Restful Sundays

After the overly busy day I had yesterday I was determined that today would be a relaxing one. My first achievement was staying in bed til about 9.30 or maybe even nearly 10 before a need for a cuppa and the toilet made me leave my bed. What a great lie in and much needed I can tell you.

Before I did anything at all I watered and fed Rambo; he came with me as normal and waited outside while I filled his bowl with meat and dried food and then he walked very closely next to me when I took the bowl back to his house. He must have been hungry because this time he stayed inside and ate while I went back in to make myself breakfast and a cuppa.

Breakfast for me today was toast and thick cut chunky marmelade and that is a taste of home as it was made by my parents. I have a couple of bottles and it reminded me why I was so determined to have seville orange trees on my land; I want to be able to make my own marmelade from my own oranges!

After breakfast I decided that I should be productive at least a little bit and so I set myself the task of emptying to two full humanure buckets, the collection box under the sink, and picking up all Rambo's shit and putting the lot on the compost. I had to gather a fair few things together to do this and, unfortunately, Rambo came inside at one point while I was in the house, and started exploring. Cue another instance of me leading him back to his enclosure, ensuring he was walking behind me the whole way, and was well aware that the punishment was for not staying outside like he had been told to. He is pushing a lot of boundaries at the moment, with the massive changes in his life, and it is being a challenge to keep him under control. I hope he does settle so I can be confident to have him off the lead when walking him but I think that'll be a while off yet.

Emptying of the humanure was completed without any real challenges, however I did notice that some of the sawdust had turned orange. There are no pics of this as I was too busy getting it done and covered so as not to attract flies, but maybe I'll try and get some if it happens again. I'm not sure if any other humanure people are reading this blog but if they are, have you seen this before? Any ideas anyone? The good thing is, the pile is still absolutely not smelling bad and there is no collection of flies or anything around it and it is rapidly heading towards the season when the flies start to multiply.

Clematis really does tie itself into knots

This job completed, and the kitchen collection box cleaned with hot soapy water (it was getting quite minging) AND my hands washed with lovely apple smelling soap, I sat down for another cup of tea before doing my next task; planting the two Clematis outside and positioning the archway. I should definitely have bought both plants at the same time as I've had the first one for a fair few weeks and it has been growing fast... so fast that it has managed to tie itself into a knot. This was right where I was going to attempt to encourage it to grip the framework which is a pain.

Clematis outside and secured

It did not take me long to situate the arch inside the compost in the buckets, and then attach (loosely, sadly) the feet to hold it from being blown over. I will have to secure it a little bit better at some point, possibly tie it to the bucket handles and maybe even put some ironwork in the ceiling to afix the top of the arch to. The wind does get up quite a lot here so I need to be sensible.

Getting a proper home ready for the baby tortoise

After doing the planting I decided to make a start on the new living home for the tortoise. My idea is to dig up and attempt to keep alive some grass, dandelion and other weed type plants from around where we found him, so he has a constant source of live food, and also feels as at home as possible. Now I had thought that I would need to spend time finding another trough because I only bought four of them yesterday however, because I decided to use the round buckets for the Clematis I was able to make use of one of the spare two tubs. I drilled three holes in each side near the bottom and then went and selected a few areas of plant that would suit. I was careful not to overfill as these are not that sturdy and once they get heavy, the handles start to bend. I've left it outside for the time being, to get some rain (yes, it's due to rain AGAIN next week) and hopefully establish itself and not just die off. Fingers crossed.

After this I went inside and decided I was getting hungry so I put a couple of tatties in to bake, with the aim of having a not-too-late lunch. A couple of things happened while I was waiting the hours it took them to get ready. First of all a chicken and a cockerel got inside my fence somehow. Rambo was out, dozing on the porch as usual and he woke up and noticed them and started barking. I looked out, saw the hens, and thought "oh no!" because they were my neighbours. I went down and as I got down he started chasing them. the cockerel pretty much immediately ran to where the fence is lowest and flew out and away but the hen ran the wrong way and ended up being chased for quite a while until it finally got down to the front fence and tried to squeeze through the gap. It was too fat and it got stuck, enabling Rambo to catch up and give it a good sniff, then wander off again, not interested any more. After a few shakes it squeezed through leaving a few feathers behind and ran off down the lane. Very funny.

So this is one way they are still getting in

Secondly I went out to feed and water Sassy and caught a glimpse of the birds who were fitting themselves through a tiny hole in the glass of the back door. I grabbed the camera and stood in wait and eventually one did it which I snapped. This method of entry, as well as via the front door, will be closed either Monday or Tuesday as my windows are fitted. They have started rebuilding the nest in the corridor (and there are bird droppings everywhere, including one on the washing machine; not impressed) so I am looking forward to them not being able to get in.

Late lunch/early dinner

Finally my tatties were ready and so were the really slow lightly fried mushrooms for the side. I put the local butter on, and the cheese which was at the end of its life, and it was ok. The butter here isn't salted so is a bit less interesting than UK butter but it wasn't too unpleasant and you could always have added salt. The tatties baked pretty nicely, with crispy skins and lovely soft insides and I even burned my mouth a couple of times; I was hungry!

