Drains and very cute baby rabbits

Oooh, I ache!  We had a very slow start today - what should have been a quick trip to the builders merchant took forever because the first one didn't have all the bits we wanted so we went to another who also didn't have everything, but did have the bits the first didn't which meant we had to go back to the first again, but at least we got everything in the end.  After that though we have got on really well as we have laid most of the drains around the extension.  We had to lay a french drain which is pipe with holes drilled in the top half which you sit in pea gravel and the idea is that ground water seeps down through the gravel and into the pipe and then drains away into the soakaway.  You have to enclose the gravel with porous membrane which stops mud and silt getting through and clogging the holes in the pipe.  Next to that is the drain from the utility room and bathroom.  All this had to fit in a fairly narrow walkway between the building and the retaining wall so quite an awkward working space.  Once we'd cut the pipe to length (and drilled all the holes in some of it), fitted all the bends and sorted out the levels so that the water drains the right way, I shovelled gravel into buckets and Bob poured them around the pipes making sure the membrane stayed in place.  That was a lot of gravel to move and hump around - hence the groans from both of us when we move at the moment!

I have now finished tiling the bathroom and grouted.  Just the silicone to pipe down the corners and around the bath - oh dear, that could well go horribly wrong!  It all looks much better without the horrible green plasterboard - much brighter now.  I have to get on with the shower tiling upstairs now.  That needs doing before the plumber can fit the shower.  I thought I had all week, but the electrician has just rung to say he has some time on Thursday and Friday to come back and finish the lights, etc.  That's really good, but does mean I have to try and get a good chunk of the tiling done before then as he needs to work in the en-suite and I don't want to be in his way.  So, guess what I'm doing tomorrow?

We had the weekend off with a visit from Carol, Graham, Sophie and Ellie (sister and family).  As usual when they come the weather was glorious, too hot to do much really.  On Sunday we did some gardening - lots of weed strimming (not sure it really looks any better though).  We also planted several plants we'd been given by various people and also moved the leeks to their growing positions.  You plant the seeds and then when they are big enough you dig them up and plant them individually into deep holes which allow them plenty of space to grown into nice big leeks.  This morning we went to check they were OK and were horrified to see a big rabbit hole in the middle of the patch!   Aaarghhhh!!  On closer inspection we found three tiny baby rabbits at the bottom of it.  Oh, now what were we to do?  No sign of the adults all day, so in the end we got them out and put them the other side of the path in the undergrowth where they snuggled up together and stayed for a few hours.  When I went to check before we came in, they'd gone - no sign of anything nasty happening, so I assume the parent found them and carried them off to a new hole.  No doubt they'll be back in a few weeks to eat the heads off the flowers, chomp away at the tree bark and generally be a nuisance, but they were just too cute to do anything nasty to!  I expect we'll regret being softies somehow!