Firewood gathering

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!).  

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!

Weather report from North Shropshire

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.

We're back!

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.

Garden wall

Here's the picture of the wall that Ben and Bob built between Christmas and New Year.  It needs another course of stones on this bit and will eventually curl up round the plum tree on the right getting lower as the ground rises and back along the side of the path behind (pretty much where the stones are piled at the back) and then we'll close off the left-hand edge in some way to make a not-square terrace.  Then there'll be a wheelbarrow path in front of this wall before another similar terrace bit.  It isn't really properly planned or anything - just see what looks right as we're doing it.

Seige machines and perfect eggs

Right, we're all back to normal now I think.  We took Ben back to Aberystwyth yesterday and took a look at the seafront while we were there.  It was high-tide and really quite dramatic with waves crashing up over the band stand and onto the promenade. Of course that was 'calm' compared to the last few days and I can't imagine what it was like at the weekend.   The road was covered quite thickly with shingle, block-paving bricks, stones and bollards.  There'll be quite a lot of re-building to do but, on the positive side, it is all clean debris - no sewage, mud or rubbish - and that has to be easier to deal with.  I think Ben was a bit disappointed not to have been there at the weekend with his camera, he is quite pleased that all the essay deadlines have been extended though!

Bob is back to work and getting on with more pub tables.  In his holidays he has done some stuff for us though.  We now have a new shelf in the kitchen for recipe books, CDs and one of the speakers.  That means that our new clock can go on the mantlepiece (just there, under the shelf).  It is made from a rusty old piece from the leaf-spring of a tractor which has quite a nice curve to it and has scrubbed up quite interestingly.  It is mounted on a piece of bog yew - similar to bog oak in that it has lain preserved in peat for probably thousands of years which gives it a beautiful rich colour and hardens it so that it polishes up beautifully.  It was pulled up from his fields by a farmer acquaintance in Lincolnshire and Bob made him a couple of chairs from it.

On just about the only nice day while Ben was here they built a retaining wall for the terracing in the garden.  I was at work so it was a really nice surprise when I got home - they got on very quickly with it, but unfortunately the weather's just been too horrible and wet to do any more to it, but it's a good start.  I thought I had taken a photo of it, but I can't find it and it's now dark so it'll have to wait.  Quite exciting to actually be doing something to the garden at last!  Bob has also built another step in the run up the side of the house so we are gradually, gradually getting there with that.  He has now hurt his back though so he'll have to take it easy for a while.

Our other project last weekend while I was off was to build a trebuchet!  A trebuchet is a medieval (I think?) seige machine which is like a giant catapault which is wound back so that, when it is released, it flings whatever is in the sling (rocks, dead cows or similar) over the wall of the castle you are laying seige to.  As we don't really need to attack a castle just at the moment, we made a little model one instead.  We were given the kit for Christmas before we moved and found it when we were unpacking a box a couple of months ago.  With the weather as it was it seemed like a good thing to do on a rainy afternoon.  Bob did despair a bit of the workmanship on the parts with holes not lining up properly, bent parts, etc, etc.  So he and Ben kept disappearing up to the workshop to do a bit of fine-tuning which I though was quite funny, but we eventually got it built.  This model has a wooden box to fill to act as a counterweight which we loaded up with rhubarb and custard sweets.  They aren't really ideal ballast material and we had to press down on the box to get any sort of fling.  So, there is the piece of red plasticine, provided with the kit instead of a dead cow, flying through the air down the hall.  We weren't really satisfied with the rhubarb and custard solution and so another rainy afternoon we went up to the workshop with it and filled the box up with scraps of lead - much better!  After much trial and error we found the ideal amunition to be a piece of blutak carefully shaped into a cylinder and with that setup we managed a record 20m fling out of the workshop door and down the path to the bridleway!  So, any unwanted visitors had better beware!  Once we got that sorted, we had a game of darts (round the clock, not proper darts - we can't do the maths quick enough!). . . what a way to spend an afternoon!

Yesterday, while we were at the sunny seaside, Lottie laid her first egg for us.  We suspected one was imminent as her comb, which had shrivelled up to almost nothing when she moulted, had come back and was nice and red which is usually a sign.  She is now a very samrt, very perfect-looking chicken and her egg was also very smart and very perfect-looking.  Smallish (but not as small as I thought it would be), very pale, very smooth and with not a speckle to be seen (it doesn't really look real!).  Let you know what it tastes like.  Maybe now the others will remember what they are supposed to be doing!

Stormy, stormy night!

So, did you have a good one?

