Good taste

Me. I've just filled the drinking bowls with fresh clear ice cold spring water.

Them.........
 

Matted

The pool is a great success but had to be sorted out a bit better. The new gravel put down to provide a nice base for it suddenly turned from nice rounded little pebbles to millions of sharp edges threatening to puncture the base. Something must be done! So four stable mats were taken out of the annex and laid on top of the gravel making it a completely puncture free zone. 

Someone thinks all this hard work is just for him though. 

And what of the annex? Watch this space.......
 

Thank your lucky star

 Rock HQ made friends with a fellow cyclist eons ago (ok 2012 ish) and since then have followed with interest the parallel universe of a fellow cyclist in Germany. Andy, for that is his name, is a genuine eco warrior forsaking all things easy and in all weathers and conditions uses his bike (and its a tank compared to other slimline racing steeds like wot I got) to ferry himself and his life around. He is, and I use this term advisedly, an inspiration. 

So.

When a greater part of Germany was recently ruined by the combined efforts of the rest of us not following Andy's example and so directly contributing to climate change, it was a huge relief to hear from the eco warrior that he and his lovely family were safe. 

The picture is a lucky star he made me out of recycled panzer chains a while back and thus far it has brought me good fortune. I did think about sending it back to help him but A) I like it too much and B) he would probably tell me off for adding to the carbon footprint :)

Cheers Andy, keep spinning those pedals mate and mind the puddles 

Fairs fair

Admittedly your truly has taken over half of the stable block as a gym

which is where future endurance athletes like wot I am are being  

churned out (here we see the apprentice at one with technology looking at his stats as he uses the trainer)

ready for future challenges like how fast can I drink a litre of diet Pepsi after 3.5 miles in  14.57 good skills little man.

But there is no excuse Will.I.Am for opening the back door 

and helping yourself. And before you ask yes your bum does look big in this. 
 

A team building day... the return to Gnome Henge

A while ago yours truly fulfilled one of the ticks on the bucket list and visited Bryn Cader Fader a 4000 year old Neolithic site of very acute interest. 

It was to be honest a bit underwhelming after spending many hours wandering the wilderness and literally tripping over it. Hence Gnome henge.

Fast forward to present and good fortune with the weather coincided with a team building day for icanfoster and the opportunity to take our brilliant guru on all things Ofsted and supreme expert on Neolithic man(and woman) mean that another trip to Gnome Henge was on the cards. 

Julian advised we approach it from the south, so we did, and along the way he looked for ancient artworks helped by the apprentice.

Has to be said Julian was right, BCF is obviously supposed to be viewed from this angle. 

It also looked much bigger from here.

Julian gave us all a brief lecture on its construction and use

while the apprentice took in the ambiance 

and pretended to be a dead Neolithic king. 

Rich got very exited about it all and adopted the universal pose of the adventurer.

The apprentice did it better.

Close by was this bit of wall

going nowhere

just there, about 5 foot high and seemingly pointless but built with expert care.

After much deliberation we decided the army built it probably as a wind break. The army were up here a lot and used BCF (or bits of it) for target practice. 

Thankfully despite the attention of treasure hunters and the army

the site is still amazing 

and well worth the walk. In all a great teambuilding day for a great team for a fab foster agency. 

We took time to unfurl our inclusive flag as we like everyone, except trolls and thieves, they can do one. 
 

Ref!!! VAR is a winner

Somewhere there is a small child hidden here 

lurking 

in ambush...... which the apprentice is about to trigger.

The results are in, his ninja like reflexes saved him, you can see the bolt just missing him above his left elbow. This was crucial information for the ambusher who cried foul. 
 

Keeping cool

The critters all have their own way of keeping cool, Arfur just ignores the sun and sits poolside occasionally dipping his paws in.

Riley ignores the dog pool and wallows in the pond.

Darcy and her mum Holly dig holes in the flower beds. 

Stevie prefers her own mud bath.

Spotty2 the cool of the shade by the sleepers

Darcy joined him having been turfed out of the flowers by MBAOSPW.

 The winner is Summer who prefers to stand in the trough. 

Busted... again!

This fat arse belongs to the worlds most greedy pony

Will.I.Am who can operate bolts with is prehensile lips and gain access to the bale store. 
 

Friends reunited

The backdrop of the bonsai mountain

but it looks like Greece in the forest

where we met up with Mag and Mich and Monty who is a great big lad.

The heat was intense so in order to stop the furry ones cooking we stayed in the woods and river 

which the K(s took advantage of.

The waterfall was a waterdribble

but some 20 degrees cooler than outside of the gorge

Tristan took some arty farty pics

before looking for fossils

and exploring culverts 

The pic nic was a highlight 

in all not a bad morning. Hopefully in September we will have a dog day for all our friends but Boris seems to have messed up most spectacularly with his promise of freedom, I'm not sure what time the pandemic is supposed to end tomorrow but I'm sure someone will let the virus know.