Found the perfect hangover cure at last!

After a cracking family party Friday night and feeling a tad battered and bruised, I arrived at Rais late morning on Saturday, armed with a second bale of sawdust from the country store in Handcross and the determination to get Cassius' insulation layer on before I left - hangover or not, it was the goal for the weekend and so I had to just get on with it, and get on with it we did. Despite the late start we worked tirelessly til 930pm, by which point it was getting dark but we had successfully mixed and made 300 clay/sawdust bricks!

A lovely stir-fry, followed by some fireside relaxation, washed down with a few glasses of red and we were tucked up in bed by 1130pm; Me in my hammock and Flee and Tracey tenting it on Fox ridge as usual. Happy, but seriously knackered.

half way through adding the insulation layer

Sunday 
Not a bad night's sleep, but thoughts of the build kept waking me up... we had a figure of at least 500 bricks in mind for completing the insulation layer and I was concerned we would run out of time with just the two of us at it, as Flee was heading off to work first thing. I needn't have worried.... Tracey and I worked like troopers all morning, stopping only to refuel on pain-au-chocolat and more tea. By lunchtime we had almost 400 bricks and we were just considering the plan for the afternoon when the cavalry arrived and life got a little easier. Ant made light work of filing down Cassius' entrance and chimney to improve the smoke egress and Tracey encouraged me to get started on actually laying the bricks while she continued mixing and moulding.
I believe I'm only alive this evening because I took her advice; had we continued to make 500 bricks together before getting started on the laying, she would most definitely be up for murder right now.... turns out we only needed 350 bricks to cover Cassius in a double layer of insulation material! oops.

Hairline cracks repaired with fire cement

It was hot, hard, achy work, laying the bricks in such a cramped space, and I managed to add to my mounting injuries by stabbing my backside on the hurdle fencing, ripping a hole in my trousers at the same time - but I have to say it was all worth it, Cassius looks awesome, and I cannot wait until we finish. Only one final clay layer to go and we can relax.
We have given ourselves next weekend off to spend with the lovely Sarah and my godson Charlie. This will also give the insulation layer time to dry more naturally, so it's going to be a good two weeks at least before Cassius' "christening" and probably a good few more before my nails, muscles, and joints recover. I will certainly be pleased to get rid of all the buckets, trugs and plastic sand bags floating about - The Yardarm was starting to look like a seriously bad building site at times. In preparation for our toddler visitor next weekend, we did have a bit of a clean up, sorted out the wood pile, put a some things away and used up all the remaining bricks and slip on levelling the work surface which looks so much better.

Gall mites on the Alder

Whilst wandering back and forth putting bedding and such away, I spotted some deformities on the leaves of a few of our Alder trees. After some googling, I have discovered they are caused by gall mites, specifically the Aceria nalepai species. The bobbles or "galls" are filled with russet hairs which the mites live in, and these hairs have, in many cases, projected through to the underside of the leaf to form triangular, pale yellow patches.  Thankfully these mites rarely cause stress or injury to an affected tree, so the Alders are simply playing host to the little buggers, who will in turn feed other creatures higher up the food chain.
Another find today was this gorgeous white wildflower. Growing in the south west camping corner between mine and Tracey's beds.
A common-spotted orchid, which apparently likes wet meadows and damp woodland. Very pleased to have it at Rais, particularly as the area we found it in was covered in nothing but Rhododendrons 2 years ago.

Common-Spotted Orchid