WAIT & SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT... May 2013

Well... Not a lot!

But did I ever share this with you?

You have read about our experiences trying to learn the Welsh language. Well we visited our new dentist whom we assume from his name, is Greek. He is clearly trying to pick up the language too.

As you may know, the Welsh pronounce 'CH' as in the Scottish loch. And we all know that 'LL'  is a sort of ''lclhl' sound (not easy to write!!) So the poor dentist called us in from the waiting room, attempting to say our surname in his best Welsh! You can imagine the result. At least he had a go! 

Nothing else to tell you.

No updates on the building.

However, for all those people who think we have made a brave move ... 
While sitting out in the sun, overlooking a very peaceful blue sea and spectacular mountains, drink in hand, we are of the opinion, it is you who are brave - staying where you are!!!



Next blog - Update

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A GOOSE IS GAY? April - May 2013

Well . . God clearly didn't put me on this Earth to be a farmer. Good move God! The farmer told me today that Rihanna (see previous posting) is a heifer, not a bullock!

For any of you readers who live in the country or by the sea, you may wonder why I'm blogging about the obvious. But for us, having spent many years in suburbia, this is all a novelty, and one we're loving and enjoying sharing with you. 

Early Spring brought some cold weather. We didn't get the more recent snow which seemed to hit the rest of the UK, but wet weather and melted snow had resulted in a series of waterfalls falling down the mountainside behind the house. These froze quite spectacularly during the cold spell. We took a two hour walk to see them at close range, which involved quite a steep climb. 

And guess who accompanied us all the way?   ... Yoda!

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Some of the trees in the garden needed overhanging branches removing so the wind doesn't bring them crashing down onto the conservatory. A friendly neighbour/tree surgeon kindly agreed to help out. It was good to see he used ropes for safety. I thankfully wasn't put on this Earth to be a tree surgeon either. Another good move God!

We have many branches lying around which make good firewood. So I regularly break up twigs for kindling. Gizmo joins me by picking up and snapping twigs with his mouth, then dropping them onto the ground for me to collect.

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May. And Spring is definitely here. Caernarfon Bay resembles the Med

And we have found a temporary spot to sit outside

Well. This blog has caught up with current time. So no more adventures for the time being.

I have recently had an operation which will take several months to heal, so work on the house is at a standstill for the time being, while I recover and Will takes on the role of carer.

One last story...

While I was in hospital, waiting to be taken to the operating theatre, various trivial topics of conversation took place among fellow theatre goers which developed into the subject of keeping geese and how one goose had become very attached  to his owner. There was then a suggestion the goose could be gay! This led to the question from one gentleman ... How do you know if a goose is gay?

I'll leave you with that thought. Hope to be back soon showing further progress on the house.


Next blog - Wait and see what happens next ...

SHEEP ALL LOOK THE SAME? DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT - April 2013

So you might think all sheep look the same. It's easy to see why, and there certainly are some family resemblances ...

... but we now recognise individuals, and of course we have had to name them...

Our favourite has to be 'Chav Ram', a young ram with attitude.

Then there's his father with his magnificent mane - 'Lion King'.

I swear to you that is not a falsey attached with Velcro!

'Fleecy' is frequently found in our garden. She must be the only sheep who can't jump. But she finds a way through or under whatever she can. Clearly her ways through are a bit of a struggle, hence the state of her dodgy fleece.

'Basil' is the only sheep with a fox's tail...

Every other sheep has a tail like this ...

And this? This is 'Lippy'

Now don't those lips need lipstick???

The lambs have arrived and certain ones are regulars in our garden. They can fit through holes which their mothers can't, but then their mothers can jump fences they can't. The most regular culprits are 'Johnny 5' (name taken from the escaped robot in the film Close Circuit),

and these two who are branded 41, but both named 'Naughty One'. They are the naughtiest of the bunch. 

I wonder which of the above nuisances are responsible for nearly devouring a pot of rhubarb Richard had kindly donated? Fortunately I managed to salvage it before all the leaves disappeared.

