Glad to be off the Phone

Well, I left you on a real cliff-hanger there, didn't I?

You'll be hugely relieved to hear that the digger started first turn of the key next day. (I was hugely relieved, anyway.)

It took no time at all to get it started and out of it's boggy hole. What DID take time was finding it. Again. It turned out to be another day of thick mist, high winds and even heavier rain. Nice.

There was nother thing that ended up taking up the whole of the rest of the morning. And that was getting out of the huge maze of peat hags I was in. Again the thick mist made it much more difficult to pick out the clear routes. It took about 2 hours to go the 500m to (relatively) solid ground. That's worse than the M25. So I hear.

Once I was back on safer ground I decided to get the hell out of Dodge and work my way towards home. Wherever that was.

I eventually climbed out of the digger at 4.30pm on Friday afternoon. Knackered.

It had been like spending a week in a phone box. Albeit a phone box in an earthquake. If I never, ever set eyes on a mini-digger again, it'll be too soon.

So this week has seen us returning to more 'normal' jobs. I've got grit trays out on all my new piles. I've burned some heather. We've taken the boats out of the water to prepare them for the new fishing season.

I'm constantly reminded that I'm just one in along line of folk who have lived and worked in these hills over the millenia. Today, while I was heather burning, the fire exposed a piece of rusty metal. On investigation it turned out to be a huge gin trap.

I often come across the rusting remains of old traps, but never one this size. From what I've heard these were placed on prominent rocks or prapps (man-made cairns)to catch eagles. Some things are best relegated to history.

On a lighter note, I've also included a pic of a regular visitor to our bird feeders.

Everybody go "awwwwwwwww" !