A day of two halves

Today I am starting writing this much earlier as we may watch a film this evening (after the total failure to do so last night). It's been a brilliant day so far, very much one of two halves, and I'll tell you all about it now.

Pile of stones and soil to move

The music I mentioned last night wasn't coming from the farm but was from a wedding in town; it didn't go on too late anyway and wasn't all the audible in the bedroom as the wind got up quite high over night. We both slept well and when A had taken the girls out, and let the birds out, she came back to bed and we had a lovely lie in; just what Sundays are for. After a brew and some breakfast (bacon and egg butties; nom) we headed outside to do our tasks. We had one each. Mine was to shift all the stone and rubble that Gyuner had dug out for the pond.

Puppies excited by the chainsaw

A's task was to get the chainsaw going and chop as much of the paid for wood as she could in the time it took me to shift all the stone and soil. It was a lovely morning, a few clouds about but they just meant it didn't get too hot too soon. Thelma, Louise and Rambo were all hovering around as well, enjoying the fact that we were out and about together. I had to tell Rambo off at one point as he went a bit mad at Beaker and Balls but other than that they were very good indeed.

Brief rest as the chainsaw ran out of fuel

I just kept plugging away at my task, first of all moving three or four wheelbarrows full of stones out of the way and then swinging my shovel and filling up 9 more with soil by the time A came to her first stop as the fuel ran out in the chainsaw. It is a small machine and its fuel tank is also quite small so it needs refilling often but that isn't a big issue. After a brief rest, and getting us a drink, she got back to her cutting and I had carried on anyway in the meantime.

Fifteen trips and the soil is shifted

Caught playing in the soil pile

After fifteen trips with the wheelbarrow I had finally shifted all the soil out of the chicken enclosure into a big heap just on the other side of the fence. I've kept it as we have plans for planting a load of fruit trees next year and we can always use soil anyway as we are lacking in quite a lot of places. I was dripping with sweat by the time I finished as the temperature had got up with the clouds clearing. Thelma was having a ball as well as soon as I put a load onto the soil pile she climbed to the top and looked around.

Whole lot of chopping gone on

Just as I emptied the final barrow A came over saying she had finished up as well for the time being. She had cut loads of logs while I was working and is getting really quite good at this chainsaw lark. In that hour and a half or so she has probably cut just under a cubic so at that rate it'll only take another 11 hours of continual cutting to finish the job.

The best cuddles

We headed inside for a rest after this. Both the puppies jumped onto my lap and fell fast asleep in the sun and this (and only this) meant we stayed inside for half an hour or so. I love the cuddles from the puppies; it reminds me of when they were tiny and would come and fall asleep on me all the time. They do it less now, not least because they are too big and can't both fit on me easily now. This time Louise was the one who huffed, jumped off, glared at me, and curled up on the floor.

One egg a day from this lot at the moment

There was no way we were stopping for good now though so after a quick clear out of Room 13 (I had sulked and demanded we clean the floor as it was getting horrible in here) we both headed back out to do more tasks. A was again chopping wood while I was into the chicken house to wire in the movement sensing light by the door. The girls were relatively OK with me being in there, having freaked out slightly a couple of times while I was doing the shoveling, and just pecked away or sat and watched me as I worked.

Simple wiring done

It took a little longer than I planned but not much so for me to wire everything in. Eventually I will have a proper lighting circuit in here to allow us to switch on lights inside and outside to help in winter when it gets dark early so they can still go out and maybe even not stop laying. It'll also help us when we have to clean and feed them in the dark. For now, though, it is just this one movement sensing light for when we go out to lock them away at night. While I was inside I heard A shouting at Thelma; she had jumped up on the chopping block while the chainsaw was cutting a log! This is not good and we may need to think of a way of preventing them from running around our feet while we're working on such a dangerous thing.

