No rest for the wicked

This morning, both the cats and Reggie were generous enough to allow us to sleep in until 7.45am - a real Sunday treat. After I'd got up, seen to all of the animals, put some washing on and done last night's washing up, Stuart came downstairs and offered to cook porridge for breakfast - another Sunday treat. This all sounds like a lovely leisurely way to start the day - and it was - but we certainly didn't plan for the rest of the day to be so restful.

After our bowls of porridge, we pulled on our boots and coats, grabbed Reggie's lead and headed in the car to the refuge track that is becoming one of our favourite walks. It was quite chilly at that time of the morning, and the temperature is usually noticeably one to two degrees cooler up in that part of the valley, so we zipped up our coats as we headed off up the track.

Reggie had a wonderful time, zig-zagging across the path, running after pine cones and sniffing around in the leaves. This time, we reached the point on the track at which we had peeled off and found a clearing in which to sit and have our lunch when we walked up the track with Mum and Dad back in October. We had to do a double take and check that it really was the same spot as it looked so different this time around. Amazing the difference 3 months can make!

Our lunch spot back in October.

This is the same spot today!

On our way back down the usually very quiet track, we were passed by a group of 7 mountain bikers - who Reggie had a good bark at - and met a fairly sizeable group of ramblers. Reggie was quite unsure about the ramblers as well, but was distracted by the two pint-sized dogs they had with them, which looked to all in intents and purposes like miniature border collies. Of course, he wanted to play with them at first, and then decided he was scared, resulting in him tying himself around my leg with the lead. Excitement over, we continued on until we reached the car and headed for home.

It was just after 11am when we got home, so we decided to make a start on the day's work. To begin with, we started dismantling the old chicken coop that has been languishing on the terrace beneath the house, tangled up in brambles and rotten pieces of wood. While I carried on doing that (unearthing a large pile of house bricks, a casserole dish and lots of old plastic food trays in the process), Stuart started to process and move the large pieces of felled tree in preparation for taking them up to the wood pile for chopping and splitting.

A little over an hour in, our stomachs were telling us it was lunch time, so we headed indoors for lunch break. Today's lunch was our speciality three bean dip (especially for you Sarah):

Three bean dip & foccacia.

We plan to start a recipe page on our website featuring some of our favourite go-to dishes (both those that are typically Italian and those that are not at all Italian other than the ingredients), so watch this space for the recipe!

After lunch and a mug of hot cocoa which we sipped outside in the garden while surveying the terraces and working out our plan of action for the afternoon, we got serious about the work.

I got stuck in with the hedge trimmers - this time back on the septic tank terrace but going in the opposite direction to try and find out how far the terrace goes - while Stuart got serious with the business of moving the felled trees and building a bonfire to tidy up the bits that we didn't want to keep for chopping.

After two back-breaking, hair-tangling, arm-lacerating hours, I had cleared enough bramble to find the end of the terrace and Stuart had tidied most of the trees up.

The pile of house bricks marks the edge of where the former chicken coop was.

Burning the excess twigs & wood & tree.

Chicken coop gone, and terrace cleared beneath.

When I went up to the house to check on Reggie and the cats, I discovered why Reggie had been so quiet (never a truer word was spoken/written than my friend Jennie's comment 'Rule no.1 of dog ownership: quiet is rarely good'!). He wasn't there.

I called down to Stuart to ask him where Reggie was - Stuart had been back up to the house a while earlier and I wondered whether he had left him indoors (but couldn't imagine he would have done - that would have been asking for trouble and destruction!). Stuart replied with "what do you mean, 'where's Reggie'?". Just as I was starting to panic, I saw a black and grey streak come tearing across the terrace - he had only gone and jumped the gate!

Once Reggie was back safely in the garden, my main concern was for the cats - had he jumped the gate to chase after them? And if so, would they be cowering somewhere in the depths of the woods? Thankfully, Florence was safely in the house, but Lucca took a bit more searching for. I eventually found him stuck up a pine tree on a branch overhanging the wood pile. This definitely had 'chased-by-Reggie' written all over it. I eventually managed to coax Lucca down from the tree (he jumped from the branch onto the tarpaulin and landed with such a thud that I was convinced his paws would have gone through it), and after another 20 minutes or so I eventually managed to get close enough to him to grab him and manhandle the poor little thing into the house for his overnight safety lock-in.

I then went to put the geese away - and as I walked along towards the goose enclosure I was suddenly joined by a familiar face: Reggie had once again jumped the fence and come to join in the fun. Clearly once was enough for him and for now (until we can work out how to make the fence higher/otherwise Reggie-proof) we will have to assume that the terraces are fair game as far as he is concerned.

After all the animals had been sorted out for the evening, I went back to the terraces to do another few minutes of hedge trimming. By this stage though, the light was fading rapidly and I really had run out of steam. In fact, I was struggling to walk with my back twinging with every step I took, so I decided to call it a day and tidy up my tools. Stuart was still tending the bonfire - in the end he decided to throw all of the bits of the old chicken coop onto the fire - which will at least get rid of one pile of rubbish!

As I write, darkness has fallen and Stuart has just come in. Now it's time to light another fire to keep us warm for the evening. Overall - lacerated arms, insect bites (yes, we were both bitten yesterday) and twinging backs notwithstanding - it has been a very satisfying weekend. It feels great to be back outside doing outdoor work again and the thrill of uncovering new terraces cannot be matched. It's a great feeling to know that you've really earned that glass of wine and seat by the log fire.