Challenge Complete!!, we sold most of our land and Farm House! Enabling us to concentrate on Purl Design LLP - Sustainable Architecture and allow our guests to enjoy the peaceful retreat here at The Mill Cottages in either of our one bed cottages, along with our resident pets, ponies, chickens, goats, cats and dogs! We have spent the last year renovating the 400 year old mill for us to live in, completed late 2012 and love every minute!!!... We are looking forward to another successful year.
Sunday, 17 June 2012
HAIRCUT!
That time again where the dogs when for their summer outfits! Gem looks quite serious like she should be wearing spectacles or something, Lucky is just not going to pose for any camera, its embarrassing!...and Shadow, well shadow is a right show off and loves her hair do, mind you she has a bit more hair left that the others so she might be gloating!!!
Thursday, 14 June 2012
THE FAMOUS THREE!
Always together and always up to no good is Lucky, Gem and Shadow.... Gems in charge and enjoys her coffee with one sugar! Lucky likes to pretend she is up for military operations and waiting for the next call up and Shadow is away with the fairies but always willing to copy a plan!!So long as it doesn't involve sharing her bread!
FRIENDS???
Ruby,Storm and Studley are quite protective over each other but were quite excited to see a few visors arrive on horse back to say hello. Not quite sure if they would have let them in their field tho!
HAPPY!
Steve finishes school on the 27th June after his final GCSE exam. He has his place at college and will start subject to results (which I am sure will be fine as he assures me he has revised sooo much) in September. He seems pretty happy he is leaving!!! He is helping me one or two days a week and will be through the holidays between golf etc to earn a bit of money for when he starts college. He moved the kitchen over last week so I think he's up for it!! I'll have to do one of my lists!!!
HAMMOCK STAND
The Hammock stand has a new home, Pete built a great platform for it and then we can lie in the shad under the tree...DO you know we have hundreds of seats here, but never sat on them I am hoping to be able to use them soon.that would be a novelty!...But can't wait to try this out...the cats think it is a new play toy or something!
BIRDS EVERYWHERE
At the moment there are hundreds of birds about, which is great we couldn't even sit for a coffee (no kitchen so we had a sneaky cuppa!) in the garden centre without a robin coming to join us! The Canada geese are prevalent at the moment and a lot of cormorants....I think thats what it is and a little wood pigeon is it? But lots about we saw a yellow hammer/great tit/blue tit/jay too and a woodpecker and maybe a nuthatch or something but I wasn't quick enough to photograph them!
KITCHEN ARRIVED
Finally after a right fiasco, the kitchen finally arrived on the back of a lorry to be installed, it wasn't quite that simple as the worktop people wouldn't be here to sort their bit for another 10 days and only half the handles turned up so we can't open some of the cupboards for another 10 days 23rd of June or something...the tiler is on holiday so won't be tiled yet and the plumber was on his way to holiday but luckily we caught him just in time...lucky him!! and the electrician worked late to connect us. The painter won't be here until next week to touch up the paint work...BUT I HAVE A KITCHEN...so that is good!!! but it wasn't going to go to plan was it!!! When its finished soon hopefully it will look great!
MAN TO MAN ADVICE
Pete had to go down to the goats to give them a bit of advice seeings as we had new arrivals, i.e. DOnt jump on the cage, 2 don't spring off the chick cage to get leverage to the roof of the goat house and slide down the back and fall with a thud, risking life and limb and heavy vet bills, and 3 don't try to eat the tails feathers through the mesh!!! Not sure how it went!!???
THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN
Storm is already struggling with the onset of maybe laminitus, she was really bad last year, I just don't get why ponies feel the need to try to kill themselves eating. We now have a restriction muzzle on her to try to make her eat less. I wish Ruby would eat more as the weight is so hard to keep on her, BUt Storm is a right pig when it comes to food. She has already taught Studley what to pull so the mule can be released and then she leaves it all over the field, n gates, posts, wire, all sorts of places, its like a game to her really!!! Ii am glad she sees it that way while I am trying to save her!!
THEN THERE WERE 7!
