WEEK 6: Finally RAIN!!!!!

This week it finally rained! We were repairing an exterior wall on a shed barn that houses a diesel fuel tank. We just got two new panels in place when it started to pour. We had to scramble to get our power tools and portable work benches back in the van. By the time we did we were soaked! That was the first real rain since we got here. The ground on the farms have cracks so big you can put your hand in them. The UK hasn't been this dry since the mid seventies. Most of the farm worker weren't even born then and have never seen a summer like this.  The wheat needs to have a certain moisture content. The storage sheds here are designed to dry the wheat with elaborate fan and propane systems. Now they are wondering how to add moisture!   

A Picture of the ground cracks

 We have a lot going on.  Bishop Waddell, Second Councilor in the Presiding Bishopric, is coming to visit in September. We have a huge list of things to get done to make the farms...... pretty?  The farms are very productive and efficient but some of the buildings are hundreds of years old. We do a lot of painting and mowing as well as repairs to the the forty plus rental homes on the farms. The Foy's are fantastic. The church should find a way to keep them here and never let them go home.   Today we went to Cambridge and went "punting" on the River Cam. This is a picture of the Bridge Church in St Ives. It's half the size of our bedroom and was built in the 1400's It's on the River Ouse which means river so it's the River River.

This was a cool street in Cambridge typical of many streets there. (yes, cars actually drive down it! It's a 2-way street!)

This is Elder Foy working on a storage barn door. I made the metal guide cap at the bottom of the door. We repaired and painted three of these.  Like most things here they are quite old, like Elder Foy and me!

This is a bridge on the Cam River where we went punting. Punting is the gondola boat ride shown in the picture. The boat is called a Punt. The ride was two miles long past five of the 30 plus colleges at Cambridge. The gondolier is also our tour guide and in that short trip there was more history than the ride could handle. Cambridge is kind of close to Wood Walton where we live, we are part of Cambridgeshire (county).

This is Robyn's new concealed carry. Actually it's by Westminster Cathedral and the Tower of Big Ben in London that we visited last week.