A much more relaxing, productive, day

Today's blog starts off in the night as I was woken at some point (and fortunately not for that long) by the sheep dog going on a barking rampage. It obviously set off all the other dogs as well. I could hear him going along my lane, up into the village, round the corner and down the hill, and then back and then across the fields. And he was barking all the time. Who knows what set him off but I suppose I would rather that, than the sound of some imbecilic teens kicking my car wake me up.

There was another thing about yesterday which I forgot to detail and almost went back and edited the post but then decided to drop it in here. When my little lady neighbour was showing us where the drainage went she said that, 20 or 30 years before, she had been involved in digging out the drains and laying the pipes. What a fascinating thing and lovely to meet someone who was involved in this building right from the beginning.

The sheep being walked to pasture

Anyway, to today; I woke early and dozed back off and woke about 8am feeling rested and relaxed, particularly after having got so much dealt with yesterday which had been on my mind. As always I made a cuppa before anything else however today I was straight outside into the warm sun to get on with my task for the day. The farmer guy was just walking his cattle out when I went down to the gate and he stopped and watched me starting work for a bit before saying goodbye and then, a little while later, disappearing in his car. I am sure he thinks I'm insane but never mind.

Trying to show the depth of soil on the steps

And so I set too with my trowel with digging away at the deep compost which buried the bottom couple of steps down near the gate. This was really good soil down here and I wasn't really throwing much un-composted material into the wheelbarrow, though there were a fair few stones as you got down to the path; these stones have come from the steps higher up which haven't been buried and therefore have been weathered more and collapsed. This picture is attempting to show how deep the soil was on one of the higher steps; I'm not sure the perspective works but hey. The lower steps were completely submerged and I was digging a good six inches to eight inches of soil by the end.

A grub, and a long millipede

As I was digging I found various little creepy crawlies and bugs. These were a couple of them which I snapped a quick shot of. All these went into the wheel barrow, along with as many worms as I could find, to be added to the compost heap to assist with the decomposition there. If anyone can identify what the grub will become that would be great. I found maybe ten of them in the end.

Fried bacon and eggs on fried bread

It got to about 10am and I decided I was hungry and, because I am grafting today, I treated myself to fried bacon, eggs and bread. It was absolutely lovely. A few months ago I would have said I couldn't make good fried bread but now, after that first experience while the roof was being patched last year, I am more and more confident to do so.

My neighbour's horse, sadly shackled

After breakfast I headed back out for a bit more digging before my morning meeting with my work. As I was working away I heard the sound of hooves and noticed that the neighbour's horse was on the land, cropping away. As I went to take pictures he looked up at me and then started trotting to get to another part of the property. I managed to snap a quick picture as he trotted past which showed one of the few things I find uncomfortable around here; they have a habit of hobbling their animals. The chains on his legs are so short he can barely trot and when he wants to run it is an ungainly stagger. I wish they wouldn't do this, and rather paddock them, but I suppose this is their way of life.

I had managed to rearrange my missed meeting from Wednesday and so came inside in time to connect via Skype and go on video chat. It was really good to see my old colleagues who I will be working with again from next week, and they were all very amused by a few of the stories I told them; they wanted the walk through as well so I suppose I really had better get on to that and film it soon. Not today though as the wind has got up something chronic; it is doing the best it can to rip the plastic sheeting from my windows. Anyway, after the morning meeting we got my working practices sorted out and I am now quite looking forward to getting back to the development work next week. I have the task of getting all my environment set up this weekend but with the forecast being for rain that isn't really a problem to me.

Mostly done, I can finish this next week now

After the meetings I was straight back outside and cracked on with the digging. I was making really good progress but starting to run out of buckets and also getting a little bored of the process; I broke at 1pm for a a light lunch of the Edam I had left over that my mum bought me, and a couple of cookies dunked in a brew, then cracked on again pretty much immediately to get to the end of the task. I have not completely finished digging the bottom towards the gate out however I have run out of buckets to put the soil in so I packed up for the day when this happened.

Nine buckets, eight filled today

I filled eight buckets with good soil today, and only had one and a half wheelbarrows of compostable material. This is because I have dug right down to the bottom of ten years of fallen leaves and most of it has been completely broken down in this time. I uncovered some quite sizable roots going through the bottom of the soil as well which I am presuming are from the trees just near the path; I have cut them off and hope it doesn't damage the tree too much.

A lovely little flower

While I was tidying everything up preparatory for coming back in I noticed a tiny flower which was just beautiful so I snapped a quick picture. There are loads of these little things all over the property and it is nice to, as well as being so productive in achieving stuff, be able to stop and notice things and spend time observing the lovely nature around me.

Beautiful purple blossoms on a tree

Along the same lines I spotted at some point today this gorgeous purple flowered tree which I hadn't seen before; everything is really coming to life here at the moment and the change from one day to the next is quite outstanding. I'm not sure what this is either so anyone who knows please say. I think I should start to physically label my trees and plants actually, as my memory is not good enough to remember what I am being told.

So I am now sat here, nice and early on the blog (but with only a few inside things to do) being a touch concerned that the wind (which is gusting very high now) will test my plastic sheeting even further, and maybe even some of the more precariously balanced roof tiles. The forecast is for this wind to pass before tomorrow and I do hope it does; it could keep me awake tonight otherwise.

Life!

My plans for the weekend involve using a lot of that soil to plant loads of seeds (mainly chili I think, but possibly some other stuff too) and possibly continuing to dig out the coal store under the stairs. I am back with the trailer to help my friend on Sunday, and this will probably involve a visit to that family again so my head will probably explode with the overload of conversation in a foreign language. I aim to be ready for the men to come on Monday, though they may be delayed until Tuesday now, for getting the fencing done; I will probably be moving the fence posts for Rambo's enclosure at some point so there is a pile right where they are needed. The plans I repotted the other day are looking good though, as is the Hibiscus which continues to produce green shoots.

My very tasty dinner; as good as it looked!

I have had an exceptionally tasty dinner where I baked my pork chops for a bit, then poured the bottle of whatever-random-sauce-it-was over the top, rinsed out with water, and left it on a high heat for a fair old while. I thinly sliced a potato and, after putting salt and pepper on, roasted them, flipping them every now and then, until I couldn't wait any more. It was divine, and I still have half of it to reheat for tomorrow. Get In!

So, the fire has been on since relatively early today because the temperature has dropped and I am toasty and warm. I'm going to just chill out and wait and look forward to chatting to people this evening. It is such a lovely life, this, with so few real stresses so far.

Cheers