How can it be friday again already

Wow well today has been a really strange day which has ended in such an unusual way that I am unsure exactly how to write about it. Anyway, I'll get there over the blog though so you'll have to wait to find out (or just scroll down and miss out on all the good stuff which happened this morning).

Misty start, but the boys were up and vocal

So I headed to bed last night with stars out and woke to a super misty morning. Both the boys were stood at the gate waiting for me when I got up and Ralf started barking at me when I didn't turn to go see them. I had a new plan for the feeding this morning which was to take both their food at once and watch them to make sure nothing bad happened. First of all I needed a wee and to make my morning cuppa. While the kettle was boiling I went out onto the balcony to get a shot of the mist and the boys and also snapped some spiderwebs that were bejewelled on the chimney stack. They boys did notice me but they had to wait, of course.

Very hungry boys

I had removed Ralf's bowl the day before though I forgot I had done this however I still had to go to get Rambo's so I could fill both. I went out with most of a watering can full (to do their water bowl) and my cuppa, left the cup while I went back with the bowls and then returned with them full and both the boys bouncing around trying to get to their breakfast earlier. I put Ralf's bowl down first (as Rambo had gone for a piss so wasn't in) and then put his down and they were largely very good; Ralf finished his very quickly then went sniffing around Rambo's bowl but he was quickly discouraged when Rambo growled at him very loudly. Rambo pushes the bowl as he is eating it so Ralf had the last laugh by waiting a bit then sneaking in and scoffing the spillage. Anyway, this worked much better though I can see it being harder work if both were in when the bowls were being put down.

Sassy checking out the landing spot

I had fed Sassy while my kettle was boiling and she had been really friendly this morning, hopping around my feet while I put her food bowl, water bowl, and hay in for her to eat. A bit later I looked in on her and she was sat on the top level having eaten and drunk and was looking around very keenly. I love watching her when she's like this and something suggested that she may be about to do something.

And she went for it; a flying rabbit!

I was not wrong. After sniffing and stretching her neck out she suddenly jumped. Fortunately I had the camera ready and had put it onto the fast shooting mode so I managed to capture her just as she went. What a cool thing! She landed, looked over at me, shook herself, and hopped off. She's so athletic.

T and the boys

I had decided to not do my watering until after T had arrived, so as to help out should the boys need more attention and this morning, after being so early yesterday, he was quite late - not getting in til 9.30 or so. He had had to come the longer way around as the cheren put was blocked with big piles of stones. The boys were both super excited to see him and I went onto the balcony to say hi and snap some pictures of the weather.

Mist clinging in the valley, but gorgeous blue sky above

In the time I had been sat in chattering online and waiting for T the weather had changed completely and there was now stunning blue skies and very few clouds around the horizon. The forecast for today was for thunderstorms at 6am, 9am, 11am and 2pm and another at 9pm. From this evidence the fact the first two had not happened would probably indicate that the next wouldn't either. My fingers were firmly crossed for this outcome.

The two market bought roses

With T onsite and cracking on as usual I went to do my morning rounds which involved walking up to the top (near where he was working) and then down round the silver birches which are all looking really healthy and established now. I then went to the table tennis table and watered all of the plants there with the watering can as the free water was now off and the hose was therefore out of action. The two roses which I bought from the market the last time my special guest was here have had mixed fortunes. One of them now has leaves on it but the other is reluctant to put any growth out at all.

Lovely tomatoes growing well

I gave the tomatoes a good soaking; I think I should listen to the Little Lady and transfer them over to the hugelkultur but I am a bit nervous about transplanting them now they are bearing fruit. Maybe it is a bit late for that now. Anyway, I have some harvest to expect from them and that is really good.

And the other plants also doing well

The flowers are also looking lovely and this persuaded me what my task for today should be. Finally the pepper is growing well but has not got any flowers yet which I would have expected at about the same time as the tomatoes; hopefully it will produce some soon; maybe if I do move the tomatoes I'll put this into the hugelkultur as well.

Digging out the rest of the garden

I had some little bits of work to do and a telephone conference as well about future work (which looks promising) but pretty soon I decided to crack on with the task I had set myself. I would carry on with digging out the flower bed, separate the irises that would be dug out during this, and then plant them around the borders. I would also plant out the flowers that have been sat on the side for so long, including those inside that have now died down and are ready for planting out. I set to with the spade and quickly got to the first clump of irises which I dug out and piled on one side, then carried on and after a short time I had finished the whole thing. I was heckled humourously by the cousin from the farm about working too hard but in reality it was not too bad. As with the scything I can notice the increase in strength and fitness my three months here has already caused; I would have struggled to complete half this length before, but now I did it all and was not tired at the end.

