Finally connected again.

Phew! I am finally back in here! We have had no Internet connection worth speaking about for the last week or so,  so it has all been a bit quiet around The Compost Bin. Thanks to Tony the BT engineer we seem to have at least an occasional connection at the moment - how long it will last I don't know.

 

Snow - do you have some? We do! I am getting very fed up with the lack of Spring - I want to be out in the garden digging and I can't as it is too wet and too cold just yet. Even in the Polytunnel it is really a bit too cold to be sowing the seeds I normally start about this time of year. Oh well, I hope we will all be able to catch up in the next few weeks.

 

 I have a post coming up about ponds and how lovely they are and why it is such a good thing to have one ( even a tiny pondlet) if you can possibly manage it, but for now I will just say a huge "Hello and welcome  to my more recent new followers :-) 

fostermummy

Tasmanian Minimalist the Closet Blitz Woman

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Fiona Moss

Kadeeae

Nikki Wall

Melanie Walton

bunny mummy

Seed Sava

erickett124

Fi Vickers

Frugal in Derbyshire

The Squirrel Family

Glenn

Linda Claxson

Karen

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sft

 

Thank you all for following me and I hope you find something interesting, entertaining  or thought provoking, here in The Compost Bin.  All comments are very gratefully received as well and I do try to reply to all the comments. ( when I have a connection, that is!) 

Being prepared for an emergency

I have had a few interested questions about why we have a generator and prepare for bad weather as much as we do. So, thought this might be an interesting post for you to read.

We live on a very minor, rural lane and can get snowed/iced in. Sometimes our lane floods ( not near us) and we can't get through to the main road. Even in good weather it is quite a distance to the nearest shop, garage, post office etc. So it is not easy to just " pop out" to the shops sometimes!


We lose power quite often and as we have a bore hole and septic tank here, both of which need power to run, we are in trouble if the power is off for too long. Likewise we have a lot of home grown produce stored in the freezers, which we don't want to spoil.

When we moved here, we realised we needed to build up stores of food, water, fuel, medicines, animal feed etc. We had lots of food, wind up torches, lamps and candles, a battery and a wind up radio and could cook on the Aga and woodburner (or even using the Kelly Kettle, outside, if all else failed!)  if the power went off for short times or if we could not get out of the lane.Obviously we also had clothes, bags, etc ready in case of an evacuation situation.

We thought that was enough. THEN we got caught out big time in Autumn 2002 when we had no power, after the terrible Oct storms, for more than a week.

We lost the entire contents of 3 freezers, which meant all the organic meat, home grown veg was lost- all of it apart from what we could cook and eat during that week and cook and freeze in a friend's freezer - but we still lost a lot of good food, which was very expensive to replace . (We also lost the Polytunnel cover in the gales - but that is another story!).

And without water or sewerage here (both of which need power to run) we rapidly used up the tank in the loft so no showers, no drinking water or washing water and as  Compostgirl was in washable nappies back in 2002 it all got a bit dire here! We could flush the toilets with a bucket of pond water, but even so it was all a bit difficult.

We didn't starve or go cold   - we had lots of food, bottled water, fuel, lamps and candles and could cook on the Aga and woodburner or camping gas ring , but rapidly realised we needed a higher state of preparedness than we had previously thought.

So we saved up and invested in a generator, and over the next few years we re arranged things so it will run the freezers for some of the day, the central heating can now be run off the genny as can the water and sewerage. We can also run the microwave and some lights off a circuit in the kitchen so by swapping what is plugged into the generator we can cook, have heating in upstairs at bedtime, keep the food frozen and get water and sewerage sorted. We can even watch TV or use a computer! It has taken a lot of thought and planning and re arranging though.

Another thing people forget nowadays with mobile phones is that they need power to charge up again - and  modern land line phones rely on mains electricity as well, whereas old style phones can still use the power coming down the telephone cable! So, we have made sure we always keep an "old" style phone to hand, ready to plug in, just in case . We just bought another one to replace our very old BT phone which died after 25 years of faithful service.

We also keep a stock of 5 l water bottles just in case - if all else fails I use them in the wood for drinks for people on my woodland courses. The bottles get re used for wine making and eventually recycled.

I also now dehydrate a lot more of the garden produce for storage, rather than using the freezer.

