clearing the ground for my fairy castle

You look to have been very busy Fran!
you are probably right about the wildlife but its best to tidy a bit as you have so you can see whats happening there

Be interesting to see what other wildlife move in.
Be careful by that concrete post. I once tripped over
and banged my head on one.

Thanks, Pam, It's not a hard job, just a fiddly one, with me havign to cut between each bit of mesh and untanlting as much as I can before cutting the other ends. I've been wearing rubber gloves to pull the stuff out, except when cutting; prefer bare hand for that, less chance of it slipping.

lol if I get close enough to see what's happening, nothing will be, I'll scare them all off! but I don't want to disturb more than I have to, especially as it's outside the fence.

oooh, Diane!! that sounds painful. I step carefully there, cos I have to get on to the bed, and I'm trying to watch where I tread because of the plants - thinking about putting some broken paving down as stepping stones.

Nice little haunt for wildlife in that vegetation behind the fence. You did a good job on the fence post Fran. Looks like the sun is fortunately behind you with all that vegetation at the end of a small garden with conifers at the end of it.

Your getting there Fran. As you say it's the awkwardness of the area that's making it more difficult.
I'm sure the fairies are watching in anticipation :)

thanks, Dorjac. I assume that the "dead strip" runs along the whole length of the shrub belt, which is half the street. so thre'd be plenty of space for small life.

thanks, Scottish. lol for a while I forgot what I was doing it for, was so focused on doing it.

I've looked at fairy doors (sigh, what's the point of putting "how to" when it keeps showing doors for sale?). But found enough bits and pieces to maybe be able to make my own, just depends which medium - wood, plater, concrete, or a combination.

saw a site that had an interesting twist: convert a nest box into a fairy house. lol if I did hat there'd defintely be occupation before very long!

Actually, I was so shocked at the pain in my head
I bought a cheap cycle helmet in a sale, and wore it
when gardening for some weeks.

Be careful. There are too many accidents caused during
gardening activities.

good idea, Diane. I have safety goggles and dust masks for when I know i'm giong to be doing somthing dusty, but the goggles doen't exactly help my vision! probably about time I bought a pair that aren't screatched.

I'd never thought of head protection, that's a sound idea. Hope your head's better now

just found this post, Fran...that's a very interesting project you have going ion there...you're wise to pace yourself...i find it frustrating to have a goal in mind but then have to do a little bit, rest, then another little bit, but if i don't pace myself, i end up hurting so much i can't do anything...i've added this to my favourites....it's inspiring....thanks for posting...

lol sometimes I pace myself by accident - I've not been back to this tidy-up since I posted the blog; things keep coming up, or I get ideas for other things, and go off on a new tack ... got about half a dozen half-started pronects at the moment. not entirely my fualt, though, some of them depend on the weather

well, you're not alone there, Fran,...i always have a number of projects on the go at the same time...since i have few joints left that are free of arthritis, i can't stick at anything for very long...it used to bother me...unfinished stuff lying around, but hey, it all gets done in time...or i loose interest and throw the thing out...sometimes a number of projects all get finished in about a week, and then i look like a regular whiz! for me, the main thing is to keep busy at things i enjoy, and to stay independent...i feel pretty fierce about that...just finished painting my hallway, had to strip off 2 layers of wallpaper...darn thing took me all winter...looks better now, tho'..at least i think it does, since i can't tell what i'm looking at most of the time ...i just say "it looks good to me!" and let it go at that.....LOL

I'm visually impaired and have a lower-spine injury - i have to bend close to see what I'm dojng (which is how I got the back injury in the first place) - there are a lot of jobs I can't do, for both reasons, and the ones that I can do are a bit painful after a time - I have to ease my back and shoulders every couple of minutes, and after a long job I walk aroun dhte next day like Quasimodo.

the prob with leaving jobs half done (for me anyway) is that i after a while I get used to bits lying around, and they fade into the background - it's not "not seeing", it's "not noticing"

lol I'm going to get my painting done the easy way, by paying someone else to do it - last time I tried it it came out like patchwork.

I moved here about six months ago and so much that has to be done! it's trying to prioritise the priorties that's holding

So long as it looks good to you, that's all that matters. if other people do'nt like it, they know whre the door is!

you bet!...and i'll even hold it open for them! :o]]

lol a person after my own heart! spent years tyring to be what other people wanted me to be, now i'm in rebellion: "this is me, there's the door, take your pick"

here's one for you...Patrick says to me "Mom, you're an old lady now, so you can say what you want, think what you want, and do what you want...you've earned it!" that's my moto now, and i honestly don't care what people think about that...boy, it's good to finally be myself!..i try not to be offensive, but i've stopped being a doormat...never did like the people who wiped their feet on me, and now i'm busy filling my life with people i truly like...so there! :o]]

rofl. good for you! but it's a shame that younger people think that they can't be true to themselves.

So many people can't tell the difference between being assertive and being aggressive - I've seen assertiveness used to put someone else down, which is exactly what it's not about.

I used to worry about upsetting other people, to such an extent that I let myself be walked over - "no" didn't become part of my vocabulary till I was in my 30s, and was very hard to use. I'm better at it now, but still try to use it gently - at first, anyway. If the hint isn't taken the first time, I do repeat it more forcefully

well, some people can only take you seriously if you are forceful...

sadly true; they can't tell the difference between gentleness and weakness. I'm trying out my assertive body language, and it's amazing how well it works, on them and me both! I have to think about it at the moment, but if i do it long enough, it'll become habit and won['t need thinking about cos it'll be there all the time.