WHAT A DAY OR FEW?!!!!!

Well, we have Duke very poorly and not thinking he's going to make it, Ruby our new arrival likes cuddles more than riding, which isn't really a problem..just funny....Pixie our pig is due to have piglets today and hasn't, and Pete is going away with Steven for South West England Golf squad training for two days so I am home alone, Dixie had to have a lot of help and got in to a lot of trouble delivering hers, and I am really not up for doing it alone, but no choice...Laura is here, but she is useless at the mo as she has hurt her back!!! Oh and we have had a path laid that needs scrubbing to expose the aggregate which is a pig of a job it will take me all day and if I don't do it early it will set and we will have to rip it all up...so if Pixie gives birth I am stuffed...Plus Becs is coming to kindly show me again how to make Ruby go and to tack up, and I don't want to cancel as she is really kind to help at all. The shingle has to be moved and the house sorted and , and , and... Oh I cant even think about it, what a nightmare... Pete helped Dad with his floor today, which looks nice... and I had clients backing up to see him, so he fitted in 3 appointments before he goes and still got the car to sort, clothes to pack, clubs to clean, work to be done and I need a bath as I have been working outside all day and haven't even started computer work, so thought I would sign in here out of sheer desperation.... When you are in overload you seem to run around like a headless chicken and get no where until you stop and refocus!...I'm in the middle stages of this hoping that focus finds me before insanity!!!!

LAURA ON RUBY!

After trying to figure out how to put on the tack, Laura got it sort of sussed with Kait and tried to ride Ruby, but she is a little stubborn,,,the horse not Laura...Well mind you!.......No seriously Ruby just didn't want to go, so we will have to wait for Becs to return to show us how you get the darn thing to move! She is lovely though, but she seems to just want a cuddle...I cant have ruined her already!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE!

Stevens birthday comes next mine, Laura's, valentines day then Stevens then our wedding anniversary....cheap month eh! I made a cake that looked like a car, wasn't really too sure if it was going to be recognisable as a car but I think it went quite well...I did run out of chocolate chips so if you were lucky you had some in your slice if not...unlucky! He had a good day and we had the usual crowd here for birthday tea! He had a small 5 a side footy goal for the paddock and a new dart board and darts with his name on, so watch out now Colin, he's been practicing! And he shouts his score out ...bonus eh!!! Things are progressing ha ha!!

PETE COOKED!

I think I have really had 'me' chips this time! Pete put tea in the oven and forgot, we went to see Lauras dance show, which was fantastic, I couldn't have choreographed or moved like that at any age! Mind you she has put her back out really badly now and has been referred to the hospital to try to sort....Anyway back to chips I digress! Pete forgot he tried to make me some sort of tea and we even bought chips out, so dont know what planet he was on....but this was what they looked like when he remembered when we got home!

BEST TENT YET!

Its a standing joke now that whenever we build through the winter...nothing stops us really, if it rains we build a tent to work under. Andy and ant reckon this is the best one yet, they have guide ropes and supports and everything, I think they will be really sad when that ones gets taken down!

LUCKY MODELLING THE NEW STEPS!

The steps are coming on a treat now and we are nearly there ready for planting out...that'll be fun!!! expensive fun....hopefully not! Great though aren't they Thanks Andy and Ant!

GETTING TO KNOW RUBY

I have shown Ruby that it is ok to go into the field shelter, nothing but hay in there...after a while she did quite like it, And you can see by the look on her face in the other photo how much she loves attention. I think she will be just fine.....she could last a few months or a few years, but at least she will be happy.

BECS RETURNS!

Becs our horse guru from Baileys, kindly agreed to come over and help us to learn how to tack up a horse! We learned lots of new words, none of which I can remember now and none will re appear in the place they should!...But we have sort of learned how to tack up, Morgan ...Becs daughter sat on Ruby to show us how it was done! And she is only 6 or 7!!!... I must remember what foot to put in the stirrup or I will be riding backwards!!!!

