Thinking of building an Ark

Wow we have had so much wind and rain here recently! We are both rather exhausted as the violent weather kept us awake over the last few nights, with worry about what was happening outside and due to the sheer noise and buffeting.

We have been fortunate enough to escape major damage here; a few trees have come down in the wood (only small dead ones) and there has been a small water leak in the loft around the chimney stack due to a combination of the severity of the rain and the wind direction; not serious and did not damage anything and can be easily fixed BUT it needs the wind and rain to stop before Compostman can go up on the roof to fix it. Apart from that we have not lost anything as we had tied/nailed down or put away pretty well everything which might fly away or get damaged.

Our lane floods at the far end where it joins the main road and so was impassable for a few hours, several times in the last few days. Near to us there has been major flooding, not just impassable roads but houses with their ground floors under several feet of water, so sad for all the people concerned.

The land is sodden, far too wet to do anything on or with it - and we have standing water on the grass, the soil, the flower beds are under water in places and there is even water standing on the surface of the raised beds - that is how waterlogged the soil is.

Compostgirl returned to School today and so Compostman and I have been catching up lots of indoor jobs  - but to be honest mainly we have been snoozing in front of the fire as we are sleep deprived. Maybe we are turning into Bears and are hibernating!

I hope you are all safe and not flooded ( if in the UK) or frozen (if in the US of A)

Please stay safe and warm during this extreme weather.

xxx

RIP Mango

Sadly yesterday Mango the very poorly Guinea Pig was found to have diabeties. We took her  to our vets  where she stayed in overnight and had blood and urine tests. Sadly she was found to be diabetic but the prognosis was not good and we agreed she was too poorly to survive  :( and so it was decided it would be most kind if she was  put to sleep, saving her any more suffering

If she had been younger, maybe she would have had a better chance , but as an already elderly rescue guinea pig  sadly it was not to be.

RIP Mango lovely piggie.

The passing of time and the start of wisdom?

Today when Simon the Postman arrived I was called to the door to sign for a recorded delivery letter.

This makes my heart sink, as in the past for me it has nearly always heralded some sort of bad news ( a death, a parking fine, some legal issue  - that sort of stuff ) Only occasionally has it been good stuff ( like the recent arrival of my Food Hygiene certificate, following on from my Outdoor Food Handling Course)

Anazingly today it held a substantial ( well it was by my standards) cheque and a gold wedding ring - a bequest from my late, much loved Aunt Betty, who died a few months ago.

This triggered an interesting discussion with Compostgirl about inheritance laws, burials, funeral rites, my jewelry box contents, our family tree and the Arts and Crafts movement.

Not sure what I will do with the money but I am NOT using it to just pay everyday bills - I will use it for something special, something I can look at or experience and think about and remember my lovely Aunty Betty, who was a Mum to me after my Mum went into Hospital when I was 11, never to return to me at home again.

After all this, as I had my jewelry box open I sorted out a lot of silver and gold jewelry ( with Compostgirl joining in) which I DO NOT want to keep as they have nothing but unhappy memories for me, and I am going to sell them for what I can get and buy something I do value with the money.

At nearly 52 years old I have finally decided I am not going to keep stuff that makes me feel uncomfortable or unhappy. Despite who gave it to me and however much I loved them, once.

Is this the start of wisdom? I do hope so :)

Part of my letting go of the past in 2014 process

Feeling slightly better :)

I feel a lot happier today, as I spent several hours in the Polytunnel getting my hands into soil and compost and planting and sowing stuff


I suspect I was suffering nature deficit disorder yesterday, as after several hours outside today with my hands in compost etc  I feel much more calm, if not physically better.

Am also back online now on my main pc, now with a super dooper new operating system and lots more memory.  Computer now working very well and very fast due to my lovely husband Compostman doing the work and buying the software for the upgrade (as part of my Christmas present :)

Lots of other old software for me still to re install, and my old drive to be plugged in as well but it is lovely to have a working pc again, rather than using my tablet to blog with.

Today we also had a trip to Ledbury to replenish our supplies - the Co Op is doing a "spend £20 and get a £5 voucher off your next shop" offer,   so we stocked up on  lots of staples ( mainly cat meat!) and also some of the Christmas luxury now reduced stuff and as we divided the shop into two batches, we saved £10 out of a £40 shop of stuff, most of which we needed anyway. Result! 

We also now have a house Guinea Pig - Mango is poorly and has lost an alarming amount of weight in the last few weeks so she has been brought inside and we are monitoring her food and water intake for a couple of days, ready to go to the vets if needed.

Many thanks to all of you who left a comment after my post yesterday - I do try to pace myself when I feel very unwell, but it is very hard with a long term illness and those of you who know me, know it is hard for me to do this!

Thank you for reading xxx

Happy New Year.

So, a new year starts.

I hope 2014 is better than 2013, which quite frankly was not great for us here at Compost Mansions. Although the weather was better for gardening in 2013, ill health made it harder for both of us to get the things we wanted to achieve, done. 

This trend continued right up until the very end of 2013, as I injured my shoulder and neck muscles just after Christmas and am finding it hard to sit up straight, bend down or turn my head. This just added more misery to the post 'flu aches and pains I was already feeling. So yet again lots of outside jobs have had to be put on hold until I am well enough.  Being ill before Christmas also knocked a hole in my work schedule

Despite this, life has to go on and the chickens need tending, regardless. I had to go outside today in the wind and the rain, to put down pallets in the hen runs, so the poor things had somewhere dry to stand. At 2 pm it was nearly dark! The hens are not impressed by this weather or by the dull days (and who can blame them?) and huddle together in the barn, moaning at me to " make it stop" whenever I go outside.

Blondin the nearly-a-Cockerel dances around them, nearly but not quite brave enough to try his luck with the Big Hens. His  fellow hatchling Treacle (who was formerly called