Ever get the feeling you are being watched? We were tonight, if you look closely you will by whom.

Zoomed in slightly the fox is clearly visible in the rocks above Rock HQ, unfortunately its killed again.

We cant tell you who the casualty is as the next of kin have yet to be informed. They may have to turn vegetarian for Christmas dinner.

However there was a real surprise waiting for us in the yard, the meowing from under the car revealed a very thin tabby cat called Earl! Missing from HQ since the 28th of July, presumed eaten by the fox. By the look of him he has been shut in somewhere, managed to survive and made his way home when he found a way out. Poor lad hadn't stopped eating or meowing how happy he is since he got back.

You are feeling sleepy......

William was put on the lawn last night to act as a lawnmower, he obviously worked hard because he was very sleepy this morning. He soon perked up when he saw me carrying a bucket of feed for the pigs. They do say that horses have an innate fear of pigs but someone forgot to tell William who followed me to the pig pen and reached over to share breakfast at the same trough as our indignant porkers.

No passengers!

Just one of the hazards at Rock HQ for the unwary car driver. Geisha is searching for dog biscuits.
Things are looking good here apart from the unwanted car passenger, finally we are getting on top of some big jobs. The trees that are posing a hazard to life and limb by the stable block are on 28 days notice when they will be removed, well not exactly removed but their world will change from vertical to horizontal where I can slice them up at my leisure. Firewood for years here.
The animal feed is going down spectacularly well, this with the new trough has eliminated a lot of anxiety from feeding the pigs, we are almost on talking terms now.
The sand and cement arrives tomorrow and the site is just about ready for the Stable Sprite to come and weave some magic.
The only downer has been that one of the turkeys found out that it was to be Christmas dinner and so took the easy way out and committed suicide in a bucket of water.

This is the end

Last day of our holiday and still massive amounts to do. Finally managed to get the diseased holly tree down from behind the black hole, not the easiest of jobs and when it fell it brought down a ton of rock from the not really sturdy stone wall that makes up one side of the building.

Nemo took advantage of the fact that everyone was otherwise occupied and was caught trying to help himself to a chicken dinner.

The pigs seem happier on the new feed and are less inclined to bite me. Only one chunk out of my knee this morning so I rewarded them with a fresh bale of hay for their bed.

I am a cider drinker...

Actually I'm not, beer for me ta very much. Mind you Tracey on the other hand being a stouter Constitution than me can drink the fermented apple juice like its going out of fashion, so when a friend asked if we wanted to go to a cider festival we were very tempted. Would we like to go to a cider festival, have dinner, steal his fruit, get two more ducks, well its sounding better. Its free. We are on our way.

The festival venue was some 70 miles away, coincidentally at a village called Kington which is our local town. Texting friends and family that I was at a free cider festival in Kington was, with hindsight, a bit of a mistake, particularly as it prompted a host of them to try and find us, we being 70 miles south were in no danger of being found. 70 miles south makes a lot of difference to fruit we found out, the blackberries are so ripe they are almost past picking, the plums are ripe and the apples are nearly ready. Ours are still hard green and most unappetising!

We had a great time at the free festival trying ciders with various names like Now Wash Your Hands, Magic Roundabout and Bedridden. All as far as I was concerned should have been sprinkled on chips as it was just like vinegar but the crowd quaffed over a 1000 gallons of the stuff. As designated driver I couldn't drink much more than a mouthful anyway.

Highlight of the night, apart from Tracey wrestling two ducks into submission was this band called Mad Dog Macrea. Fantastic. Look them up on You Tube.

Unbelievable

We have for a few weeks now been detecting autumn colours in the leaves around us, hardly any time seems to have passed since we were longing for the first signs of spring, some of the trees didn't get to full leaf until mid June and here we are in early August and they are preparing to fall. Our sheep are just visible in the top photo on a long range forage.

This is the view at the back of Rock HQ, below is what we call The Cauldron. Trolls live here, up in the caves behind the large Ash tree, at least thats what the voices in my head tell me. So, here we are, our third autumn about to start at Rock HQ, it will be only the second one I remember as the first on I was off my head on drugs due to the teensy weensy accident I had that nearly ended it all. I cant believe so much time has passed so quickly, and there is so much to do here, just the chainsawing alone would keep you occupied for weeks. I have done some pruning with the chainsaw this week, some of the hazel twigs had got over thirty feet high along the lane. The hazel tree opposite the stables has been "disappearing" bit by bit allowing sunlight to reach the yard the first time in years. It has to go piece by piece as A. Its very large, and B. It is in the farmers field so technically its not mine to chop down.

