One man went to mow . . . .

. . . . .went to mow a meadow, one man and his dog chicken (cluck, cluck) went to mow a meadow.

As if having a lawn that keeps growing isn't enough, our end of the field keeps growing too!  Last year Bob used the strimmer to keep on top of the nettles and brambles, but now that we have the lawn mower out and usable he thought it was time to give it a go in the field.  I think it was hard work, but not as hard as using the strimmer and there weren't as many obstacles hidden in the grass as we expected, just loads of molehills.  Course, the grass was a bit long for this little mower so Bob had to keep unclogging it, but it looks much better and should get easier now it's been done once.  We are a bit envious of Rob, who owns the rest of the field, as he whizzes up and down on his ride-on mower - we can't really justify one of those, but it looks like more fun!  Can you just see the stick standing to the left of Bob on this photo?  Well that is to mark a wild orchid that we didn't know we had and it is now flowering - I wonder if they do much multiplying and one day we'll have a carpet of them?

We now have the second whiskey barrel in place as a water butt.  The steps up the side of the house are now finished and pointed (at last!) and so we could roll the barrel into place at the top.  For quite a while we were worried that the barrel would look too big at that end of the house as the walls are much shorter up there, but now it's there it looks fine and makes the steps look pretty good too.  We had a scout around the local salvage yards to find cast iron pipes and bends to connect the gutter and the downpipe and they are all cut to size and we're just waiting for the paint to dry so we can connect it all up.  Once that's done we can finally get rid of the plastic middle from a roll of carpet that we've been using as a downpipe for the past few years - well, it was free and it's done the job (not sure it was quite what the Planning Dept had in mind when they were specifying what the guttering should be made of though!).

We had a good weekend with Ben and I think he enjoyed relaxing, lying in (after being woken by the crows at 4am), a beer or two and home cooking - both eating and doing.  He's a really good cook and enjoys experimenting so we invented a lemon truffle chocolate bar for a Father's Day present - worked out really well I think.  I don't think he enjoyed the sudden attack of hayfever after a short walk which left his eyes streaming and him working his way through a box of tissues - living by the sea he's escaped quite lightly I think and forgot to take any tablets.  I took him back to Aberystwyth on the Sunday and we sat on the beach with a huge icecream each which was nice.  Talking of beaches, Bob and I are having a little holiday at the seaside in a couple of weeks.  We're staying in a pub in Newquay in Cardigan Bay which comes highly recommended by someone at work.  I'm really looking forward to it and we're hoping to see those elusive dolphins this time.  My friend said they spent a whole afternoon sat on the harbour wall watching them play, including a baby!

So, the crows are still a real nuisance and we're thinking of putting razor-wire on all the window sills so they can't land!!  Not really, but we'll have to think of something like that.  Yesterday evening we sat with a beer watching two baby woodpeckers trying to come to grips with the peanut feeder, Mum was helpful and gave them bits of peanuts, but Dad just argued with them and chased them around, poor things (maybe they forgot Father's Day!).

This has been day six of seven solid days at work - don't like!!!