outnumbered 18 to 3

howdy,

after having our numbers cut from 10 to 9 with the loss of mini mü we're now up to a whopping 21!

julio (the nice fella from who we got müca, hobo and taco) is having to give up most of his animals and so we said that we'd take some of his chickens and give them a good home.

so.....we had a few days to build a chicken coop.

we enlisted (more like forced conscription) the help and matt (aka mr moo moo) and rachel (rachet) who were out here thinking they were on holiday and we set about building a coop.

here is the ground before we started:



and with the feet in place:



the frame is erected:



the sides start to take shape:



and the other side and floor are finshed:



and with the front added and door(s) and window in place:



here are the nesting box flaps which nikki and rachet made:



and the ramp up to the chicken entrance:



the roof was done using some old roofing tiles that we have (hence such a solidly made frame).

here is the view of the roof from above:



then, yesterday as matt, rachel and nikki headed back to the uk, i picked up 12 little feathered ladies and brought them to start a new life as 'simple:chickens'.

over the next few days (once they're used to their surroundings and less likely to simply run away) we will let them roam free (as they will be able to do from then on everyday - free range all the way!) but in the meantime we've had to erect an enclosure to kep them safe from the dogs and cats.

here they are this morning:



and inside:



foraging in the grass:



and up close:



they're great and it feels more and more like a farm everyday - bring it on.

thanks SO much to matt and rachel for their massive help and energy - it was very much appreciated!

ok, that's all for now.

gairy.

***UPDATE***

by the end of day one we've already had the first four eggs from our feathered friends.

.....and boy can they eat!

thanks ladies - chips and fried eggs for dinner

Mini-a-ture Mü

sad news i'm afraid.....

we are down to only two kittens after mini mü hid in the wheel arch of the car and was killed as i drove off to the shops.

me and matt found her in the road on our return from the shops - very sad indeed!

here she is a while back looking curious and cute as hell:



on the stairs with her brother and sister:



and asleep in the long grass:



we burried her beneath the row of cherry trees near the deer we burried.

for the rest of the day we didn't see tigger and were worried that he too had died but.....just as we were resigned to losing two kittens in one day (and i was feeling pretty upset about having killed two little friends).....tigger reappeared and seemed absolutely fine which brightened evenyone's evening.

we'll miss the perky little bugger!

gairy.

Simplympics 2009 Results

apologies all for the lack of updates recently but we've been super busy!

anyway, the 2009 Simplympics concluded and the results are as follows:




congratulations to monkey boy on his win!

a great time was had by all and we're all already looking forward to the 2010 Simplympics as i'm sure you are too.

thanks to rob and ali for a great tournament and a fun couple of weeks.

see you same time same place next year.

Simplympics 2009 update

Hello there,

We've had another busy few days - all completing in the Simplympic events and also having added to our ever increasing inhabitants here in Mars.

Yesterday we drove an hour away to pick up Taco (who had to be relocated due to some unfortunate circumstances).

He's a seven year old Black Russian Terrier and he is huge!

He's on a one week trial and if he gets on well with all the cats and Rudie then he'll stay for good. He seems very laid back and cool in character, so hopefully he'll be happy here.

Check him out.



We have had some exciting events so far, including individual Jenga - Rob came first with a very impressive stack.



In the "Fluffy Bunnies" marshmallow event we all got the giggles cos we looked so ridiculous.



In Dice Curling, as you can see below, it all got quite heated.



Talking about being heated - we ventured into the green house today for our most anticipated event - Greehouse-Sweathouse.

It was 13:40 when we went it there and the temperature was around 38 degrees. We were all dresses warm, with socks and shoes and t-shirts and thick hooded jumpers and boy was it hot.

Robathon was the first to bale after half an hour of it (when the temperature went above 40 degrees). Then about 10 minutes later me and Ali gladly left, leaving Gairy and Monkey Boy to sweat it out.

Gairy shortly gave in and gave the top points to Monkey Boy.

Afterwards we all enjoyed lots of water melon and water and shade.

Phew - glad that one's over! Here's a glimpse of how sweaty we all got.





And here are a couple of very very cute pictures of Tigger.





And Muca with her kitties all jostling for a drink.



And Rudie.....



We've still got quite a few events to go - so it's still anyone's game.

As Reining Champion I'm taking this all very seriously.

Here are the scores after todays events:



Got to go practice walking on the stilts.

Nikki

day two update.....

here's the standings at the end of day two:



there will be photographs to come but for now the scores will have to do.

gairy.

update.....

the points as they stand at the end of day one:



more to follow.....

