Our lovely clay soil...houses built on poor pasture (aka a bog!) in the 1930s
Not many people in the village have veggie gardens...but thosethat do,you can see the results of years of adding compost and manure.

 the drainage trench under the shed

 flat(tish) pack shed....

 roof in two halves..

 and going up..

 up!!

 The crew...The Pirate, Paddy from over the road, John who worked with Vic many moons ago and Al from the cycling club.

 Pirate and his shed....still needs more bolts, but it is up, on a day that started with rain and snow!

My workshop next....should go up easier,but needs more groundwork first.

website and workshop

I'm changing my website host and domain registration...my brother, having retired from his job as a systems analyst, is now managing websites...so I thought, keep it in the family!

Cue much stress...it would be easier if he were a little nearer, and if the companies concerned actually had a phone contact.....many support tickets later, we are getting there slowly.

Many thanks to Brother and Son in Law.....

Incentive to update what goes on the website. 

Meanwhile the Pirate is grabbing the sunshine and sporadic lack of rain to work towards erecting his workshop. (Then mine follows)
He has found that the soil here is definitely clay, one reason for our lack of drainage. That explains why many gardeners in the village use containers/raised beds!

a break in the rain

 So we went for a walk...we did the short walk around Hannahston Community Woodland....It suffers from the usual , money given for capital expenditure and none for ongoing maintenance...but it is there and used well.

 Cargolux coming in to Prestwick....The Pirate used to work on handling these,when he worked for fedex

 and some neighbours, Hannahston Alpacas..

The rain it raineth on.....

Only our toilet drain works properly...so most of the rainwater from the roof is adding to that coming from the sky.
  The garden is a quagmire, and a drainage trench the Pirate dug so that water wouldn't gather against the sleepers that go under his shed...is full of water....

Pirate has been sorting things in the kitchen that should be in the shed...if you can't work outside,better to do something indoors.  We are suffering rather,from shed stuff in the house....but slowly we are making sense of things and bringing order to the chaos.

I'm learning my limits ...when you have a 40 year old injury, compounded  by working on our smallholding in the 90s then doing a cleaning job, mopping in the "noughties"......you listen harder to your body's twinges and tweaks, and don't just carry on......

losing potters

Just heard that we have lost one of the most vibrant, funny friendly potters out...Morgen Hall.
Love her work, which was just like her.

turtles....

found a quote, thanks to Tony Clennell.....

Behold the turtle

He makes progress

Only when he sticks his neck out. – James Bryant Conant

Indeed !

sculpture and street art

 Apparently in Kimarnock there is a river underneath King Street.....hence the divers.....

 New shopping centre...

 and its Victorian inspiration

 Street art....

and then there was snow...

 Enough that we thought a walk would be safer...

 an owl box?

 we headed in a Westerly direction, to Millmannoch..a sad sight...

 the riverbank and roadside have gabions and other reinforcing,but are still heading towards the River Coyl

 The Trysting Thorn

 hedges have had a "short back and sides"

 looking up to Drongan from the South..see the trees on the skyline? They are on Ladies Walk, just to the left of home.

 and to the Coyl again by the Mill of Shiel...see the link from Milmannoch..

 and here is what is left of the mill,obviously once a fine building and a busy place

 Back to Ladies Walk again, this time returning up the way.