But with the increased renewable energy products we have added to the house comes a new set of "issues" - the solar thermal tubes are wonderful at providing free hot water BUT if the mains power goes off on a hot day the liquid inside the tubes can boil and tune into gloop - which would require a lot of work to flush out and make good again. At the moment if the mains power goes off  on a sunny day we would have to get the generator out to keep the system running - so Compostman has a scheme to make sure that the solar thermal system will still run even if the mains power goes off, so that is hot water in the summer taken care of.

We also don't get any electricity from the pv's if the mains electricity goes off - we would need an off grid battery system and a lot of side by side wiring systems to be able to use the electricity generated by the panels if our mains electricity went off and frankly it is not something we have got around to doing, yet.

I would love us to have battery back up from the pv's ...maybe next year?

Obviously all these stocks need to be checked , used up as their use by dates are reached and new stocks purchased to replace them.

I am sure we could do much more to be prepared for emergencies but that is what we have done so far, here. I am always on the look out for more ideas to do more.

What do you do to be prepared? Any of you have stockpiles, alternative or back up energy arrangements or such like?

Monday snow

Hello, all :-)

The Hens finally ventured out today, they were slightly mollified by my leading them to a patch of green grass ( I cover up patches of ground when it snows, so I can uncover grass especially for them!)

But then they went and sat grumbling in the Barn for an hour.  Ungrateful girls that they are, they jumped into a wheelbarrow of used bedding and flung it out all over the floor of the Barn, for me to find and clear up later.

And then they all trouped back inside the Mega Hen Pen and sulked.

I think they don't like the snow :-)

I also found that the netting on my netted Kale bed had collapsed with the weight of snow, damaging quite a few plants :-( so I picked off the broken tops and we will eat Kale for the next few days - the tops are deliciously tender and the side leaves will be turned into a kale, potato and chorizo soup tomorrow I think. Hopefully the side shoots will re grow on the stems still in the ground.


As there has been a slight thaw Compostgirl went to school ( both the school and the school bus obliged!) and we managed to get our car out of the drive and out of our (very icy indeed) lane onto the (clear) main road and into Ledbury to do some bits and pieces of shopping at lunchtime - I went to a charity shop and nearly got a lovely cashmere jumper, but someone else just beat me to it :-(

The pavement was very icy in Ledbury and lots of people were walking on the roads - dangerous but understandable I guess.

More snow forcast for here tonight so after chores we sat inside by the fire watching "Father Brown" and drinking hot chocolate. Anyone else watching "Father Brown" (on BBC1 at 2.10 pm) Really good!

Stay safe and warm, everyone.

Crochet and more crochet

 With the snow rather halting any work outside I have been doing a lot of this

Cutting up a couple of old, holey fleeces to make cushions for the cat carriers and yarn for a crochet cat blanket.

 Untangling my good Debbie Bliss yarn, where naughty Cassie cat has a play with it (Arrrggghhh!)

Sorting out lots of ends of aforementioned yarn to use up in granny squares.

using this pattern - nice and straightforward, although I have a fancier centre square and border squares planned!

 So far I am well ahead with my plan to crochet at least a square a day - I have done 25 squares so far since Jan 1st and also have several several other items part completed :-)

 The view from my crafting table - all very cosy :-)

How are you occupying yourself during the snowy weather?

Snowy Saturday at Compost Mansions

Day two of the snow and the hens are STILL disgusted by it all and won't come out of their run - which is fine by me as I don't want to have to worry about where they are, out in the snow!

I opened the run door and brave Titch stepped into the strange white stuff - of my seven hens only Nutmeg has ever seen snow before - the others were either still inside the polytunnel when it last snowed here ( Feb 2012) or were still in prison in the cages.

She was followed by Babs and Tiny hen but they only stepped out a few inches then went back inside.

Titch ventured a bit further - about 12 inches out of the run door and then climbed up onto the feeder.

But she decided she, too, did not like this strange, cold, white stuff and so she turned tail and went back inside the cosy hen run.

They have had lots of corn and mealworms and warm mash made of pellets, so I hope they are reasonably content.

We have had lots of hot drinks and apart from outside essential jobs we have been sitting by the woodburner keeping nice and warm :-) and reading and crafting.

Hope you are all ok, wherever you are.

Snow!

Well, they were right! Lots of snow fell on Friday  on us, (well lots for here in the UK, at least)


We are having to keep the bird feeders stocked up - not much else for the poor things to eat at the moment.

