Mooning around

Happy Wednesday all.

Or, as A likes to call it, Friday as she only does paid work three days a week. I've got one more day to be stuck to this desk before I can call weekend. Onwards with the update, though, and while it's chronological there is definitely a Moon theme to every day.

Sunday

Yes I know that Sunday is normally covered in the update published on a Sunday but as I said in that previous post I did take a few pictures while typing and didn't want to make that post any longer so I have saved them for this one. It's just a few pictures is all.

Huge sky from the Roof Terrace

Sun backlighting the ridge; it's sliding further west all the time

Moon behind wisps of cloud

It was a relatively cloudy end to the day as the sun was going down, though beautiful as it always is here. I got some lovely shots with the wide angle lens that really show off the expanse of the sky. It was later on that the theme for this update began; the gorgeous nearly full moon rising behind the wisps of clouds on the horizon grabbed my attention as I was typing so I legged it onto the balcony with the camera to get a shot and it came out well. What a thing.

Monday

Monday came and it was back to the grindstone for the both of us. We are very grateful for the income from our jobs, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's frustrating to be sat in while it's so lovely outside.

Before the sun arrive, the clouds shine brightest

It's a hot looking start to the day

My lounging mattress, for lunch time snoozes

Thirty Eight degrees in the sun

Only fifteen in the shade, though

Looking along the front of the building

The ducks having a cooling swim

The plum tree showing promise (it did nothing last year though)

Sassy stretched out on the top level of her hutch

Monday was indeed a lovely day. It dawned bright and clear for us, with the usual valley fog hanging around long enough that I got some lovely photographs that are very similar to many I've posted here before but I am so far from getting bored of that view and I'm sure the same is for you. At lunch time I took my mattress onto the balcony and had a laze in the really hot sun. It was so warm out there that later on I put a thermometer in the sun to see what it said. I am not kidding this picture was taken on Monday 22nd February! It was slightly cooler in the shade as you can see but still glorious weather. The ducks were also out enjoying it and the plum tree has started to blossom already.

Sealing the wall so I can plaster the holes

A getting tiny seeds into pots

We will have a glut of beetroot

This experiment was a great success and will be repeated

I'm helping out with the sagebrush

A using her custom dibber to make seed holes

Planting a couple more stands of sweetcorn

The old greenhouses up and strapped down

More blossom, this time on the cherry tree

Late afternoon we took another break from working to get a few things done. First of all I slopped some betonkontakt onto the walls in Sassy's room in preparation for plastering that I planned on doing on Tuesday. I then went to do the ceiling but found it is quite solid up there already and doesn't really need sealing. I went outside to clean my stuff and found A was out there planting away the seeds I've bought to grow around the basketball court. These are so tiny and I bought so many that this is an ongoing challenge. Our previously planted seeds are starting to sprout with, typically, the beetroot doing the best. The winter veg is really nearly ready for harvest. I took over doing the sagebrush for a bit and A got her sweetcorn seeds out and planted them under cloches in the main garden. I put up some of the old temporary green houses for our seedlings and we watered everything in well. I then strolled down to the front to get a picture of the cherry tree which is really putting on a show already.

Clouds pointing to where the sun went

Close up of the strange awesome colour on the horizon

The hat is spinning

Moon rise

Moon glowing through the haze

Just about managed to capture the colour

And this shows how bright it was

Orchids (they were a valentines plant and I never even noticed)

It really had been a lovely day and it was good to be able to get out for a short while and get stuff done while the sun was still up. The evening drew in with more beautiful displays, and the temperature dropped quite fast so the fire was lit with A's hat on the chimney spinning fast with smoke emitting. Once again we were treated to a beautiful moon rise over the valley and once again I struggled with the settings on my camera to capture it correctly. These are the best shots I got. Finally here is a picture of A's lovely orchid that I bought her to replace the ones that died on the journey over, almost a year ago now.

Tuesday

It was another beautiful day on Tuesday and once again we were stuck in at our desks. some stuff did get done, though, so it wasn't all doom and gloom but there was less opportunity for being outside.

A really beautiful start to the day

The puppies stopping A from working

The sun rose through haze and fog and I was there to snap some pictures. A went to let the chickens out while I put the kettle on and opened up the curtains. The banana plant is loving being in the sun most of the morning and it has put out some more shoots though I don't have a picture yet. The puppies are also loving the sun and preventing A from working by jumping up to get as warm as they can.

Reversed into a tight space

Back down and ready to be dragged off

Safely inside and under cover

The main event of the day was the delivery of our fire place. Rather than go down early in the day, when town would be rammed due to marketday, we headed off mid afternoon, trailer in tow (and puppies left at home in their cage, much to their disgust) with both the trolleys in the back of Thomas. When we got to the ekont office the lady said hello and told us to follow her in the van. We drove round the corner to a depot where they loaded the pallet onto the trailer using a big pallet truck. I was quite proud of my reversing skills to get into the loading bay and then I also had to reverse back underneath the pallet truck. We drove back slowly and I then reversed again, this time to get the trailer so we could unload directly into the garage with as little hassle as possible. I was able to drag the pallet down the ramp and into the garage so we didn't end up needing the trolleys at all. Success.

Fire with doors opened wide

The sheered off hinge

An old fix that broke in transit

After I finished work I headed down to the garage to unpack it and check everything was there and OK after the travel. I managed to untie everything and then shift it forwards on the pallet so it could be stood up with very few problems but as I did this the front doors fell away. Closer inspection revealed that one of the hinges was broken and had been for some time as the pin for that hinge had some old welding on it. Another pin was missing. Other than this everything was good and it looks awesome. I've since got in touch with another craftsman on facebook and sent off the door and pin to get mended so hopefully that'll be done soon. I can't wait for this to be fitted and fired up for the first time. After this we went and did a watering round, something that will now have to be a habit every day as things start to be planted. I've bought a new mister (for the garden but which will probably be stolen for use on the model railway soon enough) and we had a lot of fun spraying Rambo who we realise actually loves it.

Cooking my steak to perfection

Bright moon rising again

The moon above the town lights

Dinner was really lovely last night. Not that it isn't always lovely but we had one of those "let's finish things up" moments so A got some breaded fish and I got to eat the last of the steaks I brought back from England last year. A also made an awesome salad with hard boiled ducks eggs and olives and cerene cheese and she jacketed a couple of spuds too. Lovely. Then the moon gave us another stunning display and this time, FINALLY, I accidentally got my settings correct and caught the colour of the moon in the same photograph as its brightness. What a lovely thing! I took a few more as well, with the lights of our local town below, in an attempt at artiness.

Wednesday

The forecast for today was for heavy rain and certainly it's threatened it all day but none yet.

Parent's hotel under heavy cloud

The only glimpse of sun we've had all day

One fire-door being sent to be fixed

I woke up feeling quite congested and sneezing with a banging headache which was less than ideal. The overcast weather was dreary but early on some Crepuscular Rays brightened my view from my desk where I have been parked almost all day. Not much has happened other than taking the boxed up fire door to ekont to send off to the craftsman to be fixed, and pick up the lovely chandellier A bought for the dining area (and some more tools for me, including finally a router). I took a sleep at lunch and in that hour I slept hard and woke without a headache and feeling a lot better which is good. I just hope that continues this evening and tomorrow the nascent cold goes away. I've arranged for the summer tyres for Thomas and they will be ready to put on him tomorrow which is good as I don't want to wear away the winter tyres too quickly - they were expensive!

I'll leave you with this video taken just now out of the window of Room 13 of two bulls in the field just finishing up a butting session; spring is definitely in the air!