20th April 2026 - And Lawns and Adulting

Thought for the day :" Baby changing rooms are a massive hoax. Parents always come out with the same kids"

Dry 

Been adulting and trying to get the lawns cut ...

Had to reset the cutter drive belt three times - mainly due to hitting obstructions and being too low.

Also had to unravel a long cable that was wrapped around the cutter blade..

But the day started with pumping up the tyres, and then found that the tyre actually came off the rim of the wheel. Must have got far lower than I expected and when I drove on it, it came off the rim.

Adulting again as I found how to remove the wheel,  after experimenting with various car jacks. And then headed off to friend Will who was the person I though would probably have a compressor - which he did.  So, we managed to get the tyre pumped up again (it had no inner wheel so needed a powerful enough compressor to expand the tyre quickly enough to allow the tyre to fill.)

And so, Tilly enjoyed the new experience of following the tractor around the garden and she and Toby charged around for hours!  Lawns cut. Lower Quarter cut for the first time. Got around to the Romany Caravan and despite needing the ratchet three times to get her out of the mud, managed to get a cut around the paddock as well.

Susie needed more compost for the Polytunnel, and the oldest compost bin behind the Chickens was fully composted and worked well.

Sadly lost my phone around the garden. Silly me put it in the ledge at the back of the tractor, ended up with Susie walking around the garden listening for the dial tine - found it by Doris 2 so must have fallen out while doing the dip by the fountain.

  

In other news, I swish that horses riders would go back in time and take a servant with a spade and bucket behind them when going down the lanes. Yesterday we had Sarah and Zephyr with their horses but they didn't make a mess this time. Later we had a number of horses go past the house without stopping and most of them decided to defecate in my bit of lane... Dog owners clear up after themselves!

But I got the spade out and  cleared the mess - didn't want it hanging around like the rest of the lane.

Such is life in the fast lane ...

Didn't get around to the main task of the day - to clear the workshop 

Maybe tomorrow 

Cheers 

Cheers 

19th April 2026 - Sunday and Horses, Signs of the Times

Thought for the day :"I had an interview as a camouflage expert last week. I didn't turn up, so I got the job."

Dry 

Sunday , so of course we have a visit from Sarah and Zephyr, this time on Jack and Kinder, and they were very well behaved despite Tilly running around their hooves.

And some sun so some colour in the garden 

And found the various signs that I forgot to put out on the tavern stages over Easter 

Will be able to look at setting them up in the next few days.

Thought I would leave this here as one of the best flash mobs I have seen 

Cheers 

18th April 2026 - OSM Provincial and a walk around the gardens

Thought for the day :"I've just qualified as an Entomologist, my first assignment is to tabulate fleas. I just need to put all the right ticks in all the right boxes.."

Dry 

Secret Monitor Provincial Meeting n Carmarthen this morning so early start and covered the Organist job. Heard today that Organist in London Grand Lodge can charge £85 a meeting to act as Organist !!

I seem to be in the wrong place!!

But back for lunch and time to take a stroll around the gardens now that we are blooming a bit ..

And after about 5 years of promises, finally met up with Alun Jones who had promised me a stuffed owl for the Tavern. Today we transferred ownership at last 

and in other news - Trumpism  and the LEGO phenomenum

Cheers 

17th March 2026 - More Wood Chopping

Thought for the day :"Quite a few French words have found their way into the English vocabulary. There's ‘hors d’oeuvres’ for starters."

Wet

And so Chris was available again today so we did four hours still hacking away at the Parking Lot.

Chain saw back from Tremain so sharpened a couple of the chains - one worked well the other was a bit of a failure - will try again on Sunday to sharpen them all up.

Ran out os space so had to build another wood shed - Ho Hum

Start of the day

Middle of day 

End of day 

The smaller pile 
We can see the top of the verge again

The Drop - ready for more hardcore

And the bluebells

Off to Carmarthen tomorrow for the Provincial Meeting of the Secret Monitor. Last minute call for a stand in Organist as the current organist is ill and on anti-biotics.

Cheers