Herding the sheep together and off our land is not easy for two of us. Yoda must be aware of this because he has now taken up the role of sheepdog! Every time we go out to chase them away, we can guarantee Yoda will be there too doing his job.

As time passes, herding gets easier. There was a time the sheep would run all over the place, into any difficult to find place, except through the gate. But now, not long after the sheep have spotted us and Yoda, with a little persuasion from us and a bit of a moan from them, they make a hasty exit down our drive and through the gate.

There is a young bull in a field along the lane. For some reason I found a resemblance between him and Rihanna - not OUR Rhianna, I mean THE Rihanna. So guess what? He's now called 'Rihanna'

Rihanna and Yoda aren't sure what to make of each other. Here they are having a face off.

I am so grateful that there is a fence between them, especially when Rihanna chases Yoda. I am a little daunted though as the rickety gate at the far end of the field is very low and I'm pretty sure wouldn't stand up to an angry or playful Rihanna!

We haven't spotted a difference between any of the jackdaws yet, so we haven't named them, but they have started nest building. I wonder if a fleece lined nest is an indication of what to expect from the summer ahead?

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Meanwhile, our own nest building continues to go from strength to strength. The lower part of the house now has windows.

Yoda and Dobby of course are very curious about it all, and insist on coming to look at it with us. We closed the door on them to prevent them walking through wet concrete.

But there was no stopping them with a two inch high gap to squeeze through ...

Next blog - How do you Know if a Goose is Gay?

ITS NOT JUST SHEEP WHO NEED SAVING - March 2013

Having very nearly caught up with current time, Will asked me one afternoon what I was going to blog about once I have run out of stories and the builders have gone. I told him I hadn't a clue, as not much happens up here. Then that very evening at about 11 pm ...

... we heard Gizmo knocking at the front door (another strange habit - he knocks to come in!) The knocking became louder as we realised all our cats were all accounted for so Will went to look, and standing at the front door was a slightly built, elderly gentleman wearing very muddy walking gear. He was lost and disorientated after a cold, damp day in the mountains and had left his wife in a field somewhere as she was exhausted.

We invited him in but he was worried about leaving a trail of mud accumulated from having fallen over several times. Fortunately mud in our house goes unnoticed, but he felt better when I covered the settee with a blanket for him to sit on. Once he had recovered a little, Will took him out to find his wife. 20 minutes or so later, they arrived back having found his wife across a couple of fields, sheltering by some farm machinery. Will had given her fireman lifts over fences as she too was slightly built, elderly, very cold and suffering from exhaustion.

They stayed to warm up by the fire and re-quench their thirst. They had set out at 9.00 that morning to walk up the mountain (which should have taken about an hour from the car park they used). They never found the peak, so at 2 pm had begun the descent back down. Disorientated, with no mobile phone signal, and unprepared for such a long arduous trek, they had come down the wrong side of the mountain, over steep rocks and crags until they saw our lights on and headed for our house. It's fortunate we were still up! They had been walking, climbing and falling for 14 hours instead of the 2 it should have taken.

Once they had regained their strength, Will drove them to their car parked on the other side of the mountain and pointed them in the right direction for their lodgings about 30 minutes away.

The next day, temperatures plummeted to well below zero.

And what valuable lesson have I learnt from this experience?

... that we need a blind on our bedroom Velux window! I thought we were safe from exposure to the world, as it points up hill, and nobody in their right minds would be walking up there at 11 o'clock in the evening when I'm preparing for bed ... apparently not so!

And they weren't the only late night visitors - on another occasion, a few weeks later, a local farmer had reversed his van into a field and become stuck in the mud. He had come to ask Will if he could tow him out. No problem for Will and The Beastie!

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Not much to say about the house, but I hope I don't get anyone into trouble here ... I find it very refreshing to be among builders where there is not a hard hat in sight and as for the scaffolding, well, I'll let you make your own conclusions ...

The garden is still very much a building site.

