Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "gardening"

The weather has been very good the past couple of days, giving me the opportunity to get my garden done. I have some onions on the go, as well as some herbs and some fruit bushes in the form of Blueberry and Gooseberry. Today I added to that by getting a strawberry plant, though this may need growing indoors as I don’t have a cold frame. Everything has to be grown in large planters as I don’t have a large garden but that’s alright, as long as they come too.
As always I have been writing away. I’m now onto the fourteenth chapter though I still have a bit more to do. I did take time out though last night to do some reading. What was I reading? Well it was a story on Authonomy by Rayo Azul called Sudden Dearth. I got so involved in the story I couldn’t help but read on till I reach the end of what had been posted. I’ve read some other stories that this talented author has put on the site and I have enjoyed them as well.
Last Saturday I was out on town for the fist time in a very long time. It was my mates, Mickey’s birthday. I didn’t get steaming or even close though I did have a good night. I brought a Guinness hat back home for the wife. What can I say, they were giving them away so I grabbed one. It was great night.

I got good news on the job front this week; I start back at the firm I worked for before on the 6th of April. I take it that it will be doing the same as last time though I’ll need to wait and see. Still it will be great to get back to doing some work, as well as earning some money to pay the bills. It will also mean that I can put money aside towards the next book being published once it is finished.
I still have a lot to do though before it will be ready for that. I have some rewriting to do to the middle. I am getting close to finishing the first draft, yet as I do I see where it already needs the changes to build up the story. There is more work to be done to the start though not the full reworking that is required elsewhere.
My herbs that I was trying to grow have died. It was my first attempt at growing them so no surprise that they didn’t make it. My Lemon tree that I started growing last year is starting to show signs of new growth after the winter. On the go are also a Gooseberry and a Blueberry bush which are both looking good, time will tell. The onions out in my back door have started to sprout which means fresh spring tails soon. If I use some early it means there’s more space for the others to grow larger over the summer. I have a lot to do in the garden this year. I need to put up a fence at the side of the house to give more privacy at my back door. That won’t be till the good weather comes in, as with most things in my garden. I’m so glad to see the lighter nights coming in now.

Got told that my job will be finishing on Wednesday coming; I can’t complain to much as I did know it would be for a short time only. It also means that I get to work more on Bublos, as I’ll have the time as I look around for another job.
Got the posts up for the fence on Sunday as planned; tomorrow my mate Mickey is coming around to help me, again, to finish it. Hopefully the weather will play ball as it did last weekend that way we might even get the hut up too. I got paint for the fence and hut which I can only use if it’s dry, so I’ve got my fingers cross though the forecast is for showers. It should be fine, I think, to paint them if that’s the case. That reminds me that I need to charge up the drill for it will be needed.
Shopping last Saturday was more expensive than I had hoped, isn’t it always the case though but I got everything that I was after, as you can probably tell from above. It was a good day out, not the usual shopping trip the family makes, more one that those of us that like DIY or gardening would enjoy. As I ambled around the huge stores full of things that you could use to improve your home or garden does make you wish you had more cash to spend. Mind you could take it too far and that is when reason would have to prevail so you don’t, lucky then I don’t have more cash then.

Phoned the Jobcentre today to get signing back on. Like most of us it’s not something I like doing though there is little option. As I said last week, my job came to an end on Wednesday. Now I start looking for more work or win the lotto, which is not likely. Anyways in the mean time I can get on with my writing though I didn’t do any yesterday as I was working on my garden. Finishing of the fence I was putting up. I’ve still got to put a gate on it but I don’t have the materials to do that or the money to get them, so it will wait till I can. My daughter volunteered to paint the fence as well as the hut which I got up at the weekend as hoped. She did a great job; my son helped at first but couldn’t put up with me telling him how to do it. I gave them both a fiver for the effort though my daughter did wonder why I gave her brother the same as she got. That was until I pointed out the fact that he had helped with the fence, mind if it hadn’t been for my mate Mickey I doubt if I would have got it up at all.
This weekend I’ll need to see if I can check on all the links from this site. I believe some have moved or become dead, so I need to check them all again and get them sorted. I also need to add some that I have been planning to add for a while though not found the time to get the work done. So a lot of fun as you can imagine messing about trying to avoid the frustration such things cause.

