Le Cheval!!

I have some exciting news this week. I have finally found a horse! He is black and pure bred Spanish - I have bought him from a local breeder which is helpful as I have a guarantee that if we end up not getting along I can take him back for a refund or exchange. Having bought a few dodgy horses in my time that you end up being stuck with this is a great advantage. He isn't here yet as they are still doing the full vet checks and working with him to make sure he is ready for me. He has been trained using natural horsemanship which I have some knowledge of and think is fantastic - I rode him yesterday in just a halter and he was lovely so it all seems quite positive at the minute. Hopefully next blog I will have some photos of him. We need to get the fence finished off and electrified as well as sorting out the water too. Also madly searching for saddlery etc. Unfortunately our weather has gone back to being decidedly wintery again - I had actually put the column heater away but we got it out again a couple of days ago. We have rain as well which is nice as it was getting very dry after a couple of weeks of almost summery weather. The trees are starting to green up too so the forest is starting to fill in a bit. Here is a pic of our plum tree with all its blossoms. The cherry tree was also loaded with flowers but we had some heavy rain which looks to have knocked alot off - hopefully we will get some fruit still.

As far as jobs go we have been going pretty well. Paul has finished raising the doorway in the 'snug' from midget size to well - Paul size! This was a tricky job as he was very concerned as to the amount of weight being held up by the lintels he was moving - lots of messing about with acro props.

Now that job has been done we just need some warmer weather so we can high pressure clean some walls in the snug that need doing before we can get the final underfloor heating in and the top slurry done. Then the downstairs walls can also be done although that is also another warmer weather job as working with concrete in this weather is not too pleasant. We did try to find a gap in the weather today to go and get some more plasterboard but it was a bit of a fail as rain kept on threatening and we didn't want to risk getting it wet. We put it on the roof of the van normally which is helpful at the moment as we can then load it direct through the second floor windows. Paul built a frame to rest them on in the window so he lifts and pushes whilst I steady them and line them up.

The second floor is coming along nicely too. Paul has got most of the electrical and plumbing work done ready to do the walling. Starting to look like a real house now!

Paul has also been practising his stone masonry skills and I must say he did an awesome job. He replaced some of the large stones that are surrounding the windows on the second floor where the shutters had broken out of which happens if they are left to swing in the wind. He broke out the old stones and made new ones to go in their place by carving them from stone. Once they get some weather on them you won't be able to tell the difference.

We also had a bit of a play around with the door on our citern - Paul made a new door for it and I painted it with the colour we have chosen to use on our shutters when they have been fixed up down the track.

Well next time maybe there will be some pictures of the newest family member 'Tolsan' who Paul has decided to call Tonsil - he amuses himself quite easily I do think!