By Ricky, on November 30th, 2021 Lean-to in May 2017 © Ricky Yates
At the end of a post I wrote more than four years ago entitled, ‘Making progress‘, I featured two photographs of the incomplete lean-to on one side of my house. This one on the left, taken in May 2017, just a couple of weeks after I moved to Stará Oleška, and the one below, taken after ‘Jan with his van’ had taken away a whole load of unwanted items left by the previous owners.
In that September 2017 post, I wrote, ‘Once I’ve removed some remaining loose timber into the wood shed, then I plan to lay a proper concrete floor. After that, I hope to be able to hang the door that is already sitting there, propped up on one side, and create . . . → Read More: It’s taken a long time but, my Lean-to is finally complete
By Ricky, on November 25th, 2021 Damaged car © Ricky Yates
According to a news report I read some time ago, the three most common causes of road traffic accidents in the Czech Republic are: First – driving too fast. Second – driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Third – hitting a wild animal, either a deer or a wild boar. Unfortunately, late on the night of Monday 27th September, I joined those statistics 🙁
I was giving a lift to my friend Kát’a, from a rather late evening appointment in Ceská Lípa, to her home in Decín. Driving through the forested area between Kamenický Šenov and Ceská Kamenice, I had a major altercation with a large deer. It suddenly appeared out of the forest on my left. I only saw it for a nano-second before it . . . → Read More: A danger of driving in the Czech Republic
By Ricky, on September 17th, 2021 The new gazebo on the summit of Mariina skála © Ricky Yates
Mariina skála is a prominent rock outcrop, 428 metres above sea level, located north of the village of Jetrichovice, which is in turn, around 12km north of Stará Oleška, the village where I live. Perched on top of the rock is a gazebo forming a viewing platform, with spectacular views across the surrounding area.
Back in late March 2016, I did climb up to Mariina skála as I describe and illustrate in the latter part of this post. But more recently, I have wanted to return for two reasons. Firstly, the weather on that previous visit was somewhat misty, which restricted the views. Secondly, I had seen in local news reports, that a brand new gazebo had been erected . . . → Read More: A climb to Mariina skála
By Ricky, on August 6th, 2021 The front lawn of Stará Oleška 44 on 13th December 2020 © Ricky Yates
As is illustrated in my previous post about how, on Sunday 25th October 2020, my house was connected to mains water, part of the work involved digging a deep trench right across the front lawn. Because late October is the end of the growing season here, I realised that I wouldn’t be able to do anything to repair the grass, until the Spring of 2021. The photograph above, taken on 13th December 2020, after I had finished severely pruning all the bushes down the right-hand side of the lawn, shows the extent of the damage.
Excess earth from digging the ‘shaft’ © Ricky Yates
As I wrote in that previous post, there was also excess . . . → Read More: My house is now connected to mains water – update
By Ricky, on August 2nd, 2021
Wisteria flowering at the back of my house © Ricky Yates
I am very aware that it is now two and a half months since I last published a blog post. I am also aware that, either in the text of previous posts or in answering comments, I have promised to provide further updates on things I’ve written about. So this post is my attempt to kill two birds with one stone.
Back in late April I complained that ‘Someone keeps trying to kidnap Spring‘. Well Spring did eventually arrive as I hope is illustrated by this photograph of wisteria flowering at the back of my house, taken at the end of May. But it has been noticeable how much later plants and trees have been producing leaves or . . . → Read More: Blog update
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