our forever patch challenge

sammy70

Thank you chumpy45, whata lovely thing to say, im glad my diary gives you a little extra insperation

I know reading diaries on here kept me motivated, especially through the tough times like when we were paying off debts, and first mortgage, and sometimes it just felt so tough, and you question will you ever get where you want to be..

Today is the first day of our holiday from work. We have had a busy weekend, the digger arrived and has been in action all day yesterday, and today, making the top fieds accessable.

Hubby is diggering today, son spent all day yesterday doing it.

Daughter and i had another thorn filled sunday removing blackberry bushes , hubby was strimming undergrowth, along with taking charge of the never ending bonfire to burn the offending jungle choppings :rotfl:

It was a lovely hot sunny day, so i made a picnic lunch which we ate looking over the meadow filled with lambs, and watching and listening to the wild birds eating and nest building, yet again another idylic weekend spent with the ones i love, in our lovely home, i feel totally blessed

Today hubby is again using the digger to remove stone/make lane to field, while ive been doing housework/finances, while waiting for british gas to come and fit our smart meter (im assurred between 10-12 !) , then its outside again with my favorite blackberry bush friends, oh, and have to chase up door fitters, they are supposed to be coming this week to fit workshop door, also today need to get cash out to pay for the door..

Have a lovely day everyone

EatingTheElephant

Your weekends sound a lot like mine at the moment, brambles and bonfires, far away from all the crowds.

try_harder

Living the dream ,thats what its all about .

sammy70

What a week!

Well, heres our list of achievements-

Lane to top field cleared, this includes removing circa 100 tonnes of stone which had been lightly buried, the remains of the old boneworks/bricksworks that used to be here in the 1800,s. Task to find possible buyer for this in the coming weeks

Burnt countless mounds of dead branches/blackberry bushes- still lots to go- todays ongoing afternoon treat for daughter and i

New door on workshop fitted- looks good! just small adjustment required- door fitters coming am tuesday to sort

Smart meter fitted- no more meter readings :T

100 hawthornes planned on areas where sheep netting on show to TPT which runs along side us- extra insurance against dogs/animal escapes, hubby and i spent a full day doing this

old mountain of coal dust?? left by previous owner moved and buried on track to field, this is the start of clearing out building designated for my stable :j

too much food and goodies consumed, back on the diet with a vengeance Tuesday when back at work:j

Overall, a productive few days off, with the added bonus of lots of time with hubby, and lots of visits and time with daughter and son, my happiest times ever, and all in our lovely rural haven, bliss!! :beer:
made a £25 overpayment today too, bonus!:)

sammy70

Back to work in the morning, so early night for me hubby went back to work on a night shift tonight, so this morning was our last holiday snuggle with cup of tea, bedroom windows flung wide, listening to the birds singing and the flock of sheep and lambs making their morning feeding time baaahhhings chasing the farmer when he brings their feed on a morning on his quad with trailer attached. Its so lovely watching them leaping about playing together in the early morning sun :)

Hubby had last chance to make use of the hire digger this afternoon, it is being collected tommorow, he shifted more of the pile of coal dust out of my future horses home, and scraped a thin layer of soil of the yard, to reveal a proper gravel/tarmac area, which will give us loads more space for parking.

I have plans to clear at least two barrow loads of undergrowth every afternoon this week after work, as well as sticking to my diet, hopefully if i get a shuffle on with the barrow, will burn a bit of extra calories too,bonus!

sammy70

Well, yesterday had a lovely afternoon. As i was driving down our lane, the field to the right of the track has a neighbouring farmers sheep in. I timed it perfectly, as i got the post, i noticed an ewe just giving birth to the last of 3 lambs.. it was magical to watch, i sat and watched for nearly an hour while she licked them clean, and they made their first wobbly attempts to stand, in less than an hour they were on their feet and had taken milk from mum

They had cute little black faces and legs, and really curly wool, like little teddy bears, i cant wait to have a couple of sheep of our own next year, and watch our own little ones coming into the world:j

After that, i rushed to try and get my two barrow loads of blackberry bushes and deadwood etc cleared, unfortunately after filling the barrow with a mountain of ivy, blackberry bushes, and dead branches, i made the fateful decision to take a quick route to the bonfire down a steep banking.. i ended up with the barrow running away with me, i went on my bum all way down hill, and barrow tipped lot out halfway! :rotfl: a case of more haste, less speed got my first skinned elbows and bruised bum in a long time, last time i think was when my old horse bucked me off :rotfl:

Luckily living in the back of beyond meant no one witnessed my shame..:rotfl:

sammy70

What a beautiful weekend!sunny and mild

Watered all the hawthornes, burned another pile of undergrowth, though as both hubby and i seemed to have some lurgy virus, sore throat, achey and snotty, we paced ourselves. I still feel ropey, back to work today, already looking forward to this upcoming long weekend, yey to bank holidays!:j

We have a strange creature living on the banking across from hubbys workshop. It is brown with a black tip on its tail, the size of a squirrel but longer and thinner, ive looked on internet and looks like a stoat, but stoats look a lot smaller than this one as far as i can see in pictures/vids .. any ideas anyone?
it popped its head out and actually made angry sounds at my spanieal, who kept backing away from it, so it must be quite brave/ viscious..
hubby saw this little critter scampering up our lane this morning again at about ten to 9, and bizarrely we were just talking about it at teatime (5.05pm) as we spotted it coming down the lane and heading to the hole it was seen going into yesterday. we had the thought- 9am- 5pm- has it got a job somewhere local? :rotfl:

pink_poppy

Could it be a weasel?? We had one in our garden a few years ago and my first thought was that it was a squirrel when it appeared. It was a reddish brown colour.

try_harder

I hope you are feeling a little better today sammy70.

sammy70

Thankyou tryharder, feeling loads better

Today overpaid £150, total overpaid for April= £253.47, total overpaid from nov 2016-now =£1844.93

Due to paying out this month for the workshop door, digger, new lights and a ladder to clean guttering, we havent overpaid as much as i would like , but everything we have spent is needed, and next 3 months challenge is to save £4500 needed for the new roof on the workshop:) :eek:

I love a challenge, and the roof needs doing asap, so the purse strings are pulled tight, meal planning and penny watching herewe come!:rotfl: