HEAT WAVE!

Its the end of September and they forecast a heat wave and boy have we got it today it is like the height of summer here....NO its not raining you cynical people! Its glorious hot sunshine!...Shame I am working maybe next year eh!

SOMETHING HAS HAD A MUNCH!

We found hundred of caterpillars happily munching their way through my plants, it looked like a plague of locusts had been through when they had finished! We had a good lot of butterflies this year though on the buddleias...no idea if that is the right way of spelling it or if its the right name of plant!!!!!

WISH I WERE A PET!

See Gem running through the fields and Shadow lounging about, her leg is better now and they have a life of Riley, no worries, get all the food and cuddles they need with nothing to think about except where they are going today and what adventures they can get up to, what a life!!!

IT HAS STARTED!!

The last guests in the mill building left on Saturday 10am and by 3pm I had started to remove the furniture. Luckily Holly my sister in law badgered me into putting things on eBay....EBAY what a frightening word! I have no idea how to work that, I can design anything you like but EBAY no cant do that don't have a clue... so I emailed the stuff to her and she put it on for me and by the end of Monday 48hours we had sold all the beds and 2 of the kitchens!!!! so I am a EBAY convert! Auntie Lou has been helping today shift things about and try to pack up stuff to keep and store and remove. Its a right ol' game really bit of a nightmare. But we are now at the point of unscrewing all the fixtures next, you wouldn't believe how much there is to do before we even start!. The electric has been cut off and the gas gets done with the water tomorrow. Then after our last guests for a few months ..Caroline and Jim ... we then remove the large gas tank at the bottom and will then build the office before work can commence on the mill, this will house the PV's and gas bottles... There is so much to organise, equipment, deliveries, time scaling, products, tie-ing stuff in, oh and work, how could I forget!!! and normal life with Steve and school and homework, Laura has it cushy up at uni!!!

WE DID HAVE FROGS!

I forgot to tell you we did manage to hatch some frogs from the hundreds of tadpoles!.. Here is one of them, they were quite difficult to photograph as they kept jumping out the picture, camera shy I think. I am not really sure how they made it as they had to share their pond with a great big hairy thing...no not Pete...Shadow ha ha. She used it as a paddling pool, but they all made it somehow!

ME AND MY SHADOW!

Need I say more!!

RUBY!

I don't know but I think that Ruby may well be standing still a little too much... Laura took this photo, I think all Ruby is interested in is eating and sleeping ...exercise doesn't really come in to it!!! All the frost had melted except the bit where Ruby was standing, god knows how long she had been just standing there.

NEW STEPS!

You know we are building a summerhouse up on the clearing and we have lifting tonnes upon tonnes of wood up a twelve foot shear to build it, Well now we have nearly finished we have put some steps in to access the place where the bridge will be!!! I know you are thinking why didn't they put them in first....well..one we didn't think of it and two it just would have been the same eh, whats life without a struggle or two!!!...MMM let me think....it would be that word I haven't heard in a long time...EASY????? Thanks Ant and Andy!! Another mission accomplished

THINGS ARE MOVING ALONG

While we wait for the Mill to be empty we are getting on with a job or two or three, there is so much to sort, cable diagrams and electrical layouts, installations, specifications, you name it and my head is full of it, bit of a headache really!! I am sure it will get better! Meanwhile back at the ranch!! We built a shed for our new area, see we dont hang about eh!

SHADOW IS POORLY!

Shadow hurt her leg and couldn't pitch on it at all, we took her to the vets and got some painkillers. I am not sure what she has done but she is always leaping about and is very heavy to fall, hopefully its a sprain. She has been in for 4 days now. So we wrapped her in a blanket and made her some hot chocolate!!!

FLOWERS FOR MYRNA X

A picture of the flowers outside Buttercup Cottage, thought I would take a picture and post it on the blog, just to say we are all thinking of you Myrna & Keith. Keep Smiling XXX Oh and Squeaker just wants to illustrate to you how to chill out so use this as a template!! X

NEW DUCKS

We had three new ducks courtesy of Lauras piano teacher. She has a new job and cant look after them so asked if they could move in with us, so here they are, cute little things. We moved them in whilst one arm being up on the roof, usual story eh!

SUMMER HOUSE

We are building a summerhouse up on the clearing for our new garden, its a labour of love really and heavy, we have to pass the wood up at least 12 foot bank before we start, Saturday was the worst we had ply to get up there and I thought my arms were going to fall off...I am strong but I think I needed elephant strength on that one! so we are working every minute of every day and night and all weekends, we wont make it otherwise, we are on a programme of work and it needs to be met. Still looking forward to 12-18 months time!!! Me and Pete are doing this one alone, we have Ant and Andy on somethings but we just havent got the money for help really...We need a free person who wants to get fit and get paid in cuppas!!!

