(Nearly) Ready for Rambo

The blog today actually starts last night. I was just coming back upstairs after a wee break (yes, I know, too much information but still) when I caught a glimpse of something on the floor in the beam of my flashlight. A closer inspection revealed it to be a small frog or toad which had been hopping across my hall.

My little nighttime visitor

I ran upstairs and grabbed the camera and then ran back down and it hadn't moved at all so I got a few pictures of it. I reckon that it was quite a young specimen; only about 2 or 3 inches long and with huge eyes that were watching my every move. It wasn't moving at all. By the time I went to bed about half an hour later, however, it was gone. I hope it has found a home; maybe I'll see it again.

A sea of mist over the river

So I went to sleep and I slept right through until my alarm woke me at 6am; a few snoozes later and I dragged my sorry backside out of bed for a brew. It was pre dawn and as I was waiting for the kettle to boil I saw that the light above the mountains opposite was looking amazing. I took the camera and walked to the edge of my land, then out of it onto the hillside beyond, to get this picture. The river is below the sea of fog and the town is completely hidden behind it.

Sun peaking through

Said fog rose quite a lot after this and the next time I paid attention to outside (I don't really operate at any level pre-first brew) it was completely covering all the school land and limiting visibility quite dramatically outside. The sun was still trying to burn through, however, and this picture was taken from the window of what will be the living room.

Stunning view of mist and sun

Pretty quickly it was time for me to set off to collect the men and, once again, I chose to leave a little early to give me a chance to stop on the way for pictures. I took this opportunity very quickly as I was coming down the track behind my house. The bridge and the tree next to it were poking out through the fog and the sun was directly above them; a perfectly composed shot. The sheep farmer in the small holding next to where I stopped was a bit confused until I waved the camera at him and then he waved back and returned to encouraging his sheep out of their pen for the day.

Expanded view

My next stop was about 100 yards further down the hill, as I went round the corner. The view I had photographed before, focused on the bridge, now opened out to show the whole valley full of the thick fog and a few things here and there poking through. It was a magical scene (a word I am using a lot at the moment) and I stood for a few moments just appreciating it before jumping back in Thomas for the drive to the men.

My tactic of leaving early today was a bit too successful because the fog was so thick there were no real photo opportunites for the rest of the journey. I was so early I parked the car on the cheren put near their house and got out for a short stroll before carrying on to collect them. It was a nice relaxing way to start the day. From there things didn't go quite to the plan I had in my head. First of all we headed to my friends house to get my trailer (tomorrow I want to fill it with manure from Bekir and Sally's sheep) and this involved a stop and a short chat obviously. From there we went into town to get more cement, and I picked up a loaf of fresh crusty bread for breakfast.

Delivery of gravel

Finally we were driving back and overtook a lorry which was actually heading for my place with a load of gravel and small river stones. The driver didn't know where he was going so, when we got to the turn off for my house I parked up and we had to wait  a few minutes for him to catch up. We then proceeded up my hill at the slowest pace I have ever driven up there. I was in 1st gear most of the way. Finally, however, the truck was on my land and the load was tipped exactly where we wanted it to go.

I immediately went and made a coffee (as they had turned one down at my friends) and then made myself breakfast of bacon and egg butties on the lovely crusty bread. After this I went and cleaned out the piles of dust from in Rambo's House with the wheelbarrow, making use of it before the men expropriated it for making cement in.

I started off thinking about doing some paying work but the lure of the sun outside proved too great so I was within a short while sat on my deck chair reading my book in the sun. I lasted about half an hour before I decided to wander around again and then come back upstairs for a brew and to start this blog. While I was sat here the tweeting and chattering of the swallows disturbed my peace and I went outside to find three of them flying around.

Old nest and nesting point

They have definitely discovered a new way to get in as they are now in all the time. I have decided (and I hate this, but I have to do it) that I must now knock their nests down so they maybe realise they need to build elsewhere. I have done this for one so far and felt awful about it, but when the windows go in they will be even more confused. They keep flying to where the nest was, and clinging to something there. I really hope they don't start rebuilding it!

I'll have to make sure the front door is left shut as they are flying in and out through that whenever it is left ajar.

In other news Sassy is still sneezing, after a few days off. I'm pretty concerned about her. Fingers crossed she is not coming down with something as I don't know if I would be able to find a rabbit friendly vet over here.

I'm still feeling really relaxed and non-productive so I think I'm going to grab a large water bottle, my rug, and my book, and go and sleep in the sun somewhere for a bit :) I'm not seeing the car until tomorrow (I have T coming over to help with the fencing for the last couple of days, and also he knows cars so will be able to help me tomorrow) so nothing to do now until I take the men home. Think today is going to be a really lazy one for me.

Well I'm back in again after a couple of hours on the blanket; a small cloud occluded the sun for a few minutes and that was enough to encourage me from my sloth. I'm making the men a cup of coffee each, and myself one, and grabbing a sandwich as well. It is quite late for lunch but my large breakfast ensured I wasn't hungry at all.