I can't wait to get it tidied up and plant some attractive plants ... oh no - I forgot - I can't. The goats seem to have spent a disproportionate amount of time in our garden during these long winter months while food has been sparse up on the mountain and now food is also sparse in my garden!

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The only other news is that the longest zip wire in the northern hemisphere has just opened not too far from us. At about a mile long with speeds over 100 mph, that's one place you will not be finding me! See http://www.zipworld.co.uk/ 

Richard - don't grow any taller or you won't be allowed on it!



Next blog - Sheep all look the same? Don't you believe it!

IMPROVEMENTS ARE STARTING TO SHOW - March 2013

All demolition work appears to have come to an end at last. It has been replaced with re-building along with extra damp proofing and insulation making the house a drier, warmer place. 

We haven't made any further renovations to our lounge since the builders were in here. This is likely to be one of the last rooms to complete along with the kitchen, mainly because there is so much to do in them. They need a good amount of money, time and energy spending on them and we want time to get a feel for how they are best used before deciding how we want the finished product. 

However, we have managed to make the lounge quite comfortable and homely for the time being. It is quite a dark room during the day due to it's small size and lack of windows, but during the evening, in front of the wood burner, it is cosy. Gizmo agrees!

For a lighter day room/dining room, we intend to use the conservatory. 

We are in the process of painting it and laying a floor from the re-salvaged slates we brought over from Derbyshire last year.

Working on completing rooms requiring the least work has given us another finished bedroom, so there is somewhere decent for our guests to stay.

So in total we now have 2 bedrooms and a bathroom finished and are well on the way to having a completed conservatory.

The lower rooms which were all but demolished a few weeks ago, nearly have a roof.

The outside wooden steps up to the new back door were rotten and falling apart. Rather than replace them, Will set about laying a stone path/steps up to the door to the right of the original steps.

He has done a great job.

One morning the builders started up some extremely noisy machinery well before 8.00am. I felt very guilty as there were people staying in the holiday cottage next door. People who had no doubt chosen it for its peaceful location! So I took them a bottle of wine and some Thorntons chocolates for having to put up with the rude awakening. The man who answered the door was receptive and asked my name, after which he said, "Wait there Andrea". I wondered what he had gone to fetch. A pistol? He soon reappeared carrying a large  cardboard box from which he took a pile of chocolate bars. He told me he worked for Cadburys and that I could have the chocolate bars!

So there I was, taking him a small box of chocolates as compensation for the noise. And I was the one who came back with 6 large bars of chocolate and 2 packets of sweets! If his intention was to make me feel even more guilty - it worked!! At least the ones I gave him were Thorntons - don't know if that's a good or bad thing for someone who works at Cadburys? Oh well. It's the thought that counts!!

And back to the animals ... again

As mentioned before, the cats have started to take walks with us. Now, all 3 join us.

Perhaps all the house moves have upset their identity. Like dogs, they walk with us, then on one walk, Yoda took on human characteristics and decided to lean on a gate alongside Will!

On another day, just over our fence, there was a sheep tangled in some barbed wire. 

Although the sheep was only yards away from our house, it was quite a trek around to get into the field to get to where the sheep was trapped. Will and his 2 helpers went to free the sheep, which, by the time they arrived had managed to struggle free.

Although free, Will cut the barbed wire  to prevent any more accidents. Of course his two apprentices stayed to help.

Daffodils have started to grow in the garden. 

        

                               

Supposedly, sheep don't eat daffodils. I think this is a fallacy, as I have a theory.... that daffodils and sheep both grow simultaneously. As daffodils sprout, sheep become pregnant and are then too fat to fit under fences or jump over them. This gives the daffodils the chance to sprout new leaves and buds. By the time the sheep are slim and energetic enough to clear fences again, the daffodils are too old and chewy to be worth bothering with. Unfortunately bluebells however, come to life along with the lambs. They have no chance and are eaten alive before they have chance to bud flowers.

Next blog - It's not just sheep which need saving!