I’ve been out making up a gate to finish off the fence I built at the side of my house. My son and friend Mickey helped though I did the major work myself. I took a six by six fence panel, cut it down and then made my gates out of that. Yes you read right, I have two as the gap was just a bit big for one. Making it from a panel keeps it looking like just part of the fence yet at the same time keeps them light. The real test will be later in the year when the high winds come in. I think it should be fine though I might make sure by getting a or rather make a latch for the top as I can’t seem to find what I have in mind anywhere. It shouldn’t be to hard to get some bit and bobs to make up what I want.
I’ve done most of the re-writing of Bublos though I still have the epilogue as well as some reworking to keep the story consistent. Some issues crept into it as I added some content though it was only minor things that should be easily sorted. After I have that sorted out I have the next part of the job to do, proof reading/editing. As you can tell it’s not the most favourite part of creating a story, still it is important. I have to format it before I go forwards with it to Lulu for publishing, that’s not so bad though. I do hope to have it all done for sometime in June but that is only hoping. We will see how I manage to get on in the coming week.

I finished the first draft, which includes the epilogue. I wrote to endings, both are similar yet I need to make up which fits best with the story. I’ll take it under advisement once I let the wife have a look; saying that though she won’t get it till I’ve sorted out as many of the typo’s and other mistakes that I made writing it. It also gives me a chance to look over the rewritten parts to make sure I sorted any inconsistency problems, I’m sure I got them all; I think I did though.
Before I go over the book again I’m going to have a weekend of from it. I’m going to have a game of Civilisation and put writing out of my mind, as much as I can. Especially Bublos so that I can look at it with fresh eyes after the weekend; this way it might be easier for me to see where the work is needed. As it goes with money at the moment I might to have the funds to publish this coming month as I had hoped because the social has decided that they’re going to put my wife and I through the same hassle they did over Christmas. This has the effect that I may need the money I had saved to see us through the coming hardship that the brew is causing. I tell you if I was to stick a needle in my arm filling my head with smack, then I would get everything going including a bus pass. Yes they have an illness but it’s self inflicted so I have no sympathy for them, not when I have to struggle because I’m willing to work. Rant over as I’ll just have to hope I can save somewhere else and not need to use my book money.
Was out gardening this week again, mowing the lawn front/back. Got a very large bag of compost at B&Q for £2.50, it was reduced because it was burst open. As I needed compost to replant my seedling peppers I just had to grab it. What’s left will do for other things, the strawberries when they also are in need of more root room. 70kg of compost for that money though was just to good a bargain to turn my nose up at.

By the way I thought I would like you to see the synopsis for the back of the book:

In the book of Revelation it mentions a scroll with seven seals. What if this scroll was hidden on earth? When an old man dies in Liverpool his flat is emptied by Joe and his friends and a strange looking book comes into Joe’s keeping. Soon he finds what trouble comes with the book when he watches his friend Toby being tortured then killed before his eyes. A man he recently met rescues him from possibly the same fate. Soon he finds out the man that saved him is more than just a man and that those that are after him aren’t what they appear to be. Demons and Angels don’t really exist yet Joe now knows they do and the book mustn’t fall to the wrong side or it may spell the end of everything.

You know that feeling you get when you’re about to come down with a nasty cold or flu. Well I’m suffering from that, hence why I a little late writing this blog this week. I went for a snooze in the hope that a bit of rest will head off whatever I’m in for. Not much hope I know because we all know what’s for you won’t go past you, right.
Anyways what else have I been doing to keep boredom at bay? First I got a light to encourage my Lemon trees as the bad summer has left them struggling and the weather folk promised us a heat wave. I was a kid in ’76 which was a real heat wave. This year we got two weeks of warmer than normal weather and they call that the heat wave, nothing like covering your back. The light I got was cheap but offers the plants the equivalent of 240 watts yet because of the energy bulbs only uses 44 watts, not bad eh.
Out in the garden my Blueberry bush and Gooseberry bush are coming on well. Though my tomatoes aren’t doing so well, really what I need is a proper greenhouse. What I have is fine as a propagator to get them started but not much when the need the room to spread out. I wish I could afford one but like most things it will have to sit on the list of things I’ll get if I win the lottery.
My venture into decorating the living room now awaits the council to send out some plasterers. The Inspector came and has put us down for the repairs but it could be a few weeks before they come. I’ll be glad when they do then I can get on with making the livingroom liveable again. It never ends does it?

