Friday 6th February 2009 – Snowed in

I am stranded at the top of our hill after a week of snow which at this height is simply refusing to budge. D did attempt the Cresta Run to the bottom a couple of times in an attempt to get me to civilisation and importantly paid work! Only one of the attempts was successful – the other resulted in me being stuck on a train for 3.5 hours going absolutely no where. I then had to be rescued to get me back up the hill – all very exciting but not very productive.

The hens are not impressed by the snow and have retreated to their shed – who can blame them?! I had hoped we might have had our first egg by now but clearly this cold spell has knocked that on the head – for the time being at least. I did give ‘hen towers’, an early Spring clean this morning – hopefully this will encourage some laying once the weather changes. The clean out has meant that the compost bins have benefited from a top up with chicken poo. With the pigs and hens, the compost bins are the clear losers in the race for the kitchen scraps. The compost boosted with some poultry muck should provide me rocket fuel for the garden!

Speaking of which, I am getting behind on garden jobs . I finally managed to find my favourite vegetable growing book only to discover that by now I should have cleared the garden, dug in the muck and have trays of seed potatoes chitting on windowsills. Clearly it would help if I could, one, actually get somewhere to purchase the seed potatoes and two, see the garden and merrily dig without breaking my spade!

The pigs seem to be having a jolly time huddled together in their palace – at least it is giving the field a bit of a rest from their ruthless digging. Mrs J’s daughter (still needs a name!) appears to be a rather grumpy girl and already has had a rather vicious swipe for my backside. There’s no room for unfriendly behaviour here – have decided that there is only one thing for it – once she’s produced – she’s for the sausage machine!!

Still no progress with the moles .

Monday 2nd February 2009 – A brief trip to warmth

Despite my love of surprises, I fired a multitude of questions at D as we headed off, car packed to some mysterious destination, in the desperate hope of gleaning as many clues as possible as to our destination. All to no avail, I was promptly told to shut up and sit quietly for the next 3 hours!

I duly dozed off but was soon woken as the car came to a halt outside one of my favourite pubs. We’d arrived and only after 40 minutes!

D had played a blinder – a short stay in a beautiful old rectory a few minutes walk from the pub. Having arrived in good time, we scuttled up to our warm room and lounge about in a state of semi – undress (ie jumpers off!) simply not possible at HP if you are to avoid extremities turning black and dropping off!

We returned to HP with a spring in our step and much as we love the old place  it’s reassuring to know there is warm refuge close by for the  ocassional treat and an opportunity to ditch the damart in favour of the frillies!

It’s certainly a return to thermals today – we are back to frozen pipes and a hefty covering of the white stuff. The pigs are still huddled in their palace and the dogs are refusing to budge from their beds. As for us, a cancelled meeting in the smoke leaves me unexpectedly free and D is having one of his ‘working from home’ days .

Another cup of tea and then to the woodshed - I must perfect my log splitting technique and then of course there are the mole traps to check.  If they have any sense the little blighters will be keeping  deep underground to protect themselves not only from the ravages of this bitter weather but my hunting instinct and collection of scissor traps!!

Friday 30th January – Surprise???

D left for work this morning leaving me with strict instructions to be home and ready with a bag packed for 5.30pm and not a minute later! I am either being given my marching orders or I’m being taken on one of my little fanciful mini – breaks. How exciting!

Naturally, I am presuming the latter and am floating about reassured that my hubby hasn’t actually had his spontaneity surgically removed!

I have already packed my bag with my best knickers and eagerly await 5.30pm!

I shall update you shortly!

I think I’m starting to smell

I never realised how much I depended on my beloved broadband connection. Without it, I feel like someone has chopped my arm off! I cannot quite believe that this ‘condition’ is likely to continue for at least another week whilst I wait for BT to do their stuff. I have had to resort to taking frequent trips out of the forest and into our delightful local town to become a regular at the only establishment offering a wireless connection. I’m sure they think I’m homeless – my generally dishevelled appearance, and now grubby clothes (all a result of our failure to get to grips with Jenny the generator and the rather fickle hot water arrangement), not helping to dispel this assumption. The good news is that as a result of the staff’s sympathy (most likely stemming from fear), I am now able to connect freely without purchasing umpteem cappucinos. Of course, I am kidding myself that this is sympathy in any shape or form and most likely a simple desire on their part for me to make my connection with the outside world as quickly as possible and depart!

We are both still struggling to find things and at the end of last week spent a happy hour (not!) hunting for our passports. Sadly not in an attempt to escape this miserable rain for sunny climes. To make the searching more fun, we have turned it into a game.  Last evening was the highly exciting race to find the keys for our cottage in view of it’s new tenants imminent arrival. The thing is, there is simply no competitive edge when faced with finding things against a male – they are simply not wired up to ‘look for things’. I am a clear champion, hubby giving up after opening a few drawers, rummaging wantonly before returning to something much more interesting like the wind turbine catalogue.

Home really is stunning though (despite our combined aroma). Had a lovely walk yesterday evening and made mental note to self to investigate rowan berry recipes.

PS. The mircowave has been recycled (gone to a friend) – umm, not sure this will be well received by assorted yummy mummy friends who seem rather dependant on these ugly machines for warming up their organic baby food!

Hello world!

I am writing this on the eve of our most major house move. Surrounded by boxes and bubble wrap, I have managed to escape for a few minutes to write my first blog entry – how exciting!! I’m not sure quite why I feel so compelled to start a blog on today of all days but the fact that my life is about to change in a pretty momentous way could be something to do with it.

We are leaving our cosy cottage (with mains electricity), mod cons and our lovely neighbours to a rambling house in the middle of the forest (without mains electricity) – help!! My husband has spent the last 48 hours rationalising our worldy possessions. Anything with an appetite for lots of electricity has been sent to the tip. I have managed to hold onto my hairdryer but for how much longer is anyone’s guess.

I feel like turning all the lights on in the cottage, whacking the rayburn up and using every single applicance I have managed to convince hubby we still need albeit on a ‘restricted use basis’.

Anyway, what am I worried about? I am after all a country girl and we’ll have more space for the pigs, dogs and the veg not to mention some new additions – there has already been discussion about ferrets and guinea fowl (the peacocks have been vetoed). All wonderful, dreamy stuff but still scary from where I’m sitting! I shall be further away from my office and my friends and stuck with an increasingly broody husband in the middle of the forest – yikes!

Hubby has now returned with wine and crisp supplies to sustain me through the next round of cardboard box assembly – best dash and will write again soon from the new abode.