Apart from me having a cold (I tried to deny I was getting a cold, but after two days of blowing my nose I had to admit defeat), we had a lovely Christmas.  After a bacon butty and present opening, we went for a nice walk, starting off in the rain and getting wet (probably not the best idea with a cold, but I survived), but then the sun came out and we were almost dry by the time we got home.  We walked up the Moelydd which is a hill near here with a stone on top showing the direction of Snowdon, the Long Mynd, etc.  On a clear day (and it was beautifully clear by the time we got to the top) you can see for miles across the Welsh hills which had snow on the tops, in one direction and across the Shropshire plains in the other.  It looked as though a good deal of Shropshire was under water as there were unexpected lakes shining in the sun.  We had a wonderful piece of steak (Chateaubriand) made into beef wellington in the evening - you hardly had to chew it it was so tender.  The leftovers made very posh sandwiches with homemade bread and sprout-coleslaw with horseradish the next day - yum!

This is my present from Bob made by a local Blacksmith.  It is
a copy of a medieval (I think) design for a three-way candlestick.
You can have it as it is with the candle in the top or you can jab the
spike on the left upright into something and put the candle into the
opposite hole or you can have it the other way up and hook it onto
something.  Clever, eh?

Laura has been busy and made us this felted picture of a moody
sunset over the hills with two little sheep.  It works really well against
the wiggly stones in the living room and the colours are just right.
We were wondering what we were going to put in that space!

I bought Bob a dart board for Christmas and that is now up in the workshop with an oche line drawn on the floor.  I had a go and I'm absolutely rubbish at it - we'll have to make sure there are no precious bits of wood stacked underneath it when I'm playing or they might end up looking as though they have woodworm!  I'll just have to practice I guess!  I also got him a Sony Walkman (not the old cassette ones we used to have but a new-fangled thingy where music magically gets onto it from the computer).  Being in the workshop all day, he gets a bit bored with the playlists on the radio so he can now listen to whatever he wants.  I can now just imagine him in the workshop, woodburner lit, polypin of beer at hand, music playing and darts in hand . . . . . we'll have to think of a name for this new pub!  The Chairmakers Arms perhaps or The Chair and Chicken.  

My goodness, it was windy last night.  We didn't hear the tree fall down just across the bridleway from our bedroom though.  Mind you, I think it might have just laid down gracefully rather than crashed down.  Its trunk has been split vertically for quite a while and it had kind of bent over rather than fallen down.  So our first job this morning was to clear that as it was blocking the bridleway completely.  Luckily it didn't take too long as the weather was still really horrible - the rain was really so wet!

Luckily, it wasn't a very big tree otherwise it may have reached the
lean-to.  As it was though, no damage was done and we haven't
found any more casualties.  I think we have had so many violent
storms in the last couple of years that most of the vulnerable trees
have already gone . . . lets hope so anyway!

Happy Christmas Everyone

Well, yes, it's nearly here.  I'm quite lucky this year because I had yesterday, today and tomorrow off work.  I'm in on Monday and Tuesday (6am start on Christmas Eve - oh my!) and then another three days off, so not too bad really.

Gathering our 'christmas tree'.  It's a couple of
Cherry saplings which we then bound together,
stuck in a heavy block of wood and decorated.

Ta dah!  It does look better in real life - you can't see the fairy
lights or presents underneath on this picture.  I quite
like this look, festive but different and it doesn't block the
light from the window.

Yesterday we had a bit of a neighbourhood party/get-together.  We see all our near neighbours individually, but never see them together and so we thought we'd have a go at remedying that. The weather was truly awful with howling wind and lashing rain, but quite a few people fought their way through.  I'm so glad they did - we thought no-one would turn up because of the weather.  We got a polypin of beer from the local micro-brewery which seemed quite a cool thing to do - nice just to be able to pull a pint whenever you want.  You do have to look after it though which Bob took very seriously.  We chose to have the beer with the yeast still in it (as opposed to 'bright' which is when they take the yeast out - that's my new bit of terminology for the week by the way) so you have to not move it around to let it settle and you have to keep it between 10 and 15 degrees.  So it was in the utility room which is the coolest room with a thermometer on top of it and we had to keep checking it wasn't getting too warm and opening/closing the window to regulate it!  We made pulled pork for in rolls which worked really well and is really very easy and mulled cider as a welcoming drink which also worked well once we'd completely changed the recipe.  We finally went to bed at 1.45am and so we have had a very lazy day today, bit of tidying up and a walk round the block and that concludes the activities for today!

Here are the knitted chickens I made for Laura's friend to sell -
they do have a look of the Chicken Run chickens.   They are filled
with rice so they can be used as paperweights to bring a
smile to the working day.

We do have some festive greenery (not just dead branches)
across the beams in the kitchen (top) and lounge (above) and
this has little fairy lights in amongst it which don't really show
up on the photos.

So, now I'm feeling Christmassey so:

I hope you all have a very merry, chilled and fun Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year.