More of the same

The first half of this week has been remarkable only in how unremarkable it has been. There hasn't been much going on really and so this will be a short post and I mean it this time. Without any more delays, then, here goes.

A three course meal

I'll start with the highlight of the week and what a highlight; it would lead out most weeks, even the most exciting.

Starter - Mushrooms with crumbled blue cheese

Main - Pork neck roasted with vegetables and cheese

Desert - Tiramisu

Yesterday was S from SandS's birthday and so we met up with them in the evening for a meal at one of the really nice restaurants near the lake, but not the fish restaurant. It was hammering down with rain when we left but this turned to drizzle and then had stopped all together by the time we arrived and found a table. They were there a few minutes afterwards and we ended up spending nearly two and a half hours at the table eating our way through some good food and having excellent conversation. It's so lovely to have friends like these close by us and to be able to get to see them is a pleasure.

Shashlak serving idea

I did spend some of the time talking about swimming pools, which is not entirely my fault as we ate at the hotel where we went swimming last year and the pool there is about the size I would be thinking of and A completely agrees. It's firmly shelved as a "to be thought about" idea rather than "to be done this year" though; no chance until we have a satisfactory living space and probably a fair few other "nice to haves" have been completed.

Under the weather

Both of us have been feeling a bit under the weather recently. We've been sure we've had maybe a cold or a slight flu that just isn't shifting. This has continued into this week.

On the sun lounger I bought for Islay last year

The balcony is a sun trap, even in winter

The back wall, and Sassy's run

I've been really pleased with the fact that the weather cleared back up again as it has meant I have been able to get outside when I've been feeling particularly jaded and enjoy the sun for a short while. At lunch time, and then late afternoon before it disappears, I've gone out onto the back bank or onto the balcony and dozed in the sun. Particularly on the balcony it is a sun trap and after this I felt a lot better. On the back bank I was harassed by all three puppies and so didn't get as much of a rest as I was wanting, though they do make one smile which is also good for you.

It's not too bad yet, but another month or two and it would get bad

Spread stones and sand over it to bind it together

Since then I've worked out what is causing a large part of my lethargy and so today I am feeling a bit better. I am not someone who enjoys feeling lazy and not getting stuff done and it has been a period of waiting with my day job, while the weather has prevented me from getting outside and doing those chores that involve physical exercise while I'm waiting, so I've just been sedentary. Last night we worked this out and so today I got out this afternoon around lunch and finished off the job of putting stones on the drive. It has been a bit slippery so hopefully this will help, and it certainly made me feel better to break a sweat again finally.

More puppy love

And not just puppies; here are some more pictures of the animals, from this week.

Louise, barking at a cow behind the top fence

Thelma bringing her favourite tug toy

The habit the girls have got into recently of barking outside has been getting worse recently. They bark to be allowed in, which is fair enough as they are getting our attention, but they have begun to bark at each other while they play, at the cows and horse as they go past, at the wind, the trees and anything that takes their notice. I let them out to go to the toilet one night this week and within 30 seconds they were back inside barking and running away from something outside, probably just the wind in the trees. Thelma is, as always, addicted to toys still and has the rag tug toy given by my friend as her current favourite item.

Afternoon bread feeding time for the birds

Sassy enjoying the fresh air

We're still getting many eggs from both chickens and ducks. On Monday we had an omelette to use up a load however my desk still has an overflowing basket of eggs on it. It's great to be getting such an excellent result from my first ever attempt at chickens. A has had them before though. Sassy is much happier now she is in the run outside, though I have on my list the task of making a shelter for her toilet to prevent it blowing everywhere, and also stop it getting full of water when it snows - it took a whole 20L bucket to empty it after the snow last time and I cracked the tray slightly while moving it, which was careless. That is my job for tomorrow and Friday.

Rambo, with a big smile on his face

Finally for the menagerie is Rambo who is also looking very healthy and well. He decided to stop eating his dinner again the other day so we put him onto just dried food and, as last time, after a couple of days of this when he was back onto the full meat mix he wolfed it down in about ten minutes. He's still huge and clumsy and doesn't look where he is going but I think that'll never change; he's a sweetheart who just needs reminding every now and then.

Sky

So as always I've taken a few pictures of the sky this week.

Glorious golden mist in the valley

Blue sky with scattered clouds

As night falls, the clouds burn

Just before the sun showed itself

The sun is finally burning through the fog

We've had a mix of weather so far this week with mainly gorgeous but then yesterday heavy rain in the evening and then fog which hung around until I was outside shoveling the stones at lunchtime. The forecast is changing all the time but certainly there is going to be some weather over the coming weekend; whether it precipitates as 20mm of rain, or 40cm of snow, though, is anyone's guess. I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

And finally

There's a couple of things to talk about that don't relate to any pictures.

My rough idea for an aluminium frame

First of all I've spent some time over the last week or two trying to get quotes for the whisky storage shelves and the see through hatch to go over the spiral staircase. After waiting for the first company to get back to me for ages I rang them and found that they are not set up yet to do custom orders. I contacted some of their competitors and got back some prices which scared me so we're now looking at getting the parts made individually and putting it together ourselves. The whisky shelving idea has also, for the single quote I've received, come back way too expensive however we've found an option using stock parts that looks feasible.

It's only a couple of months until we'll be getting builders back in so we've been looking at prioritising the tasks for this year and working out which should be begun first. Of these ideas we have also shelved the hot-tub for now as if we do go for a swimming pool this will all need to tie in together. Other parts of the design of the use for the rest of the building are really coming together well, however, and the orangery/library/museum room downstairs will have its first work done on it as we close up one of the windows (due to the water storage and generator shed being built in front of it) which gives us the perfect space for the museum in that corner. It's things like this, when two ideas work together so nicely, that makes a build feel good.

We got back from the meal last night to find that once again our internet had stopped due to them turning it off. This time I decided against going and shouting at the man; I very well could have because we paid for a year in March last year. The thing is that for every five months you pay for, you get one month free so when I paid for ten months in March that should have covered me until this coming March. Of course we had the trouble in September when they cut us off then as well as the person I paid only put me down for six months. What has happened is I've just not had any of my free months which is frustrating but as I have no proof of paying, and it isn't a huge amount of money, I've decided to let it go. This time I have the receipt and I will keep it and if, in October, we lose internet again there will be a very unhappy man in that office.

Today's daily photograph - number 13 in the series

I've managed to keep the daily photograph going, though have not been quite on time a couple of times due to us being out, or me forgetting, and I now have thirteen photographs in my folder. You'll have to wait until 2017 to see the finished article but this picture above, with which I close this update, shows the angle that I am capturing. The picture was taken today.

Thanks for reading.