...bark that is! It's been a weekend of blisters, knife wounds and bark stripping for me, in my attempt to make my first piece of green, round-wood furniture. Now, for a planner such as me, you'd been forgiven for thinking I would approach this armed with reference books, neatly drawn diagrams, and a tape measure at the very least... but you'd be wrong. Very wrong. I went last weekend armed with determination and a saw. I chopped down, (in an area that needs massive thinning of course) a fairly straight (or so I thought), 4" diameter tall spindly tree. Which I then chopped up into pieces roughly the same length with the idea of making a long, low, skinny table to put next to the shower. I had no illusions about my level of skill or experience and so decided I would aim low and make something that only needed to be strong enough to keep towels off the ground and would be infrequently used (and hidden away in a secluded spot, visible by only those brave enough to strip off in the woods to wash).
The problem with my "just-get-on-with-it-how-hard-can-it-be" approach is that I've done it all in completely the wrong order and made life ten times harder for myself.... but by god have I enjoyed doing it (apart from the inevitable injuries of course). I intend to finish it next weekend when I hope to have mastered the carved joints, wooden pegs and cross-bracing as it is still a tad wobbly!
Ant and Alan were brave enough to spend last night in the woods under tarps and spent much of yesterday making some new beds for the occasion, complete with ridge lines and new rustic tent pegs. Thankfully it stayed dry as we had plugged a hole in one of the tarps with sticky plasters from the first aid kit. Something I was to regret today when I ran out of plasters and bled all over my lovingly stripped woodwork. Typical. I however had a nice warm nights sleep at home where I spent the evening tackling the mound of paperwork that arrived from the solicitors on Friday. The joys of moving house.The sun was absolutely glorious today and after watching the Chinese grand prix at some ungodly hour, I set off for Rais once more to see how the boys had survived the chilly night.
Ant was up, the campfire was going, but there was no sign of Alan. Cocooned in his tarp tent and snoring away I figured it wasn't really fair to start hammering or drilling away at my table again, so we headed up onto the clearing and got the bonfire going ready to burn the last of this seasons efforts to clear the Rhodie. We won't take any more out now until the wildlife have had a chance to raise their young and summer is over. Around mid-morning Simon turned up to help, armed with much-needed bacon sarnies which brought Alan out of his slumber and together we got the last of the shrubs on the fire and gone - good bloody riddance! I have to say I'm not going to miss Rhodie duty for the next few months and I know Ant won't either. He has, almost single-handedly, managed to clear most of the Western side of Rais now and it looks incredible. Going to take a season or two for the ground level to start shooting through the leaf litter, but I'm guessing the forest floor hasn't seen any sun for many a year.
Took a wander over the southern clearing too and was pleased to see it carpeted with tiny purple Dog Violets. The primroses are out in full bloom and we saw a number of butterflies today too. Such a perfect day for them. Woodpeckers still drilling, Tawnies calling to each other all night and the birds are now visiting the feeders even whilst we are working around them. Also noticed the badger sett is being used too as a pile of freshly excavated earth has appeared outside one of the entrances. Very excited. So I have set up the camera trap outside and will check again in a couple of weeks time. Can't wait for next weekend now.