since our wedding last August. There were baby’s and kids galore, as well as childish adult antics and a great best man’s speech from Dave R, now we just need to find an excuse to do this all again next year!

Moving house [but not us!]

alexcthomas — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:22:35 +0000

Don’t worry, we’re not giving up on the MoneyPit! Instead we were called in to provide muscle for Piran as they moved into their new gaff at Templecloud. All went well, apart from manoeuvring the van in and out of their incredibly narrow drive. It seems we missed the worst of it when they had an even bigger van the day before, however we were still hamstrung by having Steve giving directions! Fortunately it made it out on to the road without having to file a damage report to the van hire company and meant we could enjoy our picnic lunch with a clear conscience – but here’s some picture proof of just how close things got!

Pipedream produce producing

alexcthomas — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:00:16 +0000

It’s been a week of glorious sunshine at the MoneyPit and so the garden is growing like crazy . The onions and garlic are doing great since I planted them out in the raised bed and all the beans and flowers are beginning to come along nicely in the grow house. As you can see on the right, we’ve also planted out several pots full with ivy and trailing bizzie lizzies which we have put on our metal shelf rack which we purchased from the White Elephany shop in Trowbridge. The only problem I’m having is with the lettuce, which is not doing anything, but perhaps that is a good thing?!

Teaching an old cat new tricks

alexcthomas — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:39:26 +0000

I’ve been determined to teach Tiger Tim a few tricks and get him acting like a proper cat and first on my list was to get him sleeping in a basket. After the success of his cushion over his tumultuous christmas I thought, why not coax him in with that and see where we go and lo and behold it was a success. Admittedly the basket we got him was a bit on the big side, but boy does he look comfy!

MoneyPit produce 2011

alexcthomas — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:18:16 +0000

Spring has finally sprung at the MoneyPit and so it’s time to break out the seed trays and plant pots for another season. After last year’s lettuce fiasco I’ve decided to go for more of a considered approach this year and am only planting out a couple of plants rather than an entire packet at a time. I am also ably being assisted by my new grow house which should keep all the plant pots out of the house and keep Mrs T happy.

Currently hidden under the compost in the neatly labelled pots we have courgettes, runner beans, lettuce, rocket and chard – but don’t worry, we haven’t been eating lollipops galore over the winter those are bought in plant labels!

There’s also some petunias, lupins and verbennas borealis planted out in seed trays, while in loo rolls (so they can be planted out without breaking the roots) we have peas, sweet peas and more beans. As you can see below, I’ve also got some garlic and onion sets laid out on seed trays which I will plant out in the raised bed in a couple of weeks. Now all we need is a bit of sunshine!

Shelf-y living

alexcthomas — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:26:03 +0000

The next major project on our epic to do list is to finish off the landing once and for all. Along with hanging a chandelier (which Mrs T picked out during our first month in the house, and has lived in the shed ever since) we have wanted to put up a shaker style shelf which matched the wood panelling. This involved a trip to Travis Perkins to get the longest bit of timber I’ve ever seen and a lot of Farrow and Ball paint, but I think it was worth it. The most difficult part of putting the shelf up was not manuevriung it around the house, but finding somewhere we could put it and paint it. We ended up having to put it in the garage, but with it being soooo cold outside at the moment, the paint was almost freezing while Mrs T was out applying the finishing touches. Still, it was worth the effort and now we have a lovely nick nack shelf were we can keep all our collectables, wedding plates, tiny books and our brand new collection of dust bunnies!

* For those who are interested that’s a Mary Wandrausch plate which we got as a wedding present. I’ve got a christening one as well with an ark and a giraffe on which I absolutely love so it’s been great to have them together as a pair.

KAPOW! Check out our Honeymoon adventure!

alexcthomas — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:30:47 +0000

I’ve been trying out this great program called Comic Life for work, and thought I would share what I’ve been able to create. ComicLife is a great app that you use to turn your photos into comics and so I thought I would use some of our great honeymoon photos and make them into a comic strip. It’s really easy as you just click and drag speech bubbles and sound effects on to your photos, but with me being me, I had to make it all into a proper story and get it looking as great as possible!

Here we go again…

alexcthomas — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:20:51 +0000

It’s another year and to keep us occupied in the quiet, cold, winter weekends we’ve put together a nice long list of jobs to get on with in the MoneyPit. First up is re-doing the pink and blue rooms as we rushed decorating them when we first moved in. As well as repaint and generally tidy up the room, we’ve decided to fit another fire place as there will never be a better time to bash a big hole in the wall. We’ve had one tucked away in our garage since we moved in (one of our white elephant shop bargains!) and so it was time to dust it out and get bashing.

Unlike last time where we were supervised by Mister P, this time I got cracking knocking the hole in the wall without any guidance. It was pretty nerve wracking to say the least as I chipped away and hoped to find a nice empty chimney space, rather than a gap where there was once a big chunk of wall, but fortunately everything was where it was supposed to be and after an afternoon of demolition we had something resembling a rustic looking fire place.

After that, it was time to hand back to the experts and Mr P came over later in the week to make sure I hadn’t done too much damage! He brought with him a very clean looking fireplace which he’d taken away with him a couple of months previously and he ably fitted while making us another fantastic hearth out of floor tiles. As you can see, it’s all looking rather superb and with Mrs’s T nifty little decorating touches it’s really made this room into something rather special. So that’s one major job crossed off the list, only a couple of dozen more to go. So what’s next on the to do list?

Christmas Eve contentment

alexcthomas — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:36:09 +0000

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s getting pretty manic in the MoneyPit. Guests are arriving, wine is mulling, veggies are being prepped, last minute presents are being wrapped and party games are being prepped. However in amongst this whirlwind of activity, one member of the household has found an oasis of tranquility and calm. After being chased from pillar to post and evicted from all his usual hang outs, Tim the cat has found himself the unenviable position of a comfy cushion, in front of a piping hot radiator. The kind of comforting place I’m sure we would all love to be at this time of year!

Happy Christmas everybody!