And so it came to the evening. Much work had been done by Hubs / Head Everything, including the first 'Sawing of the Wood' which has been much anticipated by himself, longed for even. Several hours into the first Sawing Session, with arms and back aching, his enthusiasm for a log fire indoors remained undiminished, but his bodily self was not so keen to keep on with the task. A suggestion from moi, however, that might it be a good idea to use the electric chainsaw instead of the hand saw, enabled him to carry on. First Log Pile built, which is small but beautifully formed.
The Log Pile comprising little logs because we have a little fire. Bools is searching for mice.
The storage depot for the Wood Pile? In the Pig / Chicken / Once Upon A Time Office hut. Will tell you more about the change of use another time.
The once upon a time Pig / Chicken Hut, then morphed into our office, now the Log Pile Home
Another activity for Hubs was the Gathering of the Acorns. Many bucketfuls have been gathered from the bounteous harvest which our Oak trees have given us this year, all of which have been donated to Max and Tess (our Tamworth pigs) for recycling. This they are doing very well as can be seen by the lovely pile of manure they are making for us. But they don't go to the loo randomly over their paddock like our sheep do, but use an area which they have especially designated for this purpose, which then gets trodden over by themselves into the ground to become ready-to use compost for veggies next year. Clever heh!
So the Gathering of the Acorns has been a task which has gone on for many weeks, and still the Oaks are shedding their harvest. But I am all acorned out, so Hubs took a turn at harvesting this provender, and very well he did too, and another few buckets were picked up.
And then he had a go at moving the hay bales, having been told by our farmer friend that they needed to be put onto pallets to keep their bottoms dry, and that they should be covered since they were not being stored in a barn. We would store them inside somewhere but only have our living accommodation as dry space, and hay bales and us would not get along too well co-habiting, mostly because of the hay bales tendency to moult, assisted by Bools who likes to rub his back on them, back scratching being one his most favoured occupations. I am already combating Saharian Dust in my house, so moulting hay bales are definitely out. Plus, the heavy aroma of wet hay drying is something which is most pleasurable and not so pleasurable. Nice to have the aroma of drying grass, but the aroma of wet grass which isn't drying is something else. Plus, I noticed the other day that some of the bales were steaming. On plunging my hand inside the bale I found the interior to be hot. Cooking. The grass was cooking itself. So better for them to be outside. Fire inside a log burner is one thing, cooking hay bales is not. Therefore loads of reasons not to share the hay inside our living space.
So, anyway, Hubs up on tractor, lifiting bales, turning them, putting them on pallets. Only he took the topper off the back of the tractor so he could manoevour better. Not a good idea. Because the balance between the weight of the bales of hay and the tractor, minus the weight of the topper (the grass cutter), made the tractor almost topple over on its side. So Hubs had a 'moment' and got a fright. Thought he might be on his way to Heaven as the tractor did a sideways lurch.
Some of the hay bales wearing their Tarp Bonnets.
But not to worry. His time is not up yet. The tractor righted itself, and the final project of the day was to try and put the topper back on the tractor. This is a project which remains unfinished, however, because there were three metally things which had to line up and connect and he could only manage to get one of them in position. An Internet search is hopefully going to fill in the correct sequence for this task. Bless him, he is managing the tractor wonderfully well. It is another one of those steep learning curves, with the fundamentals being given to him by Angel Ron (our good friend, and the previous owner of the tractor) and Patrick (another good friend, a French farmer and the mender of the topper). His experience is growing. It is quite something to see him perched on his tractor, doing manly things. It is quite something seeing him build the Log Pile.
And so it came to the evening. Tired and happy. Dark fell. Late evening: a noise. Outside Hubs went, to do an investigation.
In the moonshine there was a large mound. A huge dark mound. Flickering his torch over the mound he fetched up a reflection of an eye.
yyyyyyiiiiiipppPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEeeeeeeeee!!!!!! Maxy-boy! On board Tess! Really on board. As in almost lying full length on top of her.
And so, are there to be piglet babies, that is the question. But at least he is managing to get on board. We thought he wasn't managing the task. Thought that perhaps Tess wouldn't let him. He can be an irritating piggy-being when he wants to be. Perhaps she didn't want to make him a piggy-dad, that is what we had begun to think.
But: Ta Da!!!! He was up, therefore they are, and maybe the patter of tiny piglet feet might happen sometime next year.
So Wahooo for Max and Tess for having a moment of mutual appreciation. And Wahoo for Hubs for doing his manly tasks. And Wahoo for me for carrying on with trying to get rid of the copious amounts of dust which overlay everything. I am winning. I keep telling myself I am winning.
And last night, we sat in front of our wood burning stove and enjoyed the delights of a living fire. It wasn't particularly cold and we didn't need the fire lit, but there is something about a fire which warms the heart and lifts the spirits, especially if one is not having to tend the fire. This is another manly task of Hubs / Head Keeper of the Fire.
Ah, chickens are having a squabble in their Chicken Hut, so need to go let them out.
Hope you have a good Sunday. Hope there is a warm fire burning in your heart.