Simplympics 2009

afternoon all,

the next two weeks sees the momentous event of:

The 2009 2nd Annual Simplympics

this year the events are:

- shot put (as the title suggests but with boules)

- rock, paper, scissors

- stonut (throwing stones through a hooped target from ever increasing distances)

- snail racing/boule-sand balance (yet to be finalised)

- hoopla (throwing a hoop over a target)

- javelin (coppicing, peeling, shaping and then throwing a javelin)

- stilt race (a race on stilts)

- spatula carving (rudie ate our spatula and so we're going to make five more!)

- greenhouse sweathouse (an ingenious event during which we will dress in warm winter clothes and see who can withstand the heat of the greenhouse for the longest - oh yeah!)

- poker

- table tennis

- fluffy bunnies (who can stuff the most marshmallows in their mouth and still be able to say the words 'fluffy bunnies')

- pea bottle (dropping dried peas from a height into a bottle - apparently very difficult)

- individual jenga (each person see how high they can make a tower)

- wood collecting (simply practical - we need firewood!!!)

- dice curling (the noble game of curling but using dice, a baguette and a long walnut table)

- assault course

- dessert challenge (we will each have the same ingredients and the winner is the person who makes the tastiest dessert - a win-win situation for all involved)

- boules

- paper aeroplane contest

after two events here are the scores as they stand:



drop by later to see how the games progress.....

right, i'm off to practice at boules before this evenings event.

cheers, gairy.

We have a front door!!!!!

Hello all,

I know, I know, you've all been waiting patiently for me to do some writing on this blog (it has been a while) - but I've just been super busy with everything - visitors, work, the garden etc.

All is going well here in Mars.

We've had some very helpful visitors - both my mum and Deblah made bread while they were here and also helped with some pointing of stone walls. We are now embarking on the very painstaking process of cleaning the stones with a metal brush and lots of elbow grease! Boy are there a lot of stones!

The veg patch was getting over taken with weeds but I spent a day in the patch sorting it out and planting the little leeks out, so that should be good for a bit now. We are inundated with courgettes and we've eaten the first of the many tomatoes in the green houses. We'll be making a lot of tomato sauces again this year. We've also pickled lots of cucumbers (thanks Deblah).

So anyway, on to the biggest news - we now have our front door in place! We've pretty pleased with it too. Take a look:

Today Robathon and Ali are arriving and we are all excited about the Simplimpix.

Better go.

Later

Nikki

i ate meat!!!!!

evening all,

yep, you read the title correctly, i did indeed (intentionally this time!) break my vegetarianism of 13 years today!

on a ride earlier this evening i came across a snake which had been recently (as it wasn't there yesterday when i rode the same trail) run-over by a 4x4 (and was untouched by scavengers making it more likely that it had been killed earlier today and not last night) and was in good condition.

it was a viper (poisonousness but not deadly) just under 2ft (60cm) in length - really beautiful.

so, i carried it home, beheaded it, skinned it, gutted it and roasted it in butter with a little salt and pepper.

and.....it was pretty tasty!

there wasn't a lot of meat on it (especially between three of us - pam didn't want any) but it was a great and wild reintroduction into meat eating ways.

i'm still essentially vegetarian but will eventually eat our own reared/slaughtered animals as well as any other hunted/caught/found animals i/we come across.

coincidentally (or is it....?) i am about to finish an amazing, inspiring and massively informative/educational book called 'the vegetarian myth' by lierre keith on the topic of the misinformation and bad science/politics/economics behind ideological vegetarianism/veganism - really very impressive i can't recommend it enough!

anyways, gotta go fill up the water bottles and then eat dinner.

sorry there are no photographs but time did not allow for it.

bye for now, gairy.

nikki's fat eye and other guests

morning all,

visitor season has gotten off to a flying start with jane, mikey and diego coming friday until sunday and arti and rich from saturday to this morning.

highlights included:

- the river walk/swim

- the bilberry tart

- mountain biking with mike and diego (thanks diego for keeping the pace down for me)

- the bbq

- artis curry

next up we've got deblah arriving this afternoon and then pam on friday.

also.....we've got wasps nesting in the door of our shower and two days ago nikki went for a shower only to find herself of a surprise attack from a particularly territorial wasp on the eyelid.

she said the initial pain went away but this morning the swelling has returned with a vengeance!

here it is in all it's glory:



after hearing the cautionary tale mikey then went for a shower only to be stung on the forehead!

i then showered under the hosepipe as i was taking no chances.

ok, that's all i got for now.

later, gairy.

amazing butterfly

morning folks,

yesterday, whilst driving back from the alps, we saw this amazing looking butterfly.

i've never seen one quite like this before (even though we get loads with vaguely similar colourings/markings) and so thought you lot might like to have a look.



and.....



brilliant - no?

then, when we were nearing home and stopped to pick up some food, we saw another one injured on the floor.

