Perfect end to a productive day

Well here we are again; late to start the blog but this time not because of any one else but purely our own enjoyment of sitting on the balcony after a  BBQ and soaking up the sun until it disappeared behind a tree and put us in shadow. So I'm typing away and once again miss out on the watering round and seeing the birds before bedtime; I need to get more disciplined with this (now I remember typing THAT a lot last year as well).

Sun sets behind the clouds

Before we get to today I've got a sunset picture from last night; after the storm it cleared up fast and we were left with a beautiful evening which resolved to a lovely sunset. The clouds were still clinging a bit to the mountains in the evening but this just makes the display more impressive as the sun gets down on the horizon. I cannot get over just how gorgeous this place is; every day it strikes me anew and that is the best way for things to be.

Louise nose to nose with Sassy

Sassy looking through the bars

Our evening routine stayed the same with time spent together then me going to bed a little earlier than A and then sleeping really well. I think A may have been disturbed by Louise for a wee at one point in the night but I couldn't swear to it but when I woke up she had obviously felt a little chilly and again pulled the duvet on, while I was still just under a sheet. I decided she was wise and joined her. It was nice to have a little lay in and it was just before 8 when we got up. A went through first and was treated to the sight of the black rocket Sassy, who had managed to escape her room, streaking up the stairs and through the door to her room. We think she shook the barrier until the top fell down, then jumped on and out. She's such an escape artist. She did give Thelma a shock as she exploded past her apparently; that one will need to get some more nerves for when the rats start running. I had heard the commotion and it encouraged me to stop being lazy and get up. While we had a brew Louise was making more friends with Sassy but when we encouraged Thelma to get close she just growled and barked.

Slowly lifting clouds

We pottered around a bit early, taking in the caffeine required to kickstart the thinking process. It was a really overcast day; not just misty like sometimes but thick overcast of cloud. This persisted for a while but we didn't take as much advantage of it as we could have done in getting things done before it burned off and the heat hit.

Ginger/Baker and Beaker and Balls outside

Eventually it struck us we should be doing some of the heavier outside tasks on our to-do list before it did heat up so we carried the scaff outside and swept it a bit clean of cement and then went to do the main job which was to clean out the chickens and ducks. First of all before we could do anything we had to get them out of the house and A did this very cleverly with the brush. There was some clucking and peeping and rushing but there was no chasing and scaring which is a good lesson to have learned. It only took a minute or so and all six of them were outside and happily pecking away at the ground.

Desperately in need of a sweep

The room was a mess; bird shit everywhere and also old food and hay and other mess around. It needed a reorganisation also. A was the first to wield the brush and she did most of it before I came back from getting a wheelbarrow and hay fork and took over to finish it off and give her some fresh air.

Nice and clean now

Most of the bird seed and that we swept just out onto the enclosure but the worst of it, and the old hay, I took and put on the humanure. We cleaned out the coop, refreshed the water and food, moved it around a bit so the coop is in a better place and put everything back in. It's a much nicer space now and doesn't stink quite as much and hopefully they will settle into it nicely with the coop and the window frames for roosting, and a selection of hay piles for sitting in as well. Lucky birds.

The workmen had arrived while we were doing this and got stuck into their work which was good and so, after a bite to eat for breakfast, we headed out to town for our shopping trip. The most important thing we had to do was go back to the tile shop and increase our order from 10 tiles to 80 after the counting error I made the day before. This was sorted out with help from a security guard with good english, and the same chap who helped us the day before. Success. We then went past Kaufland for a few things and finally into town to the bank (and more offroad parking) but I had forgotten my company stamp so the transfer will have to wait for me to get back there. We returned via Lidl and picked up a few other bits and pieces before heading home.

Just about able to reach

Drilling the screw holes

Job done

I was not really feeling in the mood to do anything when we got back and put the kettle on ready to chill out however A persuaded me that we should also finish another job and put the bed together. Before we started I opened another window then brought Henry in to get rid of the huge spidersweb I had disturbed and when A joined me she went on a spree of taking out the old webs all around the wall, or at least those she can reach. I then commenced drilling the guide holes for the frame, stuck the screws in, and carried the momentum through to putting the whole bed together.

The water had come on quite strong today suddenly; strong enough that I got hot water to wash up with, and we ran the washing machine. I also made use of the hot water to get into Julian and give the kitchen area a good clean. I still need to do the floors and the bathroom but it is a start. It had got quite hot by now and so we went into the cool on the landing and spent ages looking for bedding for the guest suite. We have two single beds in the "red" room and a double bed in the "green" room and it took ages to find bedding that we liked that was of the correct size and also good enough quality. I was watching the Tour at the same time and threw my toys out the pram getting bored of the search a few times.