Thelma on her way up the stairs

With the outside wiring done I headed in and repurposed the cable that was for Julian's hookup. I took the hookup connector off and then pulled the wire through into the kitchen and finally did a temporary diversion to get it into the utility room where the black cable for the chicken house comes in. We do have the correct thick cable to bring power here but it was quicker for me to do this while it is just for the chicken house. Eventually we'll have a big consumer unit in here as well. With this done it was lunch time and so we made our way upstairs. While I had been working on the inside electrics Louise had been whining a bit but I had just told her to be quiet. A spotted, however, that Thelma was climbing the spiral staircase and this is what Louise had been getting excited by. Louise still won't even think about doing them but today Thelma climbed all the way up, to much applause.

Snoozing on their new beds

Lunch was an "exploded sandwich" by which I mean we had bread and cheese and meat and slices of tomato all on a plate and we just made up each bite into a new combination as we went. It was lovely. The puppies were very interested but after a few times of "no, in your beds!" they finally settled down and curled up to sleep and wait in the hope they got something afterwards. Cute as they were, they didn't.

Cleaning the lovely black and red tiles of Room 13

With dinner out the way we got on with cleaning Room 13. I got the dustpan and brush while A got the broom and we swept it out then I ran the hoover round to get the last bits before A got the mop and bucket and scrubbed up all the dirt. I also hoovered the bathroom floor and after doing Room 13 that got mopped as well. It's so hard to keep rooms clean in here, particularly with all the building work going on with workmen walking dirt in every day all week. As we finish each room, though, the dust does reduce and it becomes easier and easier to clean.

Temporary stack of what she cut this morning

And covered in case of rain (none forecast for a week or so though)

While we left the floors to dry (not that that would take very long) we headed outside to finish up the chopping. Once again I stacked while A filled the wheelbarrows and we shifted all the wood she had chopped this morning onto a pallet next to the patio door. She did a cracking job, I think you'll agree. This is all the good paid for wood and so we have covered it up with polythene though hopefully soon the wood store will be done and I can move it all under cover there. After this we put the tarpaulin back over the stack of uncut wood but not before I had a go at splitting logs. I did quite well as it happens but I still think we'll want the machine if not this year then next.

And so I get to the end of my pictures and typing. I'm not going to publish yet as it is not far off dinner time and a bit early to sign off. I'll be back to wrap up before we settle to our film. Talking of which I need to choose one.

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I'm back again, listening to home grown potatoes bubble on the stove while A is out feeding Rambo. I've plenty more to add before publishing so I'll crack straight on.

Potatoes and Onions are harvested

While I was finishing up typing the blog A was outside harvesting onions and potatoes (as mentioned above). She was digging out the potatoes and Thelma saw this and wanted to get involved so she helped; what useful puppies they are. The onions have done really well this year though the potatoes, while there are lots of them, aren't very big. Next year we will try the potato growing tower idea; we'll do four of them I think, and hopefully get a huge crop.

A bag of our own onions

Hung up to dry

We did have a lot of onions; we filled up one left over bag from shop bought onions and then had so many left over we had to create our own version using bird netting and string. It isn't quite as strong as the shop one but it seems to have worked out OK. We took both bags and hung them on nails underneath the stairs where they will hopefully store well. Again next year we will probably grow more of these. It's fun, getting your own food from the garden.

Seedlings doing really well

Talking of which look at how well my winter veg seedlings are doing. We haven't had the greatest of hit rates from the seeds but those that have started are doing really well. They were old seeds so I'm not totally surprised that they didn't all germinate. These will need potting up soon and then when the tomato plants are done in the raised beds they'll get put in there. The tortoises will have to be evicted at that point though.

Lined up in the sun

Peppers and tomatoes

We did a further sweep around the garden to harvest anything that was ready and got a pretty good haul of tomatoes and peppers. I think I may well be making a small batch of chutney tomorrow, using these and some of the tomatoes we were gifted last week. While we were doing this the Little Lady called us over for a coffee which we agreed to and spent a lovely few minutes sat on their balcony drinking coffee and eating walnuts from last year. I asked how soon til ours will be harvestable and they said five or six days which is very exciting indeed. We also saw what they do with their pears as they have sliced them and dried them. So many of our fruit went to waste this year and if I'd thought of this I would have done this. Next year (if we get a good harvest that is, of course).

So now dinner is very nearly ready and I'm going to sign this off and publish it. See you tomorrow.