The Last Tree goes in (and other wins)

Today is the last full day which I have with The Electrician as tomorrow he is off up to Sofia for a few days before flying home. He obviously can't take staying with me another second and the dubious pleasures of a hotel up in the capital are hugely appealing. I'm only joking of course I think he has loved being here and I know I've really enjoyed his company for the last 12 days or so.

A misty view of Rambo

The morning started off super lazily as I didn't wake up (apart from about 3 in the morning when I needed a wee and went outside to find super fog around) and the fog was still there when I did finally pull myself out of bed to go inside and get a brew and hopefully a shower. The sight through my end window in Julian was of Rambo waiting for me as usual next to his gate. He hadn't barked this morning (he probably couldn't see the birds because of the mist) and hadn't howled yet (maybe the fact the sun wasn't showing confused him?) but he was definitely wanting my attention. Bless him.

I didn't attend to him though, I just fell out of Julian and stumbled towards the house, trying the tap by the shower on the way and being even more irritated that there was no water STILL and that meant no shower and then up to Room 13 where The Electrician had the kettle just about boiling and ready to pour my first brew of the day. Perfect timing. This is in no way the reason why I have enjoyed having him here. Honest.

I drank most of my brew before I decided to go and sort Rambo out and check on the trees after the hail yesterday. I took a big bottle of water from Julian, which I had stashed there for possible tea-in-bed scenarios but never used, and filled his water, then went down and did a water of the five trees and checked them all. They have some leaf damage but nothing major which is really good news, though the most recent planting looks a little ropey so I will be giving it a bit more care in the next few days I think. I sorted his food and left him eating it and went upstairs for my own. This was toast and I put some of the honey I had bought when my special guest was here and never opened; I think I should get some from someone who actually keeps the bees and I'm sure Sally does so I'll ask him next time I see him.

Cracked glass in the bedroom

I am largely tied to the house today again for a couple of reasons. First of all I'm still waiting for the kmet to return again to help me with the residency application as he never arrived yesterday and secondly the window fitters managed to break two panes of glass yesterday and they said they would be back either today or Monday with replacements.

Mo doing his mountaineering thing

While I was sat eating my breakfast I did my usual check on Mo and found that he was on a mountaineering jaunt again and he was perilously close to tipping himself over backwards. He is such a determined little creature though and he was doing his best to get up this slope though his shell had caught on the rock closest to the camera and he was going no where other than pushing himself more and more vertical. After I snapped this picture he got even more stuck and so I did get involved and moved him to the next stage up the hill he was climbing. Bless him, he gives me a lot of amusement watching his focus and the fact he never stops ever. Apart from when he falls asleep that is.

I was feeling pretty grumpy this morning, what with the lack of water and various other things, and nothing was looking like snapping me out of it until The Electrician suggested boiling the kettle so I could wash up. Yes, the simple act of washing up snapped me out of the funk and I felt so much better after having achieved that.

So I have still struggled with the paid work, getting stuff to do, and I sent an email to my bosses to say "I'm out of work" and then I headed outside to take advantage of the fact that my energy was now up (post washing up) to crack on with the Hugelkultur. I set myself the task of completing one side today. I didn't define in my head when I started whether that meant finishing piling soil on one side, or clearing all the soil on the mound on one side. It is lovely hard work, with a long handled local shovel, digging this up and throwing it over and also in this there is the fact you need to get big stones to seal the sides from spillage and I was literally dripping with sweat after a few minutes. I gathered stones from around the drainage ditch and also from out the front where T had piled them after putting the bricks in. I managed to get all the one side of the pile of sticks covered in earth before it was time for my morning meeting.

Target achieved

I went inside and sat and waited and nothing happened so after a while I went back outside into the sun and continued with the Hugelkutur, shoveling all the earth from the one side onto it and continuing the stone wall quite a long way back down the other side. I had achieved my target for the day and it wasn't even 11am yet. What a great win.

Tools for planting the tree

After this I kept my momentum going and decided that I would plant the last of the Silver Birches in my entrance promenade; why not continue this achievement I seemed to have going on this Friday. I gathered my tools together (after a brief confusion about where they were but then I remembered the window fitters had used them and they were up in the bedroom still) and wheeled them all down to the site.