Loads of Irises on the side for replanting

I wasn't sure quite how many Irises I would end up with after clearing the clump that were on the flower bed already and had made a note of where there were loads more around the grounds. It turned out that I was not really in need of getting more as there were loads and I had more than enough to finish the job.

Weeding the other side

Before I did any planting I had to weed the bed on the other side which, in the last couple of weeks, had sprouted greenery as you would expect with all the rain and sunshine we have had. I got my little trowel, my kneeling thing, and set to going down one side and finding that I could reach the middle quite easily and then finishing from the other side. I pulled three buckets full of weeds out and it took about half an hour but the really good thing is the extent of the beds as they are now is not too large for easy weeding. I had been considering shrinking them so this was good to confirm. I was surrounded for the entire time by clouds of the mosquitoes which must have munched me for the bites that are currently itching my legs so I don't know whether I will wake tomorrow with loads more.

Trotting across to see me

On their way down the steps

While I was digging away I had regular visits from both the boys though they never stayed long. They were getting along ok though Ralf is still growling, snarling and snapping a bit at Rambo almost as if to get his attention and mostly not in a particularly nasty way; it makes me think he ran with a pack and that was how he had to be with them to survive; I hope he can get past this.

Ralf having a sunbathe

One of the times I popped my head up to check on them Ralf was laying fully stretched out on his back in the sun. He was looking at me upside down over his back when I first saw him but shifted a bit as I got the camera. This is the kind of thing that I want to see the little fella doing; being comfortable, relaxed, and feeling safe.

My flower beds, starting to take shape

I arranged all the Irises around the edges of the flower beds to make sure that I indeed did have enough and this was proven and more. I was able to do every bit that I was planning, as well as the far ends of the beds, and my hope is they will take and then next year this will look outstanding. I pulled the Fuschias and Marigolds from the table tennis table and set them roughly where I wanted them to go and then brought the Hyacinths down from Room 13 as well. I then set to with the potting shovel and very quickly bedded them in where I wanted them to go. It was then time to tidy up, water, and go in as it was lunch time.

I popped over to see T after finishing this as he was still hard at work and showed him what I had done and talked about what he was working on and what, if he wanted to, he could help me with next and then reminded him it was about one and so time for lunch and then I was upstairs to eat. I had tuna, mayo and sweetcorn butties as I am trying to use up the sweetcorn which doesn't seem to last very long out of those bottles.

More wall at the base of the fence

After a while I thought I'd go and snap a picture of what T had achieved this morning; he was down the side and using the bricks to build up a wall, very similar to that which he had done so well along the first stretch. I couldn't see T anywhere however didn't think anything of it; I thought he had maybe not stopped when I said it was lunch and taken a late one as he sometimes does when he is in the middle of a task. No matter, the wall looked good so I went inside feeling happy. I noticed that my cherries are looking like they are very close to collection time too; that is something I don't want to miss out on!

The cherries are ripening

A little later, after I'd given time for lunch, I decided to pop out and see him, make sure he was OK (my distraction doing the gardening meant I'd not seen him that much today) and just see how he was doing. Once again I couldn't find him and this time I started worrying a bit. I walked around looking for him but couldn't see any sign so I went inside and checked all the rooms thinking maybe he had fallen asleep but still no sign. I sat down trying to stay calm but all I could think was maybe a snake had bitten him and he was laying somewhere in the deep grass I've not yet cut so I went out again and walked the whole perimeter but nothing. I went through the house again, onto the balcony and called his name and shouted for about ten minutes - into the green building and through all the rooms, inside the boys' enclosure, into each of the long drop rooms, even up into the attic though the door was padlocked from the outside. I even checked in Julian in case he had just fancied a doze but nothing. I noticed that his stuff was missing from where he normally leaves it in the house and that was when I started looking for Lucy's keys (she was still parked up) but they weren't in Julian, on the side or in Room 13 and it was only when I thought to look in the ignition in Lucy herself that I found them.

Now my mind changed from fear that he had injured himself on my land to concern and confusion as to why he had walked out, as it seemed like he had. I contacted his mother through my friend and after a while she arrived but hadn't found him. We had a chat which provided some ideas as to why he may have decided to walk out but that didn't calm my mind; I was still really worried for him. I was worrying as well that something I may have inadvertently said might have upset him or caused him to feel like he couldn't stay around. All his working equipment was tidily stacked next to the gravel pile though but he had left without some of his own tools.