Ant hill

After eating I let my food settle and then, feeling restless because I hadn't achieved as much as I like to on a day, even a rest one, I headed outside to at least make a start on planting the next Silver Birch. As I was about to head down I saw the farmer go up the lane with a full load of hay on his horse cart. I hadn't even realised they were in and certainly Rambo hadn't because he was asleep and only woke up to go and bark at them when they drove past. Not the greatest bit of guard-dogging I have ever come across but still. I carted my kit down to the gate and was pleased to see that they had shut it behind them, though there was a jacket flung across one of the bushes near the barn so I presumed they were coming back. I noticed that there was a massive ants nest that had sprung up by the spoil pile of the hole I was working on today so I grabbed a few pictures; they were big ones!

The hole, and the tools

The sun was out and it seemed far harder work today to break apart the bedrock. The pickaxe hardly made any impression at all, and the claw-iron was vibrating in my hands as I attempted to dig out the post hole. I think that the trees here must spread their roots very much sideways in search of a way to go down through this exceptionally hard layer. I did make some progress though, and was able to dig out a shallow hole of about 3 or 4 inches before I thought that was enough and went and got the tree and the stake.

Situating the stake

The post fit in the hole really well and, with four wedges of stone on each edge, then the dust from digging out the hole and finally a load more larger stones on top, it did not move at all. This technique is proving very suitable for my needs and, despite it being a quite heavy task to dig out the hole in the first place, is actually not that much hassle. If it keeps my trees upright through winds and snow then I'll be very satisfied indeed.

Getting well rotted down manure

Next I was off with the wheelbarrow and shovel to the dung pile that I had been to the day before. I grabbed my camera this time and, after putting Rambo in his enclosure (I was not going to risk a repeat of the previous day) I went down and filled the wheelbarrow up with really well rotted composted sheep and cow manure. Brilliant! If you look closely at the picture above towards the bottom right there is a film slide; evidence if nothing else that some of the hay in here was originally stored in the school haha.

Manure and compost around the tree

I returned to my land via the front gate and started filling in the hole with big rocks and the spoil dug out by the digger man. This was most of the effort and I have a small sore patch on the palm of my hand from the shoveling. There were some really large rocks from this hole which I put to one side, and one or two which I threw in at the bottom. It didn't take that long, but I was pretty much out of breath, by the time it got to mixing the compost and soil and then planting the actual tree. I emptied the whole barrow into the hole then scooped a depression and deposited the roots carefully in, doing my best to retain the soil which was around them. I then pushed the compost up and around the roots and gently pressed it in, so the tree was stable. I then went back to shoveling and flattened the spoil pile completely while filling the hole in which was the aim.

Aluminium holding the tree to the post

The next task was to secure the tree to the pole and I did this with some of the metal I had recovered from the fence the other week; I was thoughtful enough to bring a pair of pliers with me this time which made this a much easier task than to do it by hand. It isn't tight but it should be enough to prevent the tree from being blown over.

Job done

Finally I did the same as for the other tree, arranging some found stones in a rough semi circle to retain a bit of water for it, and then getting a full watering can and watering both this tree and the other one in well. The trees which I have planted first are the two which were the least healthy when I bought them, to give them the longest chance in the ground during this (at least for this process) luckily cooler and wetter period of time. I will need to be watering them well during this summer for sure.

Tobacco on the cart

As I had started to fill in the hole the cart had returned and my neighbour was in emptying the last of the hay, and also removing a load of tobacco that had been stored in there. He left as I was finishing up and I have just popped out and the last of the hay has been taken so that is that task completed. It's good to think that my land will be my own. It's also a good thing that I hadn't put the lock on the gate last night or they wouldn't have been able to get in.

Flags, Flags, everwhere

I spent a little bit of time wandering the land as I like to do and was again struck by the beauty of the Flags. I have a clump near the entrance which is the main picture here, with the dead tree above them which I will be taking down soon, and the first one I photographed the other day has now had other blooms join it so I also took that picture. What a lovely thing and I can't wait to split them and have them running as a rear border for my entrance flower beds.

Gorgeous evening sky behind my favourite tree

I then came in to start this blog off and got a bit of the way in before I decided I would go and let Rambo out again to run around, try and pretend to be a guard dog, and have a run before I shut him in for the night As I walked over the sky captured my attention and I was super glad that I had brought my camera. In a week or so I'll have a couple of rope chairs hanging from my favourite tree and will be able to appreciate this view while sipping a beer sat in the warmth; if the weather improves like it says it will. I can't wait.

He was running before he had even stood up

I attempted to sneak up on Rambo to get a picture of him laying down (this is rare to see) but he leapt up and almost slid out of the building as I took the picture; bless him he does love to see me, even if I've told him off or whatever he is still so happy when I come to see him. I then played with him for a bit and there follows a series of pictures taken during this time.

Very excited to be out with me

Here's my toy, dad, lets PLAY!

Daring me to take the bottle

What a gorgeous dog!

Focused on the bottle

Looking through the front door

The last picture is what I have to harden my heart to when I leave him outside to do his guarding thing. I have just been out again to play with him and he was somewhere off and came bounding round and into sight as soon as he heard the front door open. He has so much energy and I need to play with him more, thought it's tough as I don't have as much as him. He does seem to be settling in very well if only he would stop acting up and be more obedient again. We'll get there I'm sure.

So now I'm going to put the pictures in place and publish this and ignore all people calling at my door. Rambo is still out, I'll put him away when I go, so I don't expect any. T back at it tomorrow I hope and a few more bits and pieces done, and me hopefully getting some more paid work handed over because I was quite light last week and had to make a lot up myself.