Side Order of Brick Dust Anyone?

Living in a building site has its challenges, and for anyone thinking of doing the same, I have one piece of advice DONT. I honestly thought that if we moved in with it half built it would give us the push to finish. OH how stupid was I, in fact it seems to have had the reverse affect.

When we had to make the effort to come up and do stuff, there was a plan, we knew what we had to do, and stuff got done. Now, other things get in the way, if it isn't work (need to earn money) school runs (they need an education) cooking meals (I need to feed them) or just generally everyday life!

Don't get me wrong it is moving in the right direction, but just slowly......very slowly......Now many things I can tolerate, including the walk to the bathroom outside, as we haven't had our bedroom attached tot he rest of the house yet! However, the brick dust is doing my head in, mainly as I am a little OCD about mess.

So, I find myself sweeping he floors at least 30 times a day, and I even mopped the other day. This caused hubby to laugh, but as I pointed out for at least five minutes that part of the build was clean! The stupid texts are another thing that are doing my head in, if one more person asks "is it finished now" I am going to scream.

Rome wasn't built in a day......and neither is my house as we have limited time, and limited budget. However, I look around and think WOW, we have achieved a lot, and best of all we did this! Up until recently I was still pondering whether I had made the right decision.......but after the little attack from my ex landlady on FB the other day (story for another day) I now have no doubts at all!

Babies

Well just like buses they come along when you lease expect them, yes we have babies, something that I didnt need for the moment. Cleaning bunny corner out I saw the straw move, not at this moment I always think it could be a rat, or a snake, or something equally as scary, but in fact it was a bundle of newly born bunnies.

They were dark, which means after at least 10 attempts finally Nicole has worked out that she has to look after her bunnies or they will die. There are loads, which again is a miracle where Nicole is concerned, but hey give the rabbit a chance she has only been attempting this motherhood thing for months.

So, more mouths to feed, more bunnies to sell, good thing I suppose, and it is nice to see something being born here. new start, new life and all that...well sounded good!

Missing Duck!

Jessica has gone AWOL whch is never good, and to be honest I don't think she will be coming back. In my opinion she has flown off somewhere and got herself lost, I also suspect that the guy next door may have eaten her. This may seem a odd statement, but there is defiantly something strange going on in the neighbourhood!

Firstly, when we spoke to the odd goat man to enquiry whether our duck had flown over his wall, he acted very strange. The conversation went like this:

"Hi have you seen our duck"
"duck, what duck"
"our duck, she has flown off somewhere"
Duck what duck"
"A duck, you know feathers, beak, goes quack"
"duck, what a real duck"
"yes, a real duck, have you seen one?"

At this point he got a strange look in his eye, a bit like a fat kid standing at a cake shop window....."no duck's around here" was his reply. Now in all fairness he could just be a little simple, or he did in fact roast my duck and ate her for Sunday dinner!

Either way I have to go duck shopping, oh back to the animal market I will go!

Just Not Enough Buckets!

I was warned there was a storm fast approaching, I hoped that the weathermen had got it wrong as they had so many times before. However, this time they were right. When we moved we were convinced that even without all walls in place we were water tight.

Oh, how wrong we were!, and for Mrs B in the UK, who told me to hush and look at what they are going through, I would hope that those people were not insane enough to be in a goat shed in the middle of a field during a storm. The rain started heavily at 5am and we begun to notice leaks, so buckets were grabbed, then more leaks caused more buckets, and eventually we run out of buckets.

You can guarantee that alongside the rain there was going to be wind, so we tried as best we could to keep everything dry. Alongside us there is the mini zoo that has to be checked on, and kept fed, warm and dry. It was going to be a long day, and an even longer night.

Everything was going ok, until the rain got into the electrics, and then the power went! Now if you recall I am not good in the dark, so candles had to be found....So, there was me, the cats and the dogs in a pitch dark room, which was getting colder by the minute, anticipating when the roof was going to blow off.

Eventually I decided that the best place for me and the sick cat was in bed, under the duvet, praying to god that we had some sort of house when I awoke the next day!

Thank you to Mrs K for the offer of heaters, and the messages to check we were ok, and alive...and thanks to the BFF who supported me through the storm by taking the p**s and reminding me that I was the one who bought a half built goat shed in the middle of a field during the worst winter in history......yeah thanks for that!

The Mystery of Easter Eggs Revealed

Have you ever wondered where Easter eggs come from? if so I have the answer....whilst feeding the rabbits yesterday I found two strange discoveries in bunny corner.....Firstly the straw was moving in one corner, which can mean only one thing...oh yes we have babies....

But the stranger thing was what I found at the back of Hoppity's pen...

Now either he is laying Easter Eggs, or I have a chicken that is on the loose, although I would love to think he is a clever bunny...I feel it is likely to be the latter! 

A goat, Three Dogs and a Warthog!

The guy next door is in competition with us for the number of animals he has, however, he has won for originality. We noticed the other day that he has dogs....we can hear them, goats...we can hear these too...cats...these come under the wall to be fed! None of these were strange, but when I came face to face with his warthog...I stopped in my tracks!

It was a normal day, rushing around, over tired, and trying to get 100 things done on not enough coffee. As I leapt from my car to lock the front gates, I came face to face with a warthog. Now for a split second the image of Pumba popped into my head, and I begun to search for Timon. Then I realised it was in fact a real warthog!

It stared at me, I started at it, and we both stood their puzzled not knowing what to do next. Now I remember how heavy Peppa was, and she didn't have bloody great horns sticking out of her face! Therefore, retreating to the safety of my car seemed sensible.

At this point I did begin to think where the hell had it appeared from......and then all was revealed, as it jumped up on the wall, and through next doors fence. Silly me, who doesn't have a warthog that lets itself out to see the neighbours!

Digging a hole

Why does digging he duck pond fill everyone with dread, oh yeah because it is such hard work! You would imagine that digging a hole would not be that difficult, oh how wrong you would be. The problem is it is never just a hole, it starts off as the size of a lake, and ends up being the size of a puddle.

For weeks we have digging, and digging, shifting earth and swearing (ok that is just me!) The pond just never seems to get any deeper, so after 125 wheelbarrows of earth I admitted defeat and begun to fill it. The ducks were desperate for water, so much so that when we popped the hose in they leapt in, to find a dribble of water.

Even the dog was missing the pond for his daily swim, and he also decided that he would wait in the empty pond for the water. 

So we waited, and waited and waited, OMG how slow can one hose go! needless to say the hose went off, and we will attempt to fill manana! it is one more job we can tick off the "to do" list...only another 4,500 to go! 

We have Finally Moved!

This must be the longest move in history, as we begun in November, but finally we have moved the last box. Moving is never nice as you see your home being stripped of everything that made it home. However, it also provides the opportunity for fresh beginnings, and new adventures!

As I stood in the drive of Casa Chaos I reflected on the last two years, and thanked the place for helping me to grow and become stronger. It no longer felt like home, and to be honest hadn't since the "leaf" incident......(some will remember)

So, onwards and upwards as they say and now to climb over the boxes, head for the kettle and begin work. I am currently living in a building site, where everything tastes of brick dust, if we have water for more than an hour it is a miracle, and it is freezing, oh that might be due to having no walls!