We went for a walk round last weekend to check on storm damage in the neighbourhood and there are lots of really big trees having a lie down - quite sad to see really, but I guess that's nature. When we got back, Bob commented that everyone else would have plenty of firewood and we've just been able to gather a few small branches! We are quite relieved that none of our immediate big trees fell down of course (although listening to it outside right now, there's a fair old breeze blowing!).
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The next day the Quarry Manager came round (inspecting damage on the quarry land I suppose) and found Bob in the workshop to tell him we could help ourselves to as much of the big oak tree cross the lane as we wanted. So, next day, that's just what we did. After a morning's work you could hardly see that we had touched it so we had an afternoon at it on Thursday too. Starting at what was the top we cut all the smaller branches away to clear some space - you have to be really careful because a lot are caught on other little trees which can whip back upright when released. One end of this tree (which actually looks a lot, lot bigger when you're standing right next to it) is folded right in two where it hit and slid down another big pointy tree. Interestingly though, the roots at the other end are really quite weedy for such a big tree - no wonder it fell down. I suppose it was actually growing on rocks so there's not much depth of soil at all. We then cut the bigger branches into four or five feet lengths and hauled these through the wood to the boundary, tipped them over the wall and then loaded them into the back of the car to bring home. It's only a few hundred yards, but fresh oak is really quite heavy! We now need to build another log store, cut them up and split them and then store them for a year or two. It's all a bit of a hassle and your muscles certainly know you've done it the next day, but it's a good way to spend a few hours and nice to be outside and tired from fresh air and exercise. And firewood is bloomin' expensive to buy - it doesn't just grow on trees you know! So, we could have another couple of gathering sessions before the trunk gets too big for our chainsaw and that'll be a good job done and should get us ahead a bit for our firewood stockpile.
Next weekend is an exciting one! Bob has a stall at the craft market in Ludlow - it's a bit of a trek, but is quite a 'well-to-do' area so it'll be interesting to see what the interest is like. The next weekend he has a stall at the one in Shrewsbury - ditto the affluence of the area. These are monthly markets and our past experience shows that you need to be somewhere regularly for a few months before you can really tell if it's worth doing. I guess people don't nip into town on a Saturday with the cash in their pockets to buy a chair, but if they know you're going to be there they may order one at some point. To start with we just need to get the name known, give out loads of leaflets and then cross our fingers, toes, legs, eyes and anything else. I'm not working next weekend so can give a hand, but for the Shrewsbury one Bob'll be on his own. Wouldn't it be funny if we sold everything at Ludlow and had nothing at all for the stall in Shrewsbury except a few leaflets! I don't think for a minute that would happen really.
We had our first two-egg day for a very long time today!! How exciting is that - Horse and Lottie both laying at the same time.
We have primroses out in our little wood . . . . . Spring must be just around the corner and we can't wait!
Well, we go away for a couple of days and all hell lets loose! While we were in Norfolk this area has had a really tough time. The electric to the whole area went off on Wednesday night and our village was off for 17 hours, but some places were only just getting their power back yesterday evening. We went to the pub when we got back yesterday and everyone was saying how horrendous the wind had been - worse than any of them could ever remember. A builder friend said he'd lost several ridge tiles on his roof and they in turn had cracked quite a few of the other tiles on their way down and he said when he went to the roofing place to get replacements he couldn't get in the carpark they were so busy! Lots of big trees have fallen down - our road home was blocked by a tree that had fallen onto a hump-back bridge (guess they have to check the structural integrity of the bridge before they can re-open the road). The road between here and Oswestry had also been closed by a huge tree and there are whole trees, branches and tops all over the place in the fields around - the chainsaws will be busy! Just along the lane from us a couple of big trees have fallen very neatly behind the fence on the quarry's land (so not causing any problems) and apparently Phil and Ann were walking past when one of them fell. That must have been a truly awesome sight (and I mean that in the proper sense rather than the teenage over-exaggerated sense). I've never seen a whole tree fall down naturally.
We have been lucky in that we have only had small branches and bits of tree fall down and none of it has done any damage. We just had to gather up recycling boxes, bits of wood and the canoe and put them back in their rightful places. After the tales in the pub we inspected our roof very carefully in the daylight today and thankfully everything is intact . . . we obviously did a decent job of it, phew! My nice tidy lane that I spent ages clearing was completely covered in branches and debris - aarghhh!!
Our journey to Norfolk was quite interesting from the flood-damage point of view. We crossed the River Severn in two places and it was totally unrecognisable - about a mile wide! Yet the river at Oundle which we've seen flooded a few times was not really too bad and we've seen it much worse. When we crossed the fens we actually saw a farmer ploughing his field - I doubt there are many farmers in the country can do that at the moment. I guess though that shows the benefits of careful land management. There are ditches and dykes round every field in the fens and they are well maintained by the farmers because they know that the land is reclaimed from the sea and could very easily return to the sea if they don't. I'm assuming that the Somerset Levels which are in a similar position have not had the same time and effort spent on them.
The chickens seem to have survived on their own through the exciting weather without any problems. Peggy doesn't look so much like a penguin, Horse is still laying, there were no Lottie eggs (which makes us think we probably won't find a big pile of rotting eggs under a bush somewhere which is good) and Dot is just Dot.
