Tyre progress

Another 4-day weekend and the weather has been great for getting outside. The tyre wall got bigger on Thursday and Friday but I feel that I'm making things up as I go. Is all DYI like this?

The western end: first layer completed and finished with a tractor tyre

Western end looking east: started on the second layer but not yet filled

My solution for coping with the slope up to the tractor tyre

The tyres continue to be level with a slight backward slope; there's been a lot of pondering and discussion with the ngirungiru about how I get things right. Now that the tyres are in place I find it easier to visualise the tyre next door although this doesn't work when there's just bare grass to look at.

This morning dawned crisp and sunny so I was up early to attack the eastern end. We had 10mm rain overnight and I wondered if the bottom row of tyres would be miniature swimming pools as I had rammed earth into the interior. Good to see that the water had drained away but my enthusiasm was dampened when I didn't have a wide enough space to sit the tyre on; should I build up the front with fill OR did I need to start a tyre row down lower? The sensible solution was to send a text asking my expert to call in over the weekend - and I set about cleaning the deck instead!

Early morning and 3°C - it got up to 17°C by midday

It's been a long time since I cleaned the deck and well overdue. I usually make up a bleach solution but with my tomtit friend flitting around I didn't want to risk burning his feet so used water, scrubbing brush and good old-fashioned muscle power instead.

Unsightly and slippery black patches

Guess which half I've cleaned!

Finished! Now I can put some netting down to make the steps safer.

The ngirungiru kept me company all day and was joined a couple of times by his friend, the female. I managed to catch a couple of photos from a distance - maybe she'll come closer next time.

Rats! She flew off as I pressed the button!

My best photo so far of the female ngirungiru (tomtit)