Happy Holiday!
Posted: Monday 31 December, 2012
Well, I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas. As always, it’s the little things that count – Dan getting up to feed the animals, so that I can have a lie-in; our new Christmas cat, Penfold, joining us in front of the fire for the first time; the cattle giving up on the bawling!
Now, Dan does work full-time on his own business, albeit at home for most of the time, so I have to make the most of him at weekends and holidays. Although I keep the place running on a day-to-day basis, he, along with his Dad, does most of the development work – the building and fencing and the like. So for Dan, a holiday is really just work of a different kind. And although we’re getting through the list of tasks that we made in 2010 – new ones keep getting added.
Today, we’ve been sorting through the piles of pallets that we fell heir to when we moved here and have acquired since. They were stacked outside the barn beside two trees – a silver birch and a hawthorn – that we’re going to take down a) because the leaves fall into the guttering on the barn and block it and b) because we’re tentatively planning an extension to the barn maybe next year.
Some of the pallets we moved into the vegetable garden where we’re constructing four muck heaps mainly for the droppings off the ponies field. The idea is that we’ll use each one for three months then move on to the next one, allowing the previous ones to rot down – then after a year, we’ll dig out the first one, spread the muck and start again. A few really rubbish ones we moved to the fire pit, and the rest we restacked for future use or for cutting for firewood. That done, I had access to clear up the other “stuff” that had accumulated there. So we’re now ready for a bit of lumber jacking whenever the mood takes us. :-)
While I was sorting the pallets, Dan was digging over the beds in the polytunnel. We’re planning to get the raised beds in during March and then get the cover on the first warm day we get.
Our joiner, Alan, has been here the last couple of days too. He’s replaced the two windows in the workshop and is building a glazed door panel to replace the old, rotten wooden doors. Yesterday, we had a light bulb moment and he’s building it in such a way as to accommodate a “proper” floor, in case we ever get round to putting one down.
While I was feeding the stock tonight, Dan was sealing the boot room floor. We had a new roof put on it this year – it’s a really useful space but when we moved here, it had a glazed roof and no opening windows, so condensation was a real problem. The new roof is a proper slate, pitched one and has improved things loads – but the floor had never been sealed properly – until now. If it rains in the next couple of days, we’ll slap on a coat of emulsion (Dan’s really good at painting) and it’ll look just dandy.
Now I’m off to tidy my desk in preparation for office work on Thursday – I always like to start the New Year tidy. It never lasts though.
So, Happy New Year when it comes – Dan and I wish you all health, happiness and a good harvest in 2013!
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