Jesus with his lunch

After a while I calmed myself as I had done everything I could, had contacted his loved ones and they knew, and what more would I achieve by panicking and not getting on with the rest of the day. The shame was that by this time it was too late for me to get down to town to try the window people again and I was loathe to leave anyway incase he had just gone for a walk and would turn back up. I went to Room 13, continued watching the cricket, chatted online (getting in a few old school arguments on twitter) and was pleased to see Jesus up and about eating and looking chirpy; I still miss Mo but I'm glad Jesus is OK. I am looking forward to making his little house outside so he can go back to being a wild tortoise soon.

I also realised that I had not been out for a bit to see Ralf and Rambo so I went downstairs to play with them. Ralf has a funny habit of hearing you coming and standing so close to the door his nose is touching it. I crept downstairs, with my camera ready, and wouldn't you know there he was and he did his bouncing around excited to see me thing as well.

Super clouds!

The weather today has totally not been like the forecast and the evening was no different, with gorgeous cloud porn skies and a breeze that picked up, then dropped off again, as one of the forecast storms probably passed by a fair way off. At one point I went onto the balcony as the sky looked amazing out of the window in Room 13 and I was not wrong. It was pretty looking that way but the clouds were stunning looking back over the land and this, to me, is pure cloud heaven. How pretty is that!

A bit after this I went again to play with the boys but this time it didn't go as well, with Ralf running inside (standard and not something I am getting at him about) and then running off into a store room (again standard) however, when I went to pick him up to take him outside, which is something I have done multiple times in this situation before, he went super defensive, growled, snapped, bared his teeth and made it very hard for me to pick him up. This is tough for me to talk about because I love animals, however I have been feeling for a little bit that telling him off (as you heard me do on the video) is counter productive as I think Ralf was abused and definitely ran with a pack of dogs and what I don't want to do is make him scared of me. His behaviour at this time really struck me as so much fear and expectation of violence is not good and makes gentle discipline hard. Anyway, I did pick him up once I got past his claws and snapping jaws and as soon as I was holding him he calmed down and snuggled to me. I decided to put him in the enclosure for now though, on reflection, I wish I had just taken him outside and played with him anyway.

We have done lots of research on rescue dogs and how to work with them and I wonder if I wasn't going a little down the wrong track with telling him off when he is doing something I don't want him to do but it is such a tough thing. I will be taking him for a walk before breakfast tomorrow, on his own, to try and get some trust time with him and hopefully this routine can work for him. Any help/advice/links are really gratefully received by the way.

Dinner was the rest of the chips I cut last night, which were great having been kept fresh in cold water in the fridge (thanks for the tip, you know who you are) and a pizza as I hadn't got anything out properly to eat. I started off liking the pizzas a lot but now I think they taste of additives and I am probably not going to bother buying any more. I can't wait to have my own pizza oven built which, fingers crossed, may happen next year.

The sunset from this evening

While I was sitting typing this up I suddenly realised that, for the first time for days, there was a sunset of note happening out the back. I got the camera and, without the filter, got this lovely shot as the sun just emerged below a belt of clouds on the horizon. It has been a while since I have been able to get one of these so I make no apology for putting it here.

And later, after the sun had gone

As I got close to the end of this blog I heard fireworks and this, tied with some beeping horns that I had heard before when I went out to check the name of some of my plants, convinced me that someone somewhere had gotten married. What a great thing. I tried to get some pictures but the celebration was too far away without a zoom lens and tripod and I knew it would only be a short lived thing anyway. Turning round I saw that the sun set was really nearly over so I leant against the wall and steadied myself manually to take this picture. I am quite proud of how little shake there is, with the length of the exposure (0.8 seconds, if you care).

A moment to reflect, after those lovely pictures of the gorgeous weather and fine evening I have experienced, on the loss of life up in the north east corner of the country. There were major storms and flash floods which resulted in several deaths and it puts into perspective my frustration at having four or five thunderstorms going past in a day.

And so to end the blog I have heard that T is fine, he got home safe. I hope I see him on Monday, and hear from him over the weekend. I'm just glad he is not hurt.

Here's to a rather less stressful day tomorrow, England winning the rugby, continuing to do well in the cricket, and me training Ralf and doing a chunk of scything as well.