30th April 2022 - A welcome touch of rain

Thought for the day :"I keep imagining I'm holding an invisible pack of cards. No one knows what I'm dealing with!!"

As I sit and write in the evening there is a light rain outside and it is needed by the garden as we have had a glorious few days ..   

But the decision was that my task for the day was for me to get the small electric strimmer out and do the pathways that were getting overgrown. I had been waiting ot get the brushcutter working but that is int he machine ship so it was a case of getting the extension cables out and to be fair our extension cable covers half the garden.

 

It takes a lot of time with the small strimmer and though I tried the idea of using cable ties instead of cable it really did not help as the cable ties lasted a lot less time than the cable.

Also may have rewound the cable int he wrong direction wo it all gave out too quickly - but we learn from these experiences.

Main steps to the pontoon

Toby inspects the rhubarb beds walkway 

Path s all cleared

Steps done - check

Pontoon area

View back up the beds

Meanwhile Susie attacked the carpets in the yurt - the paint has had three days to dry so we can lay the carpets now 

But she was also busy elsewhere in the garden 

I won't pretend to name what is in the beds..  but there is "stuff"

And the Yurt is finalised

Tomorrow we start building the put you up bed and maybe get the double bed down

All in all a good day ..

Cheers 

29th April 2022 - Another busy day

Thought for the day :"I was watching Jurassic park the other day when I thought, "not only is that a really stupid name for someone, but they are also a terrible driver".

Another sunny day - perhaps the last of the current week, and I have put the cushions away and replaced the tarpaulins over the stage and patio for the weekend.

Meanwhile - I moved a few trunks of trees down in the lower quarter to see how flat we can get the land.

Also moved the metal poles from the paddock that have been there for far too long and needed to be stored away and improve the look of the Paddock. 

Tomorrow is the last day that the girlies need to be kept under cover as the avian flu restrictions are removed for another summer - will probably leave the netting up - I am sure that it will be required again next year and will provide some cover for them.

Looking at getting some runner duck eggs for the incubator now that the restrictions are being lifted.  

Put a roof on the first wood store behind the yurt.  Not a bad day.

Put some white stones to line the stream from the plunge pool -
and widened the drainage ditch by the island..  

More Bluebell - with the yellow flowers among the blue.

 

Moving some trunks of trees

Lower Quarter

Meanwhile Susie has been busy as well ..

Cleared one of her raised beds for courgettes and put down compost and coverings.

Weeded other beds as well 

Started putting the canes up for the beans. 

Trip to Newcastle Emlyn to pick up some more good value pillows for the yurt 

and of course some more compost... 

And to sum up - a view of the house with the Magnolia in Bloom 

All in all a decent day 

Cheers !

 

28th April 2022 - Trying to adult - and failing

Thought for the day :"I dislike people that use the same word twice in a sentence. Enough is enough…"

Susie was busy today.

She listed all that she had done and I probably forgot much of it - but I know that she weeded one of the borders so could put the compost on it - I think for courgettes, and she planted the tubers for the dahlias (I think)  that the Madigans had given us and had been sitting in the box for a while, and she split her Marigolds and probably a lot more..

I started clearing the fallen tree and branches and created my first wood pile behind the Yurt ..

Mattress for the double bed arrived today as well as the biggest bottle of swarfega that I have seen - but there was only a fiver between the small jar and the big dispenser so it seemed like a good idea.

Why do I want Swarfega ? because I have been trying to adult - and took the strimmer apart again today and this time cleaned the carburettor - but when it went back together it still worked (a bonus) but no better than when I had started..

And so I went to the machine shop and it is a shame to report the pain in his eyes as I said that I had stripped the carburetor down after watching Youtube.

He took the strimmer in to look at and his passing though was 

"Look at the ladies in the bikinis on Youtube rather than the machine ones ...  just saying"

Oh well - but I am on stop with the undergrowth until I get a brushcutter working properly 

Thursday of CP tonight and I am feeling a little as though I should be somewhere else - but mixed feelings to be honest ..  

