This is Rob (in the foreground) and his mate putting slates onto our roof. Yes, the felting and battening lasted through the 80mph gales of last night and in the eye of the storm this morning, Rob and two of his mates got all of the slates onto the roof - all that remains to do is the ridge, the fascia boards and guttering. Cool.

Tonight we have 60mph winds forecast and I think that's a realistic one given the howling round our windows as I type.

Our rewiring is done (all bar the shouting) and so is the fence (also partly visible in this shot) - all that remains to be done of the fence is the gate (gap in pic) and the rebuilding of the dry stone wall at the end which we've agreed to tackle with our neighbour in the spring next year. This means we will still get sheep in over the winter but maybe they'll help me to keep the grass down. We still need our own access to the garden (so I can chuck the dogs out last thing at night and they can go and do their 'stuff' while in no danger) as we share access with our neighbours at the moment and their steps are lethal.

When we bought this house in the summer, the garden had not been tended by any human for more than twenty years. The only 'help' I'd had was the sheep who nibble the grass down and by virtue of their liking for short grass, have kept the worst of the weeds at bay. I strimmed it in August and have been mowing it every time we've been back since and it is now green and although weedy, fairly lush looking.....partly because of the huge volume of rainwater falling on our little cottage since we bought it.

DM truly is a rain God (as he has always claimed) and I bow to his superiority!

This shot is taken from about half-way back in the garden and you can see the green! You may notice that the garden appears to be 'upstairs' which it is - it's approximately ten feet above ground level from our back door, hence the need for steps.