DOUBLE TROUBLE

We seem to stumble from one crisis to another. With Spring around the corner...hopefully... We have other issues with the ponies, we have been told by the vet the only way to help Spring is to re home her 600 ft above sea level. Our land is too low and to wet, hence the midges. She suffers from mosquito bits and they create sores, the only way to cure is to rug her all the time which she wouldn't like, or to give her steroids, which also have an impact on her or finally rehome. So we are seriously thinking about that now.We don't want to have to think about that, but at the end of the day we have to have the animals best interests at heart, we cant be selfish when it comes to health. Then as if that wasn't enough. Duke is still really bad and Peter the vet and I are questioning his quality of life and how long he can be retained on painkillers. This decision has been looming for a while now, but still a decision at some point has to be made, we will see how he goes this week. Maybe he will get through it? who knows?? Duke is stunning he is real Royalty when it comes to poise and attitude. Duke is in charge and no one had better question that. He has his girls and struts his stuff and they love & care for him. Oh my what a day............... (Spring pictured above, Duke is Chestnut and blonde)

WE LET THEM MEET!

I guess the sooner we did it the better, Ruby had arrived and the Shetlands were extremely inquisitive, so we opened the gate and held our breath! It wasn't too bad a few turns and kicks but not too bad at all. That was until tea time, I stupidly brought the food into the paddock and the Shetlands are so greedy that they will pinch anyones tea, and they are rough and quick with it. Ruby isn't like that, she is quite sedate in her eating habits and came off worst. SO with that we decided to separate the ponies at tea time for the evening and let them all back together when the food was done. This seemed to work better. Spring is the worst , she is definitely the ring leader and chases Ruby at present with Storm joining in. I am not sure if its because they are trying to protect Duke as he isn't well still or whether its just time needed to settle in. Time will tell.

MULTI-TASKING

Laura and multi tasking don't often go together that well! But heres her version of it! We have so much to do so Laura attempted to eat a biscuit whilst carrying out the plates oh and also pinching the rest of the biscuits so no one could get her favourite ones and opening a door...Not quite what I had in mind when I said get a move on we have loads to do, I was thinking more about cleaning etc

FIRST FEED

To start with we unloaded Ruby into a field of her own to see what she made of the the Shetlands, she settled fairly quickly and ate most of her tea. She was a little disorientated though. We are borrowing a turnout coat at present and have one of her own on order, it weird putting a coat on a horse!

RUBY ARRIVES

Caruba or Ruby to her friends arrived a little tired and ready to get out of the truck! I had to stop all the traffic so she could be unloaded and safely taken to her new home.

MASON ENJOYS THE PARTY

Mason is only 8 months but he is getting into the party mode, joining in with the finger food, and making a quite good job of it...just wait until he is walking there will be a trail of Mason I reckon!

HAPPY 19th LAURA!!!

Laura's birthday this year was supposed to be cheaper than her 18th, but I am not entirely sure!! I made the mistake of taking her shopping, and she "needs" everything!! phrases like "i need it for uni mum", "I havent got one" oh and "but I have grown out of that ages ago" or as a last resort "what other top?".... Seriously though she had a great day and then the next evening she went out with a load of friends for a Chinese meal and the restaurant sang happy birthday to her, which made her day. I made this cake which I think looks pretty good if I do say so myself!!! and Steven got her a Liverpool FC cape which she flew around the conservatory in for a while!!!

WE HAVE A GATE!

This gate used to be used years ago when the Richardsons used to live here as a ramp for their lawn mower and judging by how old it is I am sure it had many years of uses before that. Well we found it and fell in love with the battered gate, painted it up and put it under our arch for our front gate. Even had a sign done for Woodmill Farm

CARUBA...NOW YOU LIKE THAT NAME DONT YOU!!!

Caruba or Ruby for short is an Argentine Thorough Bred 15 2 mare who is an ex competition (competed until recent weeks)polo horse aged 28 years, fit as a fiddle...allegedly! This is a picture of her when she has been competing and looking all shaved and smart...she is the one nearest to you.....I will take one when she arrives, she is a scruffy hairball with a mane...they cut the mane off for polo. They also use different tac etc, I am really going to have to research this to see if I can ride her!.....Could be a few adventures on the way. Pete did mention if I annoyed him he would stick me on her and smack her bum and I would be in Timbuktu before I knew it!!! But I know hes only kidding????aren't YOU PETE!!!!!

So she will be arriving in the next few days or so, depending on transport, and I will update you as things unravel OMG!

SURPRISE!

