Seated

 Pirate has paid for a special seat to replace one that went derelict and was removed.....

His job today was to oversee the installation as he was still recovering from yesterday.

(We will know the results from that in a fortnight.)

The workers arrived earlier than arranged...and had it in place already!! We brought the postcrete, ready made and just needing filling in the holes and watering to make it set.

The fencing needed attention too

Whilst all that was going on, I took the camera and had a look at the burn...not as high as we have seen it in the past, after rain....but I still wouldn't go too near or go for a paddle!!

It's a beautiful place...and two minutes up the road is a house that pirate had wanted to buy many years ago. His boss at the time said No!!....too far from work at the airport...you should be within a reliable 30 minutes travel.

Then five years ago we had the job if grass cutting around the same house! Then with water , solar and wind power (and a generator just in case) and at that time pigs and chickens and a fruit and vege garden... previously it had been a small plant nursery with a large polytunnel, possibly run by those who bought it instead of Pirate!

Then the latest owner died, and moved to the Highlands to be with family...and now it looks like a summer holiday home.  Postbox by the gate...the postie used to bring letters to the door...and a wooden frame to hold the rubbish wheelie bins...which are not there in the winter...

It's by the trees in the centre of the picture.  A peaceful place.

The man himself

 We have finished the runway, as far as we can.  Concrete slabs have risen so much in price that we won't go further unless we can get some secondhand ones.

The ground is completely sodden, but we are glad that we haven't had the amount of rain that the East of Scotland has received...in one place the usual amount for November in one day.  Ballater has again flooded, but not so bad as 2015 with Storm Frank.

It has been teamwork, but it is a job to steer pirate away from overdoing it.  Luckily a friend called by for a cuppa and chat..very convenient!!

We do need an easy day tomorrow, although there is so much to pack into the next week!!

While he was doing his share of the job, I trimmed the grass back from the concrete paths and pruned the roses and shrubs.

Ta Daa!!!!

 

It was hot...but Fife friend and Pirate started at 8, and our cycling joiner arrived before 10. So nearly all the preparation work was done before he arrived, thankfully.

It isn't the roofing I had planned...but is half the cost....

Plan B....sell lots of work so that we can change it in a couple of years' time!!

Between having plenty of breaks for drinks and cooling down, the window didn't get fitted...but the groundwork has been done, fitting hopefully on Thursday.

Fife friend and Pirate have moved the doors to the front..now it is my turn with the paintbrush!

Meanwhile, I was on catering duty and hold this duty...and have you seen that?????.....

And in between times I lifted the shallots and they are in the polytunnel to dry off, cleaned the earth from the garlic crop, and after a welcome shower of cooling rain (it reached a good 27⁰C today) sowed carrots, beetroot and dwarf french beans.

And the potted rose in the greenhouse looks as if it is doing its job of attracting pollenators to the tomatoes and cucumbers....and the courgette that is lurking at the back!!