May rainfall: 18mm (average: 45mm)
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♥May. 31st, 2020 // 05:02 pm♥
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The veg bed is now all planted out for the summer, and we picked our first broad beans (at least ten of them! There are lots more coming on, though, and the first courgettes, and bean flowers). The kohl rabi is just starting to swell at the base (note to self: check if it wants to be earthed up a little, or have straw put around it to support the bulb).
When I pinched out the tomatoes, I kept a couple of bigger side shoots of the variety that ZuZu’s been at: they are apparently very easy to root, so we’ll see what happens. I’m also having a go with some left-over lemon grass, as apparently that’s quite easy to get going as well. (Also some tarragon from a bag of supermarket cut herbs, but I don’t have any great hopes for it so am still keeping an eye out for some in a pot.)
All that’s left to do veg-wise is some more autumn squash, that are going in the front garden: we took out a bit of overgrown hedge, liberally “underplanted” with ground elder, so I was planning on dumping a load of manure on it, covering it with weed fabric, and seeing how it looks for planting something new later in the year, and if I’m going to do that anyway then I may as well leave the manure in heaps, cut slits in the fabric, and stick the spare squash in there. We’re just waiting for the boys to produce a bit more organic matter and then we can sort that bed out.
I’ve even finished the first big weed of the garden that I’ve managed since September, so now it’s the much easier job of tidying up occasional seedlings: at least the lack of rain is good for something?
I was worried last week about some of my sewing ladies: predictably, all the missing ones got in touch shortly after I sent the newsletter out, and all are doing ok.
We went to check on the orchids, and the monkeys are doing splendidly now. We also saw some fragrant orchids, just coming out, and a fine butterfly orchid, although whether Greater or Lesser is a mystery to us.
Mike finally cracked and had me cut his hair. It’s a bit shorter than he usually has it, but I think it’s ok and he hasn’t shaved it all off in a panic or anything.
The woods seem to have got a bit quieter again, so we think we can risk leaving off Bob’s muzzle, at least during the week.
This afternoon, we went to set up the boys’ summer pasture. Mike did a lot of clearing of brambles and nettles, while I plodded up and down the hill setting up the electric fence to keep the boys away from the barbed wire. |
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Masks, flour and gardening: such is life, these days
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♥May. 3rd, 2020 // 11:12 am♥
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Things are starting to happen in the garden. The potatoes are sprouting, and the tomatoes are in the polytunnel. I planted out kohl rabi, and Bob promptly ran through the middle of the bed and snapped off a load of leaves....
We had an unexpected hail storm in the week, and it was only after watching it for a few minutes that I remembered the seedlings, hardening off on the patio. Fortunately very little damage done, although I got drenched.
We’ve had a fairly respectable amount of rain this week, which is good for the garden and the field. The horses are a lot happier now that there’s something for them to eat.
Given the way things seem to be going, I’ve started making face masks. I sent the first couple to my sister, as she’s out and about a lot working, and now I’m just waiting for some more hair bands to arrive in the post to make more. I’m using the Olson pattern, if anyone’s thinking of making some. I recommend writing the piece numbers on the fabric (wrong side) the first time, but once you’ve figured out the method they’re pretty simple.
Mike not only managed to buy yeast at the local hippy food shop but also placed an order online for flour delivery. The white flour will be fine where we normally keep it, but we’ll have to freeze most of the brown (which is why we don’t usually get brown by the sack, but there’s been none in the shops for weeks, and we’ve run out). I do wonder if it’s worth a post to the local Facebook group: “flour for sale, village hall car park from x-y pm tomorrow”. |
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Weather whinge
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♥Apr. 26th, 2020 // 11:31 am♥
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Still no more rain. They’re saying we’ll get some at the start of next week, and I hope we do because the field is looking very short and dead. We had another frost last night, but only a light one.
Mike gave GB a hair cut, but continues to change the subject when I point out that GB isn’t the only one in need. For some reason, Mike doesn’t trust me....
I’ve been doing lots of weeding, and am now getting towards being on top of it. Not being able to get onto the flower beds from October to March meant I wasn’t able to get in and clear the autumn weeds, so it’s all a bit of a mess.
For my birthday last year, Mike got me a kantha embroidery kit, which I finally got around to doing over the last couple of weeks. It’s understated, but I like it:
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Several things make a post
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♥Apr. 19th, 2020 // 03:01 pm♥
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As the garden centres are (mostly) closed, and the online suppliers are (mostly) falling over under the strain, I sent an email to the lady up the road who opens her garden under the National Garden Scheme and arranged to buy some plants from her. She had some alliums that she was going to have to plant out, so amongst other things I got a tray of 20 for £10.
We had a whole half inch of rain on Saturday. That’s all we’ve had so far this month, and we’re now back to sun and a dry wind for the foreseeable future. The garden’s getting very dry, but I’m more worried about the grass not growing; we shouldn’t be having to give the horses more hay at this time of year. We also had a frost, but fortunately it wasn’t bad enough to damage the wisteria flower buds (which are looking very promising this year).
Mike took out some of the overgrown beeches in the garden, and the tree surgeons came and took out some more (they were both more overgrown and had the phone line running through them, so it seemed safer to get the pros in). That should mean more light and less competition for the veg bed this year, which is good.
In what I doubt is an unusually occurrence right now, Mike went to do the weekly trip to the farm shop and found that the car battery was dead. Fortunately, I knew that the Up The Hills have a battery jump start thing, so we borrowed that and got the car going again. Mike has now ordered one of our own, just in case.
It’s become noteworthy to see an aircraft contrail. Starting to feel like a Pacific Island cargo cultist, next thing you know we’ll be worshipping Prince Phillip (or should that be Boris?)....
The swallows have arrived, and the early purple orchids are in bloom. The wild garlic is going over, but I did pick a bag to make experimental wild garlic jam. ( Jam-ish ) |
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Cookoo
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♥Apr. 12th, 2020 // 11:07 am♥
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(Heard one this morning, not turning into one.... Also saw a swallow a few days ago, but it didn't stick around.)
I've just counted up how many days there were over the autumn/winter that the field was to wet for the horses to go out: 41 days, which is very nearly twice the previous highest (22). Which makes it especially annoying that we're now desperate for some rain. The once-muddy bits of the field look like a drought-stricken lake bed from a nature documentary, and the grass isn't growing like it should.
The veg bed is starting to get populated, and the conservatory is filling up with things that need it to be just a bit warmer (although we've just had several days around 20C, I'd be astonished if we didn't get a frost in a few days when it cools down). The potatoes are in their tires, and the polytunnel is ready and waiting to be planted up.
The warm weather seems to have really kicked the bluebells into action: they're pretty much as good as they get, and smelling lovely, even though the anemones are still in full flower. It is lovely when they're both out at the same time.
We should be at Eastercon this weekend. Odd not to be there. |
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Duck news
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♥Nov. 15th, 2019 // 06:14 pm♥
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(It's still raining. Bah.)
We were back at the vet this evening with Anagramma. Good progress, and the swelling's all gone, so now it was time to have a proper look at it.
( Mike left the room for the gory details )
"We do have a standard price for eyeball removal, but it's for dogs so I'll have to ask my boss for a quote."
Either way, she should make a good recovery and cope well if she does end up blind on one side.
