Katie Wearie And Golden Fields

Young ducklings on the canal this week I hope they can keep clear of the pike. The fields are colouring up fast not much bare earth showing now . And the golden oilseed rape is showing off after many sunny days .
And here's a nice new seating area and sculpture at the westport in Linlithgow carved into the curved seat are these words "water from the westport well revived a wearie drover girl" .Local history tells us that many years ago a cattle drover drank from the well and rested under a willow tree at the westport.
Her name was Katie Wearie. This curved seating and sculpture of the cattle drover under the tree really give this little bit of Linlithgow a new life. I think that Katie Wearie would have liked to have passed these sights while driving her cattle on warm spring days.

Life And Death

The first young chicks that I've spotted this year are young moorhens. Warming themselves in the spring sunshine, further on though I found a bad sign for them . On a fallen willow not far away, there was a raptor perch where perhaps a sparrow hawk or maybe an owl tears up his prey with a good vantage for escape if need be. You can see signs of both rabbit and pigeon kills here with fur and feathers. But hey that's life not everyone's cup of tea but I like finding these places.

Halfway

Finished work on wednesday I don't go back until the beginning of may .So hopefully fishing, cycling and some shed time will happen .We finished one side of the sawmill roof which has been a pleasure in this glorious spring sunshine. Surrounded by fields, tree's and rolling hills make this a great place to work. We set up a rod (template) for all the purlin brackets this keeps them all in line, rather than messing around with a tape measure. Here's the roof so far with nice straight purlins ,big Ross trimming off the bracing, and Jim the colonel taking a break in the sun, and me up on the rafters :)

Breathing

Wild garlic ,fresh lush growth of new needles on the larches and a carpet of new life in the woods.
The vines twisting round young saplings will give some interesting markings in the future all these things seem to give me a little boost .
The leaves of autumn are all but gone covered by springs vibrant colours. I came across an old ash tree with a huge growth burr type thing on a lower limb, I wonder what amazing grain hides inside this.
I tried the wild garlic you can see the different parts in my hand leaves ,flowers, stem and seeds. All this surrounds us in woodlands and wild places ,so we should all try to take a bit of it in breathing the new life, "oh the sawmills Swallows have returned again and brought some glorious sunshine with them ":)

Dead Or Alive

Elm and Hazel are the ingredients for this wee stool, I scribed the bracing on to the legs with a sharp knife. The seat part is dead Elm burr shaved and sanded, the legs are from Hazel coppice's. Not many big Elm tree's survive around here now, but lots of Elm suckers grow along hedges and the edges of woodland ,showing that they are fighting back at Dutch Elm disease . Heres a tree with a bit of burr and some sapling Elm flushed with spring growth :)

Sawyer On The Roof

At work we are replacing the roof of the sawmill with big mono trusses. All of which is made easier with the whole area covered with a crash deck scaffold .Steel beams topped of with 4"x3" stress graded wall plate have replaced our old 3"x12" ring beam . There's lots of setting up for the brackets that carry the purlins. Here's what we've done so far:)

Wandering

Nice weekend for trekking so Matthew and I were walking in the woods and around the loch finding tracks and building shelters. We got close to these Jackdaws as they bathed in the water to cool off as the temp soared to 22c. Blossom is everywhere now and I found a kind of hazel with huge catkins. Geese rested on a little island of willow, a nice day wandering with my boy :)

Crossed The Path Of Old Badger

Up and about early the other morning through the woods on a dry morning after many days of rain. It was cool in the timber with the scent of new growth all around me, a wood pecker was drumming away he knew I was there but I never saw him. In a place that is not familiar to me I cut on to a path no more than a track . And found where the old badger crosses the ditch (click on mud for nice Badger track) and where wind blown spruce has sent up branches up towards the light and they have became fine trees in their own weird way . It was a nice way to start the day, through the scots pine and out to a bright sunrise :)

Done

Well after many weeks of stops and starts, and the odd spoon I have finished the chair. Oak seat and back rest, Elm legs waney edges this has been my most challenging chair to date and my favorite. The hardest part was shaping the bracing under the seat, anyway now its done. Now here's the chair and a spoon I made while pondering :)

Started With A Film

Cinema this morning with Matthew, at the weekend films are just £1.00 each in the morning . Treats are expensive in these unsettled times and many parents take their kids to these showings .After some crazy animation which I enjoyed as much as Matthew . Home for lunch then Matthew wrestled with his xbox while I put my chair together . Only plugging some holes and sanding and finishing now I like the natural shape of the legs they make this chair quite different . Then out for a walk and scramble about the countryside on a windy but sunny, April day . Here's Matthew enjoying the outdoors clambering up rocky outcrops and playing on tree stumps . The trees were taken down as they had become a hazard with diseases making them unstable.:)