the daydream fund challenge thread

choille

Hi Dave - I spent too much on fencing really, but had to.

Your hedge will be lovely once it's done. On the way to Inverness someone has put in a willow hedge & they've woven it into sort of swirls - it does look nice. If I hadmoney i woud get the local dry stane dyker to rebuild, not only the byre but also all the walls that seem to have melted into the fields. But I'll never be able to afford that so had better learn how to do it some day myself.
A very cold, low cloud day today.
The other day I started gathering up all the brash, twigs that are lying about & I've started binding them into bundles with woodbine that is a general pest. I felt quite chuffed as it serves two purposes - get's rid of it & aids feeding the stove with mini bundles without letting smoke pour into the room if I was to feed individual twigs in when it's lit. I'm mean so I am.

Glad to hear your 'Director' has resigned. These committees can be so filled with some people's weird agendas & ego trips. I've found some pretty appalling behaviour & had really been sickened but will just have to plod on.

RAS

chiolle

When my ruddy arm is sorted out, would be happy to sort a short length of dyke; it might be RAS style rather than local style but.. you kinda have to go with the stones. Have not done any in about 5 years but suspect it would come back. Really most of it is pattern recognition and anyone good at jigsaws should be good at dyking.

At the mo though I still know about it when I had been doing a bit of digging let alone lifting stones.

lostinrates

choille wrote: »

in a willow hedge .

we have willow and wuld use it more BUT for the issues which only impact on us with salicylic acid and competing under rules with the horses....if we ever decide to again. In anycase with possibility of ''paying guests'' competing its a no go.

Davesnave, I feel your post driving pain. Its rally restrictive for us as its something e just cannot do alone. Trying to find somehere to drive in electric posts can be a nightmare. I'm thinking of advertising hardcore on the free to collect lists etc but I think our ''pieces'' are too big...I don't know much about rubble. Anyone?

choille

RAS - Really sorry to hear about your arm. Rest up.

I'm muddling about, undecided what to do - too much to do sometimes. Overwhelming.

All the best.

rhiwfield

choille wrote: »

If I hadmoney i woud get the local dry stane dyker to rebuild, not only the byre but also all the walls that seem to have melted into the fields. But I'll never be able to afford that so had better learn how to do it some day myself.

Choille, we managed to get our local scout group to dry stone wall part of our meadow, with BTCV providing tuition. Other than that can only think of WWOOF, 'cos when we got quotes from dry stone wallers they were priced way out of our league.

RAS, sorry to hear about your arm, when I was building our first set of garden walls a few years back I ended up with tennis elbows that took 2 years to heal :eek:

Davesnave, would a hand auger work at all? Or is ground just too rocky?

After a gloomy day yesterday its cloudy now with just a hint of brightness. Got DW back home yesterday, a day early as hospital were short of beds. Now to collect a wheelchair for tomorrow As Davesnave was saying the other day, there are pros and cons to having different amounts of land, atm I'm pretty sure I couldn't handle a smallholding!

RAS

Thanks for the good wishes folks; I have had problems for a long time but muddled through with it somewhat twisted. At Easter I reached out and the thing was locked at right angles at the elbow. Managed to straighten it and relocate it into the right place for the first time since when...., but the muscles keep objecting to the new arrangment. Work in progress.

choille

Hi rhiwfield - Good for you with the boy scouts. It's not a must do it now job. The byre should be, but the field walls will have to wait.

The more I think about what needs doing - the less I do sometimes - I could be like a headless chicken if I hadn'd got such stiff joints. Try & get some physio RAS.

RAS

rhiwfield wrote: »

Choille, we managed to get our local scout group to dry stone wall part of our meadow, with BTCV providing tuition. Other than that can only think of WWOOF, 'cos when we got quotes from dry stone wallers they were priced way out of our league.

choille

Definately there are some volunteer groups that will do sections; that is how I learned.

Sometimes you have to pay the instructor and the volunteers get it free but other times you can charge a small fee to cover the cost of the tuition and offer camping space and tea.

Do you have public liability cover?

choille

I don't, but I'm sure I could arrange some.

I don't know if I'm in the right area.

Goodness that would be good - not that the walls are crucial for the fields because I've fenced, but it would be good as the stones are there.
Funny the ruin at the back of the caravan - that abutts the burn is a strange construction & has a huge wall down to the burn. My Oh believes it was a vertical mill. That should be built back up, but certainly not in the immediate plans.

I just want a house - I fantasise about having a bath.

lostinrates

choille wrote: »

I don't, but I'm sure I could arrange some.

I don't know if I'm in the right area.

Goodness that would be good - not that the walls are crucial for the fields because I've fenced, but it would be good as the stones are there.
Funny the ruin at the back of the caravan - that abutts the burn is a strange construction & has a huge wall down to the burn. My Oh believes it was a vertical mill. That should be built back up, but certainly not in the immediate plans.

I just want a house - I fantasise about having a bath.

It sounds like a beautiful area. Now that these skills are becoming so mainstream popular I wonder if you can't find someone who wouldn't like to put on more than one course, of you get PL insurance...gets bits done in succession!

It sounds all so very beautiful, choille. But of course the longing for a bath is normal!

fwiw, too late now in the year, but dh and I, for various reasons have bathed in an inflatable boat a number of times. if you put it under a window with a hose connector to the hot tap in the caravan and supplement with a kettleor two, then you just tip it up and empty it...unlike when we were doing it in a flat when we had to empty it slowly into the shower tray