Flat out

 Rocky flat out under Ruby.

 And that's our day today,

 flat out on the jobs list until

sunset.

Way up high

We live under a cliff, which leads to some unusual sights, like this one from the kitchen window.

 

 Or it provides hours of entertainment for some of us.

 Some of us shouldn't be there

like these goat creatures. They have escaped form their purpose built goat stockade three hours after they were allowed into it.

There and back

There

 

and back again. The Bonsai Mountain Range viewed from over the hills and far away.

Splash Landing

Not sure what Will.I.Am was thinking as he wandered around the kingdom of the Stable Sprite, but whatever was going on between his ears led him to the massive Koi carp pond. This is he making a sharp exit. He's ok but not very popular at present.

Terrific Tuesday

 I took a slower pace to work today over the ridge just for laughs, traffic was pretty heavy on the return trip though as can be seen.

It soon cleared.

Another manic Monday

 Typically after a couple of days spent larking about the pressing need to at least make some attempt at reducing the size of the to do list meant no more messing, it was another manic Monday. Finally the Rabbit Palace was completed and Peter Rabbit and Barnaby got acquainted the way only rabbits can, the fact that they are both male didn't appear to bother either of them. That job done, as in rabbit palace not rabbit relationships, meant that the patio (the helipad is no more as it has a massive conservatory on it now, so we have two small patios) could be cleared of hutches and rabbit accessories.

 Another task that surfaced was to repair the triangle flower bed which had collapsed on one side thanks to wood rot and gravity. Slight problem arose with the repair as I had plenty of 9 inch planks, one four inch plank and zero six in planks necessary to effect a repair. After a considerable time spent bemoaning the fact that my beautiful and oh so patient wife failed to understand the complexities involved yours truly realised that more time was being wasted moaning rather than doing and so armed with fresh 9 inch planks a new flower bed was created. Its devoid of plant life as the newer deeper bed took more than the amount of compost around the place.

 As ever I had K9 observers ensuring I kept on task

 and Rippers made sure the new plants in an adjacent bed were kept warm by lying on them.

However, one job that took no persuading to get done was making a new layout for the apprentices Thomas the Tank Engine railway track.

Allow me to introduce myself

 The new arrivals have been exploring the facilities at HQ for the first time today

 so here we see Mork and Mindy getting amongst the vegetation

 while at the other end of the runway Pronto had a breakfast meeting with the shitlands, Apollo the wonder foal and Snoops.

 The meeting went well until Trevor aka Johnny Big Potatoes came over all stallion despite losing the essential elements some years ago.

 Pronto put up with the annoying little shitlands antics until lunchtime when they shared a bale.

Meanwhile my work on the lagomorph palace progressed well and by end of play I had trapped a small child.

Hit the beach

 Faced with a depressingly long jobs list the best thing to do is bury your head in the sand, so we headed up the road to the coast to join the happy throngs of sun seekers. Except the beach was almost empty which was very strange given the temperature, lack of rain, no ice cold wind and an ice cream van not too far away.

 Rug rat mkII was mobile this beach expedition, unlike last time, so any thoughts of sitting in the sun pondering life the universe and everything fell apart while chasing him along miles of sandy coast line as he was convinced that finding other picnics was the order of the day (ours being covered in handfuls of sand thanks to his lack of picnic etiquette)

 The apprentice got amongst the waves, or lack of,

 and spent a long time looking for treasure

 before helping demolish the edibles before RRMKII returned with fresh handfuls.

 Having worked off most of the calorific value of sand encrusted chicken portions yours truly rounded up the little darlings and force fed them ice cream

and these two pictures are taken before they got messy.

Obvious choice

 When you live surrounded by animals

 the obvious choice for a day out

 is to go and look at someone elses

 animals, and feed them

 or get up close to ones that are on the want list.

 There were a few youngsters

 of various sizes and cuteness

 and a brand new exhibit of

 animals that no longer exist

 which were very impressive

 and scared the apprentice and rug rat mkII so they wouldn't carry on around

 just in case the beasts fancied a snack.

 Naturally I found a few photo opportunities

 from different angles

and we came home with a lion.

West Midlands Safari Park. Great fun:)

Same old

 Its been one of those days at Rock HQ, you know the type, where nothing much happens. Early doors saw a quick summit assault on the Bonsai Mountain

 with the demi clan minus one (Ritchie arrived back at HQ yesterday in a box) where we enjoyed the sunshine.

 Much mucking about and mucking out later made ready for Pronto the secret horse arrive at HQ for the first time, he's here for the summer

 thanks to our tame horse botherer who lent us her trailer which also meant that yours truly had to demonstrate a not too often used man skill of three point turning a Jerry trailer combo.

 Despite the pressure and no practice the first attempt was a four point turn with no collateral damage and when I had to do it again with no one watching I did it in three. Honest!

 Reason for the second turnaround was because the trailer came back laden with Miniature Mediterranean Donkeys, also known as Mork and Mindy (Mindy is the one closest to the camera) and pygmy goats, a mother sons set called Floss, Gizmo and Crush.

 Mork looked a bit bemused by his sudden change of address, he and his half sister have come from a local farm park as have the goats.

 For the time being they are bunked up together while they get used to us and Bernese Mountain Dogs.

 It didn't take them long to get amongst the fodder.

The smaller stable door needs to be a teensy bit smaller. In all a quiet day where nothing much happened.