22nd Jan - The weekend was terrible weather, rain Saturday morning and all day Sunday but I did manage a couple of hours at Rais on Saturday afternoon (I needed some time outside after a week of planes and hotels).29th Jan - It was a productive weekend, if rather slippery and muddy at Rais though. There was another big fire and lots of rhodie chopped and burned. I had saved the steep bank down to the stream by our tent to clear this week in order to give the legs good workout before skiing and that definitely worked, I'm quite achy this morning! As we were leaving Tracey slipped, in the wayleave by the fire and went down quite hard, landing on her camera. It was quite a knock but she was up and ok almost immediately and drove home ok. I think she's feeling a bit sore now but seems like no major damage done luckily. It's definitely a reminder to take care.
2nd Feb - The first snowdrop came up at Rais.
27th Feb - Had a good weekend, properly cold, barely above freezing but sunny and dry. Cleared masses of brambles from the wayleave by the dam towards the shower and more rhodies by the hive.
9th March - A lovely day in the snow. I had noticed the owl box was occupied for several weeks and was quite optimistic as there were several small white feathers on the ground around the base of the tree. I finally had a proper look this weekend only to find...Squirrels! Grrr! So they were evicted on Sunday, it may be a bit late for the owls now.
30th March - More rhodies cleared and Ant managed to break both forks getting roots out!Easter Weekend - The weather forecast for Friday and Monday was grim, continuous rain both days, but Saturday and Sunday looked ok. I went up on my own on Saturday and reorganised the log store a bit, to move all the green wood to one place, and then carried on clearing rhodies up by the cars. It's pretty difficult going up there. When I left I got the car properly stuck in the mud, a winters worth of parking has taken it's toll and it's really slippery. Eventually I had to get Helen to come and pull me out in the z4! On Sunday we carried on chopping and burning and pretty much finished the clearing to the boundary by the cars. That will be the end of the chopping season for now so the birds can do their nesting thing! Ant didn't stay over, it was pretty cold and wet, but I did with Flee and Tracey and we had chilli and wine and chilled out by the fire (chilled both in the sense we were relaxed, and rather cold! :)) Monday was as wet as promised so we just had breakfast and headed home. A really nice weekend all in all. I did get the car stuck in the mud again when it came to leaving even though I parked on the other side of the space so I think the next project is going to be getting something down to make the parking a bit better.
9th April - We'd agreed it was getting close to the end of the rhodie chopping season so Thursday evening after work the weather was good, and it's finally light enough, so I went to Rais for an hour to work on the rhodies down by the shower. I made good progress but remembered once again, painfully!, that the shower bridge is really slippery. Ouch, one brazed shin and one very wet boot!Helen came up on Saturday and we cleared the gully behind the yardarm and found a very leggy rose bush in the process, looking forward to seeing it flower. Spring has definitely arrived. Finally.
20th April - When I got back from a work trip to Brazil, I had another lovely sunny Sunday at rais, getting rid of a huge pile of rhodies we cut a couple of weeks ago up by the cars, I'm amazed how much space was hidden behind the rhodies up there, it looks so much better.
May 11th - Bank holiday weekend at Rais and the weather was fantastic. Warm and sunny all weekend. Ant and I had a huge fire on Saturday and burned all of the stumps and rhodie brash, I always seem to be having these big fires on hot sunny days! We also found a new visitor to rais… a rat! he was all over the peanuts in the holder by the wood store and totally unconcerned we were standing right there. Ant had a shot at him but we don't think killed him, but we didn't see him again after midday so at least it made him more cautious. Flee and Tracey arrived for the evening and we had a nice chilled time round the fire.
I did go to Rais on Monday evening to see if I could lure that rat out, and then shoot him! but there was no sign of him and all I managed to do was lose my fold up glasses! I did eventually find them again after an hour and a half of searching and with a bit of help from Ant on Tuesday lunchtime.May 29th - Bank Holiday weekend and the weather was fantastic again, May has been very unusual! it was 25 degrees + and sunny with little wind all weekend so I had to stay at Rais Saturday night. Ant, Flee and Tracey were off at the boat show and Helen was walking, so it was just me, and it was a real contrast to last week. It was nice though, in a different way. I did some clearing by the shower, those brambles grow quick! but it soon got too hot so I pottered around by the yardarm. Fixed the cracks in Cassius, inside and out, went round and cleared all the bramble and stingers by camp and made a first attempt at wrapping chicken wire round the yardarm deck planks. I think it has come out well but will be interesting to see what the others think. Had a nice evening by the fire (not that I needed one it was that warm) and headed home Sunday lunchtime.
