Pages

Saturday 27 February 2016

BABIES ........

12th February
What a horrible gloomy day; nothing to do except trawl the internet for exciting vegetable seeds to buy; I want mashua (edible nasturtium tubers), cucumelon (tiny cucumbers that look like watermelons), Tzimbalo, to name but a few ..... Ooops, seeds bought - couldn't find the mashula though😞, they deliver to Portugal (Steph😘).
Candlelit and head torch evening; I must say my Christmas present to Brett was a big success!

13th February
Rain .......
I used my elbows as an excuse not to go to class (can't drive)!
Karina invited me to join an online book reading/reviewing site last evening (Goodread); so today, instead of buying seeds, I have been trawling the internet looking for free (Kindle) books, 38 so far, no need to ever be bored again!

14th February
No Valentine card for me (again) this morning .....
Weird weather: bitterly cold N wind, blue skies and sunshine, grey sky and heavy (cold) downpour - the ground is soaked again.
I spent the day in the polytunnel potting on .....
Lots of winter squash
Fortunately the boar hasn't returned; it was a treat and a privilege to see it but ...... Boars are wild animals and very dangerous. If it had persisted in coming here our dogs would have been in danger (not to mention us), we'd have had to get a hunter in to kill it.

15th February
Cold, with a bitter wind, but sunny ....... There's lots of snow on the mountains, which explains the biting wind.
BCB ......
I spent the morning in the polytunnel (potting on and weeding) until I ran out of compost.
Pam popped in for a cup of tea this afternoon; I'm going into CB with her on Wednesday (Brett's going to be working at Annika's).
We had a phone call from the couriers; our batteries are being delivered tomorrow. Goodness knows how we're going to shift them from the village (the courier's vehicle probably won't get up the track) as each battery weighs 150 kilos (330lbs)!

16th February
There was ice on the animal's water this morning; a cold, bright, start to the day.
BCB ......
As we were expecting a call from courier Brett went to get the truck ready; the battery was flat! So his brilliant idea was for us to push it, up a slight incline, so that he could bumpstart it down towards the duck shed. When he said to me "are you actually pushing?" (it weighs about 3 tonnes) I wanted to punch him in the face! He didn't like my idea of phoning Mark to ask him to come over and jumpstart it; but, of course, we had to in the end! In fact Nick came and started it with jump leads (thank you Nick).
I coloured (stippled) one side of a glass block with 'glass paint' (hobby paint) and left it outside for a couple of weeks to see how weather proof the paint would be - one area had started flaking off already, and it all came off easily when I soaked it in warm water. So plan b. the blocks come with white painted sides, I scrubbed this off and repainted with coloured (acrylic) paint - actually quite effective, so that's my job for this week.
Second activity to aggravate my joints today: the courier called, Brett went off to collect the batteries, came back with them in the truck but ..... how to get them out of the truck? My idea - wait until Chris is home and ask him to come and help. Brett's idea: get Sandra to help! Ok we did manage it but not without cost - I was convinced I'd snapped a rib it was so painful and my elbows have flaired up again (the turmeric doesn't seem to be helping). Moan over, at least we've got the batteries as far as the decking; we want to replace the outside door (in the living room) with a window before we set these batteries up - once in the house we don't want to move them again.

17th February
Brett didn't go to Annika's today, he continued blocking.
I went into CB with Pam and missed the first mammal birth on our quinta - one of our ewes (we didn't realise they were pregnant!) gave birth to a beautiful bouncing boy - jet black, with white dot on head, white tip to tail with incredibly long legs.
Look at the length of those legs




18th February
Brett went to Annika's.
I carried on scrubbing off white paint and repainting the sides of the glass blocks; in shades of pink and purple (for the two windows at the back of the studio) and red/yellow/orange (window in the workshop).
Lili is fascinated by the lamb, she can also get through the gate into the field; I spent a lot of the day retrieving her from the field! Fortunately she's not an aggressive dog, she just wants to play!
I made panna cotta tonight; A&K are coming to dinner tomorrow, hopefully they're bringing a wife for Mr Muscovy.

