Now I know I said I wasn’t going to blog over Christmas but some days just warrant an jot down. Today Dec 21st is a day like that, first John gets the animals done and goes off Christmas shopping, I do a few little house bits and then set up to wrap presents. First I have to move bits of the rubic cube to get to the wrapping paper, scissors, tape etc, a bit of intense searching for a few things and I’m ready to go, shit I have forgotten to put the eggs out and there is a customer waiting, I also forget to put a note out explaining the lack of honesty box, back in, do that and I am good to go. I pick up the sellotape block, you know the unit that is very easy to use, drop it, break it and now it doesn’t roll and won’t tear off nicely leaving an end. I carry on each time trying to find the end of the sellotape, I try sticking the end to the table but if it falls off once it falls off a hundred times. I remember that at 11am a hay delivery is coming oh ffs John has gone off in the car and left the van parked right in front of the gate (I don’t drive) never mind I will open the side gate that will eventually be the driveway and oh another bloody rubic cube scenario, move planks of wood so the gate can open, move bits and pieces left by John so the truck and trailer can manouvre properly, move a bloody great pile of hedge clippings and debris so it can actually get through, sometimes I hanker for an ordinary life 😝
Monday 27th December 2020: It snowed! Despite Alexa giving a totally different weather forecast it began to snow early Monday morning and then it started to settle and overnight it froze and it has being frozen each day so far.
Wednesday 30th December 2020: I felt compelled to write today as it is a milestone day, the UK Astrazenica vaccine has been approved and will begin roll out next week. Although we already have the Pfizer one that needs special handling at extremely low temperature whereas this new one can be kept in a fridge making it much easier to transport and handle. It hasn’t come a day too soon here as we were just learning (through social media) that the virus is taking a real hold in the nearest town to us. During the first wave it was as if the virus wasn’t even real, hardly anybody we knew had it, just one or two people, and everything seemed fairly normal in the circumstances. We did wonder if the whole thing was real back then but now it has become obvious that it is spreading very fast indeed here. The NHS is under extreme strain and for that reason alone it is a whoop whoop day, bring on the vaccine and let’s get back to normal, more importantly, people will stop dying from it 🥰 We can finally think about toasting in a better New Year 😀
December 31st 2020: New Years Eve, not many celebrations going on but at midnight we went outside and rang the bell we used to ring on a Thursday night for the NHS, we could hear others ringing bells and shouting Happy New Year and there was a good show of fireworks from various areas, job done now kiss goodbye to 2020 and off to bed.
Friday January 1st 2021: Welcome to a new year, hopefully the vaccine and a little more freedom than we have had over the last nine/ten months, I seriously hope so, until then we carry on with the new normal 😜
Saturday January 2nd: We did the animals, the ground is still frozen and so it’s a case of breaking water and making sure all the animals are all ok. We have had torrential rain and floods and then snow and freezing cold weather and a glimpse of winter sun at times as well, a smorgasbord of weather. John has been doing the office and so he then went off to get insulation and plasterboard so we can carry on and hopefully get it finished soon. Meanwhile I cleaned out the Rayburn, for two days I have been saying to John that it was not burning right and definitely not behaving as it normally does. I get told I am not doing it properly even though I have now been running this thing for nearly eleven years. Anyway I found the reason that it has not been performing as it should, the oven was getting too hot too quickly, the water and radiators were not getting very hot at all and I couldn’t for the life of me keep the flue temperature up. It was fine up to the day before yesterday, he fire bricks had cracked, not just cracked but one of them was in six different pieces 😩 Great, it’s freezing, it’s Saturday so no next day delivery available and we have no Rayburn. John is still out and I remember that we have another set of fire bricks in the shed, they are the summer bricks that go over the top of the winter bricks but we don’t use it in the summer so never use the bricks either. The only problem is that they are a different size, John arrives home and I give him the options, go without heating etc until Monday, try sticking the fire bricks back together with fire cement or, and I rather think this is a stroke of genius on my part, cut down the fire bricks that we already have as a temporary measure u til the new one arrives. They are shorter and wider than the correct ones but we can cut them to width and use the leftover bit to make them longer. That’s what we did and it has been successful though it will be better once the correct fitting bricks arrive. We then got on with insulation the office and getting up a few sheets of plasterboard, we will get there eventually after all there is not a lot else to do at the minute 😂 The virus is spreading rapidly and we have made the decision not to go anywhere that we don’t really need to, I have made a few loaves of bread and put them in the freezer, I also made some butter from the cream we didn’t use on Boxing Day, we have plenty in the freezers to keep us going and the milkman delivers the milk so apart from some bananas and the plasterboard we have not had to go anywhere yet.
Butter made from the cream we didn’t use, both the butter and the buttermilk are in the freezer ready to use at a later date.
Sunday: Still doing all the usual jobs as well as getting the office done, keep coming up against problems in there, the radiator has been leaking, probably for months and the floor is rotten in one area, I said in the first place we should just knock the place down and start again 🙄 The Rayburn is holding although the fire brick keeps falling forward, hopefully tomorrow the new ones will arrive. We have also ordered our first electric radiator to venture into cleaner heating, we will see how well they heat the room before we go any further with the project. I said to John I have no idea what I will do with all the extra hours it usually takes me to look after the Rayburn 😜
On the amazing side of things, I grew oranges whoo hoo, no mean feat in the UK I can tell you and what’s more they are ripe and they taste great, there were just two but two is a win and two that are edible is a great achievement so I am blowing my own trumpet 😀
Have a good week, covid is still on the rampage, even more so now 🙄 so stay safe everyone.
Monday 14th December 2020: Good morning everyone, did you spot my error on last weeks blog? I forgot to finish the title off and just left it hanging so apologies for that 😝
Not a bad start to the day early on, John was off today (kind of) and we had one particular job to get done and that was the office. So I did the morning rounds while he went off with his cutting list to the local merchant, when he got back we set about altering the desk we had already (a big heavy double ended desk) to fit the nook we intended it to go in. Then got all the panels in place, they had to all come back out because something wasn’t square 🙄 I left him to it while I went with Samantha to help her do her weekly shop, this is harder than you think and had both the checkout lady and I in fits of laughter. Firstly going shopping with one toddler is enough but with two in a trolley the isles become obstacle courses, you have to stay in the middle of the isle otherwise arms from each side grab at goods on the shelf. Once the trolley begins to fill up their interest turns from the shelves to the trolley and what they can reach, my job was to try and keep them entertained (distracted basically) by the time Sam is packing the shopping away and trying to pay they have turned around just enough to start pulling things out of the bags, crisps, bag of peppers etc and throwing on the floor, by the time I had picked up one lot the other had grabbed something and thrown that on the floor, you wouldn’t believe that the seemingly quick job of paying at the checkout is long enough for mayhem to ensue, still, Sam said, at least this week there were no little nibble marks on the courgettes 🤣🤣
New desk area which will be much tidier and give more space in the rest of the room for activities, either mine or the grandchildren’s 😂
Sam dropped me back home and John had got the panels in and the desk fitted and levelled up, he had also lit the Rayburn. He measured up for the shelves, wrote down his second cutting list and went off and that was the last I saw of him until 4pm, oh I just had to do a little job for Martin while I was out he said but the good news is I have the shelves in the van. Bloody good job as I don’t want this dragging on over days with the contents of the office still in the living room.
Once he got back I put the dinner on and fed the cats and dogs, he shut the birds away and we got on with fitting the shelves, I must say I am very pleased with how it has turned out. What is done at the minute is for the interim and we will get to doing it properly after Christmas, for the time being we have a room that two travel cots will now fit in plus any other equipment that they need 😀
Tuesday: It’s 9.30 I have already done over 5000 steps and had a busy morning. The weather is sunny and feels mild, wet under foot I heard torrential rain a couple of times overnight consequently the mud is getting muddier 😏 The farrier came first thing this morning and so before I did any of the the usual rounds I got the horses in and hosed off their legs and feet, fed them and gave them some hay to keep them occupied. They are a bit like having twins, one won’t come in making life harder, then while they are tied up ready they poop in succession one after the other multiple times so I am constantly going backwards and forwards with a poop scoop clearing up. The farrier was going to be ten minutes late so I started on the birds, feeding, cleaning water buckets etc, once the farrier was there I carried on and did the rest of the jobs. Once he had finished it was time to turn the horses back out and clear up the debris from a hoof trim and hay spread everywhere. Then to clean the duck eggs, take out the rubbish, take some stuff from the office to the skip and finally get a cup of coffee. Now my aim is to get the rest of the stuff in the office sorted and that will be the end of that until after Christmas. John has gone to work today (supposed to have finished work for Christmas 🙄) Actually I think I will have a bowl of porridge before starting the next job 😀
So I spent a large part of the middle of the day sorting stuff out in the office, bear in mind that we don’t have a loft and so the usual loft occupants are stored in the office. I have tried to be ruthless and throw stuff out really I have but you can’t throw away old photos and bits of memories can you? I got sidetracked looking through one box of old stuff that I had forgotten was there, I started to look through it piece by piece then thought ooops I had better box it for looking at another day and get on. Then there are the toys, well all Nanas have toys for the grandchildren, and books, many of which were the girls when they were little. I need to work out where and how to put them, books and small part toys up out of the reach of the twiglets 🙄 toddler toys within their reach so they can play, it’s not as easy as it sounds accommodating everything in a 12 x 12ft room 😏 Then it is also the room we keep the hoover and the steam mop, I considered buying a cordless job that hangs on the wall but after getting opinions from family it seems they are not strong on suction. I am sure I will get it all sorted eventually and some of it is fairly temporary, the kids will eventually grow out of the toys and prefer to watch the tv 😂
I did some hoovering once I finally got everything out of the living room then sat down for lunch, when I moved the remote control the telly came on by accident and a film was just starting so I watched that 😜 Then time to light the Rayburn and feed the animals, collect the eggs, John came home, measured up for some timber for the ceiling went off to get that, I shut the animals away as it got dark and bam that’s another day over but this evening we are not doing any work just going to relax, after I have fed the cats, dogs, got the dinner then washed up of course 🙄
Wednesday: Today’s plan was to go Christmas shopping in Witney but first thing Johns phone rang and someone had water all over the bathroom floor and so he puts on his magic plumber cape and went off to the rescue. Marvellous that leaves me doing the rounds stomping round slightly pissed off, never a good start to the day 😜 He returned about 45 mins later and we set off shopping, it was a grey, drizzly morning that got slowly worse, a tad cold to boot. We walked round and noted how many of the shops had closed their doors for good and then at lunchtime stopped at a pub for something to eat. Fearing that we may have had to book in advance and that there may not be any spaces we tentatively went in to find out. Well you could have knocked me down with a feather as the place was practically empty, this is a big pub that is normally very busy and it was practically dead, it really hit home then how bad things are for local shops and hospitality businesses it was a very sad realisation 😢 We have not been to town since before the first lockdown and in fact we hardly go anywhere when I think about it, the upside was a couple of new boutique shops have opened and the food at the pub was excellent and the staff upbeat, John had his first pint for more than six months and he commented that it tastes just how he remembered, what times we live in 😏
Back home and we lit the Rayburn sat down and John promptly fell asleep, that’s what having a pint at lunchtime does 😂
To be honest it does not feel very much like Christmas is approaching 🙄 I guess it is up to us to get into the spirit, a Christmas film or two or three is in order I think and then of course I need to get my tree up and now I have the space I can get on with it.
Thursday: It’s a Misty morning but still mild and it supposed to stay dry so that’s good. I am on my own again today as John has to work (he was supposed to have finished now 🙄) I know it’s paid the bills all these years but at times I hate being the plumbers wife as you always come at the bottom of the list! Not that I really need him at home I have plenty to do that he will only get in the way of 😂 I am sat writing this little bit first thing as I have a bad lower back and waiting for the painkillers to kick in before I go and start the rounds, it started at the weekend and has got slowly worse but there is no chance of resting it today and hopefully moving around will help it get better, we shall see 🤷♀️
I am getting nowhere fast, I have plenty to do but as I decide what to do next there is always something else that needs doing first before I can commence 😜 I want to get the decorations up but John has the timber for the ceiling joists and I know that if I put stuff up and he then carries them through the house something is going to get broken or knocked over so I will wait. I have stuff to wrap but again I am waiting for the office to be cleared of diy debris to put stuff in there 🙄 hopefully tomorrow the ceiling timbers will go in and then I can start to get sorted in earnest. I like to time Christmas, I don’t like it to peak too early but I also don’t like to be rushing around at the last minute, maybe I will make some lists as at the minute as per usual it’s all tumbling around in my head. I have some linen napkins but for the life of me I have no idea where they are, all I know is that they are here somewhere and I will find them eventually, I need to figure out how the Christmas table will look this year, I have ordered something to make a different centrepiece but at the minute that’s as far as I have got, I am sure it will all come together in the end.
I did write lists, Christmas dinner lists, Boxing Day food lists, to do lists and then I managed to get a click and collect slot for food shopping so I have done that and now feeling a little less panicked the only other things I will need to get are those with a short shelf life such as fresh fruit for the trifle 😀 oh and I found the napkins so I can think about the table layout, always an important feature in our house, if you are going to have a mid winter feast you want to make it special rather than just a Sunday roast with crackers 😂
Unbelievably I was looking for a reference to something in my old blogs and more precisely this time last year, reading through it the similarities are uncanny, it appears that this time last year I had the entire contents of the boot room in my kitchen while John was laying the floor AND I was having more frequent blood tests because my white cells had dropped, I didn’t find the thing I was looking for but it was weird 😝
Friday: John is off again today and the plane is to get the ceiling timbers in and then the numerous wires for all the technological paraphernalia up over the timbers out of the way of small people 😜 He got on with that while I went out and did the morning feeding rounds, I also cleaned out the light Sussex pen and put new bedding in for the ducks and some of the hens in the stable. I noticed that something had been trying to dig I round the back of the stable and made quite a big hole, big enough for a hen to get through. I went round the back and could smell fox and they have tried to dig in there before, we had covered the ground with wire and heavy stones but for some reason this bit was not done so I spent my time doing that, as always your defences are only as good as the weakest part of them and they soon get exposed. Did that came I had coffee fed the dogs and the cats and helped John to get one of the cables through the wall to the tv area, I was hoping he would not touch any cable until I came back in but nope there were some of them unplugged which is all very well but John does not do technology and has no idea where they all plug back into! Quickly tidy up and hoover the room, put things away again and off to get my blood tests done. My house is like a Rubic cube I was thinking, you have to move one bit before another can be put in p,ace and there is a lot of fiddling around to get it right 😜 At least now I can get the tree up tonight and start wrapping presents etc.
