It was one quite grizzly affair cleaning the house after the spiders, as big as my hand(almost), ran for cover in the thatch, and I could see them sitting there silently, watching my every move with their shiny black eyes. It is scary. But full of pluck and confidence, for my granddaughter's edification, see, I grabbed my feather duster with the two metre long handle, and started demolishing the spiderwebs. This webs were not these of the rainspiders, but some ugly looking black beasts that looked like the famous black widow, but although they have a nasty pair of teeth, their bites were not poisonous enough to harm you. I was sneezing and coughing, as eight months in a village with dirt roads can leave one thick layer of dust,, but I persevered, and by midday the house was rid of every spiderweb, dustfree, and the floors were scrubbed.
As I had no -where to put stuff, I left the things that I could do without in the boxes, lay an old door over the rafters of the back bedroom, and after some healthy swearing, and one titanic struggle, I managed to get most of the boxes up onto the door, using my riggity ladder that promised with every step I climbed to give one big sigh, and collapse! Had a few scary moments, as some of the stuff were heavy, and when I tried to lift it above my head, it pulled me backwards, and I felt like a bally nettle swaying in the wind, trying to keep my balance!
It took three days to get everything reasonably organised, and then I was tired of housework, and decided to plant some veggie seeds. The previous year I did start on a veggie bed, but the amount of large stones I had to dig out first was enough to almost build a cathedral, and it took so long that I never planted anything. I did however plant a few flowers, specially some Agapanthus's, as they are quite waterwise, and did not need looking after while I was away.
I got some strawberry plants from my new neighbours, Gary and Ronalee, and also some spinach plants. The strawberries took immediately, and it grew so fast and made such a lot of flowers, that I hoped for a bumper crop.
There was a few things that bothered me immensely, one of these was the spiders that sat between the thatch, and when I went to bed, they come out, maybe they felt safe then, or maybe they just wanted to have a better look. But I just couldn't fall asleep with this beasties staring down at me, and decided that a plan had to be made. Not that I was scared of them, but I think if one of them lost their grip and landed on me, I would have a bally fit! As it is, I have a few nasty bites, from a much smaller species that I had found sharing my bed. So Irma gave me two very thin, soft and light pieces of material, and I spent a whole day fastening them to the rafters, draped like that in an old Sheihk's harem tent. It looked beautiful, but Irma said I'd better not show my bedroom to the men, as they would immediately get funny thoughts!
My trees were again eaten up, and I had given up on them, as I just did not have an answer for when I went away, and I was a bit long lipped with Sheila for a day or two, but in this hazardous place we lived, we needed our neighbours, so I said nothing.
I actually wanted to sleep in the annexe, but even after all this time, I could only stay in there for short periods of time, because the creosote fumes were still too strong.
The new people, Ronalee and Gary were amazing, and Ronalee had amazing green fingers, and I got most of my plants from her.