She is getting pretty reigned to being netted and handled (although I do still have to stalk her across the grass like the mighty hunter I am), but the rest of the flock other than ZuZu are still very annoyed with me and run away to hide whenever they see me. Actually, ZuZu's not terribly happy either, after I caught her this afternoon so that Mike could clip her wing! |
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Soggy
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♥Oct. 16th, 2019 // 12:08 pm♥
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Even though we had another inch of rain yesterday (we kept the horses in. It's October, ffs!), today was nice and sunny so I managed to do some weeding for the first time in weeks. I could only do along the edge of the drive, as I don't dare walk on the flower beds and am dubious about walking on the edge of the lawn, but it's something at least.
The wet weather and warm nights seems to be suiting grass seedlings, as they're popping up everywhere (and are tricky to weed when they're in amongst the bulbs that are starting to come up). One end of one of the garden beds, that backs onto the field, looks like it will need mowing soon, so that's going to be tremendously fun if I can't get to it before spring. I did put bark down around the strawberries, to see if I could stop quite so much grass coming up, but it's not been tremendously successful.
We had the muck skip emptied last week, and when it came back it was a nice fancy new one, rather than the one we used to have with a partly rusted-out floor. We were initially pleased, but then it rained some more and now Mike can't empty wheelbarrows into it because his boots are only fully waterproof to about two inches....
(And I took that picture before yesterday's rain. Mmmm, soupy.)
Other things that I've been doing:
- getting my first flower delivery (they are lovely, I'm glad to be getting them again);
- partially putting the polytunnel to bed for the winter (still need to clear out the old grow bags, but everything else is done);
- making jam (we're growing a different variety of hot chilli this year. The first batch of chilli jelly was a bit too hot, but Mike says the second is more normal, so I'll have to poll the usual recipients and see which they'd prefer);
- going to London for lunch (and a check up) with my dentist;
- going to the Brogdale Apple Festival, which was much the same as usual. We did go on the walking tour this year, which we'd never done before as they don't allow dogs in the orchards and we always used to take Jo with us.
We also went to a local riding school and had a lesson on a couple of their horses: we're still struggling with Benny's canter, so we hatched the plan with our riding instructor to go and have a ride on a different horse to remind us what it should be like. It incidentally confirmed that it's trotting on Benny that's been causing me back pain for the last year or so: we gradually narrowed it down to riding (and fiddling with his saddle helped a lot) and then to trotting, but trotting the riding school horse didn't hurt.
Mike's having a second play of Red Dead Redemption 2 and we've just finished the first season of Stranger Things, so I've been getting quite a lot of sewing done. Progress remains very slow, but I think it's about half done now:
(And I've nearly finished the cherry since I did that.) |
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Bits and pieces
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♥Oct. 7th, 2019 // 07:11 pm♥
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The weather's got a bit rubbish, which is a shame if not actually unexpected at this time of year. We had an inch of rain a couple of nights ago and, given that that was on the forecast and we had visitors over the weekend, we moved the horses back to our field at the end of last week. It does make things much easier when we don't have to keep going up and down the hill all the time.
Little Quilt club has twisted my arm into at least thinking about doing them a class on Foundation Paper Piecing, which is the type of piecing that I most often do on my quilts (which is how I get the fancy pictures rather than just geometrical shapes). Almost all, if not all of them, have done at least one class on it before but they're all firmly convinced that it's too hard for them to do. Oh, and at any one time at least half of them are carrying on two simultaneous conversations (one sewing, one gossip), so it will generally be like herding cats. Fun.
The animals are all doing well. We were a bit worried this morning when Anagramma suddenly started limping very badly, but she was ok again by the afternoon so we didn't have to put her through a trip to the vet.
Mike mentioned earlier that my laptop is soon going to stop running some older software, so I went checking to see what's going to die. SubEthaEdit is a bit of a shame but these days we mostly use Google Docs to fill that niche. It would be nice if Docs made it easier to see who'd made which edits, though. Most of the things on the list are either tiny programmes I downloaded to do a specific thing once and then never used again or decade-old games, so I guess I'm having a couple of days of re-playing them for one last time. It feels very odd to be playing a game on a laptop. Moving the cursor around is ever so slow!
At the Broadstairs food festival at weekend, I got talking to the guy on the Freddie's Flowers stall and said how I loved their flowers but had to stop using them when they swapped from DPD to UKMail, as our local UKMail guy is useless and kept just throwing them over the gate to lie in the sun/rain (and then, when I and FFs complained, started actively hiding them in places on the property that were much more effort than just walking to the front door and putting them in the porch). It turns out that they've swapped back to DPD, so he emailed the office and got them to reactivate my account. I'm looking forward to getting flowers again, although when I tried to log into my account to change the frequency to fortnightly I got a password error and, when I clicked on the link to re-set it, I got a 404.... The new website had launched that day, though, so I'll try again tomorrow before I phone them to ask what's going on. |
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Squish squash
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♥Sep. 25th, 2019 // 05:00 pm♥
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It's been rather wet here: 3cm in the last 48 hours. Things are getting a bit soggy, but at least the fish pond is looking fuller. I do wish I could get out and do some weeding, though.
I picked the cocktail kiwis about a week ago, and left them to ripen in a bowl. They turned out to be a bit of a russian roulette of tasty and sour, so I'm inventing a recipe for kiwis in syrup, intended as an ice cream topping: we'll see how it turns out. (I'm adapting it from a recipe for sour cherries in syrup, which I hadn't previously noticed, in one of my favourite preserving books; I might try it with sour cherries next year.)
We're generally getting toward the end of the harvesting season. The medlars are still on the tree, and there are still a fair number of green and green-ish tomatoes that I'm hoping will ripen further on the plants before I have to bring them in, but that's about it other than a last few courgettes.
Mike picked most of the squash this afternoon (in between showers), while I went around and picked the last of this and that.
A pretty impressive haul, but the last big one of the year:
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Autumn
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♥Sep. 7th, 2019 // 11:35 am♥
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All of a sudden, it seems to be autumn. The trees are turning, the foliage on the squash is starting to die back, the polytunnel needs to be closed at night, I've put away my linen trousers, and Bob and I are curled up on the sofa under a quilt.
I've got lots of autumn jobs that I need to start doing, but probably not today. Yesterday, I had a stomach/abdominal ache that got steadily worse until Mike put me in the car to take me to Minor Injuries, at which point it started getting better. The nurse thinks it's just a bad stomach bug, but I'm still sore enough this morning that my "I'll see if I'm up to riding" experiment lasted about three steps before I got back off and handed Benny over to Mike.
On the plus side, yesterday we also (finally) had the new shutters fitted in out bedroom. They look good, and do indeed make it lovely and dark in there (and it's nice to have finally finished decorating!). I'm a bit concerned that we woke up to middle-of-winter levels of condensation on the insides of the windows this morning, though. Today was fine, because I could just open the shutters and windows to dry things out, but that's not really going to be practical when it gets properly cold. We'll see what happens. |
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Luckily...
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♥Aug. 10th, 2019 // 08:17 pm♥
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It's been rather windy here today. Much to our surprise, we've only had a few flickers of power cuts (and escaped the big one last night that seems to have taken out half the country).
When I had a quick look at the tomatoes this morning, the wind had shaken a few of the Amish stems down, where they had big tomatoes near the polytunnel roof. We grabbed the twine and tied them in, and then while we were at it also did a belt-and-braces loop around each bag of plants, tying them loosely around near the top and then up to the polytunnel framework.
