26 Feb 09

Tyres and bond beams

Isn't it strange how feelings (in this case fear) can override logic? Even though we knew why the bees were angry last week, and knew that this week they had no reason to sting us, we were both very wary of them. Still, a little bit of healthy respect never hurt anyone did it?

As you can see, it was a lovely sunny day again, the blossom's still out and we finished the last tyre for the round room - yippeee!

Next job was the bond beam. We started by cutting it to size so we can check the levels. Then we ran out of wood. No matter, we still have the job of trying to work out how the round room roof will work.

It's not a straight forward circle, there are two straightish sides to it; the slopping roof of the main building and the front section that opens onto the greenhouse area. All those angles and different levels made my brain ache! After much umming and aarhing (mostly from me) I took lots of photos of the different parts and decided I'd come home and draw it up on the computer. At least I can get my head round it now ('scuse the pun).

Flora

Do you remember last year when we found the orchids? Well, it was about this time of year so we went looking for them again, and just look what we found. The one on the left is a bee orchid I think - we didn't see this last year. I must say I was over the moon to find one of these on the land, aren't they just the bees knees?! And the one on the right is the same as we found last year, I call it a fairy orchid as I haven't been able to find any named variety that looks like it. If anyone knows different please let us know (sorry the pics are a bit blurred).

We've also found something that's a bit worrying. Does anyone know what the red, stringy plant is that's growing round the bottom of the other plant? We saw a field choked with this stuff a few years ago three fields away from us. It looks like it's spread through the area. It seems to creep through plants and I think ends up killing them.