It has been a very hard few months, health wise and work wise, so when Pete told me on the Sunday before my birthday I was off to Barcelona to look at Gaudi buildings for 2 nights I was speechless. Of course the "I have nothing to wear but pig poo farm clothes" and "Oh my god do the kids say its ok" and "But we have no money" and "Have you sorted the animal care out?" they all sprang to mind and I was put in to a blind panic. But nipped down to Truro before the shops shut and bought clean jeans and a coat and off we went early the next morning. Once I was gone it was ok it was just the thought of organising everything to go. The hotel was great and no ones to let the dust settle under our feet we landed and drove to the hotel 111kms and went straight out for a 5 hour walk so we didn't miss anything returning to our hotel at 10pm after getting very lost on foot! Then up early and another 11 hours of walking and Pete did allow us to cheat ...but only a couple of times we caught the tube!!! We saw the most spectacular architecture I have ever seen, and was completely fascinated by it, trying to understand the construction and then wanting one back at home! The only thing we didn't have time to get to was the sculpture but we did see all the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona, not bad eh!!! The first picture of us is in Parc Guell, the stained glass in the Sagrada Familia, which will not be completed until 2030 been going since early 1900's! and the one with the shark, I just found that on the quay and jumped in whilst no one was looking!! Thanks Pete, Laura and Steve I had a great time and thanks to Mum, Dad, Auntie Lou, Laura and Steve for looking after the farm.

MOVING OFFICES

We really want to get our home back to a home, without it being a free for all. You don't realise how much you miss your privacy until you spend 3 years without it! SO Purl Design has been relocated to Little Toms Cottage and it looks great, plus our clients no longer have to sit on the floor around a coffee table and look at plans they have a fully fledged conference area! And the old Purl Office is now where we run Woodmill Farm Holiday Cottages from, leaving our house as our very own home...YIIIPPPEEEE. It has taken a lot of work and planning and we are no stranger to hard work, but this was maybe a push to far on some days. We laid a new cat 5 cable to network both offices as we both work from a central server. I held the bottom of the wobbly ladder whilst Pete perched precariously on the top swaying a bit! We threaded it through our loft through the cottage lofts down the laundry across the wood store, around the front of the garage into Purls New office. Then as we wee tiding the cable up...well as PETE was tidying the cable up, he drilled through the other cat 5 cable and we had to spend another day laying that one again...WHAT A NIGHT MARE!!!!! Thats Pete for you!

JUST REST!

I know we haven't had time to rest in a while, but if I did I would rest here! Its looks great doesn't it, so I thought I would take a picture in case I do get a chance in the foreseeable future.

PICTURES OF HOW IT USED TO BE

Thanks to Bill and Sylvia Richardson who used to live at Woodmill, part of the Woodmill gang! We have some photos of how it used to be. Bill and Sylvia got in touch back when we first moved here and we have been friends ever since...you cant keep Woodmillers apart you know! We had a great afternoon looking at the photos so heres a few of them.

The one with the chap mucking out into a trailer outside the mill building...thats Bill
The one with pony and girl is Donna their daughter, outside what we now know to be Cottage 6 (Little Toms Cottage)
The Sylvia with the goats by the side of Buttercup cottage
And one looking down from the top veranda as we know it now towards Buttercup cottage before it was converted.

There are lots more but thought I would just give you these for now.

SPRING

I asked who had been chasing the ducks and Spring looked behind her as if to say what duck, wasnt me, when she was the one tearing around the field trying to get the duck. But here she looks a calm as a cucumber!

SMARTIE HIDING

Smartie is best friends with Tim in the office and where ever he is, Smartie has to be, so she made her special bed squished between the wall and scanner, as if to blend in and we wouldn't notice!!

MUST BE GETTING WARMER

I saw this beautiful butterfly today on the heather, it was stunning. I took a moment in my busy day to admire it and in my small moment of quietness that lasted all of 3.5 seconds Smartie took a flying leap from the chair to see me ...missed my leg that she was aiming at and fell not so elegantly down the side of the pot and scat the butterfly off to pastures new!!! OH to have those quite moments eh!

FROST AND SNOW DAMAGE

Frost and snow has cost a fair bit, with damages to quite a few of the pots and not all the shrubs have survived the winter....but we are still here!!!!

SUNS OUT

I thought I would share this picture with you.. Pete said I should just put an entry in of a wall and floor or something, because thats all we have seen for a few weeks. Its been manic painting, repairing, cleaning with a toothbrush and bleaching before we reopen again. We only shut for 28 days and its like its a knock out or something. There is paint, filler, bleach, sugar soap, ordering and buying the reams of lists that needs to be in the cottages... all over the place. You really don't realise how much goes into this until you do it...mind you I guess I am fussy, I just want it to be as good as I can get it for all y guests.I know some people don't bother, but I would like to come on holiday here!.. SO instead of Petes rubbish idea I thought I would take a picture whilst the sun was out of Buttercup Cottage from the veranda!