And finally I can get the tree up and the Christmas decorations out 😀
Saturday: Another busy day moving bits of the rubic cube around 😂 but first we did the morning rounds and then John got on with tidying up the back area, putting stuff away, burning rubbish as well as popping out to get some dog food and a few shopping essentials, his not mine as it included chocolate biscuits 🙄 Meanwhile I got the office into a little bit more order so that I could do some last bits of paperwork before Christmas and then I could sort the spare room and the kitchen table and finally I am all sorted for the time being.
I did a little furniture hack that I am pretty pleased with, I wanted a small side table next to a chair in the office but it needed to be pretty stable as the kids will use it as a playroom. So I bought a waste paper basket and a small round tray, turned the basket upside down and stuck the tray on, now I have a lovely little table that looks high end, I think it’s a winner and it will certainly do the job.
Corona Virus, it hasn’t gone away in fact it has mutated and the new variant is spreading faster than ever 😏 We are waiting for an update form the Prime Minister to see what tougher measures will be put in place. As it stands at the minute we can have three households together for Christmas and most people have made their plans around that criteria including us. Breaking news: The update means that we can now only spend Christmas Day with the other people 😏 when will this shit be over 😢 Luckily John had already decided not to work in January so he will be off which is just as well I think, I can see more lockdowns on the horizon.
Sunday: Started off pretty well, we did the morning rounds and then decided to go to the garden centre where they have 50% off the Christmas decorations and I had seen a few that I wanted to get. We mooched about and then John decided that he fancied breakfast, they had almost finished serving it but we got in just in time. Did a few other bits and returned home, I checked the egg shed as usual, delivery from Amazon in there but the rest of it looked bare, the bloody honesty box was gone! Some low life scum had nicked it, ripped it clean off the base it was screwed to, gone, box, padlock and the money inside 🤬 luckily it was only this mornings egg money so amounted to just over a tenner but that’s not the point, we now have no box for anyone to put the money into until we get something sorted again. I sincerely hope Karma pays them a visit, puts you on edge as it is rare that both John and I are not here at the same time, I’d like to think it was just a chancer and not someone watching the place 😏
On that note I am going to sign out for this week and indeed for the rest of this year, so I will wish you all a very merry Christmas, hope you all stay safe and I will be back in 2021. I will leave you with a picture of something nice I found in the egg shed this week, we do have lovely customers.
Monday 7th December 2020: I have had a busy but highly productive day today and smashed 10,000 steps by 3pm. First there was the morning routine and jobs, today that included cleaning out the ducks, cleaning out the guinea pigs and moving the one on his own into the cage inside the pen that the other two are in. I can’t put them together as they are all boars and if they haven’t grown up together will fine to the end if you know what I mean. I am kinda hoping that the longer he is there and they can see and smell each other through the grill they may in the end tolerate one another, time will tell. Burn some more bits of rubbish, seems to mount up all the time and I wanted to get that done at the weekend but other things got in the way. I also filled up all of the wild bird feeders and I turned Biscuit back out into the paddock with Jack, she was very happy to be back out and did a fair bit of running around for five minutes as well as a lovely roll so she can’t be feeling too bad can she. I mucked out the stable, mucking is different from skipping lol, mucking involves taking out all the soiled bedding rather than just taking out the poop. The bed is clean again for the next time they need to come in, always better to prepare as you never know when you will need the stable.
After finishing outside it was indoors to strip the bed and give the bedrooms and good Hoover and polish and remake the bed, put the wash loads on, light the Rayburn and sort some of the Christmas presents. Then lunch which was butternut squash and chilli soup and then an afternoon of organising the last few bits I need for Christmas, a few little presents, presents to send in the mail, presents for John, wrapping paper etc etc. I am almost finished just one more present to get for one of the grandchildren, though I do find it difficult to stop buying when I see things that I think someone might like.
Get the dinner sorted for later and then out to do the feeding and egg collecting. Now we are putting them out in the morning instead of 4pm I don’t feel under such pressure to multi task 😀 it will be back out around 4.15 to shut them away for the night and then I think I will have a sit down before I need to start cooking the dinner, though I do need to hang the washing to dry, do some washing up, a girls work is never done really 😜
Oh and I forgot to tell you that the doc finally got in touch and I have to come off the meds for two weeks then have another blood test as the white cells have not improved. Is there any sign of Lupus activity he asked me, nope none whatsoever, must be the meds then. I do feel a little tired today not sure if that’s all the running round I have been doing or not 🤔
Tuesday take 1: Today is a milestone day, this morning the first vaccine was administered in the UK to a 90 year old lady, hopefully we are at the beginning of the end of what has been a tough year for everyone.
Tuesday take 2: Ooo it’s cold and foggy this morning, I didn’t realise there was ice until I went to put the eggs out, I thought it was just fog. I came back in and lit the Rayburn before going out to do the animals this morning, it was nice and toasty when I came back in and it means my coat, which hangs on the radiator in the boot room, will be warm when I go back out later. I fed everything and broke ice on outside water buckets, nothing to report today, all is well.
When I checked the egg shed this morning I found that some of my cards and tags have sold, that made me very happy 😃 nice when someone wants to buy something you have produced, normally it’s veg and eggs but branching out feels good.
As if getting the front done and the outside beds wasn’t enough, we have decided to try and get the office sorted before Christmas 🙄 when we did the place about five years ago the office ended up half done, it has walls that are half insulated and half plaster boarded, it needs the ceiling insulated and boarded and the remaining bits including round the window done. This room is cold and you can really feel it when you open the door to go in, It would make an ideal craft/sewing/ancestry research/ reading room but it’s either too cold in winter or too hot in summer. I also actually don’t need an office like I did before now that the plumbing company no longer exists, sole traders have much less paperwork 😜 and so I can reduce the desk area to a minimum which will give me room to be able to put up a folding table when I need it and there will be room for a single sofa bed or similar. I am not expecting to get it all done by Christmas just the insulation and the built in desk area then it will be ready to plaster and decorate next year sometime 🤞
We are only 13 days away from the shortest day 🥰 and the daylight hours will begin to increase again, tiny increments but I will take whatever it gives.
There is a lot of talk about climate change and how we may not see snow again in parts of the UK. I am not particularly keen on snow, a hard frost or even better a hoar frost is my favourite, I don’t mind the snow but hate the mess it makes once it starts to thaw 😝 undoubtedly our day to day life contributes massively to carbon emissions and the effect on the climate but little is ever reported about the other things that influence the weather massively such as solar activity or rather the lack of it. Scientists say we are entering a Grand Solar Minimum, in the last hundred years the sun was at its weakest in 2019 and 2020 is the beginning of the GSM with decreased activity possibly up to 2053. Forgive me if I seem naive but although our atmosphere is affected by carbon emissions I can’t see the the sun activity is, that’s a power all of it own and so it has to affect what happens here on earth, stratospheric conditions are also an important factor. On this day in 1938 the highest temperature for December was recorded in La Mesa, California, that surely couldn’t be climate change that was a direct cause of carbon emissions way back then could it 🤷♀️ I think during the climate change dialogue we have forgotten about natural cycles mostly because we have no idea what they have been over the last few millennia, apart from the really big changes such as the ice age, we have only monitored the last couple of hundred years, and yes we have exceptional technology but there is a lot more to learn yet in my tiny opinion. None of that means I don’t believe in climate change and the effects it is having, I do, and I believe we are massive contributors that should be doing all we can to put the brakes on, but I also think that there is more than one factor (maybe many) affecting our weather patterns. Only way in the future will they be able to look back and tell.
Did the afternoon rounds later than I normally do now I don’t have to put the eggs out at 4pm, so at 3.45 I fed everything and collected the eggs then at approx 4.20 I went round and shut everything away from the night, back in to get the dinner underway and that’s another day done.
Wednesday: Not so cold this morning, it rained last night and is damp this morning, no sign of frost. Today marks another milestone, a personal one this time. I said the the girls do you think it’s time for new jeans when you can take them off without unbuttoning them, actually I new it was time, the pairs I had been wearing had got very baggy everywhere, so I took the plunge and ordered new jeans. The fact that I had to order a size 12 is the milestone, I don’t think I have been in that size for over 25 years, so I’m blowing my own trumpet here, whoop, whoop 🙌 go me 😀 Now if I could lose a couple of sizes from my ample bust (which I have always hated) I will be very happy indeed. It’s funny isn’t it, if you have straight hair you want curly, if you have a flat chest you’d like bigger boobs, if you are a stick you would like some curves and all of this works in reverse. Once you accept what you have and work with it life becomes happier, but the one thing I have always said I would like to have is tailor made clothes that fit properly, sleeves that are not too long, shoulders that are not too wide etc, at 5’3 I neither fit the petite range nor the regular lol, misfit that’s me 😜
Phew a busy morning, anyone would think it was the bake off tent 😀 I have made three dozen mince pies, a mincemeat slice and a loaf of bread. I had already made three lots of shortcut pastry yesterday but the morning went as follows: Come in and light the Rayburn, while it’s getting going start the bread off in the mixer, then roll out the first dozen mince pies, sort the Rayburn with more wood and shut down, bread is now on the first prove, roll out the next dozen pies, fill and get into the pre warmed oven. While I am at it I might as well make a mincemeat slice which is a recipe given to me a few years back, roll out the next dozen pies, make the pastry for the slice, get the first 2 lots out of the oven, knock back the bread dough for the second prove, wash the mince pie tins, fill the third and get into the oven, roll out the slice and fill ready for the oven, put some more wood on the fire, have a coffee, get the last lot out of the oven and the slice in. ,are a quick phone call, get the slice out and put the bread in the oven to cook, wash up, phew 😂 The slice is a great alternative to mince pie and is good for a pudding, it is basically a shortcrust pastry with egg, milk and sugar added, divide into two, roll out and put one half in an 8inch tin, add a layer of mincemeat then top with the other half of the pastry, brush with milk, sprinkle with sugar and bake until it’s done which is about 20 minutes.
Thursday already! Did a bit around the house before venturing outside to do the feeding and letting out , collected a few eggs while I was at it, another routine morning. Routine is boring but also welcome, it means nothing is afoot, disastrous, problematic, be grateful for routine 😀 It’s milder again today, no sign of frost of a cold wind, just rather pleasant for a December morning, on this day last year we woke up to snow according to the memories on Facebook. Yesterday we were told that if conditions were favourable we might be able to see the Northern Lights in the UK even this far south, there was cloud cover, disappointing but there is a chance over the next two nights so I will keep looking 😀
A lovely story about the Winter solstice came upon my news feed today, little fairies mourning the death of the Sun King on the solstice are told by the Wise Old Mother that though the old sun king has died they should not be sad, on the very same day a tiny new Sun King is born, he is small but with each day he grows bigger and stronger. I thought that was a lovely way to view the winter, once we reach the solstice, every day will be a tiny step nearer to the warmth of the sun again 🌞
I have just been reading a report about the vaccination from Lupus UK, it looks like we will be vaccinated after the 65 yr olds, so first came the over 80s and healthcare/frontline workers, then it’s the over 75s, then the over 70s, followed but the over 65s then anyone 16 – 64 with underlying health conditions that are on the list and Immunocompromised patients are one of those, who knows how long that will be until we get it 🤷♀️
Friday: Did the morning rounds, nothing untoward to report. Then I set about clearing leaves from the driveway, this is the only place I clear leaves from as it can get slippery with wet leaves sat there and nobody wants a twisted ankle or worse. On the rest of the smallholding the leaves stay where they are and like some little miracle by spring they are all gone. This is because the worms and microbes spend their time pulling them down into the ground then breaking them down to feed on, the result is better quality soil and all done by nature, no need for a leaf blower. You could of course rake them up and make a leaf mulch bin which eventually makes excellent soil improver but I prefer to let it happen naturally and besides it far less work 😜
I came in then and had some breakfast and truth be told I am feeling pretty tired 😏 My hands, wrists and elbows are hurting a little from shovelling and none of this is a very good sign. I can’t work out why when I am on the meds but my white cells are low, I feel great, but I come off them and a week later some not very welcome symptoms begin to appear 🤷♀️ I was getting on fine and now I’m thinking I don’t want to be exhausted all over the Christmas holiday 😔
I looked at the 14/16 day forecast looks like we in for rain and gales, great, not much sign of snow but we may get some frosty weather close to Christmas Day.
The rest of the day was as per usual, nothing exciting or unusual happening here 😂
Saturday: The weather was lovely today and after we did the morning rounds John went out to finish off levelling the soil on the front bed and I did some clearing up of bits and pieces and taking stuff the skip. I then decided that we would be better pooling our efforts and getting one thing done instead to two separate ones and so I went to help John. We got the soil levelled, took off what we didn’t need and bagged it up for the other bed and then set about planting some of the plants I have in pots. I have loads of them but of course at this time of year it’s a job to remember exactly what some of them are, they all look dead. Some of them are recognisable though and so we planted up the things I could identify including my forest pansy tree which I am excited to see burst into flower early next spring. It’s a small tree so won’t get to large for the site, it’s great for bees as the flowers arrive early and before the leaves come out, good food for bees when there is not much else around. It is a big flower though and although I have a lot to go in there I think I made need to buy or grow some more 😜
Here is a sneak preview of what we have been doing, it is still work in progress though and we still have plenty to do before it’s finished. As you can see it was a beautiful day today, blue skies and warm for mid December.
John went off to have his flu jab mid afternoon, he is allowed it this year as he is in the over 50 bracket 😂 I had mine back in October as I always do having underlying health conditions and all that 🙄
When he came back we went in for a sit down and apart from collecting the eggs, feeding and lighting the Rayburn we didn’t do much else, oh except watch the snooker, well John watches the snooker, I have to suffer the running commentary from him even if I don’t want it.