Cassi Cat seems unbothered by the snow and came out with me as usual.

Very pretty, very cold.

Looking down into the wood - very Narnia - like.

You can see our roof is well insulated! No snow melt.

Disgusted hens - they refused to come out of the run.

Cassi looking in at the hens

Pretty.

Keeping the hens happy and a trip to Ledbury

As I said in my post yesterday, we decided to go into Ledbury on Thursday to do a few bits of shopping - not urgent, but stuff which we could do with in the next 10 days amd which we might not be able to get if we are snowed in...

But first I wanted to make sure the hens would be comfortble if a lot of snow fell and they could not go out of their run.

I decided to put down a lot more straw in the run - previously I have put down some pallets to keep the girls' feet off the nasty cold ground, but as we have a bit of a rat problem at the moment we have removed all but one pallet - the rats LOVE to use them as hiding places and "lurk" under them   - Yuk!

So straw it was. The hens LOVE straw - they cluck and croon and chirp to each other like they were calling chicks - and squabble like mad over "special" bits of straw. (Not quite sure what makes them special but never mind!)

Bunty hen eyes up the camera and wonders if it tastes good.

 Yarrow hen ( in middle) is still looking a bit sad and low but has improved since last week - she seems to be enjoying life, anyway.

We had a light dusting of snow but nothing to worry about, so later we went to Ledbury in the car and visited various shops and then the Co Op - and what a sight met us! Lots of empty shelves!

No bread at all ( even muffins etc had largely gone) hardly any milk, no veg at all apart from some salads and pinapples and grapes - toilet rolls virtually all gone ( good job I have lots!) and to be honest it looked like people were expecting a month of not being able to get tothe sops rather than a couple of days?

Still - at least they will have lots of food, although apparently lots of people came in very early and bought most of the stuff, leaving lots of later people with nothing...which is not so good I guess.

We didn't need any of the food which was not there ( if you get my meaning) so we just got the things we needed and came away home.



We had our evening meal and settled down by the fire to watch some tv and I did a bit more crochet. I siuspect we will be doing quite a bit of this, along with reading etc, in the coming few days.

Update  Thurs night

It started to snow at 8 pm and has kept on snowing solidly ever since - so I suspect the Met Office were correct and we really ARE going to get a bit of snow.

Hopefully you will all be ok, wherever you are. Stay safe and warm!

S xx

Battening down the hatches...

ready for some serious snow (?)

Today we had temperatures below freezing all day - the hen's drinker kept on icing over and I had to keep on refilling it (and the Guinea pig's drinker) with fresh warm water.

Compostman noticed the rats had tunneled back in to the Mega hen Pen - blast it I hoped we had scared them off - they won't take the bait or get themselves killed in the trap and  so far only Tabitha Cat has caught one rat - well done her but I suspect there are many more to catch!

We had a few flakes of snow but nothing like that which is predicted for Friday and the weekend. Even so, I decided to check that we have all that we need if a lot of snow does fall in the next few days.

Wood - well, yes we have lots! We have to go and get it from the store, but as that is the barn where all things are stored and is on theway to the hens, we would be digging a path out to there as a priority, anyway.
We also have fuel for the Generator, if our mains power goes off as well as torches and candles and oil lamps

Animal feed/hay etc. Lots of that, enough to last a few weeks at least. The hens need cleaning out but my back is pretty bad at the moment so they may just get a top up of bedding and if it is very cold it will be ok for a few more days.

People food. Yes, lots - plenty of potatos, onions etc in store and Compostman lifted a couple of parsnips and some leeks so if the ground freezes we will still be ok. I will still be able to pull some kale leaves and there are more Kale and Spinach plants inside the polytunnel. The freezers are well stocked, we have plenty of flour to make bread and lots of tinned goods.

Milk I do need, but I have some long life and some dried in store.
Toilet rolls - lots as there was an offer on in the CO Op last time I went so I got lots!
Medications, first aid etc - plenty of all that as well.
 
I intend to go and do a "top up" shop in Ledbury tomorrow, but if I don't make it it won't be a problem.And if we can't get out for a week or so it won't be a problem, either. And if we have to(in a crisis, say)  if all else fails we have the JCB and could dig our way out.

So - hoping it won't be too bad but prepared if it is.

Stay warm and safe, everyone.

