Party on!

We are very lucky to have such amazing friends

many gained through our love of dogs

like Amanda here who sold us our first Bernese, Rocky, way back in 2006.

So as we had a reason to celebrate quite a few gathered 

to eat good food and better cakes

to join the celebration of

a very special lady's day.

Yes she has made 50! 

This was a surprise party, and because I was so intent on keeping it a secret I actually forgot to invite quite a number of people. So apologies to anyone who didn't get an invite, my bad. 

 

No rest

Some might think that after such a huge amount of back breaking work there would be a bit of respite, but thats for wimps, and there were 3 1 ton bags of gravel by the ex garden gate that needed moving and spreading around.

Naturally all my hard work was supervised by the K9s, here is Riley bringing me a cuddly toy as a gift. 

36 or so wheel barrows later

we had new paths. 
 

Even bigger jobs

True to form, when things are really busy yours truly gets even busier. So the site left by the removal of the donkey house has been due a facelift for some time.

So on the hottest day of the year some serious kit arrived

and the site cleared and prepped for concrete.

Whilst the big toys are here

the other big jobs get some attention. 

RRMK2 had a go on the tracked wheelbarrow

while I got to grips with the controls of the mini digger.

I gave myself a wide area in which to practice.

The site cleared 

the floor dug out for the new bike shed, as in new bike shed not new bike shed, he bikes are not new.

A ramp created up onto the runway.

The drain dug for the new stable. 

This is not how I left the mini digger, I believe some children may have been playing. In their defence they were left unsupervised.

Small big jobs got done too, here we see railway sleepers used to make a raised bed and steps, the soil from the digging by the kennels. 

By now things were looking good and nothing had gone wrong. Which is when the small god of breaking stuff arrived and the track came off the dumper, not a real problem as I spotted this was happening and moved it to a place where it would not cause drama. The hire company said they would bring a new one, cue the sound of a reversing lorry, yes the concrete had arrived. No way for new dumper to get here, so time to man up and barrow 4.5 metres of mixed concrete to the place its needed. 

This was hard work

but within 64 minutes the man test was passed. Concrete laid, smoothed and ready for the next phase.

Thats right, horse prints. Will.I.Am was lurking and as I sought a much needed cuppa he sprang

leaving his mark. Or marks. 

No point crying over the stable door bolting so instead we went for a picnic with Chinese food as a reward for my hard work. 
 

Stroll on

The really hot days mean

that its too dangerous to take the K9s out 

unless its the evening 

and through the shade of the wood

where freshly dug graves can be found, that or giant ants nests,

Spotty2 was youngster of choice in this stroll

which was the hottest of the year so far.
 

Amazing sunset made better

Its hard to imagine improving the awesome 

sunsets 

here, this one was particularly spectacular  

causing yours truly to stop and take it all in.

Before adding to it 

Rattle that can

Chris the evil genius created these for me, shanty town buildings which yours truly then

made unique by adding lots of bits from old Matchbox models

which added to the 

makeshift haphazard feel to the 

buildings. This then prompted yours truly to get out all the middle east buildings 

which coupled with a lucky find at the model shop

spurred further progress. Now as there are only so many minutes in a week that can currently be devoted to little men and associated bits any hope of progress has to be with a big brush or a spray can. Soon a production line was set up 

for the MDF transforming them into symbolic representations of a generic North African/Middle Eastern urban area. 

Spray cans meant that nearly all the kits assembled over the last 2 years

were starting to look finished. 

As they were all out under the gazebo in the sunshine I couldn't help arranging and rearranging 

adding the Humvees and crashed Black Hawk.
 At this rate I should have the game finished by the time the apprentice is 18.