At long last, we're back after several weeks of effectively being out of touch with the outside world! We developed a bit of a crackle on the phone line a few weeks ago which didn't get any better and so we rang BT and made an appointment for an engineer to come out. Of course he didn't turn up on the appointed morning. When he did come he established that the fault wasn't in the house . . . .good, that means we don't have to pay. As it was getting dark he promised to come the next day to track down the fault. Of course he didn't turn up and when we rang to chase it we were told we'd have to make another appointment, the earliest being several days later and so on and so on and so on. Four missed appointments, two promised phone calls from the complaints team which didn't happen and several weeks later, the line had got so bad that we had no internet connection at all and the phone was virtually unusable. An engineer finally turned up unexpectedly yesterday, tracked the faults (yep, more than one) to way down the line the other side of the quarry, fixed them and we are now up and running again. It seems to have been incredibly hard work to have got this sorted and I can't believe BT can run in the way it does with missed appointments being the norm and not something to apologise for. Actually, I can believe it because we had exactly the same problems getting a line in the first place when we moved here.
So, what's happened in the last few weeks? Well not so much really - Bob's back is slowly getting better, but after doing a bit more to the stone wall a few days ago it was twinging again (even with me doing most of the lifting) and so we have to wait a bit longer. I have spent several afternoons shovelling mud and leaves off our lane - in some places it had got quite deep and with all the rain it had become a real mess - no point in waiting for the Council roadsweeper I don't think! Quite satisfying to look at it now I've finished, but it was quite hard work!
Bob had an unusual job to do repairing a very old bench which had been made out of tree roots. The seat had completely rotted away so he replaced that and also replaced/reglued/renailed some of the roots. It is still in a rather delicate state as the wood is really quite old and not very stable, but you could sit on it (very carefully). It is very cleverly done, but is also fairly hideous isn't it?
We have made a panel for the side of the bath which was good fun. It's bright red -
oh my goodness it was so bright it was almost day-glo to start with. More coats have toned it down a bit and now it is in place I think it looks really good (and quite funky!). I bought a blue and a yellow match pot and mixed up various colours and then got bottle tops of various sizes, a wine glass and a smaller pot and did lots of bright coloured circles round the bottom corners of the panels. The idea is to give the impression of bubbles which I think worked quite well. I enjoyed myself anyway!
It has certainly brightened up the bathroom which was quite black and white before. We used to store the loo roll, bubble bath and (for some strange and unknown reason) the tin of shoe-cleaning stuff under the bath when it was open. In our excitement to put the panel in place you can guess what we did! Yep, we screwed it in place with all the stuff still behind it - d'oh! Oh, if only we had half a brain between us.
Hasn't the weather been horrible? Everywhere is just so wet and muddy. If you go to the top of our little hill and look out over the Shropshire plains, it looks like the new Lake District. I guess we shouldn't complain, we could be in Somerset, but everyone is getting just a little fed up with it. Yesterday and today we have woken up to quite a covering of snow, but then by lunchtime we've had blue skies and sunshine. There are little glimmers of Spring and we have to focus on those. The snowdrops are out and the daffodils are on their way. On the odd sunny day, the birds are singing their little hearts out and getting ready for Spring. We actually saw a Red Kite circling above a couple of weeks ago which is quite exciting. I think I've said before that we followed the re-introduction of Kites quite closely in Northamptonshire before we moved and had got a bit complacent about them because the re-introduction was so successful. We counted 46 one evening over a communal roost site! So, it is really nice to feel that excitement again when we see one here - this was only the fourth time we've seen them here.
Lottie laid an egg a day for a week or so, but mostly behind their feed tub instead of in the nest box and since then we've not seen a single one . . . . so, does that mean she's stopped laying again, or are we going to find a big pile of eggs under a hedge somewhere? Horse has also started laying again - good old Horse. Dot is still a complete waste of time - I'm sorry, but she has never really earned her keep and just hasn't endeared herself to me somehow. Peggy is obviously feeling her age and has been doing penguin impressions for the last couple of weeks. She spent a few days just sitting by Bob's woodburner in the workshop and we really didn't think she'd make it through the night for a few nights but she does seem to be on the mend again, just she waddles around in an upright manner like a penguin. She seems quite happy, has bright sparkly eyes, good colour and is eating. We can only assume it is something like arthritis and the weather isn't helping.
I went to see Laura in Scotland last weekend - Bob stayed here so he could eat sausages and watch rubbishy films in peace! The weather in Scotland was atrocious - really cold, wet snow and so, apart from going out for lunch on the Saturday, we didn't do much except spend a fortune drinking coffee in the Samye Ling cafe! Next time I go up there will be in April when Laura finishes her nunning and starts her new life in the big, wide world - exciting times. Bob's sister, Jane and her bloke came to stay at the weekend which was a nice surprise. She is also about to embark on a new life running her own shop which is also exciting. I think Bob is going to help her fit out the shop when she gets the keys in a few weeks. I have this week off work and we are off to Norfolk for a couple of days to see Mum and Dad. Dad had a knee replacement on Saturday and is due out today - isn't that incredible! Such a short time and he's walking on it already. I'm sure they could do without visitors this soon, but we'll try not to be too much trouble and may even be able to help out.
