Hands on deck

It's been almost a year since we built the deck on the back of the house and the wood has had plenty of time to cure. Craig started painting the trellis panels, whilst I tackled the spindles. After whizzing into town with Amber to pick up her boyfriend, I returned home to find Craig had been doing a little 'experimental painting', using a quick method of spray painting the trellis (bad idea!) Spray painting trellis can be a messy business he discovered. I offered to take over, with the meticulous but tedious stippling approach instead. After finishing two panels my arm felt like lead and the sun was going down, so I decided to call it a day. I will endevour to try to pick up where I left off in a couple of days or so. Both girls are off to a school Toga party tomorrow, so will be dancing the evening away in white dresses or sheets.

I may delay publishing this post so I can upload a photo of them before they leave. Next day....

The girls opted for white dresses

I can report this week that our raccoon visitors it seems, will NOT be taking up residence in our barn this year - Yay!! This is mainly due to some advanced planning by Craig. He put a radio up in the roof, which constantly plays the local station. The station's current promotional jingle is "We play..... everything" I personally think 'anything' might be a better word to use! I wonder where they dig up some of the songs, and am embarrassed to say that I remember them all so well too!! They seem rather fond of what they refer to as the 'lost' eighties (hmmm, perhaps a few of those 80's songs should stay 'lost'?).

Anyway, the volume got cranked up after we spotted a couple of furry friends perched on the roof about two weeks ago. They were waiting for dusk to break into one if the cupolas. We have seen them using their ultra sharp claws to prize the wooden slats off like matchsticks before. Just to make it quite clear that they were not welcome we aimed a hose pipe as high as possible and gave them a quick shower - this may sound a bit cruel, but it didn't actually reach them with the water, but managed to unnerve them a little. After the huge stinky mess they made last year, it was necessary . You might remember the story of the evacuation of all their babies, which had us all frantically placing duvets and pillows underneath in case they fell!

It has now been two weeks with no sign of them, so we can only assume that they scampered off to someone else's barn with a bit of luck!

Advance apologies to all raccoon lovers reading this blog, and anyone who's favourite music is from the 80's :)

Hazel x

Time for Peonies and Strawberries

The peonies are out in full bloom, right beside our strawberry patch.

This is our second harvest of strawberries since planting them last year and they have come up a treat, giving us about a punnet full every day. Craig has been very diligent in keeping them free of weeds and watering them regularly.
I do love peonies, ours are mostly white with just a few pretty pink ones. Big and frilly with such a wonderful scent.

I asked the girls to take some photos for my blog and they were happy to oblige. As you can see below my two teens are literally 'jumping for joy' with the anticipation of enjoying the summer holidays.Amber is away on another camping trip this weekend. She has gone with her best friend Marcy and her family, for four nights. They are staying in a caravan and not a tent, so it will certainly be more comfortable than her last trip and of course no hiking for hours! It feels a little strange walking past her bedroom in the morning and not seeing her tucked up safely in her own bed. I took Jemma into town yesterday and my heart skipped a beat halfway there, for a split second I thought I had forgotten Amber at home! Guess I am not getting any younger and quite possibly becoming slightly 'dippy' :(
A happy ending to my raccoon tale from last week. After the trauma of the first lot we were on the look out for family number two to follow. I am happy to say that they did all manage to vacate the barn safely. This was taken whilst they were making an attempt during the daylight. We believe they left one evening after dark. Those little ones took their sweet time plucking up the courage, doing a few practice runs! We went in and out with duvets in bin bags like yo-yo's for several evenings in a row. Whether these made for a safe landing or not we will never know for sure. Finally on inspection number three, there was no evidence of them living in the barn anymore. The mess they have left behind is another story! The neighbours must think we are completely bonkers. Raccoons are a real nuisance locally and most folk would like to be rid of them.
Next year we need to put chicken wire around the 3 Coppola's on the barn roof peek, to stop them breaking in again. It has been entertaining while it lasted.

An anxious Mummy watching her two little ones cling on to an overhanging ledge above a shear drop of about 25ft!

I am going to do my proud Mummy bit now and say how thrilled I am that both Jemma and Amber were awarded 'Honours with Distinction' at the end of the school year at each of their schools.
Amber got the highest average in her year 98%!! Considering they have both had busier than usual social lives recently. Jemma also with her advanced courses and other 'distractions'. They have my permission to polish their halo's this week!
We are all looking forward to our visitors arriving this week and are hoping that the weather will be kind, so we can spend plenty of time outdoors.

Love and kisses
Hazel xx