We have discussed sorting the office out and that work will begin on Monday providing nothing else comes up.
At dark we moved the last lot of hens from outside to the stable block where they will now stay until the Avian Flu lockdown ends. It’s good for us as it means that the winter feeding etc won’t be such a chore, inside the stable block is much better than out in the paddocks but not so good for the birds really as they won’t have the freedom they normally enjoy 😏
Sunday: This morning we did the usual routine and then set about starting the office makeover, it will be small part office, small part craft sewing room, a place to do the ancestry searching, a place to keep the grandchildren’s toys and books, a bit of everything really. Mid morning we went to the DIY shop and picked up some storage containers and a chair that I really liked at a bargain price. That set me on the journey of planning the rest of the room and I found some very expensive wall paper 🙄 luckily we only need one roll for the wall I want to do. Up to Christmas it will just be a case of getting it sorted so there is room for two travel cots for the twins on a Christmas Day but after Christmas we will start in it properly. Charlotte phoned and asked if we had our Christmas tree up yet and when I said no she wanted to know why not, the entire contents of the office are in the living room I told her, oh I will let you off then she said lol. I am not quite sure what we did the rest of the day apart from the normal things, the day seemed to go really quickly and that is the end of another week 😀
Monday 30th November 2020: Monday again 🙄 a good Monday this week as we come out of the second lockdown so by Thursday things will feel fairly normal again hopefully. The infection rate has decreased by a third over the last couple of weeks which is good news but we are still not out of the woods yet, when they start to roll out the vaccine we will be on the up and up 🤞
It’s still foggy this morning but it’s fairly mild, it doesn’t feel too cold at all out there. I did the morning rounds, let everything out, fed and watered everything collected the duck eggs, not much to report on that front.
Did a fair few bits indoors, routine stuff really, washing, cleaning out the fridge, clean the boot room. I lit the Rayburn about 12.30 as it felt a tad cold and John called in for some lunch about 1pm, I had FaceTime chats with Sam and Shelley in the afternoon, a bit of reading and then it was time to go out and feed/collect the eggs. I was reluctant to go out, it was nice and toasty inside but actually it wasn’t too bad at all. John was home before 4pm so he will be shutting the birds away tonight, lovely 😊 it’s a bit of a pain having to go back out so soon after the feed rounds especially when I am trying to get the dinner sorted for the evening.
I have looked at the weather forecast for the end of the week after Samantha mentioned it was going to get cold, looks like we might even get some snow ⛄️
Tuesday 1st December: White rabbits 🐇 This morning if I stood in a particular place in the kitchen I could see the moon through the back door and the emerging sunrise through the front window, it was pretty cool 😀
It’s the first day of December and the radio has back to back Christmas songs this morning 😏 I am not a fan of starting too early with the festive stuff, my tree will not go up for another couple of weeks, if I put it up now I would be bored of it by the time Christmas arrives not to mention the dust that will accumulate on the baubles 😂 I did buy an advent calendar this year a chocolate one which is normally something I refuse to do, I prefer the old fashioned ones with a picture behind the door lol, but this year is different and we do need a little bit of cheer, however I forgot to get it out this morning before John went to work so looks like he will have to go second this year 😜
This morning I did the rounds as per usual and all is well. Then I finally got round to getting the heat mat on in the greenhouse, this means I have to run an extension cable to it. With hindsight we should have dug out and put a cable underground but at the time I had no intention of using electric in there. Now however I have changed my mind (a woman’s prerogative ya know 😜) and if I want to keep certain plants alive over Winter then needs must. We had a chat last night with a local company about solar PV and battery storage and hopefully that will be something we install next year so in theory we will be creating our own electric to run the greenhouse and the house itself.
I then spent a large part of the morning doing some crafting, I have plenty of buttons to use and so along with some recycled card I have been making cards as well as gift tags. It’s fun and different to something I would normally be doing although I was proving and baking a loaf of bread at the same time 🥰
Recycled card and up cycled buttons 😀
Wednesday: A beautiful sunrise this morning it was positively glowing through the windows.
It went from orange to pink, just beautiful.
It is National tree week this week, there are lots of initiatives to get people planting trees, visiting trees or pledging to nurture trees. I have said before, there are not enough trees in this country purely from personal experience there is not enough shade and if the climate hots up we are going to need that shade. Over the years we have planted about 20 new trees here that have successfully taken and a few that haven’t but even on our five acres that’s a drop in the ocean, we still have room for plenty more. I like to plant trees that are either productive or native but now and again there is room for a non native decorative tree. I have a few trees in pots, some that I know where they will be going and some that I have no idea about yet but I will find a place for them eventually.
Today is the first day out of lockdown but we are straight into the tier system and we are tier two. That means we can pretty much do everything except visit inside others homes, the pubs and restaurants are open for table service meals, the beauty industry is open again, the non essential shops are open as are many other services and events as long as they are covid secure. Just think, this time last year we had no idea what was coming, our existence is fragile, though as a species we think we are top of the tree. We have watched politicians try to pick their way through the crisis and be slammed with criticism whatever path they took. At first people were concerned about the health of their friends, family and neighbours, then that kind of wore off and they were worried more about the economy and finally about their freedom. It’s a funny mix, from where I stand I’m not too worried about the economy but I don’t have a young family and a mortgage otherwise I might think differently. I sit on the fence with the rules really, on the one hand I follow them on the other hand I think ‘you don’t own me and I am capable of making intelligent decisions for myself’ no good getting irate about it all, it is what it is and they are doing what they think is the best for everyone. The first vaccine has been approved today so here begins the road to normality, not that I think our normality is a good thing, it’s not, the all consuming, regurgitating species that we are will definitely be the downfall of this planet, if something else doesn’t get us first that is 🙄 It should have been a wake up call but it just became an inconvenience.
Did the mornings rounds, it is chillier than I thought it would be out there, definitely felt a nip in my fingers, should have worn gloves definitely will tomorrow. I came in and rang the surgery, I am still waiting for the results of my bloods, I called yesterday as I hadn’t heard anything, still with the doctor, I called today and still with the doctor. What does that actually mean I asked, it means the receptionist can’t see the results as the doctor either hasn’t looked at them yet or is reviewing them. I am hoping that means he has been in touch with my Rheumatologist to figure out what to do, either that or the results are fine and carry on as before needs no rushing, however it would be nice to know 🙄
I am going out for a coffee this morning, because I can, it will be nice to see other human beings even if my tolerance of them is low 😂 I used to think that I would like to be living on a remote island somewhere away from civilisation but in fact this years episodes have shown me that I am not a hermit and I do like small, well tiny interactions with my species after all 😜
I really need to find some recipes for duck eggs, we have loads of them, they sell much more slowly than the chicken eggs and the ducks have been laying well consequently I have about seven dozen to do something with 🤣
I have been making more cards today after I had an order for 10, then another order for 10, I figured I’d better get on and make some. I am finding it very addictive and rather wish I had somewhere I could leave it all out so that when I had a spare hour I could just sit and do them.
I did the afternoon rounds and collected the eggs, I will be glad when they don’t have to go out at 4pm as this will give me a little bit of leeway on my time and what I can get done.
John came home with a bag full of biscuits p, he had been to do a job where the lady makes them, it started as a hobby apparently and now she takes orders for them, there is hope for my card empire yet 😜
Thursday: Did the morning rounds in the rain 🌧 it was too bad it’s not pouring just raining 😝 It mostly went the same as every morning except one of the little light Sussex chicks was not well. I have been watching it for a couple of days and yesterday it was still eating fine although a little static at the end of the day. This morning it was obviously in trouble, I guess the cold nights didn’t help, I scooped it up and bought it in, gave it some sugar water but I could tell it was too far gone and so had to dispatch it. They can go down very quickly, with lots of fluffed up feathers it’s easy to miss the signs of wasting underneath but this one had got quite thin. Neck dislocation is a very quick and precise method of dispatch and one I have been doing for over twenty years now so I am proficient, never a nice thing to do but often the kindest. It was a lot smaller than the others that hatched at the same time so I am guessing there was something wrong with it from the start, sometimes it can take weeks or even months to become evident.
Samantha came over to get the horses in, it is wet and cold and we are supposed to have snow/sleet showers tomorrow so they can come in for a bit of a break and a warm up especially Biscuit who is getting on and we all know how you feel the cold the older you get.
I spent a few happy hours making more cards as I have sold all the ones I made so far 😀 it’s fun, I enjoy doing it and it’s a job in the warm 😀 In-between making them I did the afternoon rounds and was supposed to do the shutting away but John was home in time so I carried on card making while he went out and did it instead bless him.
Friday: Busy couple of hours first thing this morning, the horses came in overnight and that adds to the job list, they need feeding, watering and skipping out (removing the poop) Jack will probably go back out later today as he is not too happy at being in but depending on the temperature Biscuit will stay in a little longer. The rest of the rounds were done without incident and John was here to take charge of another eight tonne of topsoil for the raised bed which is now full I am pleased to say. Charlie popped over before going to work to collect a card order that I made for someone at her work and bought me a juice of carrot, celery and ginger, lovely. I am having Florence this morning as part of the essential child care we are allowed to do, Shelley can now work again and there are a lot of clients on the waiting list, so I said I would look after Florence while she gets some of the back log sorted.
Went for a walk with Florence, first to the post box to post a letter, I have to fill in a sheep and goat inventory annually even if I don’t have either at the moment, then we carried on down to the village Ford where there is a Christmas tree in the middle of the water, then all the way round church lane w
The announcement came yesterday that as from 14th December all poultry and captive birds must be housed so that the wild birds cannot get near them. This is essentially lockdown for the birds, so we are not the only ones with a virus rampaging. Last time this happened we were not prepared, I had never had to do it before and we were caught off guard. The things we put in place turned out to be awful (tarpaulins covering the runs) it was wet and muddy and a disaster. This time we are on top of the game 😀 we have enough spare stables to house all 90 laying hens plus outside pens that can be closed off and netted, they have solid roofs already. The weekend will be all about preparing, moving, and cleaning out. I feel bad for Ted as he is a big bird but his pen is fairly large, he is in the big rabbit run which is 10ft square probably bigger guessing measurements is not my forte 😜 I want to move the big guinea hut he out of there and put the single pig somewhere else but not sure where just yet. The quail are already in the back area under cover. That just leaves the ducks and the geese, the ducks could go in a stable once the horses go back out and if we needed it back they would have to go back outside. The geese however are more of a problem, they are big birds and they eat grass as their staple diet, they will be confined to the small back paddock for the time being. We also have to have foot dips which have to be used before entering any pen, run, stable block, oh the joys of poultry keeping. I seriously wonder if it is really worth the effort sometimes 🤔
Afternoon rounds included turning Jack back out into the paddocks and moving Biscuit into Jacks stable because it’s bigger than hers. Then put the birds all to bed and off to get a bit of shopping. When we got back and after we had eaten we booked a holiday 😀😀😀😀😀😀 it’s not until 2022 mind you but boy it feels good to have something to look forward to 🥰
Saturday: Turned the alarm off last night so not such an early start today. John did half the rounds while I did the other half and sorted out Biscuit. The next job was cleaning the flue although it has been burning clean and didn’t need much doing, I definitely can’t wait for electric heating next year though. A few more odd jobs to get done and then it was time to go and pay our respects to a friend on his last journey 😢
Unexpected things that happen in life give you cause to evaluate what really is important and what are the things that would not matter if they were gone. It is important to enjoy whatever it is you have decided to do, the small things and the bigger things, if you are not loving it then change it, you only get one go at this life make the most of it.
We met one of our new neighbours over the road today they moved in about a week ago so that was nice.
Sam came over in the afternoon to check Biscuit over, she definitely is not keeping herself as warm as she ought to be which is worrying really, could be something major going on. The vet will be coming soon to rasp Jacks teeth so we can get them to give her a look over and see what they think. I am no expert but I think by the way she puffs a bit and the fact she is not staying warm it’s going to be her heart but I might be wrong, when she goes back out she will be having a rug on this year.
Sunday: Suddenly realised its mid evening and I haven’t signed this week off yet 🙄 We did the morning rounds and then John moved a load of timber that was stacked in front of the stable we were going to use for the third lot of hens. Meanwhile I did a few other little bit and pieces, I went to have a looked and we realised that the stable would not be secure enough from the fox and we would also have to put up netting to stop the hens escaping, so we went to plan b. We will use the stable that Biscuit was in as that is secure, it means that John moved all the timber for nothing but hey Ho sometimes it goes like that. After that we went out for breakfast, yay finally we can go out to eat on our way back we picked up the Christmas tree which we bought from the farm in the village. It won’t be going up just yet but at least we have it ready. The weather was foggy, grey, drizzly and a tad cold so we decided not to do anymore outside work today, we watched a couple of films instead, that’s what Sunday afternoons are for isn’t it lol.
Monday 23rd November 2020: An atmospheric foggy morning this morning and it had been cold enough overnight for a frost. It’s almost noon and I haven’t stopped this morning until now. With the mornings getting ever darker I said to John that I would take over the morning feeding etc so that he can get off to work on time so this morning was my first for a long time that I have done everything. Feed and water all the animals, clean out the ducks, fill up the wild bird feeders, put the washing on, get the milk in, take the rubbish and empty milk bottles out, you get the idea. I got a chicken out of the freezer yesterday for tonight’s dinner and so I figured as I was going to have the oven on I might as well make good use of it. At the moment I have bread on the second prove and two cakes in the oven and some fruit stewing ready for the crumble topping I also made, busy busy.
One of the cakes was a simple quick fruit cake the second was a honey and ginger cake which is lovely. The reason I made this one is because it used natural yoghurt and I had some that needed using up, win, win, it’s a River Cottage one and I would definitely make it again. It’s light not heavy, not too much sugar in it so not too sweet.
The only thing I didn’t use was the cloves, not sure I would like that and I know for sure John wouldn’t 😜A foggy, finger nipping start to the week this morning.