we considered putting it out of it's misery but instead i picked it up and bent it's wing back into position (it was bent/stuck underneath itself at a funny angle). when i placed it back down it immediately fluttered around and then flew off - my good deed for the day was done!

we're having a lazy day of lounging, eating and enjoying the insanely hot weather today (it was 37 degrees c in the valley yesterday) before we enter a month and a bit period of continuous visitors (starting this evening!).

ok, the outdoors calls, later!

gairy.

late july update

evening,

it's been a fair while since we posted anything and so here's an update of happenings, progress and news:

- the barn is progressing nicely (if not speedily) with more wall work, plumbing and loads more.

the stove is now in place and looking bloody brilliant!

it wasn't easy to move/install (weighing in at approx half a ton) but between us all and the plumbers we got the bugger in ok.

here's a nice shot of it:



also, here's a sneak preview of the upstairs bathroom unit that we built.

it's still unfinished and already looks better than it does in this photo but it's a nice little teaser.

(the grouting around the tiles was yet to be done and the woodwork wasn't yet sanded/finished in this photo):



- we had a kuelsheimer family visit (nikki's uncle, aunt and cousin) which was very nice indeed!

we had a very tasty bbq and a fun time was had by all.

thanks SO SO much david, adrienne and adam for the amazing wooden kitchen gifts which we're looking forward to using for many years to come - very much appreciated!!!

here's the bbq me and monkey boy built hastily to cook that evening:



- the vegetables are coming along nicely.

here's a photo of the first of our green beans, pickling cucumbers and (two varieties of) courgettes:



check out the size of the courgettes:



- for the last three weeks we've had lodgers in the house!

maggie and little (9 month old) alfie have been staying with us and i think it's safe to say a splendid time has been had by all.

the highlight for me came during a game of asking each other questions from the childrens version of trivial pursuits.

when asked which ex member of take that had had the most successfuly solo career maggie ansered: "gary, mark, jason no howard" before finally giving up and being made to feel extremely foolish!

other highlights included:

alfie becoming rudie's new best friend!

maggie making alfie a wooden chair (photo to come).

many woodland walks.

alfie's evil mastermind laugh.

much kitten-pushchair action!

and loads more - it's been cool.

we've also had maggie's sister ellen here for the last couple of days (i thought it mean if you didn't get a mention) - HI!

- now onto something about which i'm very proud.

i thought it'd be nice to make alfie a wooden toy whilst he was here and so decided to make him a 'duck train'.

i used a different wood for each duck (ash, walnut, pine, oak and chestnut) which i thought would look nice

here they are all together:





and indivudually:

mummy duck (ash - 20cm x 15cm x 4cm)



big brother duck (walnut - 15cm x 10cm x 3cm)



big sister duck (pine - 12.5cm x 10cm x 2.5cm)



lil' sister duck (oak - 10cm x 8cm x 2cm)



lil' bro duck (chestnut - 10cm x 8cm x 2cm)



there were a few things i'd like to have done better (damn perfectionist!!!) but i'm pretty damn happy with the end result.

disclaimer: for those (david, eddie and no.1.) wondering why i'm making random kids handmade wooden toys (and not your own beautiful offspring) the answer is simple - BRING THEM HERE AND THEY'LL GET ONE!!!

- finally, here are a few more nice insect images:

monkey boy finally got this beautiful image of a butterfly after many minutes waiting



a nice little grasshopper with rudie in the background



and a pretty small dragonfly that i saw this morning



ok, this post is long enough for now!

take care of youselves and see you next time.

gairy.

more winged things and a mirror!

good evening one and all,

things have been progressing well here at simple h.q. with the unit in the upstairs bathroom all but finished (photos will come when the grouting on the tiles is done and it's been waterproofed - have patience).

more wall skimming/priming/preparing is happening and the other sink units are being started and so there's loads going on.

here are a couple of nice shots of butterflies that i took today instead of going for a ride (the first days riding i've missed in over three weeks!) as my chain snapped yesterday and i think its finally had it but i can't get a new one until tomorrow - doh!

this one has two sets of wings of differing orientations:



and this one is amazingly coloured - beautiful:



finally, i made a mirror frame for the upstairs bathroom.

i found an old mirror in a horrible broken frame by the skips in the local town and so scavenged it for future use.

then, i made this frame from some left-over chestnut planks which we have.

to say that i am please with the resulting product would be an understatement. the only problem with it, as nikki quite rightly pointed out, is that it is so well made that it looks shop bought instead of homemade but what can you do???

the reflection of the late afternoon sky is great too!

enjoy:



the others (nikki, monkey boy, maggie, 9 month old alfie and rudie) have all gone for a walk down to the river (which i could have joined them on if i'd remembered by chain was broken) and so i'm now off to start dinner.

cheers, gairy.