How many nails does it take to build a goat shed?

It's taken some hard work, three million nails and weeks of painting and gluing in every precious moment between one rain storm and another, sometimes even by torch-light just to make the most of a dry hour......but.......Bo & Rei finally moved into their new luxury pad today.

We still need to do some work on the fence and I'm not convinced they won't be able to rip up the rubber flooring, but the weather has turned so rough over the last week we just wanted to get them into the warm.

They were both a little nervous at first. Kitty did her best to encourage them in.

Kitty said she wanted to live in the new shed with the goats.

Eventually Rei braved it and soon after Bo followed.

It's so comfy and warm. They are very happy with it and hopefully with all the new storage and easy clean floor it will be much easier for me too.

This is what a very happy goat looks like. Thanks for all the help, mum, dad, Peahead, Kitty and Bert (who is now an excellent goat herder).

Light Night

Through work, I am hoping to organise a Light Night for our town centre next year, so I took Peahead and Kitty to check out the one in Bury last night. Oh my, it was good. There was so much happening and so many people, the atmosphere was amazing. We all really enjoyed ourselves.

I loved 'Funbrellas' which cleverly dressed a building undergoing some renovations.

We spent quite a while finding our way through the Candle-lit Labyrinth.

Kitty was mesmerised by the wonderful Vecta Sketch - a light projection performance. Kitty said it was a story about a lady who could draw with the stars. Sweet.

Gig in an estate agent's window anyone?

Giant light birds wandering around.

A Magical Fire Garden.

Pointy things.

A new light saber is officially now Kit's favourite toy.

Just good fun.

Grand Designs

We have had two weeks off work/nursery and as an on going project, we have been building a house for Kitty' s play people from things we find. Some tile boxes from Homebase formed the shell, our recycling box provided lots of card and plastic for furniture, fixtures and fittings and we are now enjoying decorating with left over paint and wallpaper samples from B&Q. Kitty especially likes the glue. It's not quite finished yet, but inspired by Grandad's shed building over the weekend we are keen to crack on and get it done. Hopefully, by next weekend the family will be moving in to a stylish yet fully eco one bed home - only one week later than planned and massively under budget. Kevin McCloud, eat your heart out!

New goat shed - part II

Mum and Dad came back this weekend to help finish the new goat shed. Dad went a bit mad and rather than a 'goat shed', I'd say we have a full-on luxury stable, fully insulated and draft proof with shuttered windows, separate room for storage, veranda, patio area and rainwater collection (almost complete).

With the addition of heat lighting that Daddy installed and soft rubber flooring that I purchased on eBay earlier today, all we need is wi-fi and I might move in myself! Holiday let anyone?

Can pigs swim?

Another beautiful sunny summer day.....in September! Despite the heat, there was quite a bit of wind up here on the hill so we put up a wind break to shield us.

We decided that sun and wind would make the perfect conditions for sailing. A few sticks and a bit of string later, we had ourselves (what we believed to be) a sea worthy vessel. Once the sail was decorated and flag raised, Peppa Pig and a few select friends hopped aboard for the maiden voyage.

It was a little choppy, so before long a few were swimming.

Eventually, the sea got the better of us and she began to let on water.

A total capsize was inevitable. I hope pigs can swim.

Sunny Optimism

The weather this summer has been terrible, but today the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun came out in all of its glory. We decided to make the most of it and took a trip to Edisford Bridge. We had a lovely time by the river. After, we stopped in Clitheroe town centre for a milkshake and some new ballet shoes. While we were getting little feet measured, Daddy sneaked off to the music shop and bought a little 1/8th scale violin for Kitty. She is VERY excited about it as she has been telling us for about 3 months now that she wants to play a violin. I'm not quite sure how this will turn out as neither me or Daddy has any idea how to play the thing.

I purchased a new cardigan pattern. I'm a little worried that it's beyond my knitting skills. I guess this has just been an optimistic day.

New goat shed

I spotted some old Christmas market chalets at work and thought that one would make a great goat shed. I managed to persuade the Markets Manager to sell me one pretty cheap and we hired a van and picked it up. After loading and unloading about 100 pieces of very heavy shed jigsaw we quickly realised that we had no idea what we were doing and decided to call in some help.

Mum and Dad came up for the weekend and under Dad's instruction we soon got it looking good.

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As usual, Kit got stuck in.

...and Mum spent most of her time kissing the goats.