19th February
The ewe with the lamb has returned to the flock; she's been hanging around where she gave birth (apart from when she's in the shed overnight, to stop foxes attacking the lamb) for the last two days.
BCB ...... (he's up to window height; hopefully, tomorrow, some of the glass blocks will be going in).
I finished painting the pink/purple glass blocks, most of the green/blue blocks (for the two windows in the front wall of studio) and prepared a meal for this evening; spaghetti bolognese (made with minced lamb), garlic bread, salad from the garden and peanut brittle for the panna cotta.
Wow, we had an email from Joyce!!!!! (She doesn't do technology); she, Sarah and James are coming to visit in MayπŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€, very happy!
We had a lovely evening with A&K AND they brought Mr Muscovey a wife.

20th February
There were hunters outside this morning (on the quintas nextdoor to ours), no idea why they're hunting on a Saturday.
It's Lili's official birthday, we got her 2 years ago today ........
Lovely warm sunny day, it was an absolute pleasure to be outside.
Poor Mr Muscovey, his wife has got through the fence (he's too big to get through) to the goose field and is hanging out with the Peking ducks! He's sitting in his shed sulking!
BCB ......
Oh dear this is the third week running I haven't been to class!
I finished cleaning and painting the glass blocks.
This new internet has a lot to answer for .... tonight we watched the latest James Bond film; Spectre, I have to say I wasn't that impressed (and he's no Sean Connery!).

21st February
It was a bit chilly today ....
No hunters!!!!
Bloody goats (well Billy and Georgia) have been eating my jasmine and sweet peas - I'm sure they're both poisinous, but they seem ok.
We only had the morning here, as we went to lunch with Wendy & Kevin. So Brett prepared the floor, of the workshop side of the studio, ready for concreting tomorrow. I made chocolate covered coconut balls to take with us.
We had a lovely afternoon with Wendy & Kevin; we came home with two strawberry tree seedlings.
Our Muscovey duck (new female) has walked off (she couldn't have flown as we clipped her wing); we're gutted, so is our male!

22nd February
A very productive day today. This morning the floor, of the workshop side of the studio building, was concreted. I was in charge of cement and water - I felt like Phoebe (Friends) when she was in charge of plastic cups and ice ........
Workshop floor
This afternoon Brett rotovated (tractor) the winter garden, while I did some sowing and potting on in the polytunnel; then ...... we used our seeder to plant twelve rows of vegetable seeds - it was really quick (the speed of walking!), we want them to germinate so we can see how well it worked, this tool could revolutionise our lives!!!
Brett watched 'Bridge of Spies' tonight; I started watching it and found it rather boring.

23rd February
Brett finished the workshop floor and fitted the reclaimed garage doors in place - it's all coming together!
Worksgop floor finished
I spent the morning in the polytunnel sowing and potting on; then, when I couldn't stand the heat any longer, I planted out some lettuce from the seed bed and did some weeding. This afternoon I had to do some food shopping, so boring!
Very weird, last Saturday a Portuguese man came to our language class and offered free self defence classes one Saturday a month - this week there's no language class, it's self defence .... I won't be attending that (not with my joints!).


24th February
It was a foggy, dull, drizzly day ......
I went to book club, I gave Karina a lift; we discussed the book (A Man Called Ove), the opinions ranged from loving it to not quite hating it, but definitely not liking it. Then we had lunch and came home.
Our next book is 'Jonathan Livingstone Seagull'; I downloaded it, after we had put the animals away, and had finished it by the time we had dinner (less than an hour, it's only 28 pages long). I would not recommend it, I just didn't see the point of it - of course it's all symbolic!
The lamb is a week old; we've been putting him and the ewe in the shed overnight, to protect him from foxes and other predators. This evening they were impossible; it took us ages to get them in, we even considered leaving them out, but we would have been devastated if anything had happened to him, we got him in in the end - after several tins of food!

25th February
The majority of my studio floor was concreted this morning - I was, once again, in charge of water and cement (and of course making drinks).
Studio floor
I was also keeping an eye on the ewes and goats when ....... Hoo-bloody-rah I noticed that Georgia had given birth!!!!! At long last. She had a very hairy, white, little girl - we thought she would have twins, but no there was just the one.
About 10 minutes old

26th February
And this afternoon Hazel gave birth to the cutest,  tiniest, mini-me (a spit image of her mother).
She's tiny .....
This evening we went to K&A's for dinner; lovely as always (I made cornflake cake).

27th February
Everyone wants to come to our 'petting zoo'! This morning Lola came AND we did some Portuguese! This afternoon Pam was supposed to come with her guests' children and tomorrow Andrew.
How cute is she???

This one is jolly cute too!

He wanted his photo taken!

Even the cat is pregnant .......

No comments:

Post a Comment