Weekend and then several jobs done

Back to real normality today as Rosie was back to school and I was back to work. But first, let's look to the weekend.

The tortoise on the front lawn

Rosie feeds the ants

The end of our game

Rosie riding the machine at Kaufland

More ants, more leaves

After I finished the update on Friday I went down to wait for Rosie and Angela to get back from the neighbours and heard a rustling on the front lawn; I went down to find a tortoise making its way up towards me. I did make sure to show this to Rosie when she got back. More wildlife with Rosie as we went over after this to check out her ants nest and she fed more leaves to them. I then played games with Steve and we finally managed to finish it up. On Saturday morning he headed off back home and I took Rosie into town to do some shopping (Angela's birthday is coming up) and we stopped for a chance for Rosie to ride on the machine at Kaufland. When we got back it was time for a chat with Grandma and Auntie Nods and I am pretty sure we went into the pool as well because the clock stopped and that was very frustrating. We've changed the batteries now and it seems to be doing ok. We also went back down to see her ants and feed them even more leaves.

Rosie jumping in puddles in her boots

I filled 7 big black bags with XPS

Rosie painting her room sign

The sun sets on Sunday

Saturday night I was woken by high winds, and there was a storm forecast, so I went around the house shutting windows; in the morning we found that it was still raining though eventually it did stop. Rosie put her boots on and went to jump in puddles while I got on with a few chores including tidying the workshop, hoovering the stairs and then finally  I went into the roofspace and did an epic tidy of the polystyrene pile up there. Angela and Rosie had a lovely day together, Rosie was full of beans. I got to watch them painting together making a display to hang on Rosie's play room door. Finally here's a shot of a lovely sunset that night.

Bekir removing wall plugs and tidying|

Halil prepares to plaster

Bekir takes down the wooden frame

Spare plaster applied to the sink front

Taking down the old baby chick enclosure

Cleaning, burning and raking

We have a clean duck pond again

And so to today; this morning I put Bekir and Halil to a couple of small but important tasks before they went back to the chicken enclosure. First of all was the little nook in the dining room that needed cleaning up and replastering so Angela can get the walls painted while my mum is visiting. While Halil was doing the painting Bekir went out and removed all the wood from around the garden sink and cleaned it up. Halil then used the last bits of plaster he had mixed to finish the front of the sink. It was then into the chicken enclosure to get stuck into tidying and clearing in preparation for our new flock. First of all the temporary enclosure I'd built for the chicks was taken down; it had lasted very well for having been thrown up in such a hurry all those years ago. With that task done they blitzed that area and removed all the weeds and raked all the stones (15 wheel barrows full, apparently) and burned a load of trash and also cleaned up the pond. There's still a few bits and pieces to do but we are now pretty much ready for birds.

Rosie with the sandcastle we built together

The tortoise once again on the move

After school I went out to the sandpit to play with Rosie and we made an awesome sandcastle together. Then while Angela was making dinner I finally got to switch over the humanure collection point to the newly draining one; my feeling is we should leave the old one to dry for quite a long time before going in there however I may have to get the drill and put some drainage holes in myself as it's very very wet in there - not good. After doing this I heard more rustling and sure enough the tortoise was making its way along the front of the lawn. I do love having tortoises on our land.

So there it is; as I write this a storm is rumbling towards us so that could be some fun. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.