Fires and wind

So another week has gone by and it is once again Sunday, though not morning this time as I've done other stuff this morning and just settled down in the living room to type. It has been good to not be having to sit and type like this every evening however now that I am coming to do the update I feel out of practice and it is a bit of a struggle to get going. No matter, onwards. I'm going to do the same rough idea as last week, not in any chronological order but under a number of headings to summarise the week. I had good feedback on that method from last week so thank you all for your comments.

Fires

The main aim for this week involved fire. Lots of fire. We had checked out the weather forecast and seen that the gorgeous weather we have been enjoying was due to end over the weekend (and, looking out the window as I type this I can say "yes, it did") and because of this we made a few decisions. First of all we would try to clear out the wood store room and burn it all on bonfires and then, when that room was clear, we'd get as much of the oak tree cut into lengths and stored in there as we could.

Kitchen waste stuffed inside

This time it lit very easily

Taking photographs of the fire, and each other

Thelma waiting for her stick to be thrown

The firework box burning away

Our first fire occurred a week ago today as we took the kitchen rubbish, normally burned off in the oil drum, and used it to set light to the bonfire A had built on the Saturday. It went up like a rocket and we sat and watched it while it burned. It kept going for quite a while, unusually, and we didn't top it up at all. It was lovely, actually, to be up there again enjoying the weather and the views and the huge fire blazing away. The puppies were up with us and Thelma had a stick she demanded we throw for her while Louise just found herself a bone and chewed it quietly. They've such different personalities, these two. More on them later, though.

Flaming inferno, the big stick is upright

It has slipped slightly

The bottom has just lifted off the floor

Slightly higher off the ground

Very nearly horizontal now

Perfectly balanced

When A put the fire together she once again made use of the long beam which had survived our previous party bonfire. This was leant up against one side of the bonfire and we watched as it slowly but surely settled down as the fire burned down and then balanced itself across the top of the mound. It did eventually burn through but there was still a small amount of it left when the fire was completed.

Me playing with the puppies, through the flames

The fires burn down; safe to leave now

As I say we sat out there while it burned down as the wind was getting up a bit and we didn't want it spreading. Despite having water on hand there was no spreading at all which was excellent. I did have to knock some things back towards the centre a few times but other than that it was totally uneventful. We were going to have invited SandS to join us for this burn but sadly I had a headache that would dominate the day and send me to bed early that evening (A sat up on her own watching a film, that's how early I went) so we did the burn alone.

A starts to unload Thomas

The new fire builds on the remnants of the old

A lights the fire and watches happily

The puppies love fires

An old rats nest in the wood store

The next burn was Thursday. I was working so wasn't able to be as involved this time so A took Thomas up onto the bank with wood in him and built a new bonfire and then set it off burning. I took a few breaks through the day to help her out by passing wood from the wood room out the window so she could put it into Thomas. We knew that the rats had made their home in the wood room over last winter and this was confirmed when I found a couple of rats nests in the wood pile. In this way the fire burned a lot of the day and was still glowing when we headed to bed that night.

It looks like it has gone out

However stir it and stick some wood in

And it blazed up very quickly indeed

Friday morning I was up keen to finish the job we had so nearly done the day before. A headed out shopping leaving me to clear the last of the wood out of the store room by hand, and wheelbarrow. The fire had glowed all night and when I headed up to check it out it was still pumping heat out and just a quick stir showed many glowing coals still inside. I pulled some wood straight up, stuck it into the heap, and within a minute or so the flames were leaping once again.

Watching the fire from the top of the land

Thelma's tongue, and stick

With the amount of wood still left in the wood room (quite a lot of the shorter planks and then all of the really large rafts) I didn't expect to finish it before A got back but I did which was a great feeling. I just plodded with the wheelbarrow throwing each load on straight away and then when I got to the bits that were too large I carried them up slowly as well. It burned fast this time and I only had a few bits left saved over for A to put on by the time she got back. I worked without a break and only made a brew when I was done, taking it up to another little bench the workmen had made right up where we want the hot tub to be, and sitting there enjoying the view, throwing the stick for Thelma, and watching the fire burn lower.

Ash spread by the wind

This was not the last fire of the weekend as yesterday I had a few more bits and pieces to burn and once again, despite the really high winds which had blown ash all over the garden, I was able to stir it and get a flame without using a match. I didn't get any pictures of the fire as it was just tiny bits and pieces however three days of burning from the initial ignition point does show just how hot it stays inside the bed. If only we could have put some potatoes in there.

Other progress

We haven't purely spent the week indulging our pyromaniac natures. There's actually been a whole lot of progress elsewhere around the place, some of which has already been hinted at with all the wood from that messy horrible woodstore being burned, but that isn't all.

A shoveling stones into the wheelbarrow

On Sunday last week as I was feeling a bit rubbish A had to kick me into gear by getting stuck in herself. She got the wheelbarrow and shovel and we worked together with her filling a wheelbarrow and then me taking pushing it down to where we were dumping the stones. I ended up getting quite stuck into this and shifting around a load of the previously dumped stones from the bottom part of the path to flatten them out which did get my blood pumping and sweat flowing. This was all done before we set the fire going as we were going to wait til later for the fire but my headache put paid to that as I said.

