A day of two halves

After the super productivity of yesterday I suppose it was to be expected that today would be slightly less awesome however I have managed to achieve the main target I set myself so I'm not too unhappy. I did have to shake myself and force myself to keep moving at one point but you'll find out about that in a bit.

First of all, a video, taken last night. Let me get this into some kind of order. I headed to bed after posting the blog last night, relatively early, with the aim of getting up early this morning having got another good sleep. I stood on the balcony for a few minutes when I went through, enjoying the stars and the cool breeze, and watching as a few flashes on the horizon indicated a very distant storm. I got into bed, shut my eyes, and just as I was dozing off was disturbed by a larger flash which lit the room and shone through my eyelids. The storm was getting closer. I got out of bed and went onto the balcony and shot this video - there was some awesome forked lightning and I hope it has come out OK on here.

I had a bird in my bedroom last night!

I headed back to bed after this but the storm got closer and closer so I decided that I should go and shut the windows that I had left open in Room 13 and on the landing. I did this, walked back into the bedroom, and saw a swallow sat on a electrical junction box right above where I sleep. Now I had been laying there smelling something bad and thought maybe Ralf had done a poo at the end of the corridor and even shone the torch up that end to look while I was returning from the window shutting, but it turns out that it was this little fella. There followed what for any observer would probably have been an amusing ten minutes (and for me was tiring) as I first tried to get it to move (clapping near it didn't shift it) and then I chased it around the room with a stick and the spotlight, attempting to get it to fly out the door. I eventually started swinging close to it and hit it with a glancing blow a couple of times and it disappeared through the open balcony door into the now falling rain. Finally I could get to sleep.

Not so. The storm got closer, though the rain finished, and the flashes were intense. They kept waking me up shining through my closed eyelids though there was no thunder at all really - just an electrical storm and no strikes. It was strange that this disturbed me so much but it did and I felt like I was awake most of the night. I'm sure I slept better than I realised but when I woke at 7 I felt rubbish about getting up and starting work early. I did lay in a little bit but the urge for a cup of tea eventually broke my relaxation so I was up and out for the feeding. Today it was good - Ralf (with only a little encouragement) sat over in his corner waiting for his food and then, when I put the bowl down for him, waited for his instruction that he could eat.

A few pointers on my strategy for the boys, as people have been talking to me about it a lot. Yesterday, when Ralf stole food from the wrong bowl, Rambo didn't even react. This is because he knows, until he is given his food, it is not his. This is the strategy I am aiming for with Ralf. I want him to only eat food given to him by me and understand that until it is given, it is not his. Now we are obviously a little behind (the training of Rambo started when he was a very young puppy) but things are moving in the correct direction. Over the past couple of days Ralf has also been let off his lead and he has been pretty obedient, following close behind me etc, so this is another success. We'll see; it is a long path.

I broke the earth up prior to watering

So the feeding was easy and I went to do the watering. After days of really high water pressure there was none at all out of the free water today and I hadn't unlocked the front door to fill the watering cans from the paid for water so I just grabbed the bottle of water left by the men and took it to do the watering round. The melons are looking good again and the Olive trees seem to have bedded in OK. I found a stick to take with me up to the Zinnia bed so I could carry out the thoughts I have been having (and the advice I was given) to break up the pan on top of the soil prior to watering. This I did and it worked pretty well.

Detail of the newest section of roof

Again I was caught as I walked across to the second Magnolia by the sight of the house in the morning sun. I figured you may be interested in this detail of what has been done to this section of the roof. It is a shame the men aren't here this week but I am quite looking forward to a bit of a holiday myself.

A gorgeous meadow flower

Finally for the watering round is a picture of one of the many gorgeous meadow flowers that cover my entire estate. There are loads of this one, and many other varieties, and the ability to walk round every morning and enjoy them is something I relish every day. What a lucky person I am. I headed inside from there through the side door and went to fill the watering can, to do the final bit of the watering round which is the lettuce, and it was then that I found that the water inside was off as well. Not good. I had not noticed before as I had just enough water in the kettle already for my first brew. I had a enough water in the can to do the lettuces fortunately but that was an unpleasant thing to discover.

Ralf with his chew toy

So I did have a few tasks that I had set myself today and the first of these was to dig out and prepare the vegetable beds in the fenced garden. I went out as soon as I had finished the watering round feeling slightly less motivated due to the fact that I couldn't hydrate as easily and also there was no chance of a cooling shower in the breaks which had made such a difference yesterday. No matter, I wanted to achieve this so everything was transported out to the garden, including Ralf pegged on his lead, and I set to. I gave Ralf a bit of wood to play with as he was very playful and he enjoyed himself with it for a while.

Friends for today

My first job of the day was to pull out as many nails as I could from the wood I'd chosen to line the beds with and so I set to with the bulgarian hammer/axe tool thing and a lump of wood to improve the leverage. It didn't take long and I didn't feel too bad with the hammering sounds so early as the neighbour's gods were barking like crazy. Talking of dogs mine were very interested in what was going on and were stood at the gate (I stopped them coming in any further) watching and being friendly with each other.

First border goes in

I had my idea of how I was going to make the borders but I wasn't really sure if it would work. First of all I dug out a trench of the correct width and length then got a barrow load of gravel and stones and filled the bottom (this is to improve drainage so hopefully the wood doesn't rot) then I positioned the wood on top, filled in the gaps, and there it was.