Watching Countryfile last night I was pleased to see a section on hedgerows and how important they are to our wildlife. Trees, we know are hugely important but not many people think about hedgerows, these are wildlife corridors and when they were ripped out for the war effort that was a tragedy, a necessary one admittedly but there should have been provision to put them back in at a later date. I listen in polite horror when people talk about ripping them out to get a better view, of what, the next field, the wildlife and the hedgerows beyond? oh the irony of it 😏 Anyway I am glad that this topic has been bought firmly to the fore and hope that many thousands of miles of hedge get planted in the future. Hedges are great windbreaks, they are micro climates for thousands of insects and ideal nesting and roosting places for our native birds. Someone once said to us when we moved here ‘you should take out that row of trees so your view is better’ that’s a row of hazels they were talking about, its a native small tree/hedge that provides food and shelter for a plethora of wildlife, Humans 🙄
Last night we got two lots of the hens in from the paddock and also moved the light Sussex to the outdoor pen so that made feeding a bit easier this morning. We crated up the first lot just as dusk arrived, 19 in that hut, we then crated up the second lot, 10 to a crate, it was heavy pushing the wheelbarrow with two crates so we left one in the field while we took the other. When we got back they had escaped and we had to load them all over again, luckily when they got out they just went back into the hut as it was dark by this time, there was about thirty of that second lot, can’t precisely remember the number but roughly. The light Sussex we rounded up easily and we have 9 of those well 11 actually but the other two live with Ted 🙄 I counted the front lot this morning when I let them out and there are 36 of them, just over 100 in total and we are only getting about 48 eggs a day, some of them are free loading 😂
Fabulous news of an effective vaccine from Oxford University today, very proud to be Oxfordian born and bred, Oxford University Hospitals are our local hospitals and we are incredibly lucky to have world class services provided by them 😀
Looks like we will come out of lockdown into a tiered system again, still no definite idea of what we are allowed to do for Christmas though but all non essential shops and businesses can now open again so at least they will get their Christmas trade. The numbers of infected people are falling and so are the deaths but that’s because we have been in a lockdown, what will happen over the next couple of months is anyone’s guess, still, with a few vaccines looking promising there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Tuesday: An altogether different morning this morning, much milder and the sun was shinning first thing though it has disappeared now. It was shinning beautifully on the hazel tree outside the back door, the leaves were glowing golden 😀
I did the morning rounds, feeding and letting out, collecting the duck eggs, today I have all three shifts to do, morning, evening and putting to bed as John has a job he wants to get finished, normally he is home in time to put them away.
I went into the small tunnel to water the carrot seedlings, I was hoping we would have carrots for Christmas but something keeps eating the tops off 😏 a mouse I suspect, honestly you think it would be a simple enough thing to do but others have different ideas. I am not sure what to do really, I don’t want to trap it but I do want my carrots 🙄
I ordered some roots trainers for the sweet pea but they took ages to arrive so I potted them up, two days later the root trainers came 😜 so I may start off an early batch of eating peas in them and see how that pans out. Again it’s the little critters that are the problem, they love pea and bean seeds and I think there is a mouse in the greenhouse too as the sunflower seeds I spread out to dry also got eaten 😖 I think I will have to trap as at this rate I will end up with nothing.
I haven’t decided what I will do today but I have plenty of choices, it’s mild enough to be outside working, I have left over chicken to use and make into soup or pie or both and I need to go through the presents I have bought and see what else I need to get, that last one can wait for a rainy day I think 🤔
Lyra Silvertounge is not the only one who wants to know about dust! Apologies to anyone who isn’t watching ‘His dark materials’ as you won’t have a clue who that is but I would also like to know where all the bloody dust comes from! I know the wood burner is probably a big culprit and the low winter sun shining in doesn’t help but seriously 😩
In the end I decided to sort the presents and see what I still need to get and then as I figured I hadn’t really done much I ought to go for a walk and get some exercise. I also spent far too long looking for some new lampshades for the living room online 🤪 I made up for it when I got back as I got the dinner sorted for this evening, lit the Rayburn, fed the birds, collected the eggs, sorted them and put them out and then went back out to put the birds to bed once it was dark. My new book by my fav author arrived hot off the press today so I have that to look forward to reading but first I am part way through another one so I need to finish it, that’s what the dark winter nights are for, that hot chocolate 🥰
Wednesday: Is it only Wednesday 😏 the weather is horrible this morning, raining and wet underfoot, I have already had my first soaking of the day even my knees are wet! It probably won’t be the last time I get wet either if it rains all day I have another two lots of rounds to do later but for now at least everything is fed and watered 😀 I have left the front lot of hens in this morning, I will let them out later, I want to see exactly how many eggs they are laying and if any of them are laying elsewhere such as the hedgerows etc. I will have to repeat this for a few days as they can hold onto their eggs if they are not getting to their favourite laying sites.
Meanwhile I have come in and I am having a well deserved coffee now, I took a photo of the hazel tree outside the back door, it’s the same one that was shinning golden yesterday and today looks wet and forlorn. The three photos are Monday, Tuesday and today just goes to show exactly how changeable our weather is here in the UK and justifies our obsession with talking about it don’t you think?
I really should have done outside work yesterday but I didn’t and so now I have missed that opportunity nevertheless I still went round and checked a few things. The carrots that are having the tops nibbled, the oranges which are still ripening and the onions and garlic I planted. I am pleased to say they all have little green shoots, the shallots have multiple shoots and only about five of them came out of the ground, they are now firmly back in place. The cauliflower plants are also being nibbled, urgh the struggle is real, I am still thinking mice as they are under cover and just the nice green leafy bits have been eaten, I need to rescue those otherwise they won’t produce anything at all 😏
I indulged myself with an hour or so of reading this morning but then I thought I really ought to do something.
If we dont have our own chicken in the freezer I buy organic or high welfare chicken direct from other farms. These are expensive compared to the mass produced ones from the supermarket but I prefer to know that what I am eating has had a decent life. We are probably talking at about £12-£15 a bird, what! I hear you cry, but for that reason alone I make sure I get every last bit of use from it that I can. From the roast chicken we had on Monday John has taken chicken sandwiches two days in a row and there is a bit for tomorrow’s sandwich as well. Last night John had chicken casserole and I had cold chicken with baked potato and salad, today I have taken the carcass apart and any spare meat has gone into a pan with leeks and vegetables, stock and thickener and is basically a chicken pie filling although I am going to put mashed potatoes on the top much like a shepherds pie. We will have that tonight for dinner and there is a spare single portion that I will freeze for another day, the carcass is now in the slow cooker along with celery, onion, garlic, bay, parsley and black pepper which will make a tasty chicken stock that I can freeze for another day. It doesn’t end there though as I peeled off all the remaining skin and this will be fed to the dogs later, all that will be left is the bones. So that is seven portions of a decent sized meal, three lots of sandwiches and stock, if you only counted the main meals that works out from a £15 bird at £2.15 per person, very good value indeed I reckon, but you have to work at it 😀
This afternoons jobs were a bit of a clock watch game, I had decided not to light the Rayburn until late because it was fairly mild and didn’t feel cold indoors. The problem came when the first go at lighting it failed, I had primed it with a natural firefighter, kindling and wood and lit it, left it to get going came back and it had gone out 🙄 This then put me under a bit of pressure because by now it is about 4.15 and it’s starting to get dark and I need to go and shut the birds up for the night. The dilemma is do I go out and do the birds and light the fire when I get back in and not use the oven to cook the dinner or do I light the fire, wait for it to get up to temperature but risk the birds getting caught by any fox that might be around 🤷♀️ In the end I decided to light the fire but it didn’t draw very well and took ages to get going. That’s when I end up clock watching and waiting for it to get going, nervous that the darker it gets the more likely it is that something will come along, eventually the flue got up to temp and I was able to shut it down and go out to put everything away for the night, note to self, light the fire earlier next time 😜
It’s been a long couple of days and I will be glad to see the end of this second lockdown. It hasn’t really been a tight lockdown and many people are still going to work, school etc but if you don’t do the school run and don’t go to an external workplace, only go to the shop once a week and don’t see people it’s a very long day and week!
Friday, or is it Thursday? Well this morning I thought it was Friday so I took my Friday concoction of meds, one of which I only have take on a Friday. Any other day I mixed up would not matter but a Friday lot means I can’t sit or stand still for at least an hour after taking it, not that it’s a problem as I have plenty to do 😀
Anyway it definitely is Thursday which I figured out after about an hour 😜 There was a hard frost this morning and even though the sun came out it was still nippy doing the rounds. The goose door I couldn’t even get open to start with as it was frozen to the frame. None of the water taps are working so I will have to do those later, must remember to do them in the afternoon so I don’t have that problem again 🙄
We have a lot of duck eggs at the minute, at one time we were struggling to keep up with demand for them and now that demand has dropped off the cliff edge, typical, over all our egg customers have reduced in number, probably because it’s winter but I suspect that a farm just up the road which is going the way of a farm shop is where some of our custom has gone. I had a think about this and thought ‘Am I bothered?’ and the answer is no not really, I always knew that a farm shop would take off really well here and if I had wanted to do it I would have but I don’t, I am happy tickling along as we are. In the beginning the plan was only ever to be self sufficient, the fact that it increased to egg and veg sales means that I cover the cost of what we are eating and planting which is a bonus and life is not too stressful at that so all in all that will do.
Gosh it was very chilly at 4.30 when I was putting the birds to bed, I reckon it was very near to freezing then so goodness knows what the overnight temps will go down to.
Some seeds I ordered arrived today, I think I have all I need for next year now, I don’t want to get caught out like I was last spring when the virus hit, this time I think it will be more to do with Brexit though so I’m trying to get ahead of the game.
Friday, definitely Friday today: Jeez if I thought it was cold yesterday it’s totally Baltic this morning. I have just come in from doing the morning rounds and my toes need thawing out 🙄 Very glad I did the water yesterday although I still had to break it all this morning. Everything is covered in white and the air is heavy with fog, it is pretty but only if you are inside looking out. I was feeding the horses in the paddock and just goes to show how much warmth they have in their bodies as Jack finished his breakfast he decided on a roll on the frosty ground, his body heat immediately thawed the grass, then he got up and had a bit of a welly round the paddock, lovely sight to see on a morning like this. Biscuit on the other hand was not so keen to move and I had to go across the paddock to take her breakfast, I am wondering how well she can see actually, just a couple of things she does makes me wonder, like not coming for her food, although she could just be stubborn of course, I will monitor more closely.
The new cladding on the front and insulation has done wonders for the indoor temps because normally on a day like today, when the fire goes out overnight, it would feel cold but it is not at all.
First thing this morning we had a delivery of six tonnes of top soil for the raised bed, grossly underestimated that we are going to need at least another six tonne if not eight 🤔
Had blood tests again this morning, hoping the situation has changed a little bit will have to wait and find out on Monday/Tuesday.
Saturday: Had a pig of a morning tidying up and burning the hawthorn cuttings from the hedge at the side. If you have ever handled it you will know the thorns are long and sharp and the branches intertwine, both these things make moving the stuff hazardous. I got a smack on the head from one particularly thick bit, countless scratches on my legs, hands and face, a thwack to the lip drawing blood and as if that wasn’t enough a burning piece of leaf went down my collar, I could smell my hair singe and feel my neck burning simultaneously. I hastily unzipped my coat and threw it on the floor and at that point all I really wanted to do was cry. Said clipping are now all burnt and we can continue to tidy the side up at our leisure 😜
Sunday: It was foggy when I got up, foggy at lunchtime and still foggy at dark, just a foggy dreary day. We did some bits of tidying out side after doing the rounds but it wasn’t at all nice working in the dank weather so we had the afternoon off apart from feeding and shutting away.
There ends another week and at the end of next week at least all the shops will be open again but also it means we will be able to go out for breakfast again one morning 😀 I didn’t realise how much I have missed a holiday until this week, I really could do with someone else doing the cooking, at least when we do finally get away it will seem like a real treat.
Thursday 19th November 2020: It’s a dry day with some sunshine although it’s colder and breezier than it has been lately. I have been waiting everyday for the weather to be nice enough to go outside but the rain was persistent and it’s not much fun in the wet. Today however I got up, got on with the morning tasks, went for a brief walk and then returned with the determination to get some stuff done. I cleaned out the quail and the guinea pigs and then went into the greenhouse to sort out seeds and look over the plants that are still in there. I planted up some sweet pea seeds that I had started off on the kitchen windowsill and then bought all the seeds in to go through later today. I seem to have got a huge amount of them 🙄 and I need to go through them all and may as well do it indoors in the warm. I also picked the tiny loofah, cleared the plant foliage and a bought that in to dry on the windowsill, I think that potentially it will go mouldy if I leave it in the greenhouse.
Teeny tiny loofah, pen for comparison, still I will notch that up as a win 😀
I wasn’t going to blog at all this week, on Monday a friend had a tragic and life altering day and I couldn’t bring myself to write about my trivial daily life but I found that as I was going round doing things I kept thinking ‘I must put that in the blog’ and it is a diary so eventually I found myself today writing it down again.
I have also started the list of wildlife we have here and even writing things from the off the top of my head I realise that we have a lot going on. Today a small flock of long tailed tits arrived, they always appear when the temperatures dip. My aim is to also get photographs but the little birds are far quicker than me or my shutter speed 🙄
Friday: Once upon a time I looked forward to Fridays and the weekend just around the corner, now in lockdown every day is pretty much the same except this time round John is out working and the weather is s**t. This morning we have the grey drizzle again and it’s noticeably colder no wonder people are putting up their Christmas decs early lol. I still won’t be putting mine up until Christmas week though 🙄 John asked if we are having a tree this year 🤷♀️ not sure if it’s worth the bother to be honest, it’s a squeeze to get a tree in here and still be able to see the tv 😂 but I don’t really want to break with tradition, you can’t beat the smell of a real tree indoors lol. I briefly considered an artificial one (hush my mouth) I have never in my entire life had a fake one, not when we were kids and not as a adult with my own home but I did think about it, then quickly dismissed it, it’s a real one or none at all 😀 I am still planning for a family Christmas though we have no idea if that will actually be the case this year. The Christmas cake is done and needs feeding again, my sister made mincemeat and gave me a big jar and I also have a small jar in the store cupboard from last year, I usually make the pudding and we have ‘stir up’ and the kids make wishes but that won’t happen this year and so I bought one from a posh supermarket instead and I indulged and bought some celebrity chef stollen for me as John hates it. We have discussed Christmas dinner it will be a bit sad if it’s ‘dinner for two’ 🙄 I also just ordered myself some Asbach Brandy, traditionally made in Oak barrels it’s my favourite brandy, not that I drink much of it anymore but I figure a treat is in order this year 🥰
Sometimes life changes drastically in less than a minute and other times it’s a long slow process. This morning I went down the Lane to say goodbye to our nieghbours over the road. We are all about a field or two away from each other here but still we are neighbours, they are moving today to retire to a warmer climate and I will miss having them over the road. They have been there long before us but I used to take Samantha there for riding lessons when she was little, they started out living in a caravan in the field and over the years built up a business and a house and now they are retiring, I wish them a long and happy retirement.