Raking up the rubbish from the flat area here

Bricks describing the stream, and more soil on the orchard

After the fire had been completed we stayed outside working away but this time not together. A got the rake out and collected together all the rubbish that was all over the place on that part of the land. She did a glass and litter pick as well and generally made the whole place look tidier. While she was doing this I was bringing the large bricks up so we could lay out a path for the stream that we want to run through the orchard as part of our extended grey water and duck pond scheme. More on that another time. I also shoveled soil and put spread it in place in the orchard. For such a battered day we did a lot.

A's leaf piles

Collecting sticks from the lawn

Another task I set for myself this week was to cut the grass on the front lawn and so, to get this going, A took the leaf rakes we had found last week and gathered all the leaves together into piles. I headed out towards the end of the day on Monday to collect them together though the wind did start to get up as I was doing this which made moving the wheelbarrow, full to the brim with leaves, a rather challenging task. Unfortunately I haven't got out there with the lawnmower which now I think about it is a real shame as the weather is changing and I may not get to do it now until next year. There is still a large job to pick up all the stones and twigs that are scattered all over that area and could make the mowing impossible though.

Additional anti-Rambo protections

The wood fell out of the wood store

Nicely restacked and now safe

Tuesday morning I struggled at my desk and A told me to bring my brew out onto the balcony to relax for a bit before getting stuck back into the stress of work. This was lovely until we noticed that Rambo was eating something and when I ran down to find out what it was I found the humanure disturbed. He got in a lot of trouble and I grabbed the large metal grate I have been thinking of putting across the top and made it Rambo-proof. We also noticed that the wood in the wood shelter had fallen out. This is something I was expecting to happen as it hadn't actually been stacked that well. It didn't take that long to put it back better, and A came out to help me which was nice, so now we have a stable pile of wood that will not fall on us when we get wood for the fire. We hope.

A picks up the chainsaw once again

More brush wood for me to process

Thelma getting covered with sawdust

Quite a pile of wood chopped and drying

On Friday A got the chainsaw out (I had had time to sharpen and refuel and oil it before she got back from the shops) as soon as she got back and she spent pretty much the entirety of the day cutting up branches from the oak tree into roughly 1m lengths so we can store and dry them over this winter and next summer. She trimmed all the little bits off and threw them into a pile which I will process through for kindling at some point. I may well just throw it into the green building over this winter and split it up over next summer as there is such a lot of it. At the end of the day we carried the wood she had chopped into the garage and stacked it up in case it rained a day earlier than forecast. Not a bad amount to do in a few hours there.

This is where we want the stream to be

A path for wheelbarrows

I was far from idle even after all the efforts of the early morning. I brought more bricks up and set them next to the original stream bricks to get about the width we want for this (and keep the soil away from this part of the land when I get there with my shifting) and then I finished off the last vertical line of soil on this side of the washing line. I still have a lot of soil on this side which will need to bet taken over to the other side and this prompted something which had been nagging in my head; I would need to have a smoother track to take wheelbarrows over to the other side. I collected old flag stones and carefully set them in place and it worked brilliantly. The last part of the day involved filling in the final section of missing soil on this side and then taking wheelbarrows full over on the slabs and emptying them on the other side. I got about half way down the first vertical before I was too tired to continue.

Filthy floor to be swept and cleaned

A very thick layer of dust

Safety first, this time

All swept and clean

Dust pile

Saturday I had planned on carrying on with that job but as I damaged my finger the night before (see later in the update for details) I decided against such a heavy task and instead took myself down into the wood room to get it cleared completely. With a shovel, a brush and a wheelbarrow it did not actually take that long to get it completely cleared out and swept clean. I have dumped all the rubbish down where the pond will be dug out next year as it can just be taken away by the bagga and kamion rather than me having to think about where it will go long term. I was very sensible and wore a mask while I was doing this as the dust was extremely thick on the floor. The good thing was it had got wet and so I was able to pick it up with the shovel quite easily in chunks.

A gets chainsawing again

Tidily stored kindling and small wood

Next to her achievement for the day

While I was doing this A was stood out in the teeth of the gale which was really ripping along cutting through more of the branches from the oak tree. She worked until she ran out of fuel which coincided perfectly with me finishing and then we went inside and slept for about an hour or so during the afternoon which we really needed. Afterwards A made a brew for us and I went straight downstairs and made up some more of the pallet wood stores and then shifted the kindling from the gardening room into the first of them. I had been joined by A while I was doing this and so together we pulled the pile of cut up wood she had done a week or so ago which had just stayed sat on the driveway all that time into another storage unit and finally we dragged in everything she had cut that day and stacked it under cover.

The puppies

For some reason this week I have got loads of excellent pictures of the puppies so they get their own section in this update.

