The pebble dash

This is a once every seven year job: fixing all the river stones beside the pool. I was thinking today as I prized yet more of the darn things out of the ground, that we don’t have many straight edges on this farm.

And for a good reason. They are very tricky to keep neat. It wasn’t my design. But I am loyally repairing it.

I started work on the most flood damaged section yesterday. Or was it the day before?

And today it was the more important side next to the lawn.

I had to just get my edging tool in and try and guess where the original stones were placed. And bless me, I found the original log under all the overgrown lawn. Twas dumb luck to find it.

And then came the task of getting all the stones out and into buckets to be washed. A layer of weedproof fabric, a slosh of water (Artur helped on that bit) and back down they went.

It was faster on the left hand side. Mainly because it had become so tedious and I had no fingernails left. (I was wearing gloves, honest.)  But I have just a last bit to do.  And it’s the hardest part. I want to take back a lot of soil that has fallen down the hill and ended up right under the decking.

So I’m saving it for tomorrow. Preferably in slightly cooler shade. I managed to get a touch sunburned. And Artur had to give up pestering me and go and snooze under the jostaberry bush in the soft fruit orchard. Believe me, I would have gladly joined him.  But I want to tick this job off the long, long list.