AND BACK UP!

Laura popped home from uni this weekend...I know she has just gone!...But it was Aarons birthday so she came home, no sooner did her feet hit the floor I slipped a pair of wellies on 'em! And asked for a couple of hours to help lift the panels of the cycle and book store. They are sooooo heavy I cant believe we managed really Ant, Andy me and Laura.....luckily Pete nipped home in between meetings and I grabbed him for one of them and then he had about 20mins so he helped us lift them back in position down on the new slab....then ran up to the house changed again and off to the next meeting, I felt bad that he didn't eat or anything but that feeling soon went !!!He had gurnard at a posh restaurant at his meeting, St Moritz the one Pete designed, well their restaurant is newly open so they had a starter with the meeting...So yeap all feeling bad went real quick!!! You can see how well it fits in in the field, looks good I think, but its weird looking at the hole it has left!! this is where the carport etc is going with the PVs.

DISMANTLING THE CYCLE AND BOOT STORE

I think dismantling is worse than rebuilding the cycle and boot store....well I will let you know in that one actually!...Ant and Andy took a couple of days to dismantle the insides and get the roof off before we could attempt to move it, It was all nailed together so it was really difficult to get it apart without damaging it, but The Dream team managed!!!!

IDIOTS

Took rubbish out last night and early this morning as it was still burning when I took Steve to school at 8am.... some idiot set fire to it, must have been around 7.30am as it was still burning when I took Steve to school at 8am, it ruined our very expensive front signs, total muppets fancy doing such a thing. I know it was on purpose as it burned so hot that it exploded the contents of the rubbish and burned our sign. I reported it to the police and hope that I catch the person one day, as they will really NOT want to meet me!!!! What mindless totally waste of space they are!

THE STABLE IS MOVING

What was our cycle and boot store will be our stable in the field, Ant and Andy dug the base with a digger on Monday and we were rained off Tuesday, so then it was all hands on deck to set it out, frame up, back fill tonnes of hard core to be ready for the concrete pour at 3.30pm Wednesday...It was a bit manic but we managed and was ready with no minutes to spare when the concrete arrived. It was a hard day at it was 4m x 5 m base and about a foot deep!!! Aching today!! The next bit is really difficult as we have to some how dismantle the stables, but its been there a long while so might come to bits!! Have to wait and see eh!

MMM POOR LITTLE GUY!

I found this little chap but he was already gone :( so couldn't save him, I think its a stoat? Cute though, well not sure if he is cute or vicious in real life! Sorry about the banana skin, I thought I was on a tv program and put it there so we could relate to the size of him....them I thought ..mmmm ...the banana could be any size, we have no idea...I think you are supposed to use a five pound note or ruler or something!!! oh well inspector Michelle strikes again!

DO YOU KNOW THE NAME??

We have hundreds of these mushrooms at the moment, they are bigger than my hand! They look edible???? Anyone know?

JUST FOUND THESE

I had forgotten I took these pictures, after living here for 5 years we had never discovered what was literally 200 yards away.... a beautiful bluebell wood, just across the next road. Mind you we hardly ever get out so unless its in our field we probably wouldn't see it!!! But its really stunning. Its up a massive incline which I nearly died walking up....ok so a little exaggeration there, but I cant breathe as well as Pete as my heart is a bit dickey, but no sympathy from Pete up that hill we went at 100 mile an hour just to make sure I was quiet I reckon!!! Worth it at the top though, when my eyes stopped whizzing and I could breathe again  ha ha

OMG A SKUNK!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a pet shop had skunks for sale as pets! This isn't a very good picture as i only had my phone, but this little guy is a baby skunk and is the most cuddly thing ever. They cannot be caged they live as cats and dogs do in the home but you cant let them out without you as they will just wander and not return as they don't have a sense of home like normal animals...weird?!Apparently they don't spray unless they feel their life is threatened. They had a big one there called billy and he was like a huge ball of fluff. I couldn't believe my luck to hold a baby skunk, he didn't smell at all and I now look and think of them in a whole new light!...Mind you the only contact I had with a skunk was in the film Bambi!!! SO hey what do I know!!!

THE PHANTOM POPPADOM PINCHER!

Shadow will eat anything, well anything except what she is meant to. She loves all the rubbish and you cant leave anything on the worktop as Shadow surfs them to see whats fair game in her eyes! This time she had a poppadom. Mind you don't go much on the concealment, inconspicuous isn't really her strong point eh!I think the most expensive thieving was a huge joint of pork for christmas, but she waited until I cooked it and it was just right, then another time was 4 dozen buns left on the top to cool just while I put the chickens in by the time I got back up they had been shadowed and a few papers remained!

