A Quiet Day

It’s been a lovely day here today, there’s been a warm wind blowing up from the Mediterranean and it’s been a positively balmy 11 or 12 degrees. The breeze did get a trifle strong around lunch though. I stuck my head out to do the hourly check on the alpaca that’s due to give birth sometime around now and was greeted by the sight of the tarpaulin that protects the hay bales flapping around like a gigantic flag. It took nearly an hour to get it all back under control and roped down again. I’ve no idea the best way to rope round those large round bales. I’ve tried to get the rope low enough to be below the widest point but also found that by best Girl Guide reef knot was failing to hold tight and keep it in place.

At the same time as I was on my way to check the alpacas I noticed that I had no water in the taps. I have well water and every so often the system gets an air lock so I went down to the pump house to give everything a good kick, which usually solves the problem. This time though I was met by a whirring pump and an empty pressure vessel. My first thought was for my electricity bill. There was no on/off switch in the pump house so I returned to the house and began puling out fuses in the fuse box. I still couldn’t stop the pump – I seem to have a few bits of wiring where fuses are not in the fuse box, goodness knows where they are or if they even exist. Eventually I found that pressing the re-arm button and holding it in I could stop the pump. By then I’d guessed that the problem was likely to be a blockage around the water intake so I released the pressure from the pressure tank and waited a few seconds. I let go of the re-arm button and the pump started again and to my joy began to fill the pressure tank and thankfully it has kept working so far.

The rest of the day has been spent on finishing bits and pieces in the house. I’ve finished putting up the curtain rails, the idea being to cut down draughts by hanging curtains. The only problem with this has been that even my longest curtains from the UK are about a foot or two too short. The ceilings here are high, still while they may not stop the cold air seeping in at the bottom; they still stop the hot air going out at the top. New curtains will have to wait until I can make some.

I also spent some time chicken watching as expected, the girls have accepted the cockerel with no problems. He’s obviously taken control and it’s nice to see them all out together moving round as a flock, the girls spent their time as two groups of two.