Getting started in the garden

Today has been cold and damp; thankless weather for working outside. Unfortunately the work remaining is pretty much all outside so that is that.

Finishing the trench for the water pipe

Pipe is in

Fire for warmth and tidying up

Running the plumb line

We needed about 20cm more space

Bekir removing the old water pipe

Cold and miserable day today

First thing Bekir and Halil dug a trench for the replacement water pipe and got it bedded in nicely and reburied so at least that isn't at risk from ice and frost any more. They also lit a small fire of rubbish both to tidy up and also to stay warm, probably. It was bitter first thing. The day did warm up a bit towards lunch time and the next task was to discuss with Angela (mainly) and I how the layout should be so they could start marking out and getting ready for the foundations. We have now got a final plan that looks good, gives good access to the raised beds and will look really nice; I'm very excited to see this part of the garden come together. They did have to move Rosie's flower bed but did it very carefully indeed so no damage done. Towards the end of the day they were uncovering the old water pipe and clearing up there; maybe tomorrow they'll start putting the wooden shutters in. It will be a bit warmer towards the end of the week I think, hopefully.

Funny Face Stones

Rosie colouring in a ball

While out with the men I noticed the stones that Rosie and Angela had used chalk to draw faces on; after school I did a few of them with her, then played hide and seek then did some colouring in.

So there you are; another day done. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Daddy Weekend and Digging

It's been an awesome and busy weekend over here, so lots of pictures and let us get this blog written.

In the car ready to head off

Rosie in the trolley about to go into JUMBO

A huge dolly, and a new favourite

Picking out what we want to eat

Rosie with her new slippers

Angela took herself off on a very well deserved break for the weekend leaving me with Rosie which was brilliant. On Saturday we got ourselves into the car (with Bombur the giant teddy) and drove all the way to JUMBO to do some toy shopping, and buy some clothes for me amongst other things. Rosie was very good the entire time, had a great time looking around, and picked one thing to buy (though I sneaked a few bits in for Christmas) which was a dolly that is bigger than her! We then went on to a restaurant I've been to a fair few times and had a nice lunch and after that back in Thomas to drive home. I was exhausted by the end of the day but Rosie was still going strong. I'd picked up some new slippers for her to wear at home and she loved them and modelled for a picture for Angela.

Rosie on the trampoline with new dolly

A little time on the swing

Walking the puppies up the hill

A very very deep trench

Playing in the sand

Sunday started with trampoline time and Dolly Boy (or now, Big Dolly Rosie - she's not yet settled on a name) had to join her. She had a great time. It was a cool enough day but we wrapped up warm and went into the garden where she swung on her swing for a bit before declaring she wanted to walk up the hill to the echo pipe (the new gas pipeline that is being laid). We got the puppies ready and headed off up the hill. It was good apart from when Louise tripped Rosie with her lead but that got sorted out and we made it to the pipe, shouted down it a bit (Louise was most confused by the dog barking back at her that sounded the same as her) and then went and checked out the trench that has been dug to bury the pipe. It's huge, such a deep trench. They are making great progress. After that it was back home for lunch and to wait for Angela to get back, which she did safely and she had had a great time. What a lovely weekend, and such a pleasure to have Rosie being so good all the time. Thankfully!!

Halil gets started on the grouting this morning

Looking down at the hole we dug

Getting to the end finally

Shovelling and digging

A trench for the water pipe

More fun for Rosie

And so to today. The men were in on time and went onto the roof terrace where they had more grouting left to do than I realised however they got stuck in and got it completed soon enough. There's a little more cleaning up to be done tomorrow and then that job is finally finished (though we will need to put up some barriers, and put the wooden seats around the walls, soon enough). They then went downstairs and got the pickaxe and shovel out and dug out a deeper trench to put the new water pipe into. This took the rest of the day and shows just why I am thinking about buying a digger. More on that in a minute. Rosie came home from school and came to see what was going on then after a little Peppa we went onto the balcony for more jumping then play time before bed. It was a nice evening, and we really are regularly contemplating just how lucky we are right now.

So to the digger. I'm still not convinced whether a large digger is what we need; we're now thinking about getting a smaller tracked back hoe and a small bobcat style loader. It's a big thing, and we know we NEED one for all the jobs up at the mountain house (and around here) so getting it right is very important. There's no rush, now the digging here has been done, so we'll talk and consider and listen to advice and make a decision when we are fully happy with it.

Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow.

Lots of digging

It has been a super busy day today, with lots going on. There are three videos for this update however I know that for some reason videos do not show up on mobile so if you want to see them then follow this link to the YouTube channel for the blog and you can find them.

Early morning frost

Angela marking the extend of the garden digging

The digger arrives through the fog

Frosty weeds in the orchard

It was a cold frosty start to the day and I had the pleasure of dropping Rosie off to school; I had to warm Thomas for a fair while to make sure he wasn't covered in ice. The men were driving up the hill as I was driving down and when I got back it was nearly time for the digger to arrive for the day; Angela first of all got the marker paint and marked out where she wanted dug for the new raised beds. Shortly after our digger arrived; this is the same guy who helped me so much yesterday. It was still very misty and frosty when he arrived but he got pretty much stuck in straight away after a short explanation of what we wanted. He was VERY impressed with Rosie's little digger as well.

The first trench is done in no time

Making his way up the back bank

Halil on the roof terrace

Clearing a path past the rubbish pile

The chicken wall foundations are complete

The first task of the day was to dig out the foundations for the new wall around the chicken enclosure. I was very busy with work and other things today but did get outside for videos and a few pictures as it was an exciting day. It was about lunch time or just after when he finished this job, including having cleared away some of the rubble that was stopping me driving up behind the chicken house via that ramp; of course he also made another ramp the other side of the orchard so maybe I don't need to plan for access at the back there any more. Halil did spend a fair amount of today grouting on the roof terrace; I honestly don't know how far he got as I was too busy to check much.

Carefully removing the Walnut sapling

The digger hard at work

Broken water pipe

A big pile of the spoil is collected

Putting in a temporary repair to the water pipe

Such an accurate cut, next to Rosie's flower bed

With that done the digger drove round across the front lawn and made a start on the garden area. The first task was to dig out the triffid tree that keeps coming back really badly, so that has been uprooted, but then he carefully dug out the walnut that self-seeded and has grown really well. Now we just really need to hope it can survive being transplanted. With this done he really got to work and there was a LOT of soil dug out, so much it is piled really high out of the way blocking access to the fenced garden now. However the results are brilliant and it has saved us a huge amount of time. We did accidentally dig out the water line (we marked where we thought it was but were not careful enough to check) however Bekir and Halil have already put in a temporary fix and the new pipe will be buried properly next week. Bekir has also temporarily planted the walnut tree into the huge pile of spoil, and it will be planted in a big hole the digger dug when they are back on Monday. It was a very exciting day and Rosie got back from school in time to see and she watched and was very impressed.

Rosie loves the play area

I decided to take Rosie to our favourite restaurant this evening as Angela has headed off for a very well deserved break at a spa hotel for the weekend. We had a great time and she was very good, enjoying her dinner and playing in the play area really nicely. It was a lovely way to spend the evening.

And so there you have it; time for Daddy Saturday and Daddy Sunday so I better get some sleep. Thanks for reading.

PS one thing that just occurred to me; this is the end of the Hugelkultur; all that soil is now mixed in that big pile on the side. What a journey that was, and I'm kind of sad it is gone but it's going to be replaced with better options for our garden. So long, hugelkultur. You were awesome.

A day of diggers

 The update today is going to be very short, though the day was very long.

Inspecting the first digger

Very nice, but out of my price bracket

This was SOOO BIGGGG

Ride on mower option

Flat battery and couldn't get it started

Might I buy this; we shall see...

There is a picture of nearly every digger I looked at today while we went hunting for one to potentially buy. The first one was an "antika" and the guy we brought along to have a look at the machines and give us an expert opinion was very critical of it. We then went to look at one that was out of my price range but very nice (and parked next to a HUGE digger that I really wanted) then we went past another that was even further out of my price range. On the way back home we stopped so Bekir could pick up a new chainsaw and I saw a potential ride on mower option before we visited two more diggers; the first had a flat battery and was quite battered and the last one was apparently the best option of the lot. I rode around in it for a bit with our expert and then took over driving it (very badly!). Time for a decision to be made.

That was all for the day; it took all day and we didn't even get time to stop for lunch. I let the men go home as soon as we got back then got back to work myself for a bit. What a long day. Thanks for reading.

Yet another day of tiling

We still haven't finished the roof terrace, though now we are only left about half the area to grout. Still it's taken so much longer than I planned (as everything does, it seems).

A lovely dawn approaches

Rosie playing with her digger

Bekir gets stuck into tiling

Halil doing the grout (and it's looking great)

Reaching the end of the day

It was a lovely start to the day after a really howling wind all night that kept me awake quite a lot. Rosie was up and about early wanting to play with her new digger so out we went before school and she played with it digging up sand. She seems to like it, and is getting the hang of it quite quickly. It really does take some coordination however. The men were in and up to the roof terrace to finish the odds of tiling (the odd left over edge and around the chimney) and that pretty much took Bekir all day with all the cutting. Halil was helping Bekir and when free was putting the grout into the tiles. By the end of the day the tiling was finally complete (and it looks great) and the grout was half done.

Thelma is in the sun

Goodbye sun

The sun stayed out all day and it was warm inside behind glass (but very cold outside, and we're forecast frost tonight) but Thelma found sun throughout the day, including on the telephone table in the porch. A beautiful sunset and a lovely dinner and the day is done.

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day as I'm heading off to view a JCB with a view to purchasing to support work both here and up at the Mountain House. See you tomorrow and thanks for reading.