Woeful Summer weather!

Every March we are blessed with normally dry, warm and usually sunny weather! It seems that there is a pattern developing with our British weather which suggests that summer no longer starts in May/June in fact it seems that it doesn't start at all!! Here at Easter-Wood, we are constantly challenged when it comes to decisions where the weather plays a part in conducting any work that relies upon a dry day! We have actually decided that this year we will travel to France for a week's break (the first for 4 years!) later this year to stay with my sister and her husband just outside Cahor in order to enjoy some sort of summer weather!

Leading on from the weather situation, we are unsure that we will be able to source any hay this year so we grabbed at the chance to secure 60 bales of last year's hay from a local equestrian farm this week. Our Alpacas are thriving on hay currently and are reluctant to actually leave the dry conditions of the barn to venture out for some grass of which we have an abundance of!! Mind you, it could be that they seem rather relaxed with the sounds of Radio 2 gently emanating from the transistor radio in the barn which is playing all day long!

We have now employed the services of a local tradesman (Bob) to finally finish off the Log Cabin build which involves adding some decking to the rear of the Cabin along with tidying up the lower section of the main building down to ground level as can be seen in the photo below. By the way, the ramp shown is more for our aging dog and not a reflection on our physical condition!!!

Having celebrated a birthday last month, I am now the proud owner of a rather special coffee machine which Gemma and Jonathan kindly bought me. I have always enjoyed "proper" coffee and since I had been bleating on about how insipid instant coffee is, they very kindly clubbed together to buy me this great machine! I am now a happy coffee junky!!

I have just returned from our annual golfing break down in Devon and whilst the weather was appalling (as usual), we did manage to play each of the four days we were there. As usual, my golf was pretty rubbish but I enjoyed the break immensely not to mention the high quality (and quantity) of food!! Sheila stayed here of course and took care of the farm in her usual efficient manner! The picture below indicates that the weather was kind to us............... for a couple of hours!!!

Finally to finish, just before I left for Devon and during a dry spell, I managed to "top" a couple of our paddocks but as the rain had encouraged so much growth, there were some area's which could not be dealt with by our lawn tractor. Diego and Porthos however were more than happy to attempt a "trim"!

Well the skys appear to be brightening, so duty thus calls. Be back again soon.