The eggs hatched one by one until we had 7 title yellow fluffy chicks! They were so cute but on the second day one got squashed under the mum and we lost him. So we now have 6 and they seem to be quite healthy at the moment. I am hoping the dad in the other white cockerel we have, then we won't have a whole bunch of chicken thugs as might be if Bruce is the dad!!
BRUCE IN LOVE!
Bruce our feisty cockerel is in love with brucette! He is afraid of nothing and will even attack those who dare to come in to his personal space, but really he is just a pussy cat!!! Its just because he is small may be!
THANKYOU KEITH AND MYRNA
Keith and Myrna , guests and friends of ours visited us last week after a truly hard year for them, I am glad to report that Myrna is on the mend and looking mighty fine too if I do say so!!! So we were so pleased to see them but didn't expect what they produced out of the boot of their car! They mentioned they had something for us, I was puzzled as to what it might be, but then I saw him... It was a horses head sculpture made out of wood, it is stunning, we have been looking for quite some time for something that permanently reminds us of Tom our special little pony we had, and this is perfect...Thankyou so much, it has pride of place in our new hall. XX
POPPIES NO MORE!
Poor poppies, I grew them on the wall and as you have seen they were looking beautiful the best show of poppies we have ever had, then a wild gust of 70mph freak wind blew them off!!... I have replaced them with lavender and other flowers that I though wee low poppies but in fact are called something gnomes!!! Lets hope these ones fair a little better!!!
A LITTLE CHILLY!
Shadow is feeling a little chilly and seems to like wondering around with Petes jumper on.... Odd animals we have, sometimes she walks around with her blanket on her back!
Thursday, 7 June 2012
OUR PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND!
We thought we would have time off work at the weekend, to make our fire pit area and be able to use it at last!... We made seats all the way around it with log rounds as tables and converted and old table into an outside area table to lay out for BBq's, can't wait to use it properly have to wait until Dad is able to pop out after his op today, not sure he will be up for a BBQ tomorrow but maybe soon! We also made a path the summerhouse, it was really hard work for two days abut a welcome change form the norm! And of course we christened it will a bottle of Jubilee champagne, we were covered in mud and smoked out by the fire pit and couldn't move our limbs well after all the heavy lifting...but it was great!
PROGRESS!
We are getting there now, heres a snap shot of the outside of the mill at the moment, it seems we have been working day and night forever, but I am pleased with the result so far, the porch is coming together although we can't seem to stop the water running through the timber, not sure you ever will, but looks good....Now where are those new neighbours, I am having to eat all the strawberries ...such a hard life!
MMMMMMM
We picked all of these out of our garden, ate as many as possible and the rest I will try to make jam, just hope they last until I have a kitchen eh!!! I asked Pete to help me, but not too sure if he could pick fruit for a living, he lasted about 15mins before he had to go and get a pot of cream!!!
LAZY DUDES!
Our cats are so lazy, I know I have said this before but really they are bad, Smartie has made a sunbathe patch on the top of the sedum roof, and surf just rolls around in his bed until its time for me to sleep!!!! And well Sassy, she has an excuse as she is still recovering form amputation but she sleeps like a blanket around my head all night, its really uncomfortable but don't like to move her really!!
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
NEW BORNS!
We left our hen to sit on the eggs all day and three little chicks had hatched by the end of the day, We have been down in the paddock making a nursery to keep them safe and hopefully warm enough over night, so just hoping the rats and buzzards don't get them and the mum keeps them warm, just have to wait and see.
CHICK!
I can't photograph it yet, but we have had a new delivery this morning one of our chickens is the proud mum of 1 so far, not sure if there will be anymore, but she has a little yellow fluffy chick!!! Ill try to photograph it later!
Friday, 1 June 2012
SUNSHINE SASSY!
Sassy is clearly enjoying the sunny weather, even without her long fluffy tail, although I am not sure she has got the hang of which end to put her glasses on!! Just after this picture was taken she grabbed the end and threw them across the room and huffed and went back to sleep, I am sure she isn't a cat, just a little human!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)