The thaw begins

Well today I have been out in the polytunnel a lot as it is finally above freezing here - HURRAH! So I have been able to do some work, cleaning pots, sweeping the floor and generally making it all tidy and ready to start the 2011 growing season. Joyous times!

Hens are still disgusted though...the snow has not gone away so they are inside the Mega Hen Pen and are refusing to set foot in the nasty white cold stuff...

I also cleaned out the guinea pig hutch and the rabbit hutch, sorted out the study and did some crafting and mending.

Slushy Saturday

Well it is thawing a bit here, but still cold. Compostman has taken advantage of the bit of a thaw to go into town and stock up on some stuff....like fuel for the Generator, just in case..and to get more building supplies while they can get stuff out of the yard ( last week it was all frozen solid!)

He is also taking yet more rubble from the sitting room floor to the recycling site. It is amazing just how much is coming out of that room.....

I am ironing and sewing and tidying, as enforced house time means I can catch up on such chores. Compostgirl is reading. Cats are curled up on sofa, very bored with it all!

Hope everyone stays safe and warm.

Frosty Friday

I have a sinus infection I think, which is making going outside in the cold to do the chores very unpleasant indeed.

It is lunchtime (1.30) and it has only just got up to - 4 here outside, and it was - 11 last night! All three cats wre snuggled on our bed in the night.


I am now using warm water to put in the animals's drinkers as otherwise it freezes really quickly.  Have just given the hens some warm mash and a few treats, they are obviously really unhappy as I have only had 4 eggs today!

Later....

Compostgirl about to come home, think I will shut up the animals and then watch a dvd with her...feel like I have been punched in the face, and just want to sit down all the time...still did lots of decluttering for charity shop (when I can get to it, not going in today) and stuff for school fete.

Hens finally gone on strike at the cold, only had 4 eggs today...!

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe.

An icy trip to Hereford.

Snow here, more of it, very cold indeed as well here.

We went into Hereford today to watch Compostgirl take part in a Singalong organised by Sing Up. Was wonderful but was in Hereford Shire Hall, a HUGE Georgian pile with huge windows and no heating discernable. It was absolutely freezing in there sitting watching for 2 hours!


We also went shopping and stocked up on various stuff, not panic buying as we have a lot of stored items here, but things which we might run out of if snowed in for a week or so ( as we were in Janueary this year)

Drive back was "interesting", there seem to be lots of people who don't know how to drive on snow and ice...which was worrying!


Off out to do animals now, and then, some hot tea!

Ice and snow and more ice...

More snow here today, its 13 C in the study and I am off to put on yet more clothes......I already have many many layers on but am still cold!

Downstairs is warm but the room I am in is not zoned for heat until later on in the day.

Have been struggling to keep the animal's water unfrozen here, I have to keep going out and changing the drinkers, bring the frozen up ones in to thaw and then go out with them later to swop with the now frozen up ones I put out an hour ago.....

As you may gather I am not a fan of snow and ice!

Cold snap!

Snow, ice, bloomin, blasted stuff....Well Bah Humbug, is all I can say...

Am shattered here  after a very cold day. Life with livestock, even if only hens, gets to be so much more work with ice or snow. AND I also have numerous small pets in hutches outside to sort out now, so that adds in extra time...

Dunno how people I know with serious levels of livestock are coping but everything takes as least twice as long, what with more feed needed, thawing out water, keeping it liquid etc....

It was - 10 C overnight so we had all 3 cats piled on us all night -  they couldn't even be bothered to fight! And ice on inside of our bedroom window glass this morning...brrrr it never got above -5 here all day, which is seriously cold for November in the UK Midlands. Normally we do not get this sort of weather for another 2 months  and I am a bit worried about the stored crops in the garage shelves....so I went off to check for frost damage to the pumpkins etc.

The poor hens hate it like this, the ground is just too cold for them, I have put down another pallet for them to stand on as they hate the ground this cold....they go all pathetic looking and stand on one leg.

We are also ripping up the sitting room concrete floor now so all is mess and disruption in the house as well which adds in a lot of work!!

Still if the weather stays bad, we have heat, a generator, a woodburner, lots of food for at least 4 weeks of normal-ish diet etc ...and that includes animal food, fuel for cars etc....so it might actually be sort of OK-ish!


