Wed
I arrived about 11, put the food in the fridge and generally got set up. There were a few more mouse droppings in the shed but not nearly as many as last week so maybe they are getting the message.
It was sunny and warm, but nowhere near as warm as the last few weeks, or the next few days were forecast for so I took the opportunity to spend the first hour digging roots in the gully behind the yardarm. In winter it would be about a day's work to clear it all but it has been more like 6 weeks of slow effort in the heat and I'm barely halfway! In one of my frequent rests I saw something I don't think I have ever seen before, a butterfly gliding. He drifted past and at first I thought he was a leaf, but he glided right down the gully and just before the bottom started flapping his wings again to recover some height. I guess even butterfly's get hot and tired!
Tracey arrived about one, so we immediately had some beers then spent the afternoon chatting. I was tired after all that digging (and beer) so had a nap for an hour late afternoon. Once I was up again we went for a walk over to the pond they are digging in the wayleave as Tracey had not seen it yet. It looks like they are done digging, the machine has gone and they are starting to add plants and a shed etc. there is even a "Danger - Deep Water" sign. It looks more and more like a fishing lake to me.
Tracey had not been into the other parts of the wood before and she was really surprised at how open the wood is really very close to Rais. She really liked it and immediately started making plans to thin out some of Rais, so it might look quite different when you make it back!! Finn found a huge bone so he quite liked the other woods too.
Curry, more beer and then wine with a nice fire wrapped up the day.
Thursday
It was noticeably hotter on Thursday so after a leisurely start Tracey did some bracken clearing by the Hive and then in the wayleave
and I worked on the wood store to add the panels from the patio crates, with a little help from the hatchet. it seems to be working well so far so we will see. Even the days rain we had last weekend had got the wood quite wet though, especially the more rotten stuff so maybe some roofing felt on the roof of the wood store will be worth a try.
In the afternoon we spent some time with our cameras trying to get a picture of Forrest under the stump, which I finally more or less managed,
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| In focus - sort of |
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| Tracey waiting for Forrest |
and I checked out the owl box. There is the start of a stock dove nest there but no eggs or evidence it was really used so I guess the sick dove I saw earlier in the year caused it to be abandoned. I will leave until the end of the year to clear it out though.
Interestingly after only one days rain the birds are much more in evidence, both in birdsong and coming down to the feeder. There was a very odd new sound we could not identify though, it sounded sort of like a pheasant alarm call but was definitely different. Whatever it was spent most of the day hooting from various points in the surrounding woods and then we didn't hear it any more for the rest of the week.
We had another nice evening round the fire (not that we needed one) with a chicken and chorizo dish I had found the the freezer!
Friday
It just kept getting warmer and Friday was baking. We did spend half an hour doing a bit more bracken pulling but then had to call it a day, it was just too hot.Ant and Helen were due down for dinner and Tracey had found and cleaned up the hot plate she got with her cast iron cooking set so the plan for dinner was steak! cooked on the fire. We had originally planned to nip up to M&S at the services for the food and to try and get a shower but then we realised that we could not leave Finn unattended so we decided to pop back to Burgess Hill and Tescos (and also nip into my house for a quick shower!) instead. Tracey was a bit worried how Finn would be in the car but he jumped straight in with no prompting at all, much to her surprise. Maybe he knew it had air conditioning!!
Refreshed and stocked up for the evening we chilled out (or mostly sweated, we saw 32 degrees in the car on the way to Burgess Hill) for the afternoon while Tracey tried to tempt Forrest out of hiding with bits of croissant (and Finn ate them all every time she got distracted!)
Before Ant and Helen arrived we chopped some wood and prepared the fire. Tracey had a go at chopping with the hand axe and it was hilarious, I only wish I had thought to get some video!
Ant and then Helen arrived about 7 and we had a good evening of chat, steak and wine
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| Steaks on the fire! |
Saturday
Dawned still really hot. After breakfast the three of us (Ant did not stay over) cleared the final bit of bracken from the wayleave and then generally tided up and made sure all was ready for the next few days. Tracey will be back on Sunday and Sarah and Charlie are coming down on Monday for a night. Helen and I left around 1 as I have the first track day in the new car next week to get ready for.