The unexpected afternoon visitor

At one point in the afternoon we heard Rambo barking and barking and A went down to tell him to shut up. She called me down and said "look what he's found" and there was a huge tortoise tucked up by the wall obviously fed up of having a huge dog barking in its face. I picked it up and and carried it, much to its disapproval as it tried to scrape my fingers from its shell with quite sharp claws, and set it down near the trees at the other end of the land.

Hibiscus blooming once again

I noticed as we were stood on the porch yesterday that the Hibiscus (plant identified after a very long search through old blog posts; I'm so forgetful) has finally bloomed. It has SO many buds on it and has been teasing us for ages so it is lovely to finally have a flower.

Laying a new slab for the kitchen floor

The men had been working away all day under their own steam, much happier now there was plenty of water and they didn't have to fight for it; so happy that there was almost a river of water coming down the hall from where they were working and flowing out the front door. Hopefully they are close to finishing as I need to decide on the next task for them; probably getting the driveway and garage sorted. The quote for the basketball court came in too much for me to justify, sadly. We are spending money like water at the moment as well.

Sleeping in their bed

The rest of the afternoon followed the usual pattern of watching the cycling then feeling myself nod and so dozing off on the chair with the girls. A carried on looking for bedding as her stamina is much better than mine. When I woke up, just before the end of the stage in the cycling she had found some options which I agreed with immediately and so these are ordered and my parents are going to be bring their own bedding with them.

Gusting winds while lighting the BBQ

As soon as the cycling finished I headed out onto the balcony to light the BBQ while A fed the dogs. This evening she took Thelma and Louise down with her and fed all three of them together including giving the girls the same food as Rambo. He ate faster and they loved their meal as well so this was a success. I struggled a bit to light the BBQ as it was quite breezy but got it going eventually by crumbling the firelighters all over the coals.

Gorgeous late afternoon

BBQ well on its way

It really was a lovely afternoon / early evening and I brought the cheap recliner out to settle on, watch the BBQ and enjoy the heat. As soon as the BBQ had a little heat in it I put our pork strips on to get it going by dripping fat on the coals. This worked and it was cooking really well very quickly; so well I had to put the grill up a bit to stop it burning.

Hard life, this

I headed down to the porch to give A a break from the dogs so she could get the hard boiled eggs going and other things and when they had finished their food and had a run I headed back to the roof and settled back on the recliner. The girls were loving it out here and after a bit Louise jumped onto my lap and lay down, like she used to in the garden in England. It was then that something very interesting happened. She looked at Thelma, who was sunbathing just next to me, and started cocking her head, then mouthing towards her. It was like being back up here, where she had fought Thelma from so many times, brought memories back and pretty soon she was getting into a full blown fight. This was really good to see as the last 24 hours or so Louise had pulled away from this a little bit.

Louise entering the fray in the best way

Attempting the bear hug

Look at the grip Thelma has here

Here it goes again

The pictures above are our favourites from LOADS that I shot as they fought each other across the balcony. With Youtube seemingly rejecting my uploads now (that video is STILL not here) I didn't even bother trying to film it. They had a ball of a time. I had less fun when the recliner collapsed backwards when I moved to watch them and I fell out and bashed my elbow but never mind. Louise is back.

Showdown

There were a few breaks in the fighting as one or other of them got their breath back. This particular tableaux really did amuse me those as they stared at each other across the balcony. Shortly after I took this picture it all kicked off again.

Salad and meat

A arrived after this with the salad and we settled ourselves down to eat. It was really really tasty; not too much to eat but all of it cooked perfectly. The hard boiled eggs were lovely as well and we were also able to let the girls have a good chew on the bones from the pork. They loved them and sat chewing and cracking them right until we had to go inside when the sun disappeared, as I explained at the beginning of this post.

That did not take me long

Desert was a corn on the cob from A's plants that the Little Lady had picked the day before. We were not too confident about how well these would turn out as they looked a little premature but wow they were the tastiest corn I have ever tasted, and A agreed when I said this. Just beautiful. Now I am hoping that they are good until the parents get here in three weeks time so we can treat them to it as well.

The rest of the evening has been taken up with A doing the watering and me typing. I didn't take any pictures of the sunset this evening as it was just a normal amazing awesome display rather than being special so you don't have to worry about that. It's now quite late so I'm going to wrap this up so I can chill with A for a bit before bed. Oh, and the girls have carried on their playing all evening with Louise taking a lead a lot of the time; exhausting to watch but so good to see.