Saturday: Still grey and gloomy outside though not raining but it is damp. John did the feed rounds and then went off to collect more feed, he hasn’t had to do that for nearly nine months as we were having it delivered at the same time we had point of lay hens delivered, but we won’t be having any new birds over Winter. The avian flu that I thought would get out of hand appears to be contained and I haven’t heard of any further outbreaks which is good news. We are however still planning to bring the birds in for a couple weeks, mainly so that the ground can be rested and the mobile coops cleaned out properly, we can also keep a good eye on the health of the birds, worm them if necessary, give them a good dust bath area and see exactly how many eggs we are getting 🙄 With that in mind John also went to get bales of sawdust to deep litter them.
After he had done that we set about the job I really wanted to get done today, chop out the floor in the kitchen by the back door so that I can get a mat down for wiping feet on. Up to now the door was too low to be able to put a mat there and open the door, so that mat had to be about three feet inside which as you can imagine is a pain in the proverbial as that always means muddy foot prints up to it. It’s the little things that make the difference and that is one of them though it did take over an hour to chop it all out 😜 The next job was the electrics in the stable, the wet weather keeps knocking it out and we think it is because of one of the plugs though we can’t pinpoint it. By the time the electrician gets here it’s always dried out and working fine but as soon as it rains heavily it goes again. We will need the lights for the darker evenings and so at the minute the light circuit is on but the socket circuit, which we don’t use very often, has been isolated, another little job that helps the day run smoothly🤞
We nipped into town just to get something and grab a costa while we were there. As we arrived there was an ambulance and it appeared that a car had reversed from a parking space and hit a pedestrian, then a police car arrived on blue lights, then another, then another and then another, I am full of support for our boys in blue but seriously that’s over doing it I think 😂
Back home and get the Rayburn lit, get the eggs collected and sorted, it’s getting dark around 4.15/30 and that will be another day done and dusted, time seems to have shot past today.
Sunday: We have been busy little bees today 😀 first all the morning jobs to get done and then to Witney to pick up my new glasses and a few little pressies. Then back home where John got on with putting the metal coping on the front of the building, it’s a 90 degree piece that goes on the roof then down the front to cover the ends of the roofing sheets. They look good, we got them colour coded to match the paintwork 😀 Meanwhile I spent my time burning the paper rubbish which seemed to grow by the day, feed bags and cardboard boxes etc, after that I got two of the stables ready to move the hens to and the outside POL pen which we will put the light Sussex in for a while as their run has no solid roof and the ground is dire after all the rain. In the afternoon Emma arrived with a delivery of her award winning lamb, that will keep us going for a few months along with the beef we had from her last month.
After collecting the eggs and a bite to eat it will be time to shut the hens away and we will move two lots tonight, maybe three we will se how dark and cold it gets 😝
We are heading towards mid winter and the shortest day, after that the nights will draw out slowly again, the wheel keeps on turning and one thing is for sure, Spring is on its way even though it’s a way off yet 😏
Monday 9th November 2020: First thing this morning I have a repeat blood test as my last lot are showing low leucocytes again 😏 That means increased risk of infection so I need to be a bit careful.
Last night I was reading that the house sparrow is on the red list for conservation which surprised me greatly, we have a good flock of them here, around twenty I would say. I need to make sure they have everything they need, food through the winter and housing, I put up new sparrow flats for them when we took the old boxes down but they haven’t been seen in them as yet. What they have been doing is going in the roof where we haven’t put the capping back on (it’s ordered but not arrived yet) and I was complaining that they have pulled out bits of fibreglass which are now on the ground in the front. I think I will look to see where else we can put the old bird boxes until they decided to move into the new ones.
I was quite depressed at the thought that this is only day five of the lockdown, seems longer, and how I was going to pass the time but if this morning is anything to go by I needn’t worry. First the blood test, then Shelley walked over to get eggs so we had a chat over the gate (odd that last week they could all come in and this week they can’t 🙄 but rules is rules) then I thought I will phone Sue and see how she is doing, five minutes in and the straw and hay delivery arrived so I said I would call her back. Went out to sort where it was all going came back in to get the payment and realised I had left my soup on high, luckily it wasn’t burning, called Sue back for the rest of our chat, did some hoovering, sat down for my soup and John popped in between jobs. The time has shot past today and hopefully it will be like that every day.
I was feeling quite anxious and emotional this morning, mainly I think because of these white cells or rather, lack of them. It’s important because they lead to a condition called leucopenia and even when we don’t have a viral pandemic you are advised to wear a mask as you are highly susceptible to bacterial and viral infections as the immune system is not functioning. With the Lupus and the meds you take for it you can swing from a very over aggressive immune system to one that can’t even be bothered 😂 So you can see why it’s a worry, obviously the ideal would be a level system but that never seems to work because too many other factors can intervene. A morning of interaction and I feel more emotionally stable now thank goodness.
I had planned on doing a few things outside but the hours have passed and other things occurred instead, I did water the carrot seedlings, they don’t seem to be growing very fast though and I checked on the oranges which look nearly ready to pick 😀 I hope they are sweet enough and not sharp, that will be very disappointing.
I prepped dinner Nr lit the Rayburn, monitoring the time all the while but John came home early and he did the feed rounds and egg collecting so that was a happy bonus and with the extra time I made a raspberry pudding for dessert 😀
Shelley decided that through hers and Martin’s businesses they would like to spread a little cheer and have donated selection boxes, people can nominate someone they think could do with a little cheer either because they are alone, have lost their job or are struggling for some reason or other. The gift is in the giving and so we have donated from both the farm and the plumbing business as well and she is getting offers from lots of people to also donate, it’s amazing and so many people need to know that others are thinking about them at this difficult time and that although we are all socially distanced they are not on their own.
Helping people out gives you much more pleasure than you can imagine and is good for the soul and at time brings unexpected returns, some of my favourite memories are from people giving me things because I had helped them out. I have told these before but I love them so here they are again, one was when a chap stopped to get duck eggs when we first started out, duck eggs are difficult to find and so he was delighted but he didn’t have enough money. No problem just drop it in next time you are passing and we are talking about 40p or something like that. About 8 weeks later he arrived with his 40p and a trailer full of hay bales, would you like these he asked me, how much I said, for free he replied, I was flabbergasted, amazed, delighted 😁 The other times are also to do with eggs, people often want eggs for hatching but they don’t need many, one lot was for a Duke of Edinburgh award and some other lots were for children to hatch at childcare facilities, for activities like these I give them for free as they are learning opportunities which I am all for 😀 Never expecting anything in return I was humbled when I received chocolates/cards/flowers thanking me. They were such small giving moments but they grow of their own accord, the excitement and the chance to encounter nature doing what it does best and then the learning activities around it and finally the knowledge they gain from the experience, it’s all priceless and very rewarding. So you see a small gesture of kindness naturally grows into bigger things for everyone involved 😀
News just released of a real potential vaccine which gives us hope for the future, 90% effective apparently, obviously they will proceed with caution but it’s a chink of light on the horizon.
Tuesday: It’s lunchtime and it is lovely and sunny and quite mild out there, it wasn’t first thing mind you, the minute I put my coat on to go out it started raining but it soon cleared up. This morning I have spent a large part of the time rearranging electric fencing for the horses, during spring and summer we have an area fenced off for biscuit that she periodically goes into to prevent laminitis and that has worked well this year. Now we don’t need it for her but we need it for Jack, basically to keep him off the yard, as the grass gets more sparse he starts looking further afield which means he breaks out, plus I want to fence off the big side paddock so the hens don’t end up living in a bog. Horses feet churn up the wet ground and basically trash it and it quickly becomes a big muddy puddle, the ground recovers in Spring but it’s good to have some grass for the hens. I took all the fencing down from one area and then put it all up where I need it now, I connected everything up closely watched by Jack who was like my shadow the whole time, I went in to plug into the mains and when I came out he had got two of the slip rails down in that short time 🙄 I put them back up and then turned on the fence energiser, click, click, the minute Jack heard that noise he knew the game was over and he turned and wandered away. Up to that point he was probably thinking wayhay I can escape but the horses are very familiar with electric fencing and once they hear that noise they know there is no use hanging around anymore.
After that and a quick coffee I went into the greenhouse, might as well make good use of a nice day. I spent my time cleaning up the tubers I dug the other day, the dahlias still need to dry off a bit more and I brushed off the dirt from the yacon and Oca. Some off them will come indoors to be used in cooking and some will dry off and I will store them to plant next year. I have hedged my bet four ways with the yacon as I don’t know much about them, first I have put one lot in the ground and will see how they get on through winter, the next I have potted up and that will stay in the greenhouse, the third lot are smaller tubers that I will dry and store and the last lot are the plant roots that I will also dry and store, hopefully out of that lot one or more will be successful. I picked some of the runner beans that are now ready to store, the pod goes brown and papery on the vine, pick them, get the seeds out and dry before storing overwinter somewhere dry. I have dwarf French beans doing the same, and little piles of other seeds drying on the side waiting to be stored in the dry. I usually bring the seeds inside and keep them in the spare room in the dark, it gets too damp anywhere outside and I find that works well. I then did a couple of hardwood cuttings of my fig tree hoping to get a few new plants for next spring.
Collecting seed is a great way to get free plants next spring, it is also an important part of self reliance and sufficiency. We saw shortages of available seed and plants this year, propagating by various means can absorb the shock in times like these and help keep you producing vegetables and flowers 🌸
Wednesday: John knocked on the bedroom window from outside, get a look a the sunrise he said, Wow, it was fiery and orange and usually thats what the sunset looks like but this was first thing in the morning, breathtaking.
An unusual sunrise this morning more in keeping with a sunset.
I got up and dressed and on with the day, various jobs to do, clean the boot room and the back toilet, sort out dinner for this evening, nothing very exciting on the to do list today. Shelley walked over and we stood and had a chat over the gate but apart from that and a hardware delivery nothing much eventful happened. I did decided to make a Slimming World Diet Coke chocolate cake, one word, don’t 😝 It went in the bin it was that bad, I think I would rather have a normal one and eat less of it 😂 It got me thinking about healthy bakes and trying to find recipes that look vaguely like they would taste good but they are all full of weird ingredients. I think the closest I find to a good recipe are probably diabetic recipes, at least the substitutions are usually honey or maple syrup not some reconstituted husk of a hitherto unheard of vegetable or grain 😏
John called, he will be later than normal can I put the birds to bed, looks like I will have to. I hate the early dark evenings when he comes home after dark and then goes to work before the light, it feels like you have no one to share the daylight hours with.
We have worrying confirmation of six different cases of Avian Flu in the country, more worryingly is that they are fairly spread out in different counties all around the UK, many more cases and there will be a lockdown for poultry as well as us 🙄
We went food shopping tonight, I just needed a few things but seemed to end up with a lot of things. When I was packing it away I began to wonder if I was subconsciously stocking up, genuinely not doing it on purpose but I have definitely more than three tins of baked beans in the cupboard 😂
Our egg customers have gone awol again, really weird how it goes through phases, each day this week we have had hardly any customers, other days we are inundated with them, one week we can hardly keep up with duck egg sales and this week they are stacking up in the shed 🤷♀️
Thursday: Do you ever think that when things start to go wrong they go wronger and wronger 😏 This morning started off ok as far as the smallholding goes, jobs done, things sorted and all that. I need to get my prescription picked up and the plan was I would call the pharmacy to make sure it was ready then call John and have him collect it later, first fly in the ointment is that John has left his phone here 🤷♀️ so that plan goes out the window, luckily I call Shelley and she is in town and collects it for me, I will get John to collect from her later tonight (I need it for the morning). Second is the doctor calls re the blood results but only has half of them in will call again later when they have them, fine I go to the loo and the phone rings again, damn it, luckily they then tried the house phone and having finished my function I was able to answer. Terribly sorry but there has been a mix up at the lab and we will need to redo the full blood count, ffs, I am going to have an arm like a drug addict at this rate, your thinking that I could change the arm, nope the other arm doesn’t appear to have a vein that can be tapped 😂 so I now have to get over first thing in the morning for another blood test. On top of those life misdemeanours we have the more worrying aspect of the Avian Flu to sort out, it is now a legal obligation to make sure our biosecurity is in order. For the hens that means that we need to feed inside (which we do anyway because of the crows) and we will also need to keep their water inside away from wild birds. The ducks will also have to be fed inside but their water is a problem, ducks and water go together like bread and butter so more difficult to implement that, they need constant water to keep their nostrils clean after dabbling in the undergrowth. That is stage one, along with foot baths for anyone coming into the farm but that is not an issue at the minute is it 😜 The next is that I will have to stop feeding the wild birds, this is the saddest bit for me but the idea is to not encourage them to be anywhere near the flock as they will be the carriers/transmitters of the disease. We then need to make plans in case a full lockdown is required which given the spread of it is highly likely this year. That means all birds will be shut in for the foreseeable future, if they have an outdoor run it needs to be netted so that wild birds cannot get in. We have the POL run which is suitably netted after the last outbreak a few years ago, but the rest will be in the stables, luckily we have them spare, not ideal but at least they will have room. I remember last time we tried to tarp the orchard run, gee, we had the wettest, muddiest winter and it was soul destroying stuff but the stable block is dry and has windows so at least they can see outside 😜 Keep chickens they said, it will be fun they said 😏 Apart from all that, the sun is shinning and it’s not a bad day so I will take the good along with the bad today. Sometimes life seems like a scrabble, it’s like scrabbling up the rock face until you get to a level plateau again 🤦♀️
Went for a stroll round the village with Mum at lunchtime which was very nice, the sun was shinning and it wasn’t too cold, saw a couple of people to say hello to which lifts the spirits 😀
John came home early and spent a couple of hours cleaning and tidying out his van 🤷♀️ still it was nice to know someone else was around.
