Duck Pen Demolition
Just pulled down half the old duck pen, which was threatening to collapse.
Steve built this with me back in 2000 out of bits of scrap we found on the bush trails. It was his idea to keep duck and make money by selling the eggs. Maybe I should have given them away when he left but I'm a bit of a softie and kept Muscovies for several years to come. The last of them I gave away at the end of 2005. In any case I didn't do much with the pen. I removed the chicken wire covering it to get in and out easier, and added catwalks (by strapping planks to the outside top) for Gabby and Xena. The first thing I did with the space was shovel all the duck poo and soil from the other pen into it. That was a mistake because it leached out and killed the mandarin bush next to it (ironic, because the drakes all loved slices of mandarin).
After that it became a dumping ground for stuff I just wanted to forget, like old tyres, chewed foam cushions and the like. Lately half of it's been very wobbly indeed and rather than wait until it fell down (possibly on me or one of the pets) I removed the dodgy bits. There's still about half of it left, and I added new catwalks to make up for the ones removed, and added a catwalk to the side fence.
Very tempted to clean the garden up a bit. I was always going to get around to it, but tended to end up on the sofa out there with Peggy. I think at least it's time I got rid of the thirteen rolladoors in my backyard, but that's another story.