At last... the weather has improved and we are getting nice warm sunshine. It is really nice to be able to get the washing dry outside in the fresh air.
Daithi has been hard at work trying to finish the roof off. I am determined to get the scaffolding down as soon as possible so that we can get a digger in and clear the site. Before that can be done we need to put up the ridge tiles and fit the guttering. I spent a whole week chipping away at old concrete and muck from some reclaimed ridge tiles which Daithi had sourced from www.donedeal.ie and had driven down from Donegal. They match our ones exactly and now we have enough for all the ridge. It is such a relief! Unfortunately my thumb was hit many times too and is still feeling a bit bruised and stiff.
With the fine weather my attention has turned more to outside. The daffodils have flowered and are now dying back. Before they disappear altogether I want to dig them up and put them in planters so that we can clear the land behind the mobile home. I am planning this area to be my growing patch: greenhouse, raised beds, hens, bees. It won't be ready for this year unfortunately but maybe next year....
The 'magic' field, as the boys call it was sprayed by the local farmer a couple of weeks back and now has died back. We now need to plough the field, rotavate it and sow the grass seed. Hopefully we will end up with a gorgeous lawn are for the boys to play on. Our elderly neighbour, who has been a great help filling us in on the historical details of the house as he remembers them, kindly gave us his very old Ford 200o tractor. I think he feels a bit indebted to Daithi who has kept him in kindling throughout the winter and has done a few odd jobs for him too. It was a lovely gift and I hope we will be able to fix it up and make good use of it. I was amazed to see it driving up the lane, masses of black smoke coming from the exhaust! Daithi is delighted and can't wait to be able to restore it.