We came back from walking Bob to find that the cover had blown off the polytunnel. Fortunately, it had then got stuck between the polytunnel and the wall behind it, rather than being blown away entirely. Much wrestling ensued, and we got it back on (and added a few more breezeblocks to the ones that were already (supposedly) holding it down). It survived the rest of the day and, thanks to those extra loops of twine this morning, there doesn't seem to be much (any?) damage done to the tomatoes. The pepper plants were also tied to the frame, and seem to be ok as well.
There doesn't seem to be much serious damage in the garden generally. We escaped the worst of it because the wind direction meant most of it went over above us, rather than getting funnelled down the valley. Hope everyone else is relatively unscathed. |
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Bitey bastards
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♥Aug. 6th, 2019 // 05:24 pm♥
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Over the years, I've got used to the regular cycle of bitey bastards that we get here.
The horse flies come first, from mid-June to mid-July. They mean that I have to keep GB's hat on all the time, or he'll get an eye infection, and both the boys need to wear fly sheets on sunny days, and I average one bite a day from the little (enormous) buggers.
Next, it's the harvest mites. They only bother GB, the poor thing, and give him nasty scabs on his feet and muzzle. They appear from about mid-July to mid-August, although his poor immune system means that it's often into October before all the scabs are properly healed. I put Frontline (dog flea spray) on his feet, which helps a bit.
After that, it's the ninja bugs. The ninja bugs seem to be silent, invisible and immune to fly spray. I have no idea what they actually are. They most often come in the night, and love to suck my blood, leaving me with tasteful red bullseye marks, which then fade to just a red circle that itches like anything for a few days. They start in mid-August, and go on until the weather gets cooler in mid- or late September.
So with all that in mind, how is it that in the last few days I've been bitten by both horse flies and ninja bugs, while at the same time GB's face is covered with scabs?
ION, we had a BBQ, it was nice, thank you to people who came along! |
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Where did the second half of July go?
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♥Aug. 1st, 2019 // 08:36 pm♥
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It disappeared into a pit of Too Bloody Hot, mostly. My feeble English self is not very good at 34C, and there was a lot of lying on the sofa whimpering quietly.
On the plus side, the garden appreciated it (and the two days of heavy rain that came when it broke). On the minus side, so did the weeds in the garden, and I lost a week of gardening at just the wrong time of the year. I did manage a very little gardening, and found a 'nest' of snails under a shrub in the back garden, which the ducks were very pleased about.
The tomatoes, in particular, have finally got over the bloody awful June, and the cherry varieties are finally producing:
The yellow ones are a new-to-us variety called Millefleur, and they live up to the name. The trusses are enormous, and covered in dozens of tiny yellow tomatoes.
(Speaking of tomatoes: I was talking to someone who was of the opinion that bush tomatoes are doing much better than vine with the weather we've had this summer. As it turns out, I've only got vine this year: anyone growing both?)
We also picked our first home-grown sweet cherries this year, which was very exciting:
In a change from recent years, GB also decided to dress appropriately for the weather, and actually finished shedding last year's winter coat before starting to grow this year's. Not bad for mid-30s:
We have a new bedroom carpet, and Bob has a matching new bed, and the bedroom is now done until the shutters arrive (hopefully, shortly after Worldcon).
There was, I'm sure, other stuff in there as well. We had some visitors, and have more imminently. We went to a lovely BBQ, and have another one imminently.
It's Worldcon soon, and there has been a certain amount of getting ready for that. Fortunately, there's another week and a bit to go, so maybe I'll manage to get something done in the garden.... |
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Unexpected
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♥Nov. 21st, 2018 // 03:29 pm♥
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We woke up to a little bit of snow this morning:
(As you can see, we've been working on circles recently!)
Only a very little bit, but we've never had snow nearly this early before. |
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Not-Novacon
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♥Nov. 14th, 2018 // 08:39 pm♥
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It was Novacon last weekend, but Mike went without me: November sucks, I'd rather stay at home in the torrential rain. No, wait, hang on.
Anyway: sorry to anyone who was hoping to see me there.
Instead of Novacon, we had a very select Crafty Day here, which featured Bob barking furiously for five minutes and then spending the rest of the day trying to climb onto people's laps and/or steal their food. Thank you to the people who came, braving the flooded roads and ferocious hound!
Having spent the last few sessions fiddling with various wonkinesses, my Pilates instructor decided yesterday that we were going to actually do some work. I am now sore. Must get back into doing more at home.
On Friday, on the way out to the Kent quilt show, I put my coat on and something jabbed me in the arm. I assumed it was a bit of hay caught on my top, although I couldn't find it. Half an hour later, I had a big red lump on my arm, and it's still slightly itchy/sore. Can only assume it was a solitary bee or wasp that came into the porch and decided my coat made a good place to hibernate. I'll have to remember to shake them out before putting them on in future.
Magrat is very unhappy about the reduced number of minions, and is spending a lot of time shouting her complaints. Unfortunately, Ella has taken the opportunity, now that the muscovies are no longer outnumbered, to assert herself, and keeps chasing poor Maggers out of the house every evening when they go to bed. Fortunately, they're not hens and the associated pecking is pretty ineffectual. |
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Definitely autumn now
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♥Nov. 4th, 2018 // 03:13 pm♥
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We had a couple of -3-4C nights this week, so even the tomatoes in the polytunnel got frosted. The dining table's now covered in green tomatoes, some of which have started to change colour enough that they will ripen over the next week or so, and this afternoon we've taken the cover off the polytunnel for the winter.
Today we also took Bob to a training session for reactive dogs, with two other dogs, which might have been moderately useful if we only ever walked him by ambling around in a large, path-less field in which all the other dogs kept a good distance away and were on leads. I struggle to think of how that would be a normal dog-walking situation.
The trainer pretty much ignored everything we said about Bob and how / when he reacts, and showed us a *marvellous* method for keeping his attention, which worked brilliantly but also got him so hyped up that he drew blood pawing at her hand and then started to jump up at her, like we've spent six months training him not to do. Oh, and only worked if you were in a large, path-less field, and wouldn't actually be useful if the thing you were trying to do was 'walk past the other dog', you know, like people have to do when they're walking down the road or along a path.
I don't think we'll be back. |
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Three months on...
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♥Aug. 8th, 2018 // 10:12 am♥
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Today, it is not stupidly hot! It is still a little on the warm side, but it's definitely an improvement.
Last night's forecast thunderstorms scooted off up the channel instead, so we just got an hour or so of light rain, but hopefully tomorrow's rain will be as good as the forecast says....
In the veg bed, I've given up entirely on the peas. The French beans are doing very well, the runners and borlotti's not so good. The butternut squash are loving it, the courgettes are doing ok (we have enough for us, but we're not giving them away like we usually do). The sweetcorn is doing ok but not brilliantly, which I suspect is because we chose the wrong spot for it (too shaded). The tomatoes are doing great, and the peppers are just starting to ripen. We've had one aubergine so far, but there are some more that are getting close to ripe. |
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Before and after
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♥Jul. 29th, 2018 // 03:03 pm♥
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I've also been taking advantage of the Aga being back on to grill some courgette slices to go in the fridge and make some courgette goop.
It's mostly been raining here, today, just what the grass needs. I even put a jumper on for a little while this morning: bliss! I am a bit concerned about the wind, though. I've already picked up one blown-over tomato plant on the patio, and I had to do a lot of re-tying in the polytunnel last night, so we've closed it up for the first time in months.
