You can never have too big a shed.

Shed extension coming on nicely, more room for stuff that we haven't used for 5 yrs in the middle section and another log store on the end!

Need more topsoil.

3 ton of topsoil from the hill, kindly donated by our friendly farmer, but the hard labour done by us.

Poor trailer has been working hard, helped immensely by the introduction of air into the tyres after the first mega load!

Latest on the landscaping.

 Fencing is done and a new drainage ditch to help disperse some of the water coming off the hill.

 Extra points if you can spot Ruby!

 Two loads of topsoil spread....back breaking stuff. Ruby in shot again, she was intrigued by what I was doing.

Expensive new scratch post for Ruby

Water, water everywhere...

Despite enduring a month's rainfall in 3 days (and double that amount in 10 days) work continues with the landscaping. Today saw the fence put up, it will be put to the test in a couple of weeks when the farmer moves the cows... 
Plus a bit of levelling round the back of the house.

Cheeky visitor

Two blurry photos of a cheeky fox exiting stage right at 0740hrs, I think the cats would rather have the rogue cat scaring them!

Landscaping begins in earnest.

Scraping the Type 2 old surface off in order to put it back to grass at the front, levelling the garden off and filling in all the holes made when the bull and all his girls got in!

Also preparing the roadside surface ready for the post and rail.

Is there anyone out there?

We are thinking about doing some more posts, if anyone is still interested enough?
This is a picture of a rogue cat that has been sneaking in to the house through the cat flap and terrorising our two.
But, no more as we have got a new cat flap, we had to scan our cats (like scanning your shopping at Tesco (other supermarkets are available) and now only our cats gain access through it!
We are about to start getting groundworks done, landscaping and fencing, so watch this space......

Logs,logs everywhere and not one ready to burn.

With all the storm damage last year there are plenty of limbs off fallen trees to acquire.
But the problem is storing them for 2 yrs while they mature.
I have discovered this unique way of stacking them in an independent stack so they don't have to be stacked against a wall or under the eaves of the shed, which would take up valuable space needed for logs that just need drying.
My first attempt was much smaller than this one and a bit ropey so I pulled it down and built this one today, it took nearly all day to build but there was a fair amount of log splitting and one collapse of part of the side wall too.
Should really be finishing off the wall........
We have a new gadget..... a night vision, movement activated camera and we have captured quite a few shots of nothing (probably mice) and quite a few shots of Ruby and Chobe but we got our first two proper wildlife shots over the last 2 nights.
The first one was a hedgehog (had it in video mode that night) and the second was last night and as you can see it was a series of shots of a our resident Roe deer.
We would love to get something a bit more exciting like a Pine marten so watch this space.

Where has the last 15 months gone?

Doesn't time fly?
You have to admit that the wall was worth waiting for.
Now I need to move on to the new wall we have started along the front of the property.

As you can see, I had a bit of help from Tom and Mavis to clean up the original wall as it was covered in moss and all overgrown.

The other picture of me digging wasn't set up as an action shot-but I put it in anway as I look quite thin in it.

Nice new car in the background don't you think?
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After much blood, sweat and tears... oh and golf

Phase 1 of the wall is almost complete! It's only taken Sam 15 months to get to this stage, but she has played an awful lot of golf in the meantime!

Phase 2 has begun (we are both allowed to contribute to this part), with the first foundation stones having been laid. You might be able to spot a huge pile of stones behind Sam, we think it might be around 2 tons' worth. All shifted by hand from the pile of stones that was the old cottage (we did use the trailer to bring them up here). With about a ton of stone to each metre of wall it's not going to get us very far, but it's a start at least. Or it will be when I get back from my next stint in Bahrain!

We have also tidied up the front of the property, photos to follow when all the strimming and tidying up is completed.

On a wildlife note we were unfortunate that the owl did not return to the nest, but we did spot a juvenile golden eagle scanning the moor on a hunting mission, and there are definitely red squirrels in the area. The cats are loving it here, but the birds, mice and voles aren't so lucky.