Brrrhh!!

Winter has really caught up at last.  The builders are having a problem starting in the mornings because the cement is effected by the cold.   They are going to start later tomorrow in the hope that the sun will have taken the worst of the frost away by then.     The retaining wall is looking good but taking quite a while and with a cost we had not really planned for.  I expect there will be a lot of that sort of thing.

We are still waiting for the barn to be concreted but the weather has been against that too.  It has been very wet for since Christmas which has put their schedule back.   The latest eta is the end of this week.

We have ordered wooden hurdles to make some semi- permanent penning in the new barn.  Mike will have to adapt it, but at least it will same him some basic work.   Larry, who is building the retaining wall will also be building a wall in the barn to separate Mike's workshop from the rest of the barn so he can keep the farm machinery in good order even if we have animals in for husbandry etc:

The males all escaped from their paddock just as Larry and Ollie (builders) were leaving.  I was in the office and they shouted up to ask if the alpacas were supposed to be in the yard!!  Luckily I had Dolly in the office with me and the boys took one look at her and jumped back over the temporary fence they had trampled down, and I was able to put it up again.   We will have to move them to another paddock tomorrow I think.