And now it is August, my Sparrowhawk, still nameless, but I think I know which village name I am going to choose, is flying on demonstration. Not rivetingly exciting but good for him and gives me the chance to be rude about Robin Page!

We are busy, at least I think we are, the weather has been reasonable and the visitors have been ignoring the weather forecast, which is a good thing as it has been as inaccurate as ever. And we have had really nice visitors too, on occasion it feels like they are all dead already, but this month and the end of July they have been lovely and very responsive and that makes for a much better demonstration and a less tiring day as well.

We are back on getting the house roof re done, Mike and Conor are working hard and the first bit

over the corutyard is getting close to being ready for tiles. The huge tiles that were on there are awful to look at and do nothing for the house, as well as there being little insulation. The smaller more authentic tiles look wonderful on the roof and we are insulating as we go, so hopefully if we get a cold winter again, the house will be a little warmer. There is still a long way to go, but I really hope we will get it done

before Christmas. I will feel so much better about it if we do. Then next year I can focus on the windows, some of which really do need some work. Then its the damp in the drawing room and the dining room and then saving up for a conservatory so I can sit in my old age and have breakfast in the sun! That will be the day!

The birds are all flying well, I do so miss my Lugger, but am training a new Lanner, it was destined to go, but turned out to be a female and the chap did not want it, so we decided to train it here. The two Brahminy Kites are out and starting their training and the new Buzzard is coming along. Our Goshawk is going to be a while arriving though which is a shame, I had hoped to have it here for the Falconry Weekend, but that is not going to happen.

The two ponds are holding well and appear to be very appetising to the wild birds, I was flying my falcon and four pigeons came and had a drink and then a wagtail!! Oh and several people have seen a Kingfisher eating my baby Rudd in the big pond - pretty damn cool.

My utility room looks much better without the boiler, and I just need the time now to paint it and then it can be finished. I don't think I am going to be able to do the kitchen this year though, but its nice to have the ambition.

The bookings for the Falconry Weekend are filling up, if the weather holds it will be an exciting and fun weekend. We are all looking forward to it. Don't forget to visit and bring plenty of cash!

Right I have been having trouble with my weblog, Internet Explorer has been letting me down, so read this one for July OK!!

So now its flaming July, what happens to the days, I should be hoovering my house, but can't summon up the energy right now. I did change four beds and I have come to the conclusion that my least favourite job is putting on duvet covers, Especially when you discover having fought the bloody duvet to get the cover on, that the cover is too small for the duvet!! Then you have to start again grrrrrrrrrrr!

I finally decided to throw away the sheets that I bought in South Carolina, they were very odd and I never really liked them and today I looked at them and said bugger it, they are going, they bring back bad memories and I am going to dispose of them!

Bulgaria was an amazing trip, exhausting and a lot of driving but really useful to see the three vulture release facilities that they have been using to release Eurasian Griffon Vultures. I am hoping that we can send a couple of vultures from here next year. I also saw their Saker breeding project and the release site and saw my first Suslik, the little ground squirrelly type things that they like to catch, they are really cute!

The boiler has been a saga, I decided that as the old one was leaking again, using a ton of oil and was bound to break down over Christmas or a very cold spell, I would be sensible and have a new one now while it is warm. So on a Monday they came and took it out, I had planned that the new one would go in on Wednesday, which meant that we could retile the floor on Tuesday. But then they mentioned that I should be having an external boiler outside, so we looked into that and changed the plan. They came back on Wednesday to do pipe work, in the meantime the floor was done. Thursday I had to go to London and was away until quite late. Only to hear that they had turned on the water, and there had been a leak, all through my sitting room ceiling! The nice ceiling rose in the middle of the ceiling is now on the floor in bits, the ceiling is very stained and very smelly - damp plaster. So still no not water. Had to leave really early on Friday morning for an all day meeting and finally got home about 8.30pm. The boiler was done, but for some bizarre reason the heating was on - in July! So I worked out how to turn it off and tried out the shower. Not bad but not hot enough for me. I hope we can get it hotter.

The birds are well and have a young Sparrowhawk who has just arrived, he is lovely, but older than I wanted and so is nervous of the dogs, I am hoping I can get him used to them. We have a new Buzzard as well. It has been mizzly wet weather over the last few days, and rained every time I went out to fly a bird, however they all flew well and we had some nice customers.

Ah well, had better get on cleaning the house........................or may..........gin!