Just look at what we woke up to this morning . .

Just look at what we woke up to this morning . . . . . .

         . . . . . . . after 25 degrees last week, this is a bit of a change!  It carried on snowing quite heavily all morning before it turned to slushy rain.  This wasn't nice fluffy white snow, it was wet, cold, horrible snow.  I think it's supposed to be quite cold tonight too, so it'll be ice tomorrow.  It's a real shame because all the blossom has just come out on the trees and bushes and this could well do for it.  We have a lot of bushes that were cut down to the ground before we moved here which we think are damsons, but they have only just got big enough to have blossom and, therefore, fruit.  They were covered, so we thought we'd know for sure what they are before long, but maybe we'll have to wait until next year now.  Our bit of woodland is also carpetted with violets, primroses and cowslips with wood anemones and sorrel coming through, just lovely.  They should be alright I think as they are sheltered by the trees.

We got our new energy certificate and the new scores on it, taking into account the solar panels, are 100% of this building's potential - pretty good, eh?  I'm actually not too sure what the potential score really means, because we could, obviously, improve our score by installing photovoltaic panels which would mean we exceed the potential . . . should that be possible?

Fox alert!!!!!



Bob and his girls in the snow

 Well, we got the snow that was forecast this morning and quite a bit of it too.  It's now turned drippy, a bit slushy and very slippery!  The chickens weren't too bothered about it - especially when leftover pasta was on offer (yes, that's why they are flocking round Bob!).  It was still snowing when we got up this morning and when Bob went up to open the chicken house before breakfast there were fresh fox prints in front of the run!  PANIC!!!!  ALARM BELLS!!!!!  Calming down a bit though, they went along the path several feet away from the door then turned back on themselves and up into the woods.  Strangely, they didn't veer closer to the chicken run door so presumably our visitor wasn't too interested.  Could be that Bob coming out of the caravan scared it off (not a bad thing) because the tracks were very new - they were very clear and in falling snow they don't stay that way for long.  For all we know, the fox trots along through our garden every morning and normally we just don't know anything about it.  Anyway, we left the chucks shut safely in the run for a bit longer than we usually do today.  Glad they have the old pigsty as a run - with its stone walls and brick floor it is unlikely a predator could dig its way in.

Today we have both been working on the door.  Nailing it together is definitely a two man job, but Bob had to make do with me!  There's quite a bit of do a bit on one side, turn it over, do a bit on the other side, turn it back and so on and as the doors are quite thick oak, they weigh an awful lot.  As with everything, this job took at least twice as long as we expected (hopefully the next one will be quicker now we know what we're doing!).  It is now all nailed together and clenched of course!  The hinges are ready for us to collect, so we'll get those tomorrow when I go to give blood.  Then we can cut the door to length, fit the hinges and try it on for size.  It will be sooooooo strange to have a real door.  At the moment we 'lock up' by unrolling a sheet of burlgar-proof plastic and tucking it into the wall cavity!

BBBRRRRR!!!!!!!

It's just a little bit cold here!  According to a neighbour with a minimum/maximum thermometer, it was -12 degrees last night.  I can well believe it too as there was hard ice all over the inside of the windows this morning - usually it's just at the bottom.  Bob and I were actually warm enough last night though and both quite surprised to have slept well without waking up shiverring.  I set the bedroom heater to come on for half an hour at about 3am which seems to make a huge difference.  I usually wake up cold just after that, so I guess it stops that happening and is just enough to keep the chill off.

It has been an absolutely beautiful day here though with the sun shining on the snow.  In fact, at lunchtime we were too hot in the caravan and had to open the door!  Unbelievable, but this tin box does warm up a lot if the sun shines.  The temperature was back down to -5 by four o'clock though, so I think we're in for another chilly night.

I have to confess, this picture is from last year (we don't have quite this much snow yet).  I am just getting so bad at remembering to take photos and it's not until I sit down to write this in the evening that I think 'darn! Should've taken a photo or two'.  I must try harder!  But, I do like this photo, so it's worth sharing.

Spaghetti Junction

Wow, look at the size of that.  Dave, the electrician, leant Bob one of his drill bits to do some of the holes while he was here.  Trouble was that it was so long that Bob couldn't stand back far enough and it did look quite funny.  Did the job though.

The electrician was here Monday to Thursday and got all the first fix done.  That's all the cables in place, but not actually connected.  He was brilliant - he really got on with things, listened to what we said and was very neat and tidy.  All the cables are neatly clipped in place, labelled and taped together where necessary.  I was helping him once, laying the cable along the top of the wall and then through to him in the next room.  That done, he continued to work in the next room running the cable down to sockets.  So, by the time he came back to where I was it was too late!!  I'd forgotten to put the cable under a metal wall tie and he had to clip it up above which completely ruined his neat pattern - oops!  It actually didn't matter - it'll all be covered up - but it spoilt the look for now!

I can't believe how many cables are needed and this is a relatively simple set-up.  Imagine if we'd had centrally controlled mood lighting, curtain opening, loo lid lifting, entry systems and retina scanning like you see on Grand Designs!  I am actually quite disappointed with this picture.  I wasn't quick enough to get a photo before he tidied up and bundled the cables together.  Believe me, before he did that it looked horrendous.  On this wall in the utility room we will have to have all sorts of boxes, so I think we'll hide them all in a cupboard.  When I told the electrician, he looked slightly hurt and said he actually quite likes looking at consumer units!  I managed to take the mick out of him for that for the rest of the week!  We will have to have one normal consumer unit (like the old fuse box), another for the trip switches for the underfloor heating, another for the controllers and contactors (don't ask me - I think they're something to do with doing the heavy switching) for the heating and another for the immersion heater controls.  So, that's most of the utility room used up!

Sparky is quite happy to come back now and then to do the next part in bits as and when we have done the insulation, plasterboard, skimming, etc.  The way it is wired means he could liven up (that's an electricians' term for connecting to the mains don't ya know!) the old house without us having to do anything to the rest.  That means we could move in to that bit!  Yeah! We might get in before the good weather comes . . . . we'll we've missed moving in before the bad weather!

This will be our third winter in the caravan and each have broken records.  The first was the coldest for something like 10 years, the next the coldest for 31 years and now this one has the earliest widespread snow for 17 years!  You can just bet that next winter will break some record by being the mildest since records began!!  We have snow and it is jolly chilly (if the Met Office website is to be believed, we should hit -9 tonight and it won't rise above -3 tomorrow . . . . Brrr!).  This morning the curtains were stuck to the windows by ice and the first loo flush of the day sounds as though there are icecubes going through the system.  So, today we have checked that the lagging is still in place on the pipes under the caravan, re-done the insulation around the outside tap and installed the double-glazing in the caravan.  We use the plastic film that you tape round the edges then warm with a hair dryer so it shrinks tight like a drum (that bit's quite good fun, but we overdid it last year and it started pulling the frames off!).  It does make a bit of a difference and cuts down the condensation, but it does mean you can't open the window so we leave some without so we can still freshen the air.

So, tonight we are having curry for tea . . . . with extra chillies!