SMALL BUT DEADLY!

These are the little monsters that eat all my plants... well these guys and Shadow, she is a real nightmare, I have craters in the garden where soil should be and she ate half a tree that makes a seat in the garden....oh and ran away with the roots of my very expensive rose bush!!!!......

DUKEY STILL STRUGGLING

Really worried about Duke he has been on painkillers for a couple of weeks, but he really isn't good. He is old and the cold just hits him hard, I try to shut him in the warm but then he goes mad and gets distressed and gets stiff. So the best for him is to be out with his friends and go int he shelter whenever he wants. But I will have to speak with the farrier this week and see what else we can do for him. Hes such a lovely old man, I would hate to loose him, but we'll see, its an ongoing problem.

STEPS!

Now we are nearly getting somewhere we need steps up to our new front door, Andy and Ant are brilliant at these, I love the wibbly wobblyness of the granite. I have been wanting some since they built similar ones for us behind cottage 6. It takes a while but it will be well worth it. CAnt wait until Spring when we can plant up and things will grow on the disturbed soil areas.

AGRICULTURAL STORAGE

We started the driveway in December and after a week we were called off and then it was Christmas and then we had the snow so it has been a stop start project really, but after laying concrete and digging for ever! we are finally getting there, the storage does look out of place and now we can put machinery under cover and help reduce the fixing costs!!! We will be laying grasscrete in front of it so it reads with the paddock,but cant really lay that until Ant and Andy have finished with the heavy stuff and bringing the big truck in. I guess another month and we should be getting there then...It will be so handy and we now have our own entrance to our house which will really help. I think Andy and Ant think they live here in the winter, they were building cottage 6 last year with us!...Wonder what next winter will bring....mmm plan a hatching!!!

NEW BELL!

I cant remember what I have told you and what I haven't...but this is the bell that caused us so much problems. Pete decided to save us money by doing the installation himself, only to cost us an arm and a leg with a call out to the electrician and a fix fee as he drilled through an electric cable and plunged us into darkness for the weekend!...But here's the bell in all its glory!!! I bet you lot just read this blog and think, crumbs how does it all happen there... honestly you just couldn't ake this stuff up, and there are so many stories I just dont ahave time to tell you!

THE MOUND!

After Me and Geoff and then me and tractor Annie, pain stakingly moved what seemed like a hundred ton of wood chippings the mound looks quite good now. A trip to the sale at the garden centre to get some shrubs, I spent a fortune and when I planed them it hardly touched the mound...hopefully they will grow quick!!! As I haven't any money left for more!!...After it was planted we sat down to admire our handy work in a sort of knackered hanging on a chair fashion as only Auntie Lou can carry off to perfection...almost as good as her shoelace moment...which has graduated into a stone in the welly moment...well change is as good as a rest I guess!!!... But we or rather Geoff had to run an electric fence around it as Shadow and the badger decided to dig up the plants we painstakingly planted...Hey Shadow and the badger....another name for a group maybe!! Should write a book of names!

JUST HAD TO SHOW YOU THIS!

I saw this little home you can make in your garden... I wont show the Council they will have us making them as affordable homes....dont start me on the ruddy Council we will be here all night!!!

MIGHT GET ALL THIS INFO THE WRoNG TIME ORDER!

As I said before its been so hectic, so the next few entries may not make complete sense as in time frames!....But they have all happened at some point over the last few weeks...I expect you are used to reading my garble by now anyhow! Laura as you know...well I think you know?...Accepted her offer of a BA(Hons) in Music (flute) at Chichester university, which means she will be moving at the end of the summer, I think she is really looking forward to it. I think it will be great and she should be happy there...and we will be happy when she is here whilst on uni leave!....Any way what was I saying ....oh god... I have lost the plot momentarily... um....Oh yeah, what I was trying to get to is that Sid her bearded dragon needed to be re homed before she moves, and we thought we would start looking for a good home now. It had to be a good home, someone who would care for him like Laura and who we were happy to have him. It happened quicker than I thought and we received a phone call from the head of Music at Bodmin college, offering Sid a home. As soon as we met Ben we knew Sid would love it with him, he would have his fix of music being played to him as he was used to. So happy days for all concerned.