HOPE SMUDGE IS HAPPY SOMEWHERE

Smudge (on the right) went missing in May time and after a month we finally found her, she had made a home with some children and lived in a stable with a horse, she seemed fine when we picked her up and took her home, she seemed really pleased to be back really cuddly then about 6 weeks later she just vanished, so thinking she may have gone back to the children we asked but no one had seen her, we looked for weeks but no luck, she is a very good hunter so wouldn't really need to be fed to survive unlike smurf in the left of the picture, who needs food put right in front of him with a napkin almost! I just hope where ever she is that she is happy and safe.

CHALLENGE ME AND LAURA!! BACK TO UNI!

Its that time again when the bags need to be packed for the move back to uni, I think she is home a lot more than away though they have a lot of time off, which is good in a way as Laura gets to help here....shes really glad about that!!! Well the packing of the car started on Wednesday ready for the off at 8am Thursday morning. It was just me and Laura as Pete and Steve had to be in Bath for golf. Typical all the same day...mind you wouldn't have got anyone else in our cars we were full to the roof tops!... Left and battled through the heavy traffic to Chichester just in time for key collection from the landlord at 1pm. He arrived and told us all the bits and bobs and how he had cleaned it thoroughly, all I am going to say is I hope he doesn't ever open a holiday cottage business!!! I have the rubbish in my car to prove it!...But saying that the house does have a nice feel to it and Laura will whip it into shape when she gets there. It has a nice little back garden and shed for the bike and a shared front grass area, there are a few young children around so that gives it a nice feel, quite safe. Well Landlord left and we knew we had to be on a mission if we were going to get back in one day. The car was parked a little way away so that made things harder, keep locking cars and lifting ridiculously heavy boxes and pianos,...yeap pianos!!!!...We made sure we had a key in our hand to the house so we didn't get locked out. The one key that Laura choose as it had a pretty colour top!!!! didn't fit the lock did it. So now we are outside her new house locked out in the middle of chichester. We had no choice but to call the landlord back from Maidenhead to sort it! Nightmare, he had to go cut new keys and then we started again. Before we moved in we had to remove the rubbish and items from around the house. We then started the long unpack!!!... We were going on really well, then I thought, best hoover up a bit, plugged the hoover in and after 2 minutes it caught on fire so we chucked it out the front door to save everything, didn't have the nerve to ring landlord again so just stuck a dangerous sticker on it and thought email him later!!.... Ill try to shorten the story, then no kettle or anything so thought check out the cooker and the knob came off and couldn't turn the gas  ring off, panicking by now finally managed to turn off!! No CO2 alarm so have to sort that too with landlord. got smoke alarms though....managed to get into the leaky shed to put the bike away that has a combination lock so should be ok to remember that!... Then used the loo and flush didn't work....meanwhile all the tooing and froing unpacking car then up the stairs  we thought best get food to leave for Laura, which was a mammoth task! as we walked out the front door and it slammed behind us, with our keys to car and phones inside the house...We were really in trouble now, no record of the number for landlord, no phone, no car....oh man we will be in trouble....So after running around shouting for a while and then trying to get a ladder to see if any windows were open we finally got someone to lend us a key of their house in the hope it might just help jiggle the lock.....But then we remembered the back door locks from the inside but maybe we hadn't turned the thumbscrew properly.....and after figuring out how to get to the back door, we got in ...phew......off to shop......unpack and then remove rubbish for journey home, By that time we were really tired and tried to put TV in car but I cant bend and lift, I can do one or the other! so got it stuck half way in car, so Laura tried to save me by crawling under it, so now her legs were across the pavement and body half in the car with head under a TV, it must have looked so funny anyway long story.....got her out and off we went to eat briefly and get home.....Just as we thought our day couldn't get much worse the train line barriers came down, when we were short of time, and not one train but 3  at 5 min intervals came leisurely trucking by.... I was loosing will to live by then!!! Got home midnight, I have missed out lots but you get the gist!!! The house doesnt look that big but has four beds rented out and communual lounge/kitchen which as you can see by the post its laura has organised everyone....well no one else bothered to turn up so I think she did really well and organised all the broadband/tv licence bills etc, best the others pay, or a visit from yours truely might happen and they wouldnt want that now would they!!!

PAMPER SHADOW!

Shadow decided in her wisdom to go in the big bad sticky buds and was covered head to toe in them! It was time for a brush, after wrestling her to the ground as she thought it was a game I finally managed to make head way. She tried to catch the brush, my arm, she even tried to scoot around in a circle on the floor to chase her tail whilst laid down.  Then I figured out a miracle, ....if I held her hand or paw if you like to call it! and stroked her paw whilst brushing her she fell asleep!! Now that's weird, going from manic to trans like state in a minute! I think I survived the ordeal!