Didn’t realise it had been so many days.
Thursday – dreadful weather again, ferry cancelled so no veg, no milk and the shop was pretty much bare. Ady and I put on waterproofs and went down to the village for various supplies from the freezer and shop. I know we had curry for dinner and I made naan breads but I can’t remember anything else about the day. I suspect I spent time knitting and I’m fairly sure I tidied up in the bathroom and got rid of some of the empty bottles of shampoo etc which seem to collect in there.
Friday – I think the weather was better, infact yes it was. The kids went down to the village, we did some wood processing and filled the wood store back up, Ady scythed the pig fence line and put some wooden posts in then we went down to the village to say goodbye to Billy the roofing contractor who has been here all winter. We got to know Billy when we came for our interview back in Feb 2012 and he was staying in the castle, he was still here when we moved up in the April and stayed in the castle for the first 5 days til the caravan arrived. It was his mats which we used to get the static up here in the end and he has been back every winter since and always been very kind to us giving us leftover materials from the various building jobs. This time was no exception and in addition to all the firewood he has given us this winter he also have us a load of plastic sheeting, some scaffold boards and several bags of lime render, gravel, sand and cement which will all very useful for the cob build. We love Billy.
We made a start on the wooden archway for the walled garden and were out til nearly dark getting it up. Pizza for dinner.
Saturday – work in the morning for Ady and I. Ady got loads of washing done which we brought back up to dry on the line – yay! The ferry finally came bringing loads of food supplies and the electric fence widget things we’d been waiting for. After lunch we put them on the wooden posts Ady had put in and laid out some paddock posts inbetween then finished putting some more bits onto the archway. It looks really good, I’m pleased with it :).
I came in to start dinner as bagels had been requested earlier in the week and they take a lot of faffing, while the others headed down to the village on a Top Secret Shopping expedition.
Sunday – Mothers Day. The kids gave me cards and presents which made me cry :). Ady and I completed the Big Pig Move and it was a glorious day. The kids brought us out supplies of tea and coffee but we missed lunch. The pigs are really happy in their new area. Lovely roast dinner and fizz in the evening.
Monday – Gorgeous weather in the morning. Davies and Scarlett went down to the village to meet Trudi to collect rock pool creatures to put in an aquarium in the visitor centre while Ady and I moved Tom’s pig ark from the old pig pen to the new one, set up the dividing fence to split them up, probably tomorrow. Spent some time in with them stroking and petting them, I do love the pigs. We’d planned to have pizza oven pizza and made the dough and lit the oven but not for long enough and it clouded over so we decamped back indoors for lunch in the end. The kids went back down to the village, Ady and I planned to do some wood processing but got distracted by looking at a plan for a flushing loo in the static so worked on that instead. We think we have it sussed so that is tomorrow and Wednesday’s task. I walked down to the village to meet the kids and collect some bits from the shop, dinner of cold meat from yesterday and potato gratin.