Job done!

So...we now have a gate. It is not exactly as I had originally envisioned it but I am very happy with it.We had further problems when it came to hanging it and ended up having to cut down another dead Cypress tree for the crossbar but here is the finished gate...

Pretty pest.

A Red Necked Wallaby in the garden...which Will suspects is eating his veggies!

'Gating' there.

So...today, after a week of work, we cracked on with trying to get the new gate sorted. It was not without it's trials and tribulations. The chisel broke, a fixing bolt sheared off in my hand and Jenny (who came along to power the drill) wouldn't start at first...but it turned out it was only her choke that was flooded.

Tomorrow....we will add the 'Frogknot' sign.

A load of bananas.

So...my first week in school for this term is almost over. I do feel a bit of a fraud since it has been so well planned and it has hardly been taxing for me. They are a pleasant enough class with no real challenges. I do get slightly irritated when they interrupt and say things like,"Oh, we don't put those books there!" or " we are allowed to use felt pens" when I have said "No." But generally all has gone well.Today we had a Fire Practice....at lunchtime!....and I was on duty. All credit to them, a Fire Practise at lunchtime is certain to throw the cat among the pigeons but in fact it all went quite smoothly with the children following normal procedures. It appeared the only problem was accounting for all the adults.This term the Reading Groups are all named after fruit and I was again working with the 'Bananas' who unfortunately, though I am sure their naming was coincidental, happen to be the bottom group."Hello, my little bananas" I greeted them as I sat down."We're not little" said one."No, you are right," I said. "You're big bananas. You are all a bunch of massive bananas. In fact I have never worked with a group of bigger bananas before. You're just a load of whopping great bananas."I do go on when I am enjoying myself.Speaking of 'bananas'...1o minutes before lunchtime today I suddenly discovered that I had been wearing my jumper back to front all morning!Doh!

Return of the mice!

So...I put away the mouse traps while Deranie and Phoebe were visiting but we had not caught anything for weeks anyway.A few days ago we started to hear skitterings in the night and one morning Will watched as a cheeky mouse scurried around the floor as he sat on the sofa.I set the humane traps for the last two days to give the mouse a chance to escape with it's life but having had no luck set the lethal traps last night.I set four lethal traps and the cheeky mouse managed to steal the bait from 2 of them before it's luck ran out on number three.One lucky chicken had a boost of protein this evening.