Its also taken three years to sort out some proper animal feed. We have been buying ours from a Countrywide store, very convenient and very nice people but the feed bill is reaching stupid levels as they charge around £7 for 20kg. As your average piggie will eat 2Kg a day it soon adds up. Especially with sheep, goats, horses, dogs, cats and surviving poultry. The Stable Sprite took me to the feed the local feed mill for local people today and we got 550kg of organic animal feed for £110. A bargain only if the animals eat it, and the pigs this time round are very fussy.

First test was with the fussy pigs, who had escaped onto the common today just to annoy me, which in turn annoyed the Stable Sprite as I was coaxing pigs down off the cliff rather than helping him unhitch and hitch his trailer while he turned in our lane. The fussy pigs fell on the new feed like a pack of rabid dogs devouring their daily ration in seconds. So far so good.

The goats, who would if given the chance eat broken glass, rusty nails and anything else they felt they shouldn't, relished the new feed. Similarly the sheep polished off a mighty portion in record time whilst the geese thought it was a race and scooped up massive beak fulls. All the poultry seemed to like the new stuff and the horses were given a small sample to gauge their reaction, all good, and so having passed the test the new feed will now feature on the menu at Rock HQ for evermore. Only the dogs require a different food source.

There was a bit of a commotion behind the stable. Poppy the Golden Retriever had just hijacked the goats dinner and was greedily tucking into the new muesli. She looked at me rather sheepishly before polishing the complete bowlful. So perhaps I was wrong, all we need to do is buy gravy granules in future.

Just good friends

These two might look like they are biting chunks out of each other but its their way of showing what good friends they are. Trevor would like to get in on the act but lacks the reach. Not quite sure what he thinks he will achieve that end.

Stable Sprite came round today and surveyed the demolition site. He thinks he can rebuild it, he has the technology, and when he does Rock HQ will be better than it was before, better, stronger, faster, Rock HQ will be the first bionic smallholding.

Not quite.

But it will have a new entrance, two deluxe kennel rooms, a boot room/locker room and another store room. It will also feature something very unusual in these parts, a level floor. Stable Sprite likes level floors. The floor I laid for the stable wasn't level which vexed him mightily. So to keep him sane I have agreed a level floor. Work starts next week. Coincidentally when I go back to work. I think he was trying to tell me something!

Nerves of steel

A really early start today as it was Tracey's birthday treat, a trip to the poultry market. Plan was to restock the foxes larder with nice plump hens who will, hopefully, lay us some eggs before being eaten by the fox. It was without doubt a huge learning experience mixing with the poultry fraternity today, some of them live and breathe fancy birds, and by the look and especially the smell of some of them they definitely lived with their hobby.

I am feeling quite pleased with myself as I took on these swarthy types and for once actually got some bargains. How do I know, well because the auctioneer told me, that's how. Neither did I fall victim to their little jokes , like putting an egg in the cage with a cockeral to try to fool the unwary novice. What did I learn, well without asking I learned that "as hatched" is a pick and mix, males and females so boxes of as hatched chicks are cheaper (no pun intended) as you may end up with a lot of cocks. Poults are males, pullets are females (I hope I got that right) point of lay are really expensive as they have their whole life, foxes permitting, ahead of them. Marrens were the most sought after, as hatched Marren chicks going for £7 each, next Light Sussex, boxes of females going for £6 each. Warrens are very popular and point of lay were going for £7 each. I hung on and failed to get carried away, holding my nerve and eventually got 5 point of lay Warrens for £4 each, ha I laugh in the face of the seven pound payer. There were a lot of new to chicken keeping types there, it being the summer hols and chickens in the yard the new rock and roll, they were easy to spot, rolled up copy of Smallholder magazine with Marks and Spencer shopping bags and a couple of kids.

Bargains, well 24 fertile Light Sussex Eggs for £4, the auctioneer had a bit of a fit at this point having sold the same last week at a £1 an egg. I also got 4 Plymouth Rock chicks for 80p each, 7 Marren chicks for 80p each, all as hatched so some will be spare cocks for coq au vins later in the year, two white and three grey turkey chicks for £3 each. Some prices went mental, Peahen eggs £7 each, Call Ducks £20 each. Much to Tracey's delight I also bought a Cream Leg Bar Cockerel, my first purchase of the day, a really handsome fellow now called Sixty as he cost me 60p.

Back at the ranch phase two of Tracey's day out began, I dropped her off at the hairdressers with Beth and they spent the afternoon being pampered. Meanwhile I demolished the Black Hole ready for inspection by the Stable Sprite tomorrow who will tell me how much of everything I need to rebuild it all and hopefully tell me when he can do it by. He has a has a bit of a week. Digging in his garden yesterday he went through the water main with a digger. One of those wish you were there with a camera moments. So they were a few hours without water until he could fix it today. And here was me thinking those sort of things only happen to me!