Whilst running the other day Ruth nearly stepped on an adder that was lying in the road next to where we live.
Happily she avoided the little guy, and came to tell us all about it.
John Luke, Reuben, and Ruth all went back to where the adder was basking (by the edge of the road) and had a good look.
A while later Reuben returned to where the adder was last seen to find it had been run over by a car.
They should have moved it.
We are installing underfloor heating into the farmhouse.
The heat for the underfloor system will come from the land in front of the house via a ground source heat pump.
This picture shows the first of four 50 metre trenches needed to collect the heat. Each trench is 1.2 metres deep and has a plastic pipe laid in it.
All the pipes are filled with water, which is passed through a heat pump to release the heat, like a fridge in reverse.
Everyone we speak to about the system (except for the company who sold us it) is very sceptical as to whether it will actually work. I must say I have some concerns.
So as a back up to the ground source heat pump we are installing two wood burners (one of which will help heat our hot water).
It is a stage in a childs development that every parent looks forward to and dreads in equal measure.
The crawling stage.
The time where your child is no longer a helpless little thing that needs to be carried and moved everywhere. Suddenly they are zooming about under their own steam, knocking things over, grabbing and pulling down, anything within reach.
Abigail has been putting our (very poor) health and safety skills to the test for the last two weeks now.
Her ability to rapidly deploy herself to all parts of a room has taken us all by surprise.
It is a sad quirk of nature that human babies learn to get around like this, long before they get any sense of danger.
Abigail is particularly fond of launching herself headfirst off your lap towards the floor, so that she can reach a toy or some other thing that has caught her attention.
To date our ‘cat like’ reflexes have saved her from serious injury.
We can’t wait until she starts to walk.
How hard is it to cut bread into straight slices?.
Pretty difficult judging by some of our recent efforts. This picture shows one of the latest victims.
I tried to cut the loaf back into shape (i.e. straight) by cutting the next few slices into wedges. However, I wished I hadn’t bothered as the resulting pieces didn’t fit into the toaster properly and wouldn’t pop out.
If this has ever happened to you, you will know the next decision is whether to risk burning yourself by using fingers to get the bread out. Or risk electrocution by using a knife.
John Luke and his friends do a lot of exploring around the farm.
On there last outing John Luke found a mean looking rusty old grappling hook type thing (with four sharp barbed spikes).
This picture shows John Luke pretending to smash the hook into an imaginary enemy.
Too much TV and Playstation if you ask me.
asha