Very well, we hope. Due to the continuation of our amazing weather, we’ve spent most of the past week gardening. With the exception of yesterday, it’s been at least 15C (57F) with clear blue skies every day since last week.
After Lucien’s help with the roses and other flora, I took it upon myself to continue pruning the bushes in the front garden. It’s all done now except for one tree that needs another week or so before pruning. I also noticed that Lucien was mowing his lawn so decided to give ours a go. We have a lawn mower that came with the house – it’s in good shape and mulches as it mows which means no bagging. My only complaint is the width of the cutting area. Although it’s the normal width for a mower, it’s not nearly wide enough to do a lawn of our size so in the end, it took me 4 hours to do the whole thing. Apparently the last owner had a ride-on mower and the reason he did is now apparent. Lucien said the grass will need mowing every week in May so we’ll have to sort something out before then.
We’ve also made great progress on the veggie plot in the back. Lucien’s friend, the one with the tractor, came by earlier in the week with a different attachment; this one for tilling. So he went over the plot a couple times and now the soil is all broken up and ready for planting. Lucien had left over shallots and potatoes so he gave us some and helped us plant them and we’ve now got two rows of each. We also planted three rows of onions. In addition, he made us some fence posts so yesterday, we got those in the ground and put up the fence. We got away with using two rolls of fencing, although only just. We had to move one of the posts to make a door but otherwise, it was a pretty good effort for our first attempt. I went through the seeds we puchased and have mapped out what’s going to go where so now it’s just a question of waiting till it warms up a bit more before we start sowing them.
If that weren’t enough, Lucien came by this morning with some herbs that he dug up from his garden for us to plant in ours. So we dug up a small space in the front garden and have transplanted them there. Since they needed watering, we decided to test the well in the front garden and it passed easily. It’s got an electric pump and since we don’t yet have a long enough extension lead, we chained together a few of them which was clumsy but effective. There’s an old bit of hose which doesn’t attach to the bit connected to the pump so Will had to hold them together and ended up with more water on him than the plants. We did manage to get some of the water onto the herbs as well and we’re pleased that there appears to be loads of water down there.
Apart from gardening, Will has been very busy working on Sites For Homes. In addition to advertising our first client’s property on a number of sites, we’ve been pushing to get our site onto Google. We’re currently the 18 millionth most popular site so we’ve still got a ways to go but that’s pretty good for only be around for less than a week. He’s also made a number of templates for clients to choose from and is in the process of translating our site into French. We just had a visit from Mike, our first client, who paid us for the work (Thanks Mike). As a result of advertising his property on a number of classifieds sites, he’s had four people express interest in it. They’ve had it advertised with four different French estate agents since December and had yet to receive even one bite so we’re all pleased that the concept appears to be a good one. Now we just need a few more paying customers and we’ll be all set.
Lastly, a word on the cats. They have been absolutely loving the outdoors. They’re becoming proficient at using the cat flap, mostly to let themselves back in. Before this, they required our permission to go outside on their own so I think they’re still getting used to the idea of independence. They’re now very familiar with the front and back gardens and as such, have started to explore outside of this territory. This resulted in the first face-to-face encounter between cat and horse and we were a bit surprised by the result.
When we first arrived, the cats were terrified of the horses and would run back inside whenever they made noise. Recently, however, as the cats have been expanding their territory, they’ve been getting more and more bold. The other day, Smoo went into the pasture where the horse was eating. Eventually, the horse noticed the cat and bent down his head to have a closer look. They ended up nose-to-nose and it was then that the Smoo hauled off and smacked the horse on the snout. The beast reared up and narrowly missed crushing the Smoo when his front legs came back down. We have determined that the Smoo still thinks he’s a lion and doesn’t quite understand that there’s a rather considerable size difference between him and his new neighbour. Anyway, the horses are now scared of the cats so we hope this means no more encounters.
Ok – I’m off to enjoy the last of the sun.