Finally the council has replastered the walls that crumbled when stripped them a few weeks ago. Now we can start getting on with the decorating. I’ll be glad to get it done and get the living-room back to normal. As you can imagine it isn’t the only place in a state, my bedroom has become a dumping ground for the things taken out of the main room till the work is done.
I’ve also been working on my next story. I’m still on the first chapter and don’t seem to be making much headway so far. Still that’s the way it goes sometimes. At least I know where the story is going, that helps. I just have to get into a flow with it then everything should roll along at a better pace. I have also uploaded the full of Bublos to Authonomy to get feed back. At the same time I’ve put my other books on private for now. Too many people were looking at A Winter Journey when I need them to look at the newer tale. With the feedback I hope to find the week spot in my latest and therefore make it a stronger read.
Something has been nibbling at my blueberries. There aren’t a lot on the bush as I only got it this year, so it’s still young. The few berries that it has sprouted are still ripening but already the wildlife round here is taking an interest in the sweet fruit. My gooseberry bush was a cheaper buy so I don’t expect anything for a year or two. It is growing nicely though and you never know next year. I hope in the end to be able to use both bushes, if I get enough fruit, to make wine. I don’t think though that the two bushes would give enough berries, I’ll wait and see.

Winter returned to Scotland this week with a vengeance. Luckily it didn’t last and the snow melted away quickly. But the frost has been nasty for us gardeners. I’m glad I have my seedlings indoors away from the cold. I don’t have a large garden so I use tubs to grow some onions, carrots, parsnips and few other vegs as well as some herbs. Unfortunately the herbs haven’t done very well the past few years. My parsley did quite well last year and has started coming back this year. It’s in the same tub as my Blueberry bush. I like pottering about with the garden but often find I don’t have a very green thumb. In the last few years the onions I’ve planted have all grown but are never that big at the end of the season. Maybe this year?
Banshee 2 has reached the fourteenth chapter. Now comes the part that was never that clear in my mind. How to take Munroe to his confrontation with the banshee. I only have a general idea of how I should bring it around yet need to let another character lead him to the cottage somehow. Something to mull over this tonight, I think that would be a good idea. Have a drink with the wife and relax to let the creative juices blend.
I sometimes read in the forums complaining about having writers block. I always give the same advice. Walk away from what you’re writing and go for a walk. Or go for a bath, anything really that helps you switch off for a bit. Its good way to recharge your batteries. It also works for those times you can’t see the tale to clearly. Mind you we all have our own ways of dealing with these kinds of things.

A day late in posting my blog and the only reason I have is that I simply forgot. I was so into Banshee 2 and a conversation between Susie, a reporter and a neighbour of one of the banshee’s latest victims that everything else seemed to slide to the side in my head. I am now ready to go onto the next chapter tonight and as usual need to think over where I’m taking the main character and when will I bring them together to face the evil that resides in the cottage in the woods. Should Munroe have a visitation or not? So many ideas drawing me further from the plot I wrote down though I did stick to it at the beginning. That is the good thing about plots you don’t have to stick to them, they are flexible or should be. After all do you want to let the ideas flow and not be bottled up or that’s how I see it.
Was out putting a new felt roof on my garden hut today. Finally spring has shown its head, the sun is out and I got some work done in tidying things up around my small garden. I put my seedlings out in the sun rather then leaving them indoors. Some of the have died on me sadly so let’s hope the fresh air helps them. My mate Mickey was round helping with the hut and we both got a good coating of tar paint on ourselves, amateurs eh, what you going to do with us, hehehe.