Breakfast was a gift

I didn't take a break at this point but cracked on with the rest of this part of the bed, first of all pulling the loose weeds off the surface and then digging it over to one spit depth and pulling all roots and other living greenery out that I spotted. I left the old hay from when T had cut the grass down mixed in as it will add biomass to the soil. As I was digging I was hailed by the Other Brother who had a plate with a couple of pancakes on it as a gift. Bless them. He was asking what I was doing and once again my language skills were not really up to explaining. Frustrating.

The first section completed

Other than this short interruption I cracked on pretty well and it didn't take all that long (about an hour) to get the targeted bed dug over and bordered as I had planned and looking over it I was pretty happy with how it had turned out. I went inside for a rest and a drink, and started to feel a little sorry for myself as I wasn't able to wash the dirt and sweat off and freshen up, and there was no real indication of when the water would be back.

Bright little, very fast, lizard

I whinged for a bit on twitter and then, seeing some clouds blowing over, I went out again to finish off the bed I had started. As I was moving the beam and getting ready to start digging a lizard jumped out and ran for cover. I was able to get a couple of distant shots but it was determined to hide and disappeared quite quickly.

Done, plus detail

It took about an hour again but I kept at it without a break, digging it over (there were more roots in this section) then bringing two wheelbarrows full of gravel for the edge and having to stuff it in carefully to stop the beam from rocking but this bed is near enough done; though I may extend it again so I haven't put a top cross piece on.

Ralf is hot!

The clouds which had encouraged me to go out had not hung around at all and it was really rather warm out there; here is Ralf posing next to his water demonstrating just how warm he was. I need to get the clippers to trim his fur for both this heat reason, and he is getting terribly matted with burs and grass seeds in his fur. He was really happy being out with me and was very playful today, even chewing up the handle of the rubber mallet which was not part of the plan. I gave him the kong which distracted him.

Now this is the life

And so I went upstairs where someone was finally awake and had a small amount of lunch (home grown tomatoes with a small amount of cheese, no mayo this time) and then decided that enough was enough and I would make the most of the gorgeous weather and peace and quite to chill with a book for a while, outside on the swinging chair. I moved it down near the tortoise house (saying hello to Shiva while I was down there, though no sign of Jesus today) and poured myself a beer in a fit of decadence unheard of from me. I settled down, Ralf pegged on his lead nearby, and started reading.

What a stunning aspect

I then stopped, overwhelmed by the peace and beauty of the spot. It hit me again, and really hard this time, just how amazing it is to be here and how lucky I am. The view along the front lawn (hah) under the big oak tree, is close to one of my favourites on the entire plot of land and that is saying something. I don't mean to rub it in but this is my house and it is beautiful. Wow.

Caught them both looking at me

Ralf was relaxing in various locations while I was reading, and Rambo was in and out of the porch regularly to check out what was going on outside. They were getting on well again and sniffing around each other a bit, then going back to sleep. It was very peaceful indeed. I had a couple of people walk past saying hello down the lane and this was also very nice to be greeted and in a friendly way.

Can you spot the donkey?

My peace was shattered by the arrival, trotting down the lane, of the ancient donkey. For some reason Rambo has always hated this creature and he went crazy, dashing down and barking and dancing around. The donkey jumped, then went back to munching on the tasty portion of grass it had found by the front gate. I told Rambo off, as I don't like Rambo getting excited by creatures that are not on my property, and then when he kept at it I had to get off my chair to drag him away. He calmed down after this and eventually the donkey meandered back up the lane and out of temptation.

Grow, little vine, make me some grapes

After nearly two hours or relaxing, drinking my beer, reading my book and marveling at the peace and beauty I could hear some thunder rumbling in the distance and as the light dwindled (though the heat did not) I figured I should pull the chair inside incase the incoming storm hit and had heavy rain. I had been putting off the final small task of the day and decided, again in case of rain, to do it now. This is the idea I hinted at yesterday. I have now planted out the vines into the newly dug over vegetable bed in the fenced garden. The plan is to allow it to grow up the fence this year and then next year put the metal frame for it to grow over towards the wall of the house for the grapevine arbor that I am desiring. It was getting quite dim and threatening as I did this, and Ralf was getting a little nervous as I carried stuff back inside but left him still pegged out however it didn't take long and then we were safely inside and sheltered.

Super threatening, but no rain here

And so my day of two halves split - the morning had been lovely with sun and the afternoon has been overcast with the threat of storms. The one which built so dramatically to force me inside didn't actually arrive over my head as it happens, and none of the ones following did either, but with the cricket on streaming TV I was not sorry to stay in anyway.

A glimmer of evening sun

Dinner was my favourite pork pasta which I added three chilis to to make it super hot and it was just that - gorgeous. I had two bowls of it, though the second was gluttony, and drank a third pint of the day to wash it down - an unheard of quantity for me to imbibe. Since eating I have been writing this, but slowly as the cricket has taken a fair amount of my attention, and also I popped up to the roof to grab another photograph of the sun going down, but with the overcast I won't get a better sunset this evening sadly.

Super chilled out Ralf

Ralf has been obedient again this evening, always coming when I call and then, when I took him out the side door for a wee he went out, did his business, and then came straight back inside. The lead thing really does seem to be working. It is still a bit of a nervous time letting him off it outside as he does have a lot of energy but I'm managing to get him to burn it off in a controlled way. Here he is, chilling on the steps up to the roof, while I took one of the cloud shots.

The water has been on and off during the day, enough for me to water Sassy and Ralf and also fill the kettle and make the pasta (and wash up yay) but the last time I went to it the pressure was down again so I don't think I'll be getting a shower tonight. This is not a good thing. Right, I'm going to get to enjoying my evening and I'll be back tomorrow.