This is her favourite stick

No actually it's this one

Actually she loves THIS stick

Coats on and still chasing a different stick

First of all is a selection of pictures of Thelma with a variety of her beloved sticks. Louise does appear on some of these but mostly as she tries and fails to get involved with the stick. I really don't know how she does it to be honest. You can throw her chosen stick into a big pile of other sticks and she will invariably return with the same one. Every now and then you can trick her and throw the stick so she can't find it straight away however after running around and around suddenly you'll turn round and she will have found it. She's brilliant, if slightly exhausting at times.

Thelma just before getting showered

Standing obediently still

Lathering up well

Louise's turn; it's a hard life huh

Tuesday the puppies had obviously rolled in something as they came inside both stinking. A decided that it would be shower time for them so she found the puppy shampoo and I was put on towel duty and both of them came out of the experience smelling much nicer, and having not struggled at all really. For puppies which hate swimming they are really very good at being showered. They both had huge shakes afterwards, despite me trying to towel them dry.

Rambo standing proud

Big lad running towards me

Of course there cannot be a section for the puppies without including Rambo. He has had a bit of an up and down week, behaviour-wise, but largely has loved the fact that we have been able to get out and be with him a lot. He is really settling in to the fact that he is shut away at night again now, in the porch. Just now I looked out and he was lying asleep next to the raised bed while the wind howled past. He is getting into better shape all the time and no longer huffs as much after running around.

Social life

This week we had a social life and not just on one day. I know, this is not a usual week but what can I say.

First of all on Tuesday we headed up to Plovdiv to see some of my friends from Blackpool who are on a European tour at the moment. I know the drummer well and their sound engineer works with my studio back in England. We got there OK, getting slightly lost but then putting the sat nav on and finding it pretty quickly, then settled down to enjoy the entertainment. As is my habit I took one video of each act for you to watch if you wish. It was a varied night with the opening act a jazz trio with a very talented bassist, a very good singer, and a solid but limited pianist. The second act, "Raised by Swans", was a soloist from Canada and his music was stunning, if quite depressing. He certainly kept your attention. Finally it was my mate's band called "Midas Fall". They were much louder but the place stayed pretty full even with the contrast with the previous performers. It was a brilliant night and the latest we've been out for ages as it was passed 2am when we got home. Well worth it.

A looking really lovely as always

On Friday, after putting so much effort in to the tasks during the day, we went out for our dinner which was a brilliant idea. We got to our favourite restaurant to find that once again it was set out for a wedding but now we know about the lovely back eating area and found a table there. The food was just exceptional and we both loved what we chose. I tried a different beer this time, Ariana Tumna, and it was OK but not as nice as my preferred options. As we were leaving the singer and her keyboard player spotted us and gave us a huge wave which was also really lovely. It's so nice to be welcomed by everyone.

Skies

I know this update is getting super long (I've been typing it for AGES and it is starting to get dark here) but I have a few pictures from through this week of the sky that I'd be gutted not to include.

Bright against the grey background

First of all is Monday's sunrise. It was a cloudier day as the weather had already begun to change but the sun broke through as it rose and created that stunning affect against the darker backdrop. This was taken from the balcony just after we got out of bed.

Looking away from the sunset

The sun has just set to the right

Wednesday night the sunset was stunning and I headed onto the roof terrace this time to capture it. I don't know if I just never spotted it before but recently it has been almost as beautiful to watch the clouds on the opposite side of the sky to the sunset as the actual sunset itself. The colours stretch over the entire arc of the sky. Stunning.

Sun rise over a foggy valley

Thursday morning I struggled to get out of bed but A was up bright and early and she headed out onto the roof terrace and then the balcony to get a photograph of an absolutely stunning sunrise. I'm now really gutted I stayed in bed as I'd have loved to have seen this in real life. What a glorious sight and what a stunning photograph.

Dramatic sunset

Finally we have the sunset last night. It had been cloudy and windy and really not a good day weather wise however A happened to glance out the windows as the sun was going down and despite the heavy cloud clover there was quite a show going on. Stunning.

In closing

So there you have it, that is the update. I do have a couple of small things to stick in this last section before this epic post is completed though.

Damaged finger

First of all I mentioned about a damaged finger before and promised you details. Now the photographs haven't come out well so apologies for that however I was hurting quite a lot at the time. I had been down the stairs and was just putting the trap door back in place when my little finger got caught and dragged down into the gap between it and the floor. Ouch. It's getting better all the time and doesn't hurt as much now but I can't bed it that well and the nail is quite black. Stupid boy.

Our greens are growing well under glass

Far more excitingly (and less painfully) is the progress being shown by the greens in the raised bed which are now under glass. They are shooting up and even the plants which had been eaten down to just shoots have started to put out leaves. This is excellent and we've planned out another four of these raised beds to be put in place some time, maybe next year. They are definitely worth having.

We've had a really lovely week other than all the effort put in. We've spent every evening in the living room with the fire on either listening to music, watching a film or working our way through The Sopranos. A even agreed to watch "Rubber" which was a surprise. Don't ask her if she liked it though.

So there you have it. Only the sixty four photographs and three videos this time. A has suggested that I do one twice a week to reduce the epic length of them (if you have read the whole way to here then frankly congratulations, and I know the number of a very good shrink) so you may be in luck and get an update on Wednesday. We'll see. Time to publish.