A bit of a rest day

It rained all last night. It was still raining when I woke up to have a wee at 6am and it felt very much like it was set in for the whole day at that point. Today, however, I was determined to enjoy as a Saturday and so decided there was no hurry at all to wake up so back to sleep I went and it wasn't until near enough 9am that I finally got out of bed. The thing that woke me; the sun was shining in through the windows. So much for my weather predictions.

These were SO easy to put up

Upon waking I obviously needed a cup of tea however once it was made I cracked on with a load of chores that I had. First of all it was the washing which I set off last night. I had bought two internal drying racks from Kaulfand in my super fast shopping trip yesterday so I opened them and put them up (which took no time at all as they were really easy to do) and then spread my washing out on them. These have been in and out on the balcony during the day, as there have been a few showers, and I think my clothes are all dry though they're still hanging now. I'll probably leave it over night and fold them tomorrow morning.

Burning plastic running

The next thing I did, before even a sip of tea had passed my lips, was to take all the rubbish from Sassy's room out to the burning drum, along with the few bits and pieces in the kitchen for burning, and set it all on fire including the box for the boiler. This picture was early on in the burn as some of the plastic melted and ran down over the cardboard behind, while still burning. I think I managed to capture it just before it dripped off. I love fire.

Overcast with hints of blue

As I have said the sun had broken through a bit to wake my however the vast majority of the sky was covered in cloud and it has remained such all day with periods of warmth when the sun breaks through (and then it has got very warm very quickly) however the clouds have always quickly returned and the breeze is quite a cool one so it has largely been a combats and t shirt day today, not shorts.

After this burst of energy I returned to Room 13 and drank my brew then ate some toast with the smooth marmalade which is the only bottle I have left (hint hint at the 'rents to have some for me when I come past this winter so I don't run out; maybe ten bottles?) and tried to work out what I was going to do today. I had originally planned to go into town to buy some chickens with Bekir however last night the option of some laying ones from one of his friends was put on the table and this morning I found that my friend had cancelled my meeting with him as Bekir had other plans and was trying to sandwich me in. I was pleased to hear this because I only wanted to meet him if he was there anyway.

This meant that I now could stay around the house all day and didn't have to drive anywhere which was really good news as I do like chilling out when possible. So what would I do. After breakfast I went and played kong with Rambo for a bit and then had another brew and then I decided I should really get the humanure sorted out as I had two buckets full, and all the kitchen waste as well. As per usual it didn't take long to do and, other than Rambo getting a bit involved and wanting to dig around in the pile (I stopped that quick sharp!) it was very simple. Then it was time for a shower however that nasty centipede was still curled up at the shower end; I had hoped it might have crawled out if I left it over night. No matter I just turned the shower on him and he ran up to the other end and spent the whole of my shower scuttling around and looking a bit peeved at being disturbed. I did keep my eye on him pretty much the entire time just to make sure he didn't try to get back up my end. I think I'll have to lift him out at some point soon I can't coexist with that.

It was now time for the main thing for the day which was to take Rambo for a walk. I pretty much ignored him all day yesterday what with working and other things and so I was determined today to give him more attention. He had several kong sessions through the morning but I don't really think that was enough so I put his collar on, hooked him to the lead, and headed out. On the way the two sheep dogs got quite aggressive towards me and him, racing across a field (I'm not sure why they bothered as their sheep were a fair distance off) and getting quite close until I turned and faced them down, then kicked stones at them which backed them off. Not a pleasant experience. The Other Brother had just dropped some people off at my neighbours as well and as I walked on I met Usmivka and he introduced me to the man he was with as his brother. I shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and walked on.

Gorgeous stone built farm just below my village

The aim for my walk was to get up to the lake so Rambo could have a splash about (I briefly debated walking down to the river but as it isn't as nice weather I decided that can wait for another day) however I wanted to go past the lovely pink poppies and snip a seed pod to dry and then grow them on my own land. This took me a little out of the normal route up to the lake but instead of retracing my steps I decided to go along the bottom lane in the village which I've not taken before and up that way. I am glad I did this as it was a lovely little short cut going past the fields for my village including this gorgeous barn and hay ricks.

Rambo taking me for a walk

Rambo was running on happily ahead of me, sniffing everything out and continually turning to check I was still there. He very rarely gets to the full extent of the lead and is such a good dog when you are walking him, quite often just trotting along next to me with his head next to my hand. He made his mark in a few places on the way up the hill as we rejoined the normal route just next to the dead tree and not-working spring however for the most part I was mainly concerned with swinging the lead to disturb the flies which was settling on his back in swarms. They are everywhere and were bothering me too. I think I need to take my fly spray with me next time.

Aphids and their Ant herder

Just before we reached the lake there were huge thistles on either side of the track, as tall as I am, and I stopped to have a look as I really do love their colours. It was only after I paused that I noticed something else; they were absolutely covered with aphids and there were ants on them carrying the aphids and doing their herding thing. Now I've heard of this behaviour but never seen it before so it was really fascinating to watch and I brought Rambo to heel (eventually; he hadn't realised I had stopped bless him) and snapped away trying to capture a close up of the ant at work. This proved impossible as it was moving very fast however you can see it at the bottom right of this picture.

