Canoeing

They have a final bonfire, and a beer

then down to the bottom of the garden and into the canoe. I'm not sure which way the tide was going, but clambering over seaweed and rocks down to the water's edge was very slippery.

But they made it, along with the bottle of red wine

and off they go. It was around 8.30pm I guess when they set off. The water was as still as could be and very clear. They said later they saw the sun setting, (around 9.30pm here), met a nosy seal, saw oyster catchers, cormorants and herons. The canoeing was the highlight of their trip they agreed, the icing on the cake.

A week in the life of Brookwood

Everything will be ok - Jo and Em are here to carry on work on the house. First the early...ish morning jog

this will limber them up and help them to work more efficiently - after breakfast, and changing into their work clothes of course

A short..ish time later they're ready with their workers apparel (sun glasses, sun tan lotion, fruit and i-pods)

Then it's down to the serious business of erecting the scaffolding. They really did work very hard on this and didn't appear put off by the enormity of the task.

I'll hold this and you bash that

and eventually after a very welcome helping hand from Dodo whom they flagged down driving by on his tractor the scaffolding is erected and in place and the arduous task begins of brushing the house (that's what it says to do on the tin) before applying the primer

It's been a long afternoon and they lower their bucket of 'tools!'

Then the ladder

Whoops, watch out Dad

Later in the week reinforcements arrive in the form of Dan, Em's boyfriend

and Robin our son

The painting is put aside to help lift the stairs into the house and set them in place

They're incredibly heavy

Do you think we should straighten our hair and put some make up on this evening?

but eventually they fit into place, with a bit of a struggle!

and a welcome break is had

Sometimes I manage to get lunch to them on the site, and on time.

None of this instant coffee rubbish for Dan - he makes his own pot of proper coffee

Back to the painting

Dan is a rock climber and can't resist scrambling up the roof and sitting astride the top

Eventually he comes back down and carries on working

Jo and Em still hard at it. It's been very warm and the fumes from the primer made their eyes sting, and wearing goggles made them hot and sticky

but by yesterday the 4 of them have completed, amongst otherthings, the brushing down and priming of the whole house

They've even found time to clear some branches and have a bonfire. They have been the best help ever and worked very hard.
I took some empty bottles to the bottle bank yesterday, I did think I might need the trailer on the car but I managed - just! I shall really miss them and I think they would say they've had a good time. Jo, Em and Dan travel home tomorrow while Robin stays on until Tuesday. He and Niels have started fixing the plastic sheeting on the inside of the house. This acts as a vapour barrier which makes the house air tight (a bit like living in a polythene bag!) which is necessary apparently for the heat exchange system to work.

Lamb chop

When I first became acquainted with Lamb chop I thought she was just another one of life's losers! Scruffy, bedraggled, always hanging around, ever hopeful for the the odd hand out. But I've since concluded she's just one very smart sheep!

She comes round most days, and stands outside the kitchen window, calling out in a rather tuneless, urgent 'bahhhhing' sort of way.

I go out side and join her. I sit on the step and we have a chat - well, I have a chat, Lamb chop has an eat. She's partial to a number of things but she loves bread. She's not fussed whether it's stone ground, multi grained, soft batch wholemeal or granary, from Tesco or the bakers, just as long as it's in big chunks to go down. She eats apples and carrots as well, and last nights salad and cabbage stalks, all the vegetable peelings , but not potato (I don't like to give her those.) She's far more effective than a dustbin

She's very inquisitive, (can I eat this camera?) but at the same time very timid. Sometimes she lets me rub her muzzle. Her ears appear to be made up of holes and serrated edges

She's also unraveling a bit at the neck - a real scruff bag. Apparently sheep rub their wool off with their continual efforts to reach the greener grass under the fence. Living here it would have to be the tree on the other side of the fence always has more bark!

Up and down the lane lambs are being born at an amazing rate. Some mums and babies just graze by the side of the lane, others are in fields, and others just roam on the hillside.

The sheep are very protective of their young. Some days there is a constant calling of mums and their off spring, who not noticing the distance, have wondered out of range. Each mum knows her baby and if a lamb tries to latch onto the wrong mum he's shown no pity and gets short shrift.I've mentioned all of this to Lamb chop and asked her if she intends to be a mum. She is looking wider just lately, although Niels says that's because she's eating all his food. I'm under no illusions regarding this friendship. It's totally one sided. I'm a sort of mobile larder, a meals on wheels. I'm not sure what Lamb chops reply was when asked about motherhood, she had her mouth full at the time, but I think, I thought she said she'd rather come in and have a cup of tea and a jaffa cake!

Devestation!

The septic tank moves from the top of the drive down nearer to its final resting place . At this point my camera battery died so I was unable to take the action shot of it being lifted into the hole in the ground!

So you'll have to take my word that it was a pretty spectacular sight! Here it is buried up to its neck and filled with water. Niels says I can have 73 baths - is that a week? In my life time? I wonder?

This is quite tragic. A photo of the land last June before the Hoffs got their sticky mitts on it!

I do remember how lush and green it was, everything just grew everywhere in total random profusion

and now look at it! It looks dreadful and sad. It feels so murderous to have devastated so much of the landscape. About half the garden has now been wrecked.

And Ian sitting in his digger waiting to wreck a bit more

He needs to clear a space down here so that the puraflo tanks can be installed on the 12th May. We want to keep as many of the logs as possible for firewood. While they're not huge tree trunks by any means they are in many cases very long and often very heavy and tangled up in a jungle of branches. The problem is continually working uphill, (or down!) without always being able to find firm foot holds. The ground is slippery and muddy with lots of lose rocks and stones - and I guess we're just not used to it!

We spent two days chopping, hacking, throwing, rolling, sawing, lopping and often sitting in an exhausted heap

And at the end of it we produced this tiny log pile!

Look here it is an close up, it looks much bigger. There were tons of logs honest. It was such hard work. We can't walk upright any more and our arms ache

Ian thought we'd done a good job though and gleefully programmed his digger to destruct mode

and cleared a way for puraflo - easy!

You've seen those paintings of the trenches in the first world war? It looks like a battle field doesn't it?

But on a positive note we have inherited some good top soil from Torr Cottage along the lane. They are having a road put in which has been good for us! Good timing thank you!

And this little chap. He was here before us and is not going to be put off by a ton of boulders being tipped on him - it's spring after all and this little daffodil has waited a year for this moment. The good thing is that everything seems to grow here, in spite of the sheep, and hopefully our garden, given time, will stop being frightened of us and begin to emerge again with some help and encouragement to its former green, and pleasant state!
Yesterday we went into Inverness and bought a staircase and eight doors! We also ordered tiles for the shower room and chose bath, sinks, shower and taps. Niels ordered some wood and bought a nail gun, but that wasn't so exciting, nail guns don't come in different colours.
Tomorrow Jo our daughter and friend Em are coming for a week to help. Robin our son arrives on Tuesday for a week also to help. It will be wonderful we can have breakfast in bed and put our feet up!
And finally we have been granted a reprieve and can now stay in the cottage until 23rd of this month, which is great. Then it's definitely in to the caravan!