I am writing this now in the early evening because I have finally finished outside chores, which I have had to re do 3 extra times today as food, water needs re doing due to cold. Now all is done, frozen things thawed or drained down, stored veg wrapped up a bit more, cider wrapped up in bubble wrap to stop it freezing, small pets given extra hay , food, fresh water and their houses covered over etc etc .

So I can sit, and have a hot cup of tea and contemplate watching "Sweeny Todd" later on the TV, a rather gory film I think but it DOES have Johnny Depp in it... I think I deserve a treat after today!

Sunday musings

Well the last day of the half term holiday here today and my foot is slightly better, to the point where I can get my boots on and go outside to do some work!

I managed to hobble to the hens and to empty out another couple of compost bins and put the finished compost in an empty bin, ready to shovel onto the veg garden as soon as the soil is workable.

It is a good job I can use my foot again as tomorrow is Day 1 of my CTLLS course and I need to be able to drive safely to and from Hereford.

I can't get a ride on public transport or with anyone else, unfortunately. but my foot is much improved now, so I am able to hobble around and will be OK to drive tomorrow....

Sat update..more snow here!

We had a lot more snow here on Sat. So yet again the garden is covered with the white stuff and no work can be done.

Not that I could do any work,outside, anyway...my foot slightly improved overnight, but not by much, sadly. Compostman very bravely cleaned it out for me last night, I felt sick and shaky as result of it as it was very painful.... he is a very brave man as he HATES that sort of stuff..would never make a First Aider etc...BUT he has done it anyway because of love....my hero!.



I still can't walk easily so I have spent today inside again, sitting at computer instead so am now up to date with invoices, brochures, handouts etc...also have practiced story telling skills for next weeks toddler playgroup workshop I am running... I have been making a few puppet props to help the tale along...

How to.......round up the hens in 8 inches of snow

Well trying to round up the hens in the 8 inches of snow tonight was....interesting?

CM let them out this morning ( doh! why? ) and Ruby Dorking and the chicklets came out of their area which has no snow because it is under a HUUUGE Wellingtonia tree...and waded through the snow to the lean to, where they stayed, but couldn't be tempted back to their house at bed time, as the snow was too deep for them to walk through...

The other hens all managed to flap out of their runs to the edge of the wood where they hid under the Swamp Cypress ( also bare of snow underneath) but could not work out how to get back to the food, water and shelter...

So I spent another 2 hours rounding them all up, picking them up individually and carrying them over to the runs to shut them in...

Then I realised I was 2 hens short...

One hen, Pearl, is a WHITE Leghorn, so hard to spot against snow...I found her submerged under a mini avalanche of snow, too buried to get out...but she was OK so I popped her into the run with the others...

But Treacle ( my clever, favourite Black Star) was still missing...I had seen her earlier by the house, so I went back to look and found her stranded in a snowdrift, to deep for her to fly or walk out...and she was drooping, eyes closed...having been in there for at least half an hour

I hoiked her out and stuck her in front of the Aga, and after an hour of warm and a quantity of bread and cat meat and some warm water she was OK...

CM is under strict instructions NOT to let the hens out tomorrow......!

And it is now ( at midnight) - 8 here......! with 8 inches of snow and an ice glaze.....

Today it was CM's turn to fall over...he tried to climb over the fence, and missed....

No harm done, so I laughed....

This evening was spent watching Tales from the Green Valley with CM and CG, in front of the woodburner, drinking cider. Having eaten fish, potato wedges, various veg and then christmas cake and cheese...

I suspect CG will be off again tomorrow...can't really see school being open, somehow!

She wants to watch more TFTGV and now wants to build another model house, this one from wattle and daub with a thatch roof...she was working out how to tie the thatch bundles in miniature, at bedtime.....and wanting to "borrow" some hay and sone small hazel twigs....

Oh well, will keep her busy, I guess!

Hope every one is OK, warm, dry, safe and well fed

Making the chickens nice and cosy.

When the warning of snow came last weekend I decided I couldn't put it off any longer, we had to move the hen run.

The Eglu is on a dry patch of ground, as is the Broody Ark but Cluckingham Palace was getting very soggy and I didn't want the girls to be treading around in a swamp, especially if they had to be confined inside during the possible future bad weather.

So...on Sunday we moved Cluckingham Palace. It is not a difficult or heavy job but it IS time consuming



You can see where it was, the ladder-y thing is the "hen board" I put down for the hens to stand on. You can also see what a mess the area is!



As always, as soon as ANY work starts, chickens appear to see what is going on!



While we were out there working on Cluckingham Palace, Compostman put up another of his brilliant inventions. This allows a non Eglu run to use the Eglu drinker or feeder (called Glug or Grub, respectively!) and this is an absolute brainwave of his!



He took a piece of aluminium channel, screwed it to the inside of the door and so I can now hook the Omlet "Glug" onto it! He did a similar thing up the other end of the run for the "Grub" and it is much better than the suspended feeder I had in the run, before. The girls waste much less food as the Grub stops them throwing it everywhere now.









Cluckingham Palace moved and alterations completed, I then added a thick layer of Easybed (wood shavings) to the ground in all three runs and also a lot of hay near the pop holes, this is to soak up the water and so the chickens have drier feet when they go inside to lay eggs.



And I put down paths of hay for us to walk on, over the mud.



After the snow we have had this week, we went out and added a different clear polythene cover to the run today, as it was getting quite snowy in the run, despite the cover which WAS on. This one goes over the whole run, not just the top! It is very easy for me to undo and roll up as well, so I can get into the side door and top up the water or the dish feeder which is up that end of the run.



The girls are nice and dry and cosy now AND they can see out! Here is Genghis Hen not wanting to leave the comfort of the run early today. Hopefully the chickens will all be warm and cosy even if we DO have more bad weather.

How I amused myself today....

What do you do when its cold and snow covered outside and you don't want to play in it any more?

You worm the hens! well I did!

they were all given a course of Flubenvet over the Christmas holidays but I give them a precautionary dose of Verm X on wholemeal bread for 3 days at the start of every month, just to be on the safe side.

Chickens have worms, due to all the stuff they pick up off the ground, but the trick is to make sure they only have a small worm burden, so it doesn't cause them discomfort or harm their health.



The chickens all really LOVE this stuff! I have to work quite hard to make sure they only get their recommended dose as they all try to eat each others food.



icicles on Cluckingham Palace



Today was a Red Letter Day as well! For the first time since the beginning of December all 6 of the laying hens, well, laid!

Yes, today the lovely lovely girlies laid 6 big beautiful eggs.

And because I had the odd five minutes to spare ( for that read "because I am so proud and besotted with my hens" ) I thought I would put up these pictures of the different shaped and coloured eggs the girls lay, as so many people seem baffled that I can tell them apart!



Babs, Attilla and Goldie eggs with their typical weights.



Henny, Sweetiepie and Ginger eggs with their typical weights. The Henny egg in this picture was actually 90 g as she hadn't laid yesterday and after a missed day an egg is usually laid very early in the day and is bigger.

Can you see the different colours and shapes? Surely you can?

For a comparison with shop bought eggs, I went to the Defra web site to see what the weights were and it made very interesting reading!

I am not governed by most of these rules as I only sell direct to people, I don't grade my eggs and I have less than 50 hens, but it makes for interesting reading.

XL - VERY LARGE eggs weighing 73g or more
L - LARGE 63g up to (but not including) 73g

So ALL my girlies lay Large eggs, and most routinely lay Very Large eggs!

I also discovered a few things I wasn't aware of.

The term “extra” or “extra fresh” may only be shown on packs until the ninth day after lay. This nine-day time limit and the laying date shall be shown clearly on packs.

so a shop bought "fresh" egg can be up to 9 days old, hmmm? that's not MY idea of a "fresh" egg!

“Display Until” or “Sell by” dates are not required on packs of eggs, however, there is an obligation to ensure eggs are sold to the consumer within 21 days of lay, so retailers may prefer to have such additional stock control dates on their packs

So, a shop bought egg could be up to 21 days old when you buy it.....

The eggs *I* sell are usually 1 to 3 days old at most.

Food for thought, indeed!

Snowy Monday!

The view from the house into our woodland



Looking across the veg patch



It started snowing here in the early hours of the morning....and by 8 am this is what it was like....

The chickens were not amused, they kept on trying to peck at this strange white feed which was landing on the ground in front of their beaks......

Compostman took Compostgirl to school, our lane was very treacherous but the main road was clear and had been gritted last night.

By 4 pm the snow was a couple of inches deep and falling fast, it is also freezing hard here now.Compostgirl and Compostman had a snow fight when she got home from school...I stayed in the warm and watched from behind a window!





There is a snowball in flight in this shot!







Compostgirl getting a sneak attack in!