GB's celebrating high summer by finally getting rid of his winter coat. I expect he'll start growing a new one in a couple of weeks.
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Hurrah!
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♥Jul. 27th, 2018 // 07:44 pm♥
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We've had a whole 1.5mm of rain since 6 June.
Hopefully this storm will stick around for a bit and make up for it. |
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34.5C
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♥Jul. 26th, 2018 // 04:58 pm♥
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Hot.
After finishing off the peas, Zu Zu ate my spring-sown sweetpeas, just as they were finding their feet. Would be contemplating duck soup but have turned Aga off.
Have small mountain of tomatoes. Would be making passata but have turned Aga off.
Have no brain.
Too hot. |
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Things, unsuccessfully, attempted in the last week
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♥Jul. 10th, 2018 // 08:34 pm♥
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1) Doing anything in the hot weather (today, gardening, horse-riding and dog-walking were done for the first time in a week).
Bob seemed utterly unconcerned by this, and didn't even run around the field more than usual in the evenings. Benny thought it was a marvellous idea, and was quite put out this morning when his tack made an appearance; the hot-foot thing seems to have been a red herring, and I now suspect that he caught it jumping into the field as it's not happened again since.
2) Growing asparagus peas (well, they actually grew just fine, it was the eating part that didn't work out: not a bad flavour, but an utterly horrible mouth-feel. Have pulled them up and put regular peas in their place. Which the rabbits ate the tops off. Sigh).
3) Eating all the courgettes (note to self: must start making courgette goop to freeze. We did try courgette fritters, as apparently you can freeze the grated courgette with no problems, but they were kind of bland in both taste and texture).
4) Making a tasty drink by putting cherries in white wine for a week, decanting and adding a splash of vodka (works wonderfully with cherry leaves in wine, or fruit in vodka; fruit in wine leaves both the liquid and the fruit almost entirely tasteless. Very pretty colour liquid, though).
5) Mike going to work (he Did Something to his back a few weeks ago, and it was a bit sore (physio said he'd strained a muscle and to give it time), but then last week he Did Something More and had to take to his bed for a couple of days. NHS Minor Injuries, in a fit of evidence-based medical advice, told him to go and see a chiropractor. He's much better now, though, so hopefully if he's careful then he'll be back to normal soon).
6) Eating the first tomato of the season (bah, blossom end rot. It doesn't seem to be too widespread, though, so I'll be making passata soon). |
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Busy busy
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♥Jun. 27th, 2018 // 01:57 pm♥
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We had Mike's family visiting over the weekend, so it's all been a bit busy. Still, it seemed to go well.
Bob did very well, once he'd settled down after people arrived. He's very noticeably more barky at men, especially if they have beards. Fortunately, the dog-phobic visitor found the combination of howling and wagging tail to be very amusing, and even brought herself to feed him a treat, so that was good. The kids made a huge fuss of him, which he seemed to enjoy tremendously (at least, he didn't get up and walk off after a few minutes, like Jo would have).
( The Bob theorising bit )
( The horse theorising bit )
Before that, I'd ridden Benny in the school, just some dressage basics in walk. He was being a bit of an idiot about going into one corner, by the orchard, which makes me wonder if our grass snake is back. I'm very pleased if so, because it can help the little owl to keep the rodent population down:
(Ok, it's a bit Sammy The Brown Pixel, but he's quite shy so I took that from the house! Click to embiggen. Which is now a word!)
After I'd ridden, while we were waiting for the Back Lady, I shut the gates to the field and the road and left them by the school, where the grass is in need of a trim. When I went back half an hour later to get them, GB was mooching around in the school (he quite likes to have a little run around in there for old times' sake, and he *loves* to have a good roll on the nice big, flat, soft surface) and Benny was... standing in the middle of the field eating grass. I suppose, if he's going to jump the gate, it's better that he goes into the field rather than out of it...? (I'm reminded of the way he tried to jump into the field when we first got him.)
Other things? I've been saying for a good year that there's something wrong with a couple of keys on my Macbook keyboard, and a couple of weeks ago the spacebar started to go iffy as well, which is good timing as apparently they've now admitted that it's a Thing and will (hopefully, as this is the original and worst design) give me a new keyboard: handy, as I've now had this for long enough that the keycaps are wearing off!
My wrists are misbehaving. They were really bad a couple of weeks ago (I always struggle at this time of year, from weeding), but seemed to have improved. I am finding that my right hand is going numb whenever I drive or ride, which is annoying. I've been off the sewing, because of this (and visitors), but have done two swans so far.
My mother said the other day (from Greece) that my sister said that their lawn was all brown, because it had been so dry. I woke up today to the news that the moors are burning, so I guess it really has been dry there. Hope they manage to get it under control. I'm quite glad that my brother-in-law is retired from the fire service. |
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Variations on a theme
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♥May. 31st, 2018 // 05:51 pm♥
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Mike bought me some veg-box irises today, and I thought they'd look nice with some ox-eye daisies (which grow wild behind the barn, and are having a fabulous year). While I was out with my trug and scissors, I went to get the year's first vase of sweetpeas and picked a few other flowers for the house as well.
It was only later that I realised I had a bit of a colour theme going!
 
 
Also in the garden, Mike (fortunately) noticed this morning that something (probably a black and white something) had dug into the pile of manure that the squash are planted into, burying one of the plants. He excavated and re-planted it, and now we have our fingers crossed that it will survive.
Bob's stitches came out this afternoon, and tomorrow we're going to see the doggy shrink behaviourist, to see if we can start to make some progress on the idea of not trying to kill Evil Dogs on sight. In fact, he was very good at the vet, even though there were plenty of other dogs in the waiting room, possibly because we made sure to keep him a good few feet away from them at all times.
The weather here has been very odd this week: warm and foggy overnight and for much of the morning, occasional thunder showers, hot and steamy when the sun manages to burn through the clouds. I didn't ride this morning because I could barely see the far end of the school, and didn't ride this afternoon because we had a downpour so he'll be soggy. We've cancelled tomorrow morning's riding lesson, because the rain warning has been extended and even if it is dry then I'm sure that the fog will be back. Still, it's good grass-growing weather! |
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Hot!
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♥Apr. 20th, 2018 // 07:49 pm♥
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GB never looks at his best at this time of year: when all the other horses are shedding their winter coats, he's grimly hanging on to his for dear life. To make up for being three times too long, his winter coat is three times weaker than it should be, so he gets lots of bald patches (fewer now that he's not being ridden), and so generally looks like a very beloved teddybear by the spring.
The hot weather has not helped at all:
First BBQ of the year this evening, and we even ate outside! |
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It's positively tropical....
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♥Mar. 3rd, 2018 // 02:49 pm♥
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Well, temperate anyway. We've not got the fire lit!
It's been above freezing all day here, and we even had a bit of sun this morning (after the mist had cleared), although it's clouded over again now.
The snow is mostly gone from around the house, although fortunately it's not due to freeze again tonight as there are a few slush patches.
The boys even got to go in the field, albeit with plenty of hay to keep them going, after Mike went out there with a lump hammer to break the ice on the troughs:
(GB does like rolling in snow, the daft old bugger. The field's almost entirely snow-free, now.)
The ducks are *much* happier, and are having a nice rootle around in the stableyard rather than sitting, shivering, in their pond and trying to avoid the icebergs.
