Friday 12th April
Strangely 2 days back at the farm after 4 days off has been painful. I seem to ache all over and Daz seems to be suffering too. Over the last 2 days we’ve worked on the greenhouse, planted some more seeds, tidied and pruned in the garden, painted wood preserver and constructed a wooden edge for the manure heap.
Saturday and Sunday
Both days we go geocaching. On Saturday it’s just the 3 of us ( Daz, Ion, and me) and we do 15 caches and both the caches and the walk/scenery are stunning.
On Sunday we persuade Christina to join us just for 3 caches just so she has an idea what we spend so much time doing. One cache has 42 favourites so we’re expecting something special.
I also watch whilst Christina works the horses. It’s amazing how quickly they learn what’srequired!
And I attempt to cut Darren’s hair after 3.5 months growth… Sorry Darren!
Monday 13th April
Today we finished the manure heap: fully edged and now covered to prevent the chickens constantly scratching at it and spreading the mess everywhere. The yard area has been raked and tidied – after a windy Sunday there was straw and hay everywhere. And we’ve stacked the sawn wood by the reclaimed wood pile.
Before:
After our work:
We’re preparing for the resumption of sawing the beams which we haven’t touched for over a week. Christina has asked us to finish and clear the whole pile. We’ve also got the 3 bikes on the road; buckled wheel on the mountain bike significantly truer than it was and without a jig (well done Daz) and the other bike has 2 new tyres and inner tubes (the rubber had completely perished) so a bike adventure might follow shortly!
Tuesday 14th April
Today there’s torrential rain and although we start on the wood pile, rain soon stops play and we have a movie day instead. Film of the day ‘ The Wedding Ringer’ – brilliant.
Wednesday 15th April
More rain. Daz starts work on the benches to go with his table.
Ion is recycling old windows to be used in the greenhouse and I help Christina repot the tomatoes, squash and cucumber seedlings.
In the afternoon I help Christina to trim the hooves of Sparky and Pinochio (so I hold the feet whilst Christina trims)! The boys continue with windows and benches.
The rain has been constant and heavy today and the horses look miserable. We bring them in early but Peanut is shivering and we put a couple of blankets over her. Christina is desperate for the foal to come. The due date is 11 months but Peanut is almost a month overdue.
Thursday and Friday
The weather improves and it’s back to the log pile and Daz’s bench. The plastic sheeting arrives for the greenhouse roof. Daz and Ion put the roof on the greenhouse – Ion says it’s nearly done but he’s been saying that for weeks!
More wood sawing and we think another day and it’ll be done!
We test the 3 bikes by cycling to Floby. They’re pretty good although the mountain bike seat seems to be agony! After pizza we return to the farm but pick up another bike. It’s been lying against the same hedge for a month. We check with the nearest house if they know anything about the bike and then we take it!
