Our Lawn!

Posted by Simon

I am slowly digging forward with the fosse filter beds. The ground is very wet and this is not helping matters as the sides of the trenches keep caving in. This was made worse by a very stony patch which meant the digger was continual pressing down on the same spot and the adjacent trench fell in. Fortunately not followed by the digger. The only way to clear it out again is by hand digging which I am fast becoming allergic too. I am now on method number three and this is the best so far. I dig out the trenches in 4 to 6 metres sections and take levels as I go along. Method two was to fill in the trench with the gravel to the required level and lay the pipes in. This worked reasonably well but proved slow. I will increase the spacing between the next two trenches which should stop the caving in happening (fingers crossed).

Apart from the weather slowing me up I have had other jobs as well. This included making inside animal pens as we needed to separate two lambs to keep inside before slaughtering. These are to be used for lambing pens, later, (if the ram has performed!) so being a permanent feature I decided that I may as well make them properly. Therefore, this took longer than planned - what's new there then!

As I'm sure you can guess from the above, we have now increased our freezer stock (or reduced our livestock) by two lambs and three turkeys. The lambs averaged around 15 kilos (33lbs) each and the turkeys about 8 kilos each (17.6lbs). Me and the boys spent a couple of hours making 6kgs of mince (3kgs lamb & 3kgs turkey), which they enjoyed doing.

Also we should be getting two more 'Helpex's' later this week so we have been planning and getting materials organised for their arrival. More about them at a later date. But I'm looking forward to the help, although it does mean both the boys coming into our room for a few weeks.

And the other reason for part of the slow work on the fosse is that it is one of those times of year when Rosie becomes a television widow - Rugby Internationals. Just finished enjoying the Ireland v Australia game this afternoon. Only one more weekend to go, Rosie.