The outside pipes have defrosted, which is good, but not-entirely-surprisingly the last bit of copper piping has burst. On the plus side, the outside piping will be entirely plastic after we get it repaired, but I suspect that that will take a few days as there are people with rather more urgent plumbing problems even if it weren't the weekend. We got by this morning with duct tape, and I plan to have a go at sticking a g-clamp on it as well to try and get the hole better covered. |
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Brrr
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♥Feb. 28th, 2018 // 10:22 am♥
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Yesterday, the forecast for overnight was -7C, so we were expecting our usual 'bloody cold' temperature of -10C or so.
Our weather station consistently reads a couple of degrees warmer than the actual temperature, and when Mike got up this morning it was saying -15C....
We weren't expecting it to be so cold, so we hadn't turned the outside water off or drained the pipes. Fingers crossed there are no problems when it eventually thaws, but this morning Mike ended up filling the water buckets in the house and carrying them out to the stableyard. I, meanwhile, learnt that it's harder to muck out when the poo is frozen solid, because it bounces off the fork rather than squishing into place on it.
We also had another inch or so of snow overnight, so we could see where a bunny had come looking for food:
Benny would very much like it if we stopped playing silly buggers and put the grass back:
Jo would have loved this weather, poor thing. |
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We're not snowed in....
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♥Feb. 27th, 2018 // 06:38 pm♥
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We've just chosen not to try to go anywhere!
(The ducks were very unhappy. They were finding it difficult to walk around, and spent the day huddled in the polytunnel where the netting had kept the snow off the ground.) |
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Things not happening (bad and good)
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♥Jan. 18th, 2018 // 07:54 pm♥
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We still haven't got a new food waste bin. Mike chased them last week and they said 'oops, it's showing as a closed job on our system, we'll get one out to you', and then again today when they said 'we've just run out, we'll have more the second week of February'. Sigh.
I'm still wrangling with Parcelmonkey about two of the Christmas parcels, and have concluded they they're a great service as long as nothing goes wrong but will then do anything to avoid paying out on insurance. The one that just vanished (and was marked as having been signed for by 'destroyed') they're still trying to get a response from the courier about, and won't open a claim until they do (so, never then). The one that arrived soaked with water and smashed they have, so far, told me that the photo of some of the contents 1) shows no damage, 2) only shows one damaged item, a glass jar of jam and they don't cover food (fair enough, in the T&Cs), 3) does actually show damage to non-food but it's where the (bright purple) jam has caused (colourless, water) damage to a book. Then they asked me to send a photo of the paper that the book had been wrapped in. Then they said they'd pay for the book but nothing else. I pointed out the value of the other non-food items, the packaging, and the shipping cost. They said they'd pay for the book and nothing else. I am here eliding the several-week-long gaps where they completely ignore my messages. I suspect that I'll be Writing Them A Letter shortly.
Jo hasn't thrown up since we took her to the vet, which is marvellous news. She has, however, got very stiff where she's been off her (potentially tummy-upsetting) metacam. I spoke to the nurse yesterday and got the ok to start her back on it, so she had a half dose last night and a normal one this morning. She seems fine (if still a bit hobbly), although I can hear her tummy making slightly worrying noises as I type. Actually, that might be snoring. Not sure....
Much to our surprise, neither our phones nor our power went out overnight / this morning, although the people down the road were without power for much of the day. We don't seem to have taken any damage, which is good, and even managed an hour in the garden this afternoon: out of the wind, it's been quite nice in the sun.
Oh, buggerit. They've just announced a bird 'flu prevention order. Here we go again.... Better hope that we don't have to keep the boys in the stableyard as much as we have been doing recently, because the ducks will have to stay in there for the duration. |
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Name that book
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♥Jan. 5th, 2018 // 07:32 pm♥
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Failing generation star ship that actually turns out to be a prison ship in orbit around Earth, which kinda explains why the society is so seriously unpleasant and criminal. Weird religious women live in the upper levels, possibly in the dark, and they have a Token Male who must Suffer on behalf of all men (eg, leather collar with broken glass on the inside). Particularly nasty criminal gangs live at the bottom. Everyone else huddles in between and, eg, trades for old pairs of shoes. Some of them use the guards' shuttle to go back to Earth, where they're arrested (? taken away, anyway) even though they were born on the ship. Ring any bells? Edit: James P Smythe: Way Down Dark, thank you ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) groliffe!
This morning, we had a riding lesson. It was a bit damp, but we went ahead with it anyway for about five minutes. Then it started hailing, the mares over the road went nuts, Benny froze and looked terrified, and we gave up. (On the plus side, that was the absolute worst behaviour I've ever seen from him, and he was perfectly safe and didn't do anything except panic quietly.)
Benny also had a visit from the dentist today, which he did not like at all, although he again wasn't in any way dangerous. Dentist has done enough to sort him out but would like him to be sedated for next year's visit so that he can get it really perfect and just needing a bit of maintenance subsequently.
Mike says that I am weird because my stomach hurts when I'm hungry.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 20 Does your stomach hurt when you get hungry? |
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Decided not to ride this morning....
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♥Dec. 10th, 2017 // 02:46 pm♥
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GB Not Terribly Impressed:
(It turned to rain at about 10am, and it's all gone now. Of course, now we have a severe weather warning for wind instead....) |
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More weather
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♥Dec. 1st, 2017 // 01:39 pm♥
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Today has been rather changeable, weather-wise: we had rain, hail and sleet just while we were getting the boys ready to go into the field, which rather scuppered my plan to ride Benny first thing.
After we'd mucked out, though, the sun came out and I thought I'd take a chance on it staying there.
I think that was the only decent dry hour of the day, so I'm glad that I decided to risk it!
Mike even had a little ride around on him, for the first time since we got him home. |
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Definitely autumnal...
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♥Sep. 10th, 2017 // 06:01 pm♥
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- fungi in the woods
- misty mornings
- light rugs on the boys overnight (and associated repeatedly checking the rain radar to see when we should bring them in to make sure they don't get caught in a shower just before the rugs go on them)
- no longer need to water the garden
- two evening haynets for the boys
- bringing them down the hill on my own when Mike's in London
- entrance to ex-Mrs Up The Hill's field turned into a swamp....
So, today we moved the boys back into our field. That meant a busy morning: leave the boys in the stableyard; go up the hill for a final poo pick and taking down the electric fence; put the electric fence back up in our field (the grass is still growing, so we'll put them in a small bit of it for a month or so and then start strip grazing for the winter); point out to the boys that the gate to the field is now open and watch them charge in to start noshing).
I've also started the sloe gin, which will be much more abundant than last year. It somehow seems wrong to be picking them so early, but some of the ones we picked today were almost over-ripe.
It's nearly time for jelly making, once we've fitted in a day scrumping on the common. The chilli one last year was quite a hit, and the patio chillis have done well (unlike the conservatory ones, which are pathetic), and I've not made a sloe one for a few years (and have plenty of sloes still in our hedge if needed). I probably want one more, suggestions welcome.... |
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Ah, the English weather
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♥Aug. 30th, 2017 // 01:25 pm♥
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Yesterday, Mike walked Jodie before he went to work, which was a good call: it got up to 31C, and she wouldn't have liked to walk in that.
Today, I decided against putting on my Barbour, even though it's long enough to meet the top of my boots, because I thought I might be a bit too warm in it. I also decided against putting raincoats on the boys, because I was worried they'd be hot.