Gorgeous flower, but the plant is being eaten

The aphids are really quite destructive however as you can see from this picture; they are stripping off the entire top layer of "skin" from the plant and where it has gone there are very few aphids left as they move down and keep stripping. The plant looks healthy enough but it can't be that good for it.

YAY WATER!

Anyway by this point we were only just round the corner from the lake so we walked on and then, after an impatient Rambo was made to sit while I took him off his lead, he was off and straight into the water like the water dog he really is. He kept dashing in and out, shaking himself dry, and then going back in again and then he spotted the small tree you can see on the right of this picture. He decided that THIS was his stick and so he set about chewing and biting and tearing and managed to split it in half to a slightly more manageable size.

This is where this video comes in which is a classic. He's completely barking mad and has this thing where he offers you the stick and then as soon as you go to take it he whips it away and stares at you, then brings it back. I think that is the fun for him, not you throwing it for him to fetch but him taunting you with it. Bless. The stick as you see it in this video did not last for long with the extra sticking out bit and he ripped that off shortly after I stopped filming.

Local gypsy that rode past

While we were playing around in the water I heard a horse coming up the track and Rambo chose this moment (as per usual) to be disobedient and he just stood in the water and ignored me calling him so I could hold him in case he decided the horse was worth chasing. Fortunately he did not chase anything and I waved at the gypsy as he trotted past (he did wave back) and then after the cart was gone Rambo was good again and came to me when I called him.

He actually sat still for 30 seconds

A bit after this I was feeling slightly hungry and thirsty and so we headed back down, with Rambo bring his stick with him in fits and starts. He had stripped most of the bark off it by this time, and trimmed it down to the single branch, however he doesn't really have the whole "bringing the stick back home" mentality. We would walk a few metres and then he would drop it and stop and look at me in the way described before and the only way to get him to pick it up again was to try and pick it up myself. Then he would pounce and run off with it for another twenty or thirty paces before repeating. I did manage to get it off him a few times and walk along holding it at which point he walked in very close proximity to me and was looking at it the whole time but even that wore thin for him and he started jumping for it so I gave it back and the whole sorry business repeated itself.

Eventually he walked away from it where he had dropped it and it is still there now as he showed absolutely no signs of wanting to go back for it this time. What a strange dog. We went past his usual watering hole (which he jumped in again to drink from) and then through the village where there were a load of kids who ran off when they saw Rambo (or maybe me) approaching. They said hello though as we walked past them in the central bit and then followed at a distance. The Special One came out to say hello to Rambo as we went past which was nice but then the sheep dogs did their legging it across the field half a mile to come and bark and growl thing which is going to get old fast if they keep doing it. I'll throw a stone to actually hit them if they get much closer than they did today but Rambo, as always, just ignored them.

Because it looks to me like Rambo has been losing a bit of weight recently I have made the decision to give him a half bowl of food around midday so he bulks up a bit so when we got back I did this however he didn't seem too interested at the point of me putting the bowl down. Maybe he's eaten it by now though I haven't checked. For my part I went inside feeling a bit hungry so I made one of the packets of soup up which was a bit rubbish even with fried onions added to it. I started feeling quite tired and achy and, after a bit of a chat and some small persuasion, I went out to Julian to rest, read and watch the Giro again. It isn't the last day today; that is tomorrow, but today was a massive mountain stage which I did want to see.

Contemplating the drop

And going for it

I read a bit, watched it a bit, then fell asleep for half an hour and woke before the exciting bit of the race feeling much better. I stayed in bed watching until the race had finished and then when the WiFi became a bit glitchy and started to freeze the stream I decided that getting up to eat and do this blog was a good idea. when I got in I saw that Jesus was about to try and get down a quite steep part of the terrain so I snapped a quick picture. When I got up to put my pizza in I saw he was definitely on his way down so got another. This is just one more example of how much more agile he is than Mo. He has since climbed back up and gone into his cave that he has made.

And so my pizza has been eaten, two pints of tea have been drunk, and now it has started raining again so I'll not need to do much watering tomorrow from the looks of it however neither will I be able to get back on to my scything for a while. I did want to do more Hugelkultur today but sleeping was a far better idea so maybe I'll get that done tomorrow; it would be nice to have it done and maybe get some more tomato plants and cover the mound with them; I love tomatoes and would love to make use of them in different preserves and sauces this year.

I've also had news that maybe my best mate may come over with his lovely lady later in the year so that is really great news. Not that he reads this as he thinks it is too long and boring. Which it probably is. I have five weeks til my extra special guest returns and in the intervening time the Man of Mystery will be in the area for a few days so that should be good. Anyway, I'm going to splash some Brimstone into a glass and sip it for the rest of the evening; too cold for beer and I'm even considering lighting the petchka.

EDIT

Orange gap in the clouds

This is where the sun went down

As the evening has gone by I have been aware that the sunset has actually been pretty good and these two pictures were taken stood on the balcony at the very end of the sunset. They go from left to right with the first a section of open sky retaining some of the daylight and the other actually looking towards where the sun actually went down.