Wishing everyone well at CP ..
Hope you have a great event - maybe next year ...

Cheers !

27th April 2022 - Walks, Yurts, and Carburettors

Thought for the day :"Person who fell from 6th floor of a night club has died – apparently was not a Bouncer!"

Another glorious day of sun (though in honesty if the sun goes in the temperature drops very quickly) but an opportunity to walk the hounds.

Bluebells at Felin Ganol

and Susie did her third and final coat if sealant paint on the Yurt - now it has to dry for 72 hours before we can move the furniture in.

Walking along the road - this is the view of the Tavern through the trees...

IN the rest of the garden the azaleas and Roho Dos are all coming out now and the Magnolia is amazing, though the laburnum has again failed - we think the frost got it again.

Tried some adulting again today and looked at the strimmer / brush-cutter which is idling with no problems but cuts out as soon as you rev up ....

So watched some Youtube and started taking apart - tried cleaning and put it back together .

Bonus is that it started afterwards after a few tries. Changed the fuel for fresh fuel as there seemed to be dirt in the bottles - but it is just as bad as before.

May try again tomorrow - wish me luck !

Oh well ...

Cheers !

26th April 2022 - Repairs, Floors, and Lawns

Thought for the day :"I hate it when people cannot let go of the past. Debt collectors are the worst!!!"

Another sunny day - though a little chilly
But a busy day
Took the opportunity to repair the raised floorway (caused by using the caterpillar truck - it may have been a little heavy for the structure I had put in)

Meanwhile Susie got another layer of the floor sealant onto the Yurt..

So with the caterpillar working and the floorway repaired I managed to finish the lower quarter pathways.

And it seemed a good opportunity to get the lawns done as well - so I did.

In other news, the eater chicks are growing fast but sadly one died due to water belly - which can happy I understand as they grow so fast that the left ventricle fails and liquid gathers in the body.


But Cedric's babies have hatched and we have four strong chicks in the coop now. Will candle the rest to see what is happening tomorrow

Took over 400 photographs yesterday and they are on Flickr...

FLICKR

Cheers !

25th April 2022 - Fabio, Yurt Flooring and Pathways

Thought for the day :"The quietest musical instrument is a broken drum. You just can't beat that!"

I Seem to have missed a few days due to various matters - including family visits and late evenings, but I will start catch up today and then go back through a few days and get everything on scale again.

So today was another sunny day - and I started with the knowledge that the caterpillar truck was not working and that I would have to try and reproduce whatever Nathan had done and get it running again. The starting point for that was to put some more fuel in and guess what - it started and ran all day..
May have managed a few trips with chippings down to the path in the Lower Quarter.

Then adulted a bit when the pull rope on the starter failed and had to take it apart and then got it wrong and let the spring escape and had to work out how to put it back in place..   all working at the end of the day 

Another day and we may well be able to finish the pathways...

Sadly, the raised wooden pathways were not really built for the weight and a section has collapsed and I have a couple of ramps in place for the moment. also managed to catch a hook on the wall in the passage to the Ty Bach and rip a wall away - that was another little task repairing the wall but meant that I found an old gate that had been stored int he tunnel and using it by the back of the Chicken Coop.

In other news - Susie has been painting the floor of the Yurt with sealant paint .

She started the day by cleaning the Chicken out for our new brood - we have three pipped in the incubator (they are future layers from our own eggs) and one out ready
In the cages we have 9 "eaters"  and our own girls and boys.
News today that they will be removing the restrictions on keeping the chicken under cover on May 2nd and we will be able to let them roam free again ...

I charged up the batteries on the Canon today and decided to spend some time taking photos around the garden and so I have some processing to do today ...

Fabio was in fine fettle 

But a good day and the Garden is just bursting into bloom ..

Cheers !