It turns out that these were both mistakes.
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Rain!
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♥Jul. 11th, 2017 // 05:49 pm♥
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It's raining! And the forecast is for it to keep doing so all night! (Maybe now the fertiliser that Mr Farmer put on the field the other week will actually get washed into the ground: radical concept!)
The swallows have fledged their chicks. We suspect that the wrens have as well, but they vanished fairly quickly. The swallows, on the other hand, are still around and learning how to fly: we keep walking into stables to be met by confused birds trying to avoid flying into us.
I'm a wee bit worried about Esk, who seems to be having some difficulties in the egg department: she keeps laying wonky ones, and a couple of days ago she produced two in one afternoon, the second with a rather squidgy shell that Jo was very pleased to receive. Mind you, that was the same day when we found one that Agnes had laid actually in the pond, so, y'know....
This afternoon, I had my first private session with my new Pilates instructor. I'm rather tired now. I think it'll work out, though: I've booked another session! |
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I had thought it was cooler today...
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♥Jul. 8th, 2017 // 06:18 pm♥
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... but we've just been up the hill to get the boys down, with detour to get the ragwort* out of the Up The Hill's once-and-maybe-future veg garden**, and now I've changed my mind....
We had been going to go to the County Show on Friday, but decided that tomorrow looked cooler and so better for Jo (and me!). It now looks as though we'll have to leave her at home anyway.
* It's next to the road, and I noticed some while walking past the other day, so I sent a text asking if I could get it out before it went to seed: the seed would have blown straight onto the summer pasture, and just led to more work next year.
** The old Up The Hills had a veg garden there, it's currently something of a jungle featuring head-high nettles, willow herb and St John's Wort. Apparently, the girls have been exploring it but I'm probably the first adult to go down there in a year. If they have, they must be getting very used to nettle stings. |
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Hot hot hot...
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♥Jun. 17th, 2017 // 08:17 pm♥
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This morning, we went up to the summer pasture and set up the electric fence (to keep the boys away from the (rickety and barbed-wire-topped) real fence), and then took them up there. It was quite warm. As ever, they spurned the water trough up there and so drank all the water in the stableyard when they came back down. Sigh. (It always takes them a few weeks to deign to drink from the trough up there, presumably because it tastes different: it's a stone trough when they're used to plastic, and/or the water doesn't go through the softener that treats our water.)
I'm a little concerned by Agnes, aka Limpy McDinosaur Duck. She's being even limpier than usual, and holding her wings very strangely as she hobbles around the place, and when she's lying down she's been wibbling her beak and twitching her wings. I was half thinking I'd pick her up for a quick check when we put them to bed, even though she hates being handled, but she made it easy by getting most of the way to their house and then just collapsing with a splat on the ground. Couldn't find anything obviously wrong, and I'm not going to be calling a weekend evening vet for her, but I am quite worried that she's suddenly got much worse. Fingers crossed that the magic 'pick her up to see what's wrong' cure will work and she'll be better tomorrow.
The garden, on the other hand, is going along well. The polytunnel's looking very green, and there's at least one actual tomato set on the early russian variety:
(10th May, to compare: they have grown!)
We've also got actual you-could-eat-those baby courgettes, very teeny squash, lots of tomatillo cases with baby fruit inside, and runner bean flowers. This afternoon, we shared the first mange tout of the season. The wild strawberries by the riding school are also doing well, and the jar of strawberries in vodka is filling up nicely.
I have been appreciating my hammock, which is on the grass in the shade, and so lovely and cool. I *almost* came inside to get a light blanket when I was in it a couple of days ago! |
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Here are some things that have happened
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♥Jun. 12th, 2017 // 03:59 pm♥
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Last Tuesday, it rained. It rained lots and lots and lots. Because he is a special snowflake, GB decided that it was nice weather for a walk and so Mike and I spent an hour or so walking around the stableyard in circles until the vet arrived and gave him some drugs.... I'm increasingly convinced that he gets gassy when the air pressure changes rapidly, because this is by no means the first time that he's had a colic in the pouring rain after a sunny spell. And then there was the time he did it in the snow.
Anyway, he was fine fairly soon after the vet did her thing, so no harm done! (It was also Little Quilt Club that day, so I missed going to that for the morning: bah. On the other hand, if I had gone then Mike wouldn't have had the car to go and collect people, so....)
While we were enjoying our lovely walk, our incoming visitors, who were cycling to see us, phoned to ask if we could possibly go and get them from where they'd spent the night. Once the vet had been, Mike did so, and shortly afterwards the rain (inevitably) stopped.
Still, we had a nice visit, including a trip to The Sportsman, which we'd never previously been to as we'd not got around to booking a table sufficiently far ahead. It was quite nice, but I'm not sure we'll be rushing back, and we weren't terribly impressed by the veggie-friendly-ness of the menu (which didn't have any veggie mains, although when we asked they were able to make two of the starters into mains).
We went to see a possibly horse (not Git Face; someone who managed to co-ordinate better with the owner's schedule got in before us and he's sold), who was terribly nervous of Jo. We put Jo back in the car, but he was still terribly nervous: not actually doing anything, but very tense. While the woman was riding him for us to watch, Mike said "I'm not sure I want to get on him," and I said "I'm not very sure that I do, either," so we said thank you and went home instead.
We've sent off some soil samples from our field for testing, in preparation for getting Mr Farmer to fertilise it when we've moved the boys up the hill to their summer quarters.
My hands seem to have got over their over-use, and I've been able to do some weeding and some sewing, which is a relief. I'm slightly concerned that the tomatoes in the polytunnel aren't setting fruit. We have been leaving one of the doors open, so there are insects in there, but it's possible that we need to open the other one for a few hours each day to get a bit more pollination going.
Today, we've had more visitors, but just for the afternoon. It turns out that iPads make small children much more easy to entertain than I had feared, and that running down our field is terribly fun but walking back up it in order to do so again is less interesting. Horses are a bit big and scary up close, though, which GB would probably be happy about if he realised: he was very grumpy this morning when I put his saddle on and rode him twice around the stableyard to check he would be up to a pony ride, but it turned out not to be necessary in the end.
I realise now that that's probably the last time he'll ever be ridden. |
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Things we have done
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♥May. 17th, 2017 // 08:11 pm♥
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The swallows have come back: we've seen lots of activity in the last few days, including plenty of flying in and out of the stable, so we didn't scare them off. Phew!
The bird 'flu restrictions are, finally, over, which is also a big phew. The ducks are very happy to be back in the garden, and it's meant that we could put the boys in the stableyard, which was getting rather overgrown, so that the field could have a rest. It's currently raining steadily, and set to keep doing so for a few more hours (another phew!), so hopefully the grass will be able to get a bit of growing done tomorrow without being instantly munched back to nothing.
It's been quite hot for the last couple of days, so the Jug Of Minty Water has reappeared in the fridge:
It was much appreciated this afternoon when I came in from weeding the jungle front bed, which is always a sod and got away from me rather this winter, not helped by the lack of ducks disturbing the weeds. It's taken me a week, but at least it's not quite a Forth Bridge job.
I finished off the quilt from my workshop:
("How did you get it done so quickly?" someone asked me at a fabric sale last weekend. "I've had my mother-in-law staying..." I replied. Then she mocked me because I was carrying bolts of fabrics in two solid greys and three beige patterns, so I picked up a plain teal as well and bought some just to show her!)
