You got a licence buddy?

There are days when even I am surprised at the amount that goes on here. Today was the day the fish arrived, courtesy of our friends in the Isle of Man, we now have some spectacular rainbow trout. As we got up early there was plenty of time for last minute cock ups, the best one being a severe lack of water in the holding tank. I had taken the tank system apart to allow Mr Digger a chance to make part of the Bonsai Mountain level, so last night the big tank was put back pride of place, level, fantastic, and so the filling process began. As all the pipes are currently disconnected due to a huge yellow JCB wandering around I set up the pump from the well. It took ages to fill it. This was because I had left the drain tap on, so almost as fast as it was going in it was seeping out. This morning I left Tracey in charge as I went off on a mission which resulted in the two very underweight but extremely friendly Alsatian pups pictured below joining the list of rescue dogs .

She checked the water level ready to put the fish in when they arrived and found it dry. Luckily she knows me better than any one and quickly spotted my schoolboy error and got the tank filled in time for the new inhabitants. This is where she let herself down just a bit, no photos, and as the fish arrived in a box, full of ice, frozen fish who then defrosted and sprang back to life that would have been pretty interesting to see, but she forgot and I forgive her. The fish have melted, come back from the dead and ripping into unlucky worms dropped in as the fish food parcel arrives tomorrow. So cock up one was my inability to turn off a tap, cock up two was a call from CEFAS, the fish licensing authority contacting me asking for my fish keeping licence. Now we had this out a while back, as an imbecile I don't need a fish licence, this had been established in a long conversation with them, not that I was an imbecile, no, that took moments to establish but after a long chat we went through the four tiers of licensing and as our tank is above ground, not accessible to the public, does not contain nuclear material and will not be used to carry children, we don't need a licence. Sorted. Not so. The final tier, the one we didn't discuss as it was not on the cards was a fish importers licence. Being from the IoM the fish are imported so I need an importer of fish licence. Unless I promised not to do it again. I did. You don't need a licence. Cheers.
The redesign of the Bonsai Mountain continues, an amazing amount of space has been created by removing the 50 million tons of rock and dirt from the yard and the fencing work has now started. By mid next week the pig pens will have been created and seeded with root crops to give the lil piggies something interesting to dig up.

These two lively characters were kept indoors or on a balcony so are finding the great outdoors a bit overwhelming but they are adorable, totally friendly and we hope they are found new homes very soon.