Little mushrooms

So going back to when I went outside, first of all the other day I had seen some mushrooms growing in the little area near the walnut tress which I had made a mental note to photograph. Anyone able to identify them? There were only these two, and another single one, that I could spot. They probably appeared after the rain we had the other day.

Reading my kindle laid in the sun

I then went to Julian and dragged out my rug and a couple of pillows and spread myself out to soak up the rays. Ironically in doing this I trod straight on the two mushrooms in the previous photograph. Whoops. Anyway, it was so relaxing laying there and I dropped off a couple of times just with the relaxation of it all.

Building the wooden channels

My natural aversion to being completely lazy asserted itself when the aforementioned tiny cloud went across the sun and I dragged myself up to have a look at how the men were doing. They have had a bit of a slower day today, putting the framework around the fence posts to pour the concrete between to stop Rambo from being able to dig his way out should he decide to. As I type this they have begun mixing the concrete and I'll go out in a bit to take some more pictures of that (they LOVE me taking pictures; there were many jokes this morning about it when we dropped past my friends).

I have just discovered the first thing that I have definitely left behind (or at least cannot find for looking). I spotted Bekir trying to connect my hosepipe to the standpipe and the attachment to do this with is no where to be found. We will have to go to the shops tomorrow and get one, and maybe another few lengths of hose as it is woefully short for the amount of land I have.

And now, after a totally lazy day, I am going to go and do the last bit on the flower bed that I am digging over at the moment; I am constitutionally incapable of a full day of laziness it seems.

Concrete going between the guides

Before heading to the flower bed I went to check on the men; I found them starting the process of pouring the concrete into the molds for the base. As well as concrete, Bekir was embedding little loops of metal to secure the fence to the concrete with; this is a great idea and one I wouldn't even have thought about. Now one thing is for sure; we are not going to do this lengthy a process around the rest of the perimeter (this long for about 32 metres and the perimeter is about 10 times that length!) but eventually I may well do something similar on my own time.

Completed flower bed, including trimmed bush

I set to digging out the last bits of the right hand flower bed and quickly ran into a problem; I could not get to the far end of it as the bushes were  in the way. I grabbed my secateurs and made short work of the offending branches, trimming them to where I wanted the end of the bed to be. I will, when I start the other bed, begin from this top end so I don't find myself backed up with no where to go at the finish.

Clouds coming in

The weather has started to turn this afternoon; since that errant tiny cloud more and more have piled in and I have even heard the odd rumble of thunder in the hills. It is forecast to rain heavily tomorrow but it looks like it is coming in early; I just hope it doesn't halt our progress tomorrow, particularly as I am bringing in extra help in the form of T, who will check the car and then assist around the fencing.

Clematis growing too tall

The Clematis has been growing really fast recently, putting a spurt on in the last day or so. One reason I am so keen to get the perimeter done is so I can situate my outside plants and know they will be (relatively) safe from invaders. This is in dire need of training up a wall somewhere and it is now outgrowing the cane I put in to support it. The fence needs done soon.

So I am back and have eaten my dinner (chicken breasts with salad and boiled potatoes; absolutely divine and enough potato left over for another salad tomorrow lunch). The men worked til about 6.45 and got about 60% of the cement in. This is far less than I was hoping for but it has been hard work for them today and what they are doing is going to be about 400 times better than I was expecting. I only hope they can complete that enclosure tomorrow and get a good start on the rest, so myself and T can crack on next week and finish the perimeter on our own.

The drive was painless and simple but I didn't even pick my camera up; which shows that my mind was elsewhere. Once I dropped them off I started up the cheren put and realised that I was gagging for some music to sing along to. I picked "Levelling the Land" by The Levellers and spent the entire drive home singing at the top of my voice, drumming the steering wheel, and tingling all over. There is so much buzzing through my head at the moment I think it overwhelmed me a bit today; hence the lazy day and strange feeling at the end of it. So many possibilities, so much awesome, and I'm right in the eye of the storm.

As I drove the men, mainly in silence, I was also thinking just how isolating it is being somewhere where your language skills just aren't up to holding chit chat and conversations. I can sometimes make myself understood (and Bekir is, funnily enough, learning English too) however where I'd like to engage them in conversation and talk about the beauty of the views, or the progress we made today, I just don't know how. It was a strange feeling and maybe also partially revealing about how I am today.

I have even pulled my HiFi out of the store room and am in the process of trying to get it hooked up; I have really enjoyed the peace but I think I'm getting now to where a bit of music every now and then will help.

So now I'm about to pour a whisky to settle my nerves and tomorrow I'm off even earlier to go collect T before the men and get them back here as quickly as possible to crack on. I have only two more days with them, and Bekir, T and myself are going to be out for several hours tomorrow looking at this car, so an efficient and early start is vital.