Friday: Another sunny and not too cold start to the day although it rained heavily during the night. Got a few bits done then off to get yet another blood test done 😜 hopefully this one will come back all in one piece and I can move forward in whatever direction I need to go.
I heard a couple of very strange wildlife stories this week, the first was of a fox taking a small dog somewhere near where Mum lives, this was witnessed by a gentleman although it seems they don’t know who’s dog it was. The second was the discovery of a dead otter, what is curious about that is that to my knowledge we don’t have otters around here, not for miles as far as I know. I have seen the photo and agree that it does not look like and English otter, it’s a mystery as to how it got there and why it died but it has been called in to wildlife experts and a university is taking it to do a post mortem to find out more if they can.
I have decided that I will keep feeding the wild birds but I will be moving the feeders to an area that is about as far from the hens as I can get it, it’s likely that the poultry industry will go into lockdown if reports of confirmed cases keep coming in anyway and once they are shut away there will be little risk of contamination. Worrying times with two major viruses in the country, if the two collide 😳 (and that could happen) we would be up shit creek without a paddle!
Saturday: The weather started off ok and then took a complete dive until it was vile out there. John was busy digging out the rest of the raised bed area on the tractor until it began to rain so heavily he had to stop, there is no cab so he was getting pretty wet. I went out and put new bedding in the geese, duck and light Sussex housing and then put up the hooks for the bird feeders and moved them well out of the way, hopefully the birds will soon find them. I also put up the remaining old nest boxes give them somewhere to roost over winter. I then spent two hours looking for something I knew we had but I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s a leather stamping kit, so basically letters on the end of metal sticks in a box, you hit the stamp and it punches it into leather, marking it with a postcode or name. I wanted it to make some Christmas decorations but I can’t find it anywhere and I had pulled out boxes, opened drawers, looked inside everything, nope nowhere to be seen. I have ordered a new set but you can bet your bottom dollar it will now appear.
We came in for lunch and lit the Rayburn, drank tea and watched the news, hopefully the weather will clear a little and we can carry on outside. 😏
It didn’t clear up much but John went out to do what he could anyway, me I stayed in to stoke the Rayburn 😜
I spent an evening do a bit of Christmas craft, I sometimes wish I was more artistic as there are so many things I would like to have a go at. In my minds eye I see what I want but the reality is nothing like it, I still remember my art o level piece, I knew exactly how I wanted it to look right from the beginning but it was a big fat fail lol. Nevertheless I still have a go at a few things when the moment takes me, tonight it was gift tags, I have a large amount of buttons which were in Johns Mum sewing stuff, I doubt I will be sewing buttons on anything any time soon so I made gift tags instead 😀
Sunday: It was vile weather overnight and vile this morning but eventually the rain moved on and the sun even came out at times though it’s a tad cold at around 8 degrees. John did the morning rounds and then attempted inbetween rain showers to carry on with the raised bed, he almost abandoned it altogether when a stiff breeze came along and blew the rain along. Meanwhile I have been doing the usual morning jobs, a bit of washing and sorting dinner for later, I did pop out to feed the guineas and have a look in the polytunnels and then back in to get the Rayburn lit. No point me trying to help John as he is levelling and squaring p, not my strong point and I would probably be more of a hindrance than help on this job. So I supply the cups of tea, a sandwich, make sure there is hot water and a hearty supper for later on 😀 Slow roasted lamb shank today 🥰
Just sitting having a cuppa and have been watching a short video on biodiversity on the smallholding (or it could even be related to a garden/allotment) It became obvious that I have been doing everything that was suggested and this talk was given by someone who gets paid to advise large farms and parks with their biodiversity projects so I am quite chuffed that I am on point with my plans to increase wildlife in all forms. The only thing I haven’t ever done is record it either by writing it down or logging it with various surveys. I will start a log I think, I can recall right back to the beginning when we first came that even though we are surrounded by countryside, there was not much going on here, mostly due to routine spraying I suspect. I have seen a big increase in wildlife especially over the last four or five years and each year I am surprised by more arrivals, like the bees in the hollow this year which incidentally are still going in and out, and the snake, it’s a great feeling to be able to make a difference however small.
Quick update on the kittens, both are doing well, exploring further and further outside but they can often be found curled up on a cushion in the boot room. They get on well will the dogs, by that I mean they tolerate them and are not afraid of them, the dogs don’t take much notice of them unless they go to close to a food bowl with biscuits in or if they make a sudden playful dash, on the whole though it’s lovely to see them all sleeping in the same room together proving that cats and dogs don’t always fight 😀
I went outside about 2pm and helped John, we now have the raised bed finished (except the top soil) and the ground all levelled back out again. Only thing was with the shovelling and raking I have twinged my lower back 😕 Today I did the afternoon feed round and egg collection while John got the tractor round to finished moving and levelling the driveway. We have got a way to go yet, topsoil needs delivering and then we need to build the last bed which is much smaller, then a layer of clean gravel needs to go down, some cutting back of the hazel trees (the planting up will have to wait till spring) then there is the side driveway to start on 😂 always another job on the horizon 😜
Have a good week and stay safe, keep your chin up and keep smiling, we will get through this eventually (the winter & covid) 😃
Monday 2nd November 2020: Morning 😀 It was very windy overnight and still some pretty hefty gusts first thing this morning, we are supposed to get drier weather from Wednesday I will look forward to that. This is the week that we potentially go into another semi lockdown, I say potentially as it still has to go through parliament and who knows what could happen there 🙄 I am pretty chipper about it all because, well there is not much choice really is there, do or die, hopefully not that dramatic but you get my drift! I am also feeling pretty smug because I have all but finished my Christmas shopping (hush my mouth 🤭) normally I would not have even thought about it yet, I usually start mid/end of November but this year I started early, mostly because I did not want to be shopping with thousands of others during a pandemic, I’m glad I made that decision now. I have a feeling this lockdown may last longer than expected, food is not an issue I can rustle up Christmas dinner for two easily enough 😜
Today is kids tea at Nanas but it will be the last one for a while sadly, I have made the jelly already and will get the cake on the go shortly. John did the birds this morning and I just need to do the other animals, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, horses, quail, then a bit of cleaning probably, I am waiting for this dry weather to arrive before I do much outside.
Small businesses are busy cramming their last few appointments and opening hours in as much as they can. I just managed to get a hair appointment for a trim otherwise I can see I will resort to doing my own fringe which never works out well 😜 I feel sorry for these businesses, shut, open with caution and conditions, shut again but I also feel it’s necessary for the NHS. Nobody working on the front line wants to be in a position that they have to choose who lives and who dies, that is potentially what would happen if the cases needing to be admitted outstrip capacity, that’s what we all need to remember 🤔 And it’s not just the elderly and vulnerable that are severely affected, I have heard of youngish, fit people that are suffering long after they had the virus, still struggling to walk any great distance, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone so for those reasons I am for the lockdown not against it. The economy will suffer, yep, but life is about more than the economy, though we have interwoven it so tightly that it doesn’t seem like there is anything else. Perhaps I can say that because it won’t affect me much apart from the inevitable tax, vat and price rises, but that’s because of the lifestyle I have chosen I think, self sufficiency is about more than growing your own food it’s about being able to manage and weather the storm when the shit hits the fan as it has this year. I have been saying for a few years now that an economy bust will come, I didn’t expect it to be disease but it was booming, more disposable income than ever before and some quite frankly astonishing pay packets at the higher end of earning, reality tv ‘celebrities’ that have no talents, ordinary people emanating these wannabes who’s highlight of the week is to go out and get hammered 🤷♀️ the climate in desperate need of attention but nobody cares enough to change their habits for the better, if you really looked at each individual cog from an outside perspective you would see how depraved it was all getting and eventually it collapses. Greater civilisations than ours have fallen before, everything has a cycle, we are in the throes of the decline of ours in more ways than one, that’s what I think anyway 🤔 I don’t think that ever before have our hopes for a better future been pinned on the youngest generation like they are now, I hope they are a generation that sees things for what they are and not the dressed up gloss that has infiltrated every aspect of life, every photo is filtered, every news report is one sided, false news, false body bits, false…. oh, I am thinking too much, I will depress myself in a minute 😝
The kids came for tea one last time before the lockdown, that’s the saddest part for me not being able to see them whenever I want or they want but hopefully it will only be for a few weeks, I hope it dose t go on any longer than that.
Tuesday: It is noticeably colder this morning, yesterday it was 20c indoors so I didn’t even light the Rayburn until after 5pm, overnight the rain was at times heavy, it woke me at least once and then this morning Sunshine but colder, hopefully it will be drier as well, I’m getting fed up with the rain even though it’s only been on and off it’s still annoying.
I need to think about what I will be doing during the lockdown, life won’t change much except that I will be by myself most of the time so I need projects to occupy me. I guess there is always reading and Netflix box sets to catch up on, that’s what winter is for isn’t it, I may have to look for some good books to read and order them in, any suggestions? I generally browse the prize lists and see what catches my attention. My fav author, Phillipa Gregory has a release soon which I already have on order so I look forward to that, trouble is I can read her books in a couple of days. I love her style of writing and after going to one of her talks last year I got to understand her passion for the hidden women in history and why she likes to tell their stories.
I’m not sure where the hours went yesterday but I seemed to have used them all up lol, haircut, deliveries, FaceTime, feeding rounds, dinner, household chores, rayburn lighting and a bit of reading.
Wednesday: It was a good frost this morning, let’s hope it’s the first of many for winter, we only had a handful if that last year which is not good. Pests and disease are killed off by the cold snaps and last year that didn’t happen, it’s also good for the soil to have that freeze thaw action on the particles.
I was up before the alarm went off and I turned on the TV straight away, along with a large part of the world, I want to see what is happening in the US elections 🙄
I have to admit I have been doing only two things today really, one, turning the tv on periodically to see the updates in the US and two, reading 😜 I have done a few others things in between but mainly those two. About the reading, I have to confess it’s my addiction, once I pick up a book, one that I engage with, I can’t put it down unless I absolutely have to. It’s why I don’t constantly have a book on the go because I don’t like to be interrupted while I’m reading it 😂 and that includes day to day life 🙄 I am the same with a film, I could never be one of those people who can watch a bit of a film and not the rest 🤷♀️ I always want to know how the story is panning out and how it finishes.
I finished the book, a good story, The Binding by Bridget Collins, worth a read if you like a bit of escapism and a little bit of magic and mystery in the mix. The next book I have in my sights is called The New Wilderness, it’s on the Booker shortlist so should be a goodie and it’s climate change, survival, dystopia story so right up my street 😀
Thursday: 2nd Lockdown, day 1 😜 I have been a very busy bee this morning, the weather is lovely and so into the garden I go to get some good work done. First the plants that have been affected by that hard frost we had, the yacon can be dug up after the first frost, the foliage on all these plants go black and limp very quickly. I have never grown them before so wasn’t sure what to expect but there were tubers, not masses but enough. Yacon are very good for you they are prebiotic and full of antioxidant, they are sweet but fructose has no calories so great for diabetics, they can be eaten raw or cooked and apparently make a great syrup but you need a lot of them. I have dug up the whole plant and will put the root somewhere dry over winter and hopefully get them going again next year. The smaller tubers need drying off and only washing just as you use them or they will get mouldy. The next veg to harvest were the Oca, similar in that it’s the tubers you eat, little cream coloured knobbly nuggets, also left to dry off before storing for later use. After that I went on to clear and clean the asparagus bed and the rhubarb, these are the first two harvests to begin appearing next spring so getting those done first is a good idea. I have used one of those darlek type compost bins to ‘force’ one of the rhubarb plants, I will get early, sweeter stalks, at least that’s the plan. The bed still needs to have manure put on there but apart from that it’s done, I did dig up the artichoke plants as they get huge, nobody really wants to fiddle about prepping them so I decided they could go though I did replant one elsewhere out of the way. Then it was the turn of the dahlias to be lifted, again they collapse in the frost and so lifting them over winter means I will still have some next year. After that the herb patch, cutting back, weeding, tidying plants up. By then my back was aching a bit and so I did some more gentle jobs, putting stuff away for the winter and finally pulling a few beetroot which are still growing really well. The temptation is to keep going as there is plenty to do but I know if I do that I won’t be any good for tomorrow so I came in for lunch and a sit down before starting on the afternoon shift.
Yacon & Oca
The rest of the day was spent prepping dinner for cooking later, lighting the Rayburn, feeding the birds, collecting the eggs, feeding cats and dogs, putting clean sheets on the bed, doesn’t sound like much but surprising how many hours it all takes 😀 Once the night draws in and the curtains are closed it’s back to some reading or tv, except that, damn it’s Thursday 9pm and I have forgotten the dustbin AGAIN, well done for volunteering John 😘
Friday: We are still awaiting the results of the presidential election in the US, I have never been interested before, not ever, but with this one I find myself waking early to see if there is a result every morning. They are not my politics but I know who I would be voting for in the circumstances.
It’s cold this morning though the sun is shinning so it should warm up a tad 🙄 I should be getting on with stuff but I have the TV on waiting to see what happens next 😂 Beats corona virus and Brexit chatter anyway!
