Tuesday 30 August 2016

Foxy!

David, who helps me in the garden, called me over to view the robinia pseudo-acacia (get me!) near the gate.  It's a tree that sits at the top of a mound, which we are turning into a rockery.  Gradually, obviously.  You can't rush a good rockery.  He had noticed a pile of earth at the top of the mound and on further investigation had found a big hole under the tree, which something had obviously taken great trouble to dig out.

I strongly suspected that this hole had nothing to do with the new heating system.



David bravely stuck a stick down the hole and it turns off to the right.

Off to Google to find out what kind of hole it might be.  David guessed a fox and the information that I found seemed to confirm that.  Badgers dig a D shaped hole, while foxes leave lots of debris outside their holes.  (I expect the badgers carry their debris away in their trouser legs.  Cunning creatures that they are.)

We've had no sighting of foxy.  We did consider sitting in the car one rare warm summer's night but then couldn't be bothered.  Bed beckoned. Besides the dog makes us go to bed at 10pm and I suspect that is far too early for a fox.

However, we are aware of foxy's presence, despite not having met face to face.  Because on my morning inspection of the garden on Monday, my salad bed had been dug up and all of my baby lettuces had gone.



I showed David and he confirmed that this was the action of a fox.  There was a smaller hole dug in the asparagus bed.  Which is annoying because I have been nurturing those roots for two years now.  And a few in the herb bed.  But not the strawberry bed, which is covered with netting to keep the birds off.  So I have covered the salad bed with netting too and re-sown my lettuces in the hope that they will survive.

We have been wondering where all the squirrels had gone.  In foxy's tummy, I suspect.


Friday 19 August 2016

We Have Lift Off!

I'm so sorry.  It's been ages since I last posted. March, in fact. And now, scarily, it is suddenly five months later.  But the good news is that there is much to report and major work is underway with more major work about to start.  It's not just tinkering about at the edges any more but a major leap for mankind. At last, Houston, we have lift off!

LIFT OFF!

The heating engineer, Nathan, has been on site for the past two weeks and is making great progress, even claiming to be ahead of schedule, which must be unheard of for a renovation project.  We have finally decided to put the boilers, all two of them, in what was the log shed.  Now rather grandly referred to as the boiler room.  Nathan spent much of the first week ensconced in there, fitting the boilers.  It looks wonderful now.

Once a Log Shed, Now a Boiler Room

One Boiler

Two Boilers

Boilers In Close Up

Lovely Pipes for Something or Other

More Lovely Pipes with Additional Technical Bits

A Work of Art

And just a reminder that the log shed once looked like this, shrouded in ivy!





The other thing that has been happening is more pipework in the pantry, which is to be recommissioned as the utility room.



And trenches are being dug.  Everywhere. They will take all that lovely hot water into the house and will also accommodate extra big pipes to get lots of lovely water from the mains. Here they are.  Enjoy!






So now it really does look like a building site.  At last.  As I said, we have Lift Off!!

(However, not everything has lifted off.  Some things look more like they have been laid out.)