Does anyone fancy having a go at some orchid identification? I'm stumped by this one, which is potentially more troubling than it would otherwise be as it's in the field we borrow in the summer and I don't want to let the boys near it if it's rare!
It's probably just an odd common spotted, but.... It's not monkey or military, or an insect one. The pink buds make it look like a burnt, which I don't think we get around here and the petals aren't right for anyway. The petal colours look a bit like a chalk fragrant, which is local, but the shape is wrong. That pink border, and the lobe shape, have me quite stumped. It *might* be a lady, but I can't see any 'arms'. They do have the pink buds, and the two-lobes on the petals, though. Hmm. I might go and have another look at it tomorrow.... |
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All change
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♥May. 10th, 2017 // 03:19 pm♥
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I've just got around to taking the LJ links out of my style sheet. I guess I've really given up on it, now! One of these days, I suppose I should switch to using a modern style: I'm still on a legacy LJ S2 style....
I had Quilt Club at weekend, including a class on Sunday (fortunately, it turned out that the speaker / tutor was far better at the latter than at the former) where we did a modern take on log cabin blocks.
This is what the class produced:
(Mine are the six entirely beige/grey ones about just over half way up the left hand side of the table. "That fabric's very... grey," said Teddy in disapproval when I showed it to him.)
I've done a bit more on it since, and am probably going to do a bit more again shortly. It's been quite interesting, and I'm enjoying it far more than 'proper' log cabin blocks on account of not having to be super careful about cutting the fabric to exactly the right size.
Mostly today I've been gardening. I've potted on almost all the tomatillos and most of the small chillis, and I've planted out the tomatoes, aubergines and peppers in the polytunnel:
(We did have a frost last night, but the thermometer in there recorded a low of 0.0C with the doors open, so they should be safe.)
Unfortunately, I did it a bit on autopilot and forgot that The Plan was to put one of each tomato variety outside thus leaving a grow bag spare for the big chillis, so they'll have to go in the conservatory instead. Which means that it's a good job that I didn't have enough compost to pot on all the tomatillos, as I'll need pots to do that!
Now that I've watered them all in, the polytunnel smells even more of wet dog than it did before (from the old carpet underneath): lovely! Hopefully the bits of the irrigation system that are on back order will arrive soon, so that I don't have to do too much hose-pipe watering.
(Jo was very helpful: after coming in the polytunnel once and knocking half a dozen plants over she decided that it wasn't a good place to be and scampered around the garden instead, where she's probably dug up something that she shouldn't have. On the plus side, she did hear a delivery driver that I didn't, so I was able to dash out and get the package. It's amazing how quickly the driver ran back down the path and through the gate when she bounded into the front garden barking.)
Jo and I are on our own today, as Mike's taken his mother to Belgium for an overnight stay. My grandad's had a partial hip replacement, the op seems to have gone well but he's quite confused and groggy. He should be ok as long as he doesn't pull any of his usual hospital tricks (eg, pulling his drip out, ordering taxis to collect him, attacking the nurses), but the chances of that aren't great given his past form. |
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Bits and coughs
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♥May. 4th, 2017 // 10:10 am♥
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My post-Eastercon stomach bug turned into a post-Eastercon cold, which several other people have also been complaining about.
I'm getting better, I think, but I've thought that several times now and then woken up the next day feeling grotty again. This has led to quite a lot of lying on the sofa feeling pathetic and not very much actual getting things done. The weather has cooperated with this: we've finally had some rain, after an entirely dry month, which is very good and means that the grass is finally growing in the field. This also means that the weeds are taking over the flower beds, and neither feeling grotty nor the weather is conducive to doing anything about them.
And we still haven't planted up the polytunnel, but we have an excuse in the form of the irrigation system, which should have been here yesterday but isn't yet, and which probably needs to be in place before the plants go in, to avoid disturbing or damaging them when we try to get it figured out.
GB also got a bit neglected in there: going away and then being ill meant that he didn't get ridden for about ten days in a row, and I'm afraid that that might have been too long for him. We've had three goes on him since, most recently this morning, and he's not doing very well. A couple of times, he's also nearly gone down on his bum when trotting down the hill at bed time. I'm going to wait for a warmer day and then have a go on him in the afternoon, when he's had plenty of time in the field to get rid of any stiffness, but I fear it won't be much better and it'll finally be time to officially retire him.
It's not been all bad, though: in there we've had some visitors, both overnight and for the day, been out to Margate to see an exhibition that wasn't as much as we'd expected about textiles but was quite interesting anyway and gave me a few things to think about (coffmayhaveboughtanewloomcoff). We also hosted various fannish crafty types for a day of crafty things, during which staggering amounts of tea were consumed (at least until we ran out) even when you allow for the fact that Mike and I kept forgetting to ask if more was wanted....
Coming up in the next week: Quilt Club, and a workshop, and then Mike's Mother is coming to stay. So nice and recuperative, then.
LJ has reset my cookie, and I'm presuming that logging in will require TOS agreement, so I've stopped reading there. |
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Ah, yes, the English weather
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♥Apr. 25th, 2017 // 03:09 pm♥
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Mike's just come in from mowing the lawn to let me know that it's snowing.
Edit: Aaaand now hail!
Lovely and sunny on the other side of the valley, though. |
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Ducks and flowers and decorators and seedlings
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♥Feb. 20th, 2017 // 08:02 pm♥
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I've just been looking at the bird 'flu guidance for when the current control order runs out (at the end of the month). Given that free-range birds can only be kept in for twelve weeks before they become barn-raised, which happens at the start of March, I was expecting some changes and had my fingers crossed that I'd be able to start feeding the ducks properly again. Actually, though, they're just officially permitting what I was already doing on animal welfare grounds....
So, it looks like they'll not be getting ad-lib food until at least May. They don't like this at all, and my first duck egg of the year is getting further and further away. I'm very jealous of Mrs Farmer, who moved her hens into an unused polytunnel and is getting far better egg production than usual for the time of year.
In more pleasing spring-time news, yesterday we noticed that one of the dwarf irises on the drive was about to flower and a few more had green flower spikes. We went out at lunchtime today to see that half a dozen of them had suddenly burst into bloom. Oddly, the flowers last year came out the day we went to Eastercon and were pretty much over when we got back. It's been a cold winter this year, and was warm last, so I can only think that it's because they're better established this year: last year was their first.
The decorators have been hard at work on the living room today, and there's one coat of fresh paint on everything. We're camping out in the study: it's not a very small room, and would probably be fine with just the two sofas and coffee/side tables in it. Those plus the usual two desks and masses of books, though, are making things very cosy. Jo is bemused but coping.
Tomorrow, I'm going to pot on the first of this year's veg seedlings. Fingers crossed for a better spring / early summer than last year, and resultant shelves full of passata and other bottled stuff. |
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Fine weather for quilting
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♥Jan. 22nd, 2017 // 05:58 pm♥
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Weather and Mike playing Skyrim mean I've been making great progress with a hand quilting project: it just seems like the right sort of weather to be sitting with a quilt on my lap. And a blanket underneath it.
The boys didn't get any carrots today:
They nearly didn't get any water, but fortunately we decided that we didn't quite believe the Met Office's assurances that the freezing fog would clear Real Soon Now and saved the left-over water from yesterday. That meant that, when the garage tap failed to thaw out in the non-existent sunshine, we only had to carry a couple of buckets over from the house to top things up.
(As I usually do, I posted the picture into a private LJ post using the LJ app and then edited the post to copy the html to a DW post, before deleting the LJ post. (Shh, this is actually the easiest workflow I've managed to find). Oddly, today when I opened the LJ app it gave me a message about authentication and demanded that I log back in, but repeatedly failed to let me do so. On a whim, I tried posting anyway and it worked. Suspect that this is not the intended behaviour.) |
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Still chilly
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♥Jan. 20th, 2017 // 06:06 pm♥
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Part of the reason it's so chilly down here is because this is what it looks like at 9:30 in the morning:
We have one of the horses' water buckets by the school, for when they're turned out nearby. This afternoon, we were intrigued to see how frozen it was, so we tipped it out to have a look:
(I managed to ride GB a little this afternoon, for the first time in a while. I was going to try yesterday but the school was still like concrete when they were due to come in. He was doing ok other than occasional stumbles when he stepped on a lump of sand and it confused him by not squooshing down like it normally does.)
Still, the good news is that "temperatures are set to plummet to -7C in rural areas" tonight, so at least it'll be warmer than it has been. Um. Right? |
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Brr
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♥Jan. 18th, 2017 // 06:47 pm♥
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It's been quite chilly here (yesterday, on the evening weather forecast, they mentioned that the afternoon had been sunny with a high of 13 in Scotland, and sunny with a high of 1 in Kent...), and we think that last night may have been the coldest since we moved here: the ducks' water bucket, inside the duck house inside the stable, was frozen over this morning, and when Mike did the animals' water this afternoon the garage tap (which gets the sun, unlike the stableyard one, which he didn't even try) took a while to run: both pretty much unheard of. (The weather station seems to be broken, so I don't have an exact figure. At least -10, maybe -12?)
Mike bought new carrots for the horses a couple of days ago, and yesterday I forgot to put some water in the bucket to store them (carrots keep better under water if it's -- ha ha -- warm weather). This morning, they were rather frosty looking, and the bucket of water from GB's stable that I poured over them had ice floating on the surface, with the end result that the carrots in the boys' dinners looked rather... chilly.
It turns out that the new people in the flat, who we've still not spoken more than a few words to for largely weather-related reasons, actually have three horses, all mares. Bugs was very interested in going to say hello when I brought the boys in past their field yesterday.
Jo had her first (this time around) swimming lesson today, a very easy session to get her back into it but she seemed happy enough and the physio was happy with how she looked in the water. |
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Ponies in the snow
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♥Jan. 13th, 2017 // 02:59 pm♥
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Bird 'flu
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♥Dec. 7th, 2016 // 01:25 pm♥
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It seems there's a bird 'flu outbreak in Europe, and Just In Case there are now restrictions on birds in England.
We can't practically keep the ducks indoors (the stable where they sleep is small and dark), so after a bit of a ponder we decided that they definitely have to stay out of the front garden, where there are far more wild birds. As (bad) luck would have it, this morning the horses had their annual dental check, so they were also in the stableyard for a while. As (good) luck would have it, we've been meaning to have a bonfire for a couple of weeks, so we rearranged the bonfire pile to make a barrier around the door to the duck's stable and just let them in the little patch of outside that resulted, with their food and water inside.
Magrat, in particular, complained loudly for the first couple of hours, but since then they seem to have just gone back to bed. They ate *most* of their breakfast, but it took them several hours to do so (they're not laying at the moment, so they're not so interested in food), which we can't really do: it won't be long before Stableyard Robin realises and starts popping over to finish it off.
After a couple of chats with Old Mother Farmer in the woods (she didn't have time for a long walk, so took a shorter route home, and then we met her again ten minutes later), I've decided that, although the guidance says that ducks should be treated as chickens and kept in, our ducks are so free range / wild that really more like geese / fancy wildfowl, which can't be kept indoors: I'm going to keep them out of the front garden but let them have the run of the stableyard, and I'm going to switch both of their meals to corn-in-the-stable in the hope that they'll eat more quickly.
I can't decide what to do about their pond, though. At the moment, it's in the stable and it's not been used all morning. I'd like to put it outside, but I know that if I do and (especially) if we have another cold snap then the birds will be drinking from it. Hmm.
Speaking of cold snaps, we had one: a week or so of frozen taps, riding arenas, and pretty much everything else. On the other hand, lovely sunny days and, best of all, hardly any mud!
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Possibly not my greatest success
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♥Nov. 19th, 2016 // 03:34 pm♥
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When I made the juice for the medlar jelly, we didn't have any apples in so I thought I'd just slosh in a bit of bottle pectin when I boiled it up today.
(Medlars do have some pectin, but not much.)
Today, though, I realised I'd finished the pectin when I made chilli jelly the other week and not bought any more. Hrm.
I stuck a bit of citric acid in, and the jars are currently in the fridge in the hopes that that will trigger a change from 'faintly gloopy' to 'very soft set', but I'm not hopeful.
And the first storm of the season has just arrived. With amber wind warnings overnight, I hope that the phone and power stay up! |
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Things
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♥Nov. 18th, 2016 // 06:36 pm♥
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Novacon was mostly nice, and fairly quiet, but involved late nights (as ever).
I decided that I wasn't enjoying my pilates class enough to make up for the driving there and back in the dark part of the experience, so I've swapped to a different class (daytime), with a different instructor but at the same place. I had the first session yesterday and, even though the people in the class were generally creakier and less good, it was a much better workout. Fingers crossed.
TWWOTV is having various building work done. GB is unimpressed: he can hear it but not see it, so he's a bit stressed by it all, poor lad.
The house Up The Hill has finally completed on the sale, so we now have new Mr and Mrs Up The Hill, and two small girl children ditto. I'd better put together a little welcome hamper, though it's a shame the ducks are off lay.
I continue to be impressed with Freddie's Flowers. I've still got about half of the bunch from two weeks ago, and this is today's selection:
I've finished the little table runner I was making using English Paper Piecing. I enjoyed the actual EPP part of it but found hand quilting to be very tedious, fiddly, and hard on my hands; it is very lightly quilted as a result. Still, I'm quite pleased with it even if I did realise about three days ago that I'd cocked it up right at the beginning and have bought another pattern that I'd been vaguely admiring for some time.
For about six weeks now, I've had a plate full of this year's medlar crop sitting on a plate in the hall, bletting. Bletting is a bit like rotting only less so, and you have to let it happen for a couple of weeks in order to make the fruit usable. Today, I decided that they must have had long enough and took them to the kitchen to make jelly from. When I cut the fruit up, about a third of it looked like it was actually rotten, so I stuck that in the compost and put the rest on to simmer. An hour or so later, they were all still rock hard and the liquid was mostly colourless, which rang alarm bells: when I looked online, I discovered that actually my rotten ones were correct and the rest should have had longer to blet. Fortunately, they were only in the indoor compost bin, so I rinsed them off and stuck them in the pan with the rest and stuck them back in the Aga for another hour. The juice is draining off now, we'll see whether the jelly is actually usable tomorrow....
(Many of the recipes call for a mix of bletted and fresh medlars, if in the reverse of the proportions I ended up with, so it's hopefully not too much of a problem!)
It's definitely getting wintery, now, and we very much appreciated the fire this afternoon. On the other hand, my parents had about six inches of snow this morning, so it could be worse! |
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It got a bit windy last night
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♥Nov. 7th, 2016 // 03:52 pm♥
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Oops. |
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