Welcome to new followers on Google friends :- Morgan Spacky and Primroses Attic bringing the total there to 165 and Hannah and Mary who have clicked the Bloglovin' button.
Kev asked about the book Deep Country by Neil Ansell( pictured on Saturdays blog) I borrowed it from the library when it first came out and enjoyed it, but like Sue ( New Life in the Country) I wanted more information about the house and what he ate etc. I put it on my wish list to pick up secondhand when the paperback was available so I could read and enjoy again. I think I wanted it to be more like The Hovel books and of course it isn't.
Him Outsides' irrigation work is taking longer than it should. On Saturday night he went down the road at 6.30 and didn't get back until 9.30. The pressure on the system wouldn't hold up and he had to keep going back and forward on the quad bike between pump house and irrigator trying to find out what was wrong. As the pump is on one farm and the irrigator was a mile away it took a long time. In the end it was abandoned for the farmer to sort out yesterday, but he couldn't get it going either. So C was down there again after lunch today trying to track a possible leak in a pipe running underground for a mile. No sign of a leak so he started the system up again and off it went with no problem!
Yesterday we had a day out visiting friends. In the afternoon we went to see their allotment where they struggle with some VERY heavy clay soil. A lot of their soil is like concrete blocks and no one else in their village persevered with these new allotments so they have the place to themselves in a glorious location. They often take lunch and spend the day there. No traffic noise, just skylarks - beautiful.
Today between bread baking and hoovering, planting out the last two cucumber plants and potting up some squash plants, I've been swinging a pick axe, which is a daft thing for someone with a slightly dodgy back to do. I wanted to start getting rid of the concrete that was under our old patio slabs. We built this patio not long after we moved here, but it was never used for sitting out. Either too hot or too drafty, just not in the right place. So it will go and we already have our new sitting out area that we finished last year.
C brought the tractor round so I was able to tip all the lumps of concrete into the tractor bucket for him to take to the rubble heap. I've done enough to see where the new line of the path will go, but I guess it will be easier to do the whole lot now so will carry on tomorrow.
While standing up to catch my breath between shifting rubble I noticed the the Apricot trees are loaded with fruit - unfortunately most of it is way out of reach because we've never got round to pruning the trees and keeping them under control. IF we get a crop (possible frost and North winds predicted for the weekend) it will be only the second decent crop we've had in 7 years. I couldn't take a photo - flat battery.
Back tomorrow - if my back doesn't seize up overnight.
Sue
