A working holiday!?

Reggie clearly heard something outside at just before 7am this morning - whatever it was, it sent him nuts! Up until now the Wattses haven't heard much of his morning whimpers from the apartment downstairs, but today he turned the volume right up and they heard him loud and clear. Fortunately, little Ollie had already woken up by this time so no harm was done.

Helen sprang out of bed and ran downstairs to take him out - at this point it was still dark outside and she noticed that the two security lights around the side and back of the house had come on, suggesting that Reggie's acute canine hearing had picked up some some form of wildlife picking its way across the gravel (quite likely a deer). After the initial excitement of whatever it was he had heard, he just couldn't seem to let it lie, and while Helen pedalled away on the turbo trainer he barked incessantly for 40 minutes (something we need to work on, and soon!).

Dave, Sarah and Ollie appeared upstairs at about 8.45am, by which time Helen had already switched the computer on and logged on to do some work. After Dave and I had downed a coffee, the Wattses and I headed out with the dog to give Helen some peace so that she could get some work under her belt.

So while we left poor Helen tapping away on her keyboard in the Arctic office, I took the Watts family and Reggie for a lovely walk up the refuge track for an hour. It's always so quiet up there it feels like you've lost your hearing for the first few minutes after getting out of the car - the only sound to break the silence today was a distant chainsaw somewhere deep in the woods.

After we bundled back into the car we headed straight through Pescia to Montecatini in order to fill up on methane, then headed back to Pescia to the supermarket. Sarah decided it would be far more efficient if she whizzed round the supermarket on her own, so I took the boys to a café across the road for a coffee (not for Ollie of course, he amused himself with a Kinder Surprise) and Reggie amused himself by barking at strangers walking past as we sat in the warm winter sun outside the café.

It wasn't long before Sarah came over to collect us having already loaded the shopping into the car, so we all got back in the car and headed back up the valley for lunch.

As previously arranged, I met Alex at the end of our drive at 2pm so that he could introduce me to a guy he knows who sells the type of water collection tanks (IBC tanks) I've been looking for. We pulled up outside a factory on the road into Pescia (the meeting place) only to find the gates closed. Alex took out his phone to call the guy, but just as he did so he appeared.

After inspecting the car and the space inside (or lack thereof), the guy said that the tanks wouldn't fit - the methane tank takes up a fair portion of our boot space, making it too small to fit the tank inside. This was a bit of a blow and meant we had to leave empty handed, with a promise to call him back next week with a plan B. I smell the cost of another van rental in the air!

After an all-too-brief chat that was rudely interrupted by an Italian in a van wanting to enter the factory site (we were blocking the entrance), Alex and I parted company and both headed home (thanks for the help Alex and Donatella, I'll let you know when I've sorted a van).

When I got home, I relinquished control of the car keys to Helen who was taking Sarah and Ollie into Pescia for a coffee (Ollie once again opting out of the caffeinated beverage and having ice cream instead), leaving Dave and me to play with the chainsaw and some oak trees.

Ollie enjoyed his chocolate and strawberry gelati with the girls.

The oak trees in question were the ones previously felled by Chris back in September and then partially cut up and collected by Mike (Helen's dad) and me in October.

The job wasn't easy - the trees were so tall that when they fell forward they spanned three or four terraces (or that's what I think they spanned, it's hard to tell with all the bramble that cushioned their landing), so it involved us clambering down onto terraces we couldn't see to cut the trees into manageable logs ready to bring up to the house for splitting.

After a couple of hours of cutting we had moved the three lengths of oak onto the top terrace beneath the house and we were on a roll. We decided to bite the bullet and fell the remaining oak before retiring for the day.

An uninterrupted view!

As we were packing up, the girls and Ollie arrived back home to help herd the cats back indoors and put the geese to bed. Dave started preparations for dinner (which tonight is osso bucco and smells mouth wateringly good), I lit the fire while Dave showered and changed before opening a bottle of Prosecco to relax for the evening.

So it's been a productive day, with a little more work planned for the morning (both for Helen and for Dave and me) before a trip into Lucca after lunch.