Warm.

A whole to myself at home, what a luxury. The forecast said we might have rain today (we didn't) and tomorrow we are due thunderstorms and there is a weather warning out for flooding. With that in mind I went to check on my dam across the road and a good thing I did too. My neighbour, or his son obviously have a bit of an issue with the dam because last week the wood was taken off the road and after I put it all back today the wood was in place but the concrete block at the side had been moved and the little ditch I had made for the water across the rough ground had been filled in and mowed over. Unfortunately my neighbour can be a bit difficult to talk to and as they are his field and road I don't actually have any rights. Still I don't want the drive washed away by all the water that gets channeled down our way in heavy rain so I rebuilt the dam nearer to the garden with the water hopefully being diverted into the brambles and stinging nettles.

This morning I managed to get this moorhen chick off Patch before he did it any damage. I left it quietly in a box in the closed off conservatory. A little while later it had jumped out of the box and when I caught it kept giving my fingers a good nip. I took it next door and released it near the lake, after speaking to my neighbour as I didn't want to be wandering around the lake uninvited. I've kept the cats shut in all day, much to their annoyance as usually I have the doors and windows wide open. I can't stop the cats catching things but I do wish they'd stick to rats.

I had planned to have another attempt at red velvet cake today having bought buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda especially. It's a shame I forgot to check the flour as I have 2 bags of self-raising and none of plain. Luckily I hadn't started mixing anything else together. My main job of the day was to fill all the cracks in the second beam in the conservatory. I'll give it plenty of time to dry before I start painting the beams.