I lit the Rayburn late morning because I don’t think it’s going to warm up very much before it starts to get cold again. I picked up the wood basket and went to open the door out to the boot room and the door fell off! Well not quite all the way off but the top hinge had come away from the frame. The door had been sticking and Martin had a look last time he was here and said you need some more screws in the hinge, it’s not something you really look at regularly is it. I couldn’t find any sign of screws that had come out and I’m wondering exactly how many were in there, I do have a nick name for John when he puts hinges on anything ‘Johnny two screws’ I’m pretty sure there are four holes for a reason but he only ever uses two, well they had both failed 🤷♀️ Luckily I have my own cordless screwdriver and can manage the repair on my own, I wedged the door up so that the hinge was in place and I used three screws 😜 that’s because I couldn’t find a forth, but at least the door can be opened and closed again now and as a bonus it no longer sticks 😂
We appear to have some kind of turf war going on in the skies above us here, for about an hour we have had a pair of Red Kite and a pair of Buzzards screeching overhead with some crows joining in occasionally. It’s quite fascinating as I have not seen this behaviour here before. They don’t usually roost or live here but maybe they are looking for new homes 🤷♀️ if I work out what is happening I will let you know.
Just look how glorious that sky is today 🥰
I bought myself a lockdown cup 😂 it’s wonky and perfectly reflects life as it is at the moment. There are not many pleasures to be had at the minute but I am enjoying drinking my tea from this 🥰
A new wonky cup for wonky times 😜
The horses are getting hungry now as the grass they have eaten off all summer is no longer growing like it was, time to order in hay. They have the free range of all the paddocks during the summer, the chickens are also out on the paddocks with electric fencing and this is not a problem until the grazing gets less and then the horses try to break into the chicken runs. Biscuit has now got caught up three times in the fence, luckily she just stands there until she is rescued but it’s definitely time for hay and putting electric up so they can’t get into that particular paddock.
Every day at 3pm it’s egg collecting time and the hens get fed as well, but I was thinking on the way round this is a silly system. The reason we do that is to put the eggs out at 4pm so everyone knows when they go out and have a chance to get them if they want some. To start with, as I am always telling John, the hens should be fed an hour before dusk especially in the Winter because the grain is to keep them warm overnight. It’s not so important in the summer but you can’t collect the eggs without being mobbed by the hens which is why they get fed. I am going to make an executive decision and change the system this will allow me to keep on working in the spring, summer and autumn months without having to stop what I am doing to go and do something else which is a real bugbear for me. It also will mean that there is no pressure to get the eggs sorted and into the shed for an allotted time because life does not always go to plan and sometimes the turnaround it tight which is stressful, yep I am going to tell john that is what is going to happen in the New Year 😝
I found out why the door fell off, I found a sheared off head of a screw on the floor, doesn’t explain where any others went to but maybe they came off previously, a bit weird but that’s the kind of thing that happens at ‘the funny Farm’ Another weird thing is flies again, they are infesting the boot room, it started yesterday when there were about twenty of them. I hoovered them up as they are drowsy at this time of year, I hoovered four more times yesterday and then twice already today. I have no idea where they are coming from but I have told John that I want every crack and crevice sealed to stop it happening again. They must be in the wall and when it warms up a bit they crawl out, probably something dead in there though I can’t smell anything.
Saturday: Wow what a day, we have been busy outside from first thing this morning only stopping quickly for a speedy lunch of homemade chicken soup. We have been very busy sorting out the front area, building part of the new raised bed that will go under the windows, moving the remaining topsoil and the leftover ballast. Doesn’t sound like much but it has taken us all day to get stuff tidied and built and swept and chipped, dotted with cups of tea, feeding the hens, collecting the eggs. I will eventually get pictures to show you but I want to wait until it’s all done and we have quite a way to go yet so don’t be expecting them anytime soon. My back is aching from digging, shovelling and even a stint on the pick axe. We had a fish and chip supper followed by a chocolate bar to round the day off, it will probably be an early night as we are both pooped.
I didn’t even come in to find out how the election results were going but it seems they didn’t come in until just before we finished anyway, at least there is now confirmation even if it is going to be contested 🙄 What on Earth will be talk about now 😂
Sunday: The usual jobs to get done this morning before going to town to try for a second week in a row to get my eye test. The town was noticeably quieter now the lockdown has commenced. Success this time though it was a mighty thump to the bank balance 🙄 new glasses, varifocal and light reactive this time, also a new 3D scan of the eyeball which showed that they are in excellent condition, thank goodness for that 😀 Back home in time for lunch and by now the drizzle had started so we haven’t bothered doing any work outside, opting for Netflix instead 😂
Apart from the usual afternoon jobs that will be it for us today as far as the smallholding is concerned so that just leaves me to wish you a good week, stay safe and look after your mental health, I think that is going to be very important with a Winter lockdown, practice some good Hygge (pronounced hoo gah) 🥰
Monday 26th October 2020: Having been somewhat absent from the outside last week I thought I had better do a few bits today. But first there was a cake to cook and jelly to make for the VIPs, chocolate cake today as requested by Josh and strawberry jelly this week. I got some dusting and hoovering done while I was waiting for the cake to cook, put some washing in and got a beef stew on the go for our dinner tonight. I was intending them to go out but first I had to do a couple of invoices and I have reverted to the laptop for those as other methods seem to be failing 🙄 Finally it was time to get out and do those things that had been on my mind, filling the bird feeders for the garden birds was the first job. I stop feeding them in late spring but I want them to stay around and so begin to feed them again now that food is more scarce. This year I have positioned them so that I can get good photographs of them feeding, they were behind the oak tree before and I could never get a good angle without going out and frightening them off. It started raining just as I went out and I figured someone must have been watching and said ‘she is out turn the tap on’ 😜 but it soon passed. Then I had a look and picked and what produce is still left growing, a lonely courgette, a few indigo rose tomatoes, some raspberries, the brassica cage has enormous plants in there and I think they are sprouting broccoli so they won’t be ready until next year, one plant is about six foot tall! There are still lettuce and salad greens growing as well as radicchio, the oranges are almost ready to pick I think and the (one) loofah is still going strong. I fed the blueberry plants some sulphate of iron and replenished the top of the pots with fresh ericaceous compost, that will hopefully make them good and strong next year and produce plenty of blueberries. Then it was onto seed collecting and I gathered, cornflower, marigold, red flax, poppies, geum, bronze amaranth, love in a mist, nepeta, chick peas, achillea and sunflower seeds, bagged them and labeled them because I will have no idea what they are by next spring if I just leave them 😂 There are plenty of other jobs I want to get done but I don’t have time today, now the clocks have change it will be a short afternoon. Time to come in for some lunch and wash up the baking things before the little guests arrive.
Tuesday: Raining 🙄 That means only one thing, paperwork 😂 and I’m pleased to say I have finished and it’s all up together and ready to go to the accountants 😃 I worked on it until 12.45, I had literally just finished and packed everything away when Shelley messaged saying she was taking the kids to the garden centre for cake and would I like to go, yes indeed, I think I’ve have earned it. By the time we got there the kids had fallen asleep in the car and it was hammering down so we sat there for ten minutes before deciding to wake them and make a dash for it.
Back home in time to quickly light the Rayburn and then go and feed the hens and collect the eggs before putting them out into the shed. John came home in time to shut the birds away which is now about 5pm. We had dinner, went to get a bit of shopping and popped in to see Mum and Ken for a cuppa. And that’s another day done, but a good one because I can now think clearly about anything else I have to do rather than having the paperwork at the back of my mind all the time 😌
Wednesday: Time goes by so slowly….🎶 that’s what I have been thinking ever since the clocks went back, time seems to be slower. It’s 9.15am and I have already done all the morning jobs, got a batch of leek and potato soup well on the way and done some of this years accounts. I swear I look at the clock, go and do what seems like a hundred things and then look again and only five minutes have passed 😂 John was up before the alarm went off this morning, had his breakfast and then did the animals, he got caught in the biggest downpour 😣 I have Josh and Flo this morning while Shelley has to work so just having a quick coffee before they arrive, she will be back at lunchtime and then we will go for a walk I think providing it’s not pouring down again.
Walk cancelled, biggest downpour/hailstorm and thunderstorm ever 😂 stay in the warm and watch a film seemed like a much better option. Luckily I managed to dodge the rain showers when I was feeding the hens and collecting the eggs. Not got much done in the way of outside work today, but I had a couple of deliveries of more bird seed and fat balls and seem to have way over ordered, I might put them out for sale in the shed.
Thursday: Finally got my backside into gear to get a bit done. This morning after the usual chores a shower and some meditation I went outside, I cleaned out the guineas and both light Sussex houses. I picked all the remaining green tomatoes and bought in the pumpkin for carving. I carved the pumpkin first and I know I should have made something with the inside but I’m not a pumpkin lover and the flesh is hard to get out when you want it left whole. Faced carved, not scary cos it will frighten the babies, we have some extraordinary pumpkin carvers in the family but I’m not one of them so it’s basic 😜 Next job was the green tomato chutney, I have used the indigo rose toms, it produce loads of fruit but it was late and about 2/3rds of them haven’t ripened and it’s too late now. Out came the cauldron 😀 and in went the ingredients, green tomatoes obviously, cooking apples, red onions, malt vinegar, dark brown sugar and a spice bag with ginger, peppercorns, and chilli in. You can put whatever spices you fancy, cardamom, coriander, all spice, star anise (which I often use) but this time I chose cumin, for a warming taste, to go along with the other flavours, fingers crossed it will be good. You can’t really go wrong with a chutney it just depends on what you put in if it turns out to be a good one or a great one. Chutney has its origins in India but the British love a good chutney, its basically a mix of fruit, spices, sugar and vinegar in whatever blend you like, it’s great for using up gluts and stores well and of course goes brilliantly with cheese and is nearly always ready in time for Christmas. I have a chief taster for the chutney in Macca, he loves it, it is a paradox though (I think I can safely use that word here) because he doesn’t like cheese 🤷♀️
Chutney making process
You may have noticed that I have already used the C word 🎄 and it’s only October, normally I won’t even entertain it until December BUT we have had a tough year this year and although I won’t be going as far as to put up my decorations this early I concede that we need something to keep us cheery at the moment and so I have relented and I’m going with the flow. That reminds me I must get the cake out and give it a drink of brandy 😜
Halloween is not going to be quite the same this year but we can still make it an occasion at home, get a pic n mix bowl and watch a scary movie 👻 The grandchildren are coming over in the day time and we will be dressing up, apple bobbing and eating doughnuts from a string and of course there will be sweet treats 🎃
Oxford has just moved up a tier 😏 as an outlying shire we are still on tier one but with the cases rising rapidly I don’t think it will be long before we are joining them in further restrictions. The second wave, as widely predicted, is bigger than the initial outbreak but I’m guessing they have more knowledge of how to treat it successfully in most cases now, I hope so anyway. France and Germany have gone into lockdown measures and both countries admit it is out of control, as I keep saying luckily it’s not airborne or that could have been the end of life as we know it, I think the world is finally realising how fragile our existence on this planet really is 🙄
I hate Thursday evenings, I don’t hate it until I have done the dinner, fed the cats and the dogs, got the logs in for the fire and sat down to enjoy the evening, then I hate it because I have usually forgotten to put the bins out 😣 just like this Thursday evening which means having to go out in the dark and the cold to do it. It’s not just a quick nip down a very short path to the kerbside here, it’s not a trek in the Antarctic either but still it’s a chore and a bore if I have forgotten, I’ll see if I can persuade John to do it 😝 (He did bless him)
Had a bit of a Covid scare when the elderly lady next door to Mum went into hospital and tested positive for Covid, Mum had been round there in the week as she had a fall and help was needed to get her up. As soon as she heard she booked a test because, being half term, she had seen quite a few of the family, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and she did have a bit of a cold, luckily the test came back negative 😀
Friday: Not a bad day, a bit spitty and overcast but feels very mild. I did the usual morning tasks and then had blood tests followed by a cheeky visit to costa with Shelley, Josh and Flo. Back home to get some bits done though I haven’t decided what yet 😀
We used to have Sunday roasts with all the girls and partners but since the grandchildren numbers have expanded its difficult to get them all in at the same time so I have decided to do them separately, (and we now have the rule of six of course) it’s a shame as there is nothing better than a full family dinner but there just isn’t room. That’s one of my biggest regrets about moving and not building something big enough but we never gave the expansion of the family a thought really. Hopefully we can get a few in before a lockdown which I think is inevitable 🙄
I spent a bit of time in the greenhouse potting up some allium bulbs that I had been given a couple of months ago. I have not decided where to put them so pot them up until spring and then decide, mind you there are lots of pots so I may sell some of them. I bought the saffron crocus in from outside, I always miss them flowering as they flower late autumn and in my head it should be spring 🙄 I have never managed to harvest saffron from them yet, maybe this year I will get some (if I remember to look 😝) they go over pretty quickly as far as I can tell. The lonely loofah is still doing ok, I’m not sure when to harvest it but I don’t think it’s ready yet, the trouble is that we are getting to the time of the year when things can develop mould when they are under cover so I need to keep a close eye on it over the next few weeks. At the moment there is not much in the greenhouse, I’m mostly overwintering seedlings and cuttings I took back in the summer, drying out seeds ready to bag up and of course the torts are sleeping in a hut in there. The door is open so they can get out if they choose to, Voldy came out one day last week but didn’t eat or drink and I haven’t seen Billy since he went in lol.
Saffron crocus, might get a few strands this year maybe 🤷♀️
Now is a good time to take hardwood cuttings and although I am not too good at it I wanted to give a couple of things a go to see if I could increase my plants. Blueberry, cos you can never have too many blueberry bushes, mulberry and olive, it might be a bit late for the olive but nothing ventured nothing gained eh. By now the rain is a bit heavier and it’s not much fun getting a soaking if you don’t need to, there are plenty of times when I have to go out in the rain but choosing to do it is just silly 😜
Hardwood cuttings of blueberry, mulberry and olive
Saturday: It’s 9.45 and it’s turned filthy out there, first thing it wasn’t too bad a bit of fine drizzle but now the rain is heavier and it’s blowy. John did half the rounds this morning and I did the other half, this meant he could then get on with finalising the pathway ready to concrete and even though it’s ready we won’t be doing it in this 🙄 we will wait until it passes over which should be this afternoon. It will be all hands to the deck on the mixer and the wheelbarrow then. Meanwhile I have been doing the usual things, putting washing on, feeding the cats and dogs, washing up, putting the rubbish out , then outside to do the other half of the feed rounds and move the chicken fencing so the horses can eat off the grass that has grown, I also gave them a bit of hay to keep them warm today. They have a shelter, two actually but rarely use them, they are pretty hardy, they don’t come in very often, only in the very worst of the weather. There won’t be many fireworks this year but even then we don’t bring them in, my thinking is that they are better out there where they can see what’s going on than inside where they can only hear frightening noises and have no idea what’s going on, they are fine and they don’t panic because they are used to it.
I did start to bring in the plants that will not survive a harsh winter, dahlias mostly but also some creeping thyme which will do better inside and I think I will bring the olive in (the one in a pot, the other is in the ground) just to see if it brings it on any better than leaving it outside. I say started too but the rain got heavy so the rest can wait until next week when we are supposed to get drier weather 🤞
If we do go into a lockdown, which is looking very likely and as soon as next week, I have plenty to be getting on with but it will be a bit more depressing this time round with the colder days and darker nights 😏 and bang will go my family Sunday roasts though I am doing one tomorrow for Charlie, Macca, Mum and Ken so we will make sure we enjoy it 😀
John went back out to do the concreting and I lit the fire and made bread, I did volunteer but he wanted bread and some warm when he came back in. I got those done and then went out to give him a hand anyway, I did manage to load the cement mixer with around 5 lots before I had to come back in and sort the bread for baking, 56 and I can still shovel into a mixer, I’ll take that 😜 worth my weight in gold as I told John 😉 Josh, Flo and Mia came over for a bit of Halloween fun, doughnut eating, apple bobbing and sweetie hunting then a child friendly, Halloween film.
I am just sat waiting for the Prime Minister to make an announcement any time soon, we are definitely going into a lock down, for a month by the looks of it but how much of a lockdown, that’s the question. Josh was visibly unhappy when we told him that we might not be able to see each other ‘what about Mondays’ he said, meaning teatime at Nanas, I will have send it to them instead 😏
Well that’s it a month of restricted movement from Thursday 🙄 it will be different this time though as John will still be working and I will be here not seeing anyone, not too keen on this but we gotta do what we gotta do, no good moaning about anything just get on with it and hope it slows the infection rate. The good thing is the grandchildren will get one more tea at Nanas in before we can’t see each other for a month.
Sunday: We are having the first and the last (for a month at least) of the Sunday roast evenings tonight so we will make it a good one 😀 Firstly though after we have done all the morning jobs I have an eye test appointment in Witney, not sure if I will be able to pick up my glasses when they are ready though lol. Then I need to pick up a few bits of shopping for dinner later, if there is anything left, reports of panic buying are all over social media, did people not learn anything last time 🤷♀️ and then it will be round to Sam and Luke’s for a quick visit as it’s Luke birthday today.
I doubt we will get much done outside here today as it’s raining again but at least the path is down and has cured overnight although the cat has walked all the way along it much to Johns utter disgust 🤣
I went for my eye test, got there gave them my name and they said your appointment is the 5th not the 1st, nope it’s definitely the 1st, here is the email to prove it, a discussion out in the back commenced and finally they said they were fully booked and couldn’t fit me in today 😏 They were apologetic and it will be reported that the online booking system somehow cocked up, I wasn’t too bothered as I have plenty to be getting on with 😀 A bit of shopping though I didn’t really see any signs of panic buying in Waitrose 🤣 and then onto wish Luke a happy birthday and drop some beers to him. Well drop is exactly what happened, as John got them out of the car he appeared to throw them in the air and then not catch them, crash, smash they landed on the floor, luckily only one bottle broke but still a bit of a disaster morning 😜
John spent an hour loading logs into the back area, feeding the birds, collecting the eggs while I prepped and cooked a roast with all the trimmings, a rice pudding and an apple and blackberry crumble for our guests this evening.
And that’s another week done, next week we will be moving towards the partial lockdown in the hope that the disease can be slowed, I do hope so for the sake of the NHS staff 😏 Stay safe everyone and have a good week x
Monday 19th October 2020: Good morning Monday 😀 here you are again, I don’t get the Monday morning blues mostly because I’m not obligated to be at a place of work 😝 So it’s a lovely morning, dry, not too cold, the sun is trying to shine but there is quite a bit of cloud cover. It’s coffee break time but I have already been very busy this morning, making jelly and a lemon curd cake for the VIPs, getting Johns dinner prepped ready for the oven later and making a healthy version of chicken tikka for me. I have put a wash load on, sorted the kittens, taken the recycling out and tidied some bits and bobs, pretty good before 10.30 I reckon. I need to clean out the Rayburn a little, do some hoovering and wiping round and then I will probably venture outside and find some jobs to do out there.
Here is a fact I heard that I find fascinating, I keep trying it and it’s true 😜 you don’t breathe through both nostrils at the same time, each nostril takes it in turn, one will have a rest while the other is working 😮 how did I get to 56 and not know that 😂 And now you are all trying it aren’t you 🤣🤣 your welcome 😀 And now you are googling it just to check it’s correct 😝
I had a shower this morning and again turned the water to cold to finish, at first I thought I won’t be able to do this but I go in with the idea that I will totally enjoy the hot shower and then embrace the cooler water. This is doubly difficult because we don’t have standard heating and so the house is tad cold in the mornings. As the weather gets colder I don’t think I will carry on doing it, but just this morning I heard a report that a study on older people who go into the cold water seem to develop proteins (I think) that help the brain, the study was looking into dementia specifically, interesting stuff 🤔 The reason I had a go at it in the first place was because Charlie was telling me about Wim Hof and his methods, though they are more extreme than I am willing to do, but the whole breathing techniques (not his specifically) I have been doing for over a year now as a stress reliever or a relaxation method so I thought I might as well add another technique to see what it’s like. It’s true that you can only focus on the then and there, the cold water, you can’t think about anything else so effectively it clears your mind I suppose and I do feel refreshed which is great for the day ahead but I wouldn’t be doing it in the evening when I need to wind down.
The logistics of my Monday afternoons have to be on point with the children arriving for their tea at 3.30. I have the Rayburn to light, the hens to feed and eggs to collect sort and put out, the table to lay and sandwiches to make. Sounds easy right but on days like today when it’s not too cold out but I still need to light the Rayburn, the timing is everything, too early and it’s too hot in here, too late and it’s freezing. So my aim is to light the Rayburn about 1.45 that gives me 45mins to get it going, up to temp and then shut back down for it to continue a slow burn. Then I can whip out and do the hens, collect the eggs and sort them out, after that lay the table and make the sandwiches so that tea is ready when they arrive after a busy day at school 😝
I have just sent for a brochure on electric heating and solar panels as this is what we want to move to, it will make my life a whole lots less complicated I can tell you 😂
Tuesday: A more autumnal day today though the sun was out this morning and it’s not cold by any means. After doing the usual household bits this morning I decided on the task of my wardrobe 🙄 going through it and clearing out which took me most of the morning. Neither John nor I are fashionistas 😂 in fact we both have some clothes that are well over twenty years old and probably older, we are not label people either but I do like clothing that lasts and washes well. There comes a time in every wardrobe though when things are way past their best and when your tiny granddaughter says ‘Nana you’ve got holes in that’ you know it’s time to bin it 😀 Two bagfuls for the charity shop and one for the rag bin because no one wants to wear your holey castoffs. Only two items from Johns wardrobe went, that’s because if I throw things out he will ask where they are even though he hasn’t worn them for years, there was a lot more I would like to get rid of but I would be in big trouble if I did 😂 The wardrobe is now sorted and tidy and I know where to find short sleeve good T-shirts, long sleeve good T-shirt’s, short sleeve work T-shirts, long sleeve work T-shirts, good jumpers, work jumpers, you get the idea 😝 I still have another smaller wardrobe to sort but that one can wait, that is the holiday wardrobe, mostly evening wear and who knows when we will be able to get back on a ship 😏
The woodpecker is back, it’s a great spotted woodpecker and I haven’t seen it through the summer months but I first heard it when I was burning the wood. It’s call is very distinctive once you know it and if they are calling they are usually right at the very top of a tree, then as it takes flight the undulating motion is unmistakable, it looks like an undulating torpedo. This morning it is back exploring the Oak tree outside the kitchen door, they say an Oak trees supports more life forms than any other tree. We have many conifers here as well as other trees and yet the one Oak tree is home and host to more than all the other trees put together. There were a few acorns on it this year, I have only seen one mast year in all the time we have been here, that is a year that has a bumper crop of acorns, it happened to coincide with having pigs that were raised for the freezer, they were happy piggies with all those acorns to eat.
Wednesday: Well what can I say, the weather was appalling, rain all day long but that meant I had the perfect day to do paperwork. Well a whole years books actually for both Johns plumbing and the farm, the farm is simple enough, the plumbing not so 😝 When John had a limited company I did it every Friday because there was PAYE, VAT, CITB and CIS to sort as well as suppliers and customers but once that was closed down there was not anywhere near as much to do so it kinda got left 😏 and then the weeks rolled into months and before you know it that’s a year gone 🙄 I spent the best part of the day getting the paperwork in order that’s before I can even start to get it written down. I know I ought to sort myself out a bit and make sure it’s written every week and I will pledge to do that from here on in but we will see how long it lasts 😉
I did do the usual jobs inbetween the paperwork, that’s what makes it difficult really as I have to keep stopping mid flow to do other jobs at certain times.
Thursday: We (that includes John when he got home) continued to work on the books until 10pm last night and so today I am having some time off. I went out with Shelley and Flo, the aim was to find a two piece skeleton outfit for Josh for Halloween day at school. Most rising five year old boys would not even think about the need to pee and how difficult that might be in a one piece suit, but Josh had and wanted a two piece for comfort breaks 😀 Objective achieved we did a little bit of retail therapy before having lunch out, I have to say everywhere was fairly quiet and it felt safe enough to be out and about. Once back home it was time to do the egg rounds, get the Rayburn lit (although it’s fairly warm today) and get tonight’s dinner sorted. The daylight hours are getting shorter and shorter and the clocks change soon, there is talk about postponing it but I can’t see that happening to be honest, the hens are usually in bed by 6.15ish which gives us our evenings back, not that there is much to do socially 😂
Friday: What have I done today, well I did a few household bits then got the paperwork out, yep I’m still doing it and this is why: I’d done about an hour of sorting out what was what ready to (eventually) get it all down in order, Samantha messaged ‘what are you doing today’ I replied ‘paperwork but I’m happy to pack it away’ 😜 and so she came over with the children and I packed it away 😂 We went to the park, played on the swings and slide, had a whip round the supermarket for a few bits and then back home, that’s why the paperwork is taking so long because I’m happy to stop anytime 🤣 There is always tomorrow 🙄
The twiglets George and Lucie
Saturday: I turned the alarm off this morning as yesterday it was going for ten minutes and John didn’t turn it off (it’s for him not me) eventually I had to get up and do it so I thought this morning I will turn it off. John eventually gets up an hour after it would normally go off and started complaining, he was waiting for it to go off before he got up 🤷♀️ The thing is that the light can be seen through the curtains they are not blackout ones and so I said surely you know roughly what time it is by the daylight coming through, or is it just me?
Anyway eventually he got up and he got on with the rounds while I sorted out washing, rubbish bins etc. Then I thought I would get the paperwork out and get on with it, I turned off the radio for total peace and quiet, about half an hour in John comes in to make a cuppa but not quietly, oh no, making as much noise as possible then starts asking me inane questions, I stopped what I was trying to do. Tea drunk I managed to pack him off to get some feed and take some bits to the charity shop, I got back on with the paperwork. He returns and does a bit of cleaning out of chicken huts then comes in and decides he is going to watch the news on the tv 🙄 I am trying to concentrate and all I can hear is a reporter with a very irritating voice going on and on and on, so I packed it all away, I give up trying to get this done in peace 😏
In the afternoon his new phone arrived, the old one wasn’t charging and he was due an upgrade, only problem is he is not gadget savvy and so I have to set it all up for him. The problem with that is it’s android which I am not used to and the transfer of information is not as easy as my device. Luckily Shelley, Martin and the kids arrived for a cuppa and Shelley managed to transfer it all from one phone to another, though she did have to google it first. She then sorted out another problem with my e mail, I could get it on my phone but not my iPad, all very irritating but sorted now 😀
I haven’t actually done very much on the smallholding this week at all have I ? Just the basics, sometimes I have weeks like that and this is one of them.
Tonight I am off round to a friends for dinner to celebrate two of our other friends birthdays, I am looking forward to seeing them all again, haven’t seen them since before the lockdown, lots to catch up on.
Sunday: A dry sunny day, lovely actually until about 3pm when it got colder and started raining. The clocks went back last night giving us an extra hour in bed so when we got up it was light again but the downside is that it will be dark earlier tonight.
We had a chap come round and cut the front hedge as it has got rather big and John couldn’t really do it with the electric hedge trimmer. We had a delivery of beef from Emma’s ewesful acres although I was going to get some lamb off the van but we were out when she delivered so I will have to order it and wait for her to be delivering out this way again.
We went out for breakfast this morning and met my sister and brother in law there, lovely breakfast, a bit later than we are used to having it but it was a nice change not to be working. When we got back John got out the hedge trimmer to do some other bits of hedge but it kept raining on and off and the sky is ‘moody’ so I guess that’s how it is going to be for the rest of the day. Charlie and Macca called in for a cuppa and when they left I got the Rayburn lit and the dinner prepped, quite a bitty kind of day but a lovely one none the less 😀
Consequently after having a week of not getting stuff done I now have a head full of jobs that I am thinking about and that will need doing next week 😝 I suppose, because we are usually constantly doing something, that having an easy week is allowed now and again 😀
That’s another week of 2020 done and dusted, I would say that along with millions of others I will be glad to see the back of this year but I have a feeling that next year may not be as great as we are all hoping, unless they get that vaccine. The numbers are climbing and climbing all over the world and seemingly more rapidly that the first outbreak. I still can’t decide what is the best plan of attack really, let people go about their daily business or keep them locked down in various ways, I guess the first option would overwhelm the hospitals and then we would be in even bigger trouble 🙄
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, stay safe and have a good week 😀
frieslandfarm (flowers) 