Planting in progress

I had quite a lot of fun with the pick axe smashing through the bedrock and clearing it out with the shovel. I have got a really good technique now for doing this (typical that this is the last time I'll need it for a while but yeah) and it wasn't long before I decided I was deep enough and grabbed the iron bar to dig out the pole hole. This was harder work but again satisfying as each strike has a specific result towards your goal. With the pole in and secured I took the barrow down to the manure pile and filled it right up; my plan was to put some more manure around the base of the other recently planted tree to give it a kick of goodness.

The last of the trees

After this it was putting my back into it with a shovel again and filling the hole back in, with The Electrician coming down with Rambo at one point to comment on how much he enjoys watching hard work, but I really did enjoy it and it didn't take me that long before the tree was in, the stones were laid around the outside and I had dumped the manure around the other tree and then watered it all in. The last tree has been planted!

Happy Rambo

Rambo had been given his second chew the other day but this one he had decided to not eat it over night, but to use it as a "carry around toy" and he was dropping it on The Electrician who was trying to rest on the hanging chair. I distracted him for a bit and he waited and looked so lovely I had to snap a picture.

Lovely lunch

After my exertions I was absolutely starving so fish finger butties were required to refill the tank. I made myself two sandwiches with four fingers in each (plus red sauce) and they were absolutely amazing. The Electrician only had one of them and said that was plenty. I must be a fattie.

After this I decided to go out and read in Julian as I was feeling quite tired still and wanted to let my food go down; the weather had closed in a bit with clouds coming over and, when I went out, T was still on his lunch and it was raining a bit. I went to stand in it to get a bit of a shower but it wasn't really raining hard enough to make a difference. I chatted with T for a bit then headed in to read but as soon as my head hit the pillow prior to reading I fell straight asleep and didn't stir again for two hours. I must have been so tired! When I woke up I had a brief telephone call but then the power dropped out and the call went away so I pulled myself inside and found that power was back on again. Strange. Still no water either.

Clouds over the valley

A cup of tea managed to clear my head and I felt so much better after my sleep. It was dead quiet though so I worked out that The Electrician must have taken Rambo for a walk and indeed he had. I decided that I would take a quite turn out on the balcony and grabbed the camera and the filters (thanks again Dad) and went and enjoyed the fresh air and gorgeous views across the valley. The clouds were building again and looking quite impressive.

Swallows

The swallows were swooping and wheeling all around, diving down to the pool by the trailer and then up again and also congregating by Thomas where there was some mud which they could use to take and make their nests with. I took loads of pictures, some of them quite good in flight but this was the one I liked the most. The lower of the birds is just about to take off while the one above has just landed. I love watching them flying around like this and I can foresee many hours spent sat on the balcony trying to get the perfect shot with my zoom lens.

The Electrician and I on the balcony

The Electrician returned not long after this with stories of insane Rambo and rocks (more of which below) and after a few minutes we decided to go back out onto the balcony. We had great fun assisting Rambo in finding his kong which had been dropped into the puddle and he just could not find it; I was throwing stones in so it bounced up and eventually he spotted it and we cheered loudly as he ran off with it. He was very confused as to how we were up so high and did stand up against the walls trying to reach us a few times. T was out by the wall and whistled, then snapped a photograph of us both stood up there.

T with his well earned beer

We have just had a beer (all three of us, including T) and a nice chat about lots of things and organised plans for next week with T and tomorrow with The Electrician. It's been good having him here (and T is always a pleasure to work with) but I am looking forward to a quiet weekend ahead.

So now I'm off for my dinner with my friend and The Electrician (via my friend's shower so I can finally feel clean again) so I'll be back later to complete this and post it.

Sunset

Just back from a lovely evening which has gone on very much later than expected so this is a super quick update with a photograph of the sunset taken as we were leaving my friends house after a much appreciated super fast shower. Dinner was good if not up to usual standards but the company was fun and the conversation flowed from beginning to end. Now I am legging it to get a bit of my standard evening chat before collapsing into bed. Night.