Finally someone sees sense.

It has been well over a week since the fire and I know I wanted a quieter time but absolutely nothing has changed in our farmyard.  The hay which was pulled out of the fire was heaped up but it got so hot there was a danger of it bursting into flames, the fire brigade covered it with foam and said it was a fire risk.  The loss assessors looked at it and went away, then they said it was up to us to get someone to move it at which point everyone got mad and some rather heated phone calls and e.mails later and the insurance company said they would deal with it.  Turns out that our contaminated waste was going to cost to much to move but if they could get some one to pick out the big bits of asbestos roofing it would be OK to remove, not sure the insurance company who is going to pay for the removal should be the ones to decide how it is removed.
We can't drive into the yard so everything has to be carried over the pile of hay, really annoying when we have to load the car to go to Okehampton show.

The final straw this week was when the insurance company decided to offer a settlement value on Steves mowing deck which was £650 less than the cost of replacement.  We can't find a secondhand deck anywhere in the country as they only come with the tractor.  At this point Steve lost it as he said, why should we be out of pocket because someone else was responsible for burning the barn down.  Anyway finally today after a whole afternoon of Steve shouting (something he never does) down the phone at the loss adjusters and anyone else he could get hold of, they got the message.  They are going to pay for a new deck.  At least Steve can now go to work and we can start to earn some money, that is if the rain stops.

Everything else is running smoothly, I had a day at Okehampton show last Thursday which was a bit disappointing, weather was lovely just too many Alpaca stalls all together, not sure we will bother with that one next year.
Saturday we went to Holne fate which was a great afternoon out and we took the stall and a few Alpacas which created a lot of interest, this turned out to be better than Okehampton Show in respect of takings. Tomorrow we are off to Widecombe in the Moor for a Fun day in aid of Leusdon Church, I think the same group of girls will be going and hopefully the weather will be kind to us.

We are still waiting for our next cria we currently have Olivia on 334, Carla 324  and Marietta 322 days.  Still that gives me an opportunity to sit and watch, some me time all in the name of work, all is not bad really!

More excitement

If last week wasn't enough today has been just as exciting.
We had another day of people coming and going, we now have a new electric pole but no electric on it as yet.  they were hoping to have it fixed but our road has been closed for pot hole filling and the lorry couldn't get here so thats another day with the generator.  Funny things have been happening with our alarm clocks since the fire we keep getting up early!  I checked the clock when we went to bed and the time was correct by morning it is half to an hour fast so the alarm goes off, this has happened every morning since Friday but strangely the same thing has happened to Rogers alarm clock, now that can't be a coincidence.  They are both electric clocks which set their own time and always change them selfs when the clocks go bcd/forward when necessary so why should they both gain over night?  Got to be something to do with the transformer exploding.

Anyway today started off quite enough, picked the boys up whilst daughter went to work, hospital appointment, got back Steve was fixing the TV bracket when we got a phone call from one of our guests to say they were stuck on Mel Tor and couldn't get back as one of them had Parkinsons and had lost the use of her legs.  Could we pick them up with the Landrover, we knew where they were so off we went.  Unfortunately we couldn't get very close so had no option but to ring for help, half an hour later Police Helicopter with Paramedic on board arrived and after finding a suitable spot our guest was rescued and had a short ride in the Helicopter back to the Car Park where their car was.  Obviously this caused a great excitement in the car park and lots of photos were taken ( sorry can't show people ones as I didn't as permission).

Safely back in the carpark

Holiday snaps with a difference I think.  I advised the to have a quite day tomorrow as I can't cope with all the excitement!

Red Sky and lots of Smoke means......

Well we have had one hell of a week, we were resting on our laurels thinking things would calm down after the hay was in.  How wrong we were.  The week started of quite nicely, the weather wasn't too bad, the cottage guests were all settled in, all the animals were well and munching away on their grass.  I was even seeing light at the end of the tunnel with the accounts.  Then we got to Thursday, Steve went to work in the morning and I spent most of the day doing the accounts and watching the Alpacas just incase one of the three decided to give birth.  I was just finishing when Steve rang to say I better get home as there was a bit of a disaster happening, the Dutch Barn at home was on fire.  Steve had seen the smoke on his way home and had worked out that it must have been either our neighbours or our property but could see exactly where it was.  He was nearly home before he could see it was on our farm.  Not knowing if it was the house or the farm buildings he tried to get home quickly, not day when you have got holiday makers stopping to look at ponies etc.  As he got nearer he could see it was the barn and yes it was the barn where we put all of his brothers hay last week.  By the time I got there there was three fire engines in the road, the barn was well alight and bits of roof flying off everywhere.

Steves brother had been up in the field when he heard the transformer which is on a pole opposite the barn explode apparently a neighbour saw the flames shoot up into the sky.  A short while later the barn was on fire.

So at the moment it is a bit of a mess here, we have a generator as we have no electric supply, we have a large pile of socking wet scorched hay in the yard.  The remains of the tractor, baler and who knows what else are still in what remains of the still smouldering barn.

Friday there was a steady stream of men in suits, electricity men etc  I did feel sorry for the guy who just happened to be in the area checking the electric poles, I said you better come and check this one then, his face was a picture when he walked round the corner and saw the barn still smoking and his electric pole black and charred.

The rest of the weekend has past in a whirl, change overs in the cottages, we discovered a leaking tap in one and a TV bracket broken in the other, on the plus side we have been out for dinner at friends for the last three evenings so it's not all bad. I really hope next week is better