Lesson learned

I don't know why she is doing it either but this is Geisha asleep by the front door, muzzle wedged into the drain pipe. Keeps her out of mischief I suppose.
Whilst yesterday was a lazy day, today has been the complete opposite. It was D Day. Do it Day! It had been on the calendar for a while, today was the day many jobs were going to be started, better still, many more finished. All in all a very busy day. Preparation is the key to days like this and as usual my lack of hindered the day mightily.

Key objective one was to hang two five bar gates at either end of the yard, thus giving us a working farm yard, a space we could close off allowing the horses to wander, eat and pooh without us having to set out on major expeditions to find them after a few hours as they get it in their tiny equine brains to search for the ultimate mouthful of grass that just happens to be over there, no over there, perhaps over the horizon even. We got a small clue to how far some of our animals range today. A member of the militia called by on a mission to find his sheep, Burgers was stood in the yard at the time, he ignored her so she wasn't his then, anyway after a few cordial exchanges he enquired as the health of our goats. Fine, why? Well its just that he had been feeding four of them for a week, made a change to see something different he mused. They had stopped coming so he wondered if anything had happened to them. So our goats had been scrounging second breakfasts on another farm! A mile away! Still this encounter with the militia was useful in that he gave us the location of our missing four sheep who failed to appear for their breakfast the last two mornings.

Back to hanging gates. Plan, dig a four foot hole, drop a ten foot gate post in, concrete it, leave to set, hang gate on it tomorrow. Easy.
Not really, After realising I was on a hiding to nothing trying to dig a hole deeper than the average spade length it became even more apparent that we live on a rock, a huge 700 million year old slab that drives archaeologists into raptures and nearly drove me to a rupture as I tries manfully to hack a way through it. I got two foot down and hit a seam of hard stuff that will require a jackhammer to shift. Depression started to move swiftly in, why cant jobs go right, I think it right, it just goes wrong. Plan B. Cut post to fit with chainsaw, concrete in once smacked into place by mighty sledge hammer, brace to wall with metal brackets. Job done. No. Not quite. Wheres the sledge hammer? Helpfully Tracey asked where I had left it.

In there, I think. In in the chicken run pictured above, no that's not a jungle, its what a chicken run turns to without hens in a few short weeks. No chance of finding it. Why don't I put things away? Send in goat shock troops to clear the foliage, but while they deal with the green stuff I fight off a huge bout of sulking by having a bonfire. Self loathing over tool care was offset by burning stuff. This inspires me to clear out the garage pictured below. New job, ignore one that cant be done.

Now all the brown wood you can see here is about to be ripped off and replaced by nice wood that will match the stable, make the workshop weatherproof and let light in through a big window planned for underneath the outside light. The garage is being demolished and a nice set of kennels, a boot room, an access corridor to the workshop is being put in its place. Not by me you understand, oh no, duck houses I'll have a bash at but jobs this size and with this potential for reducing your home to rubble is beast left to the experts. I am doing all the donkey work while the Stable Sprite works his magic and transforms the derelict site once I have finished smashing things to bits. You cant quite make out the difference in ground level but to the right a retaining wall will have to be built to stop the stable falling into the house. This will finally find a use for the 200 concrete blocks I accidentally ordered when we built the kennels. So all systems go, no gates but many trips down the barn where I caught the pigs sleeping, to drop off all the useful things , like four broken bikes and a leaky steam cleaner, none of which I could allow to be thrown away, they might be useful one day as will the cycle rack for a car we no longer own or a rear dog guards for two cars long since moved on. By the end of the day the garage was clear, ready to be flattened tomorrow.

One bright spot of the day, there is already a retaining wall! Fantastic. Something went my way for a change. Not only that but Tracey found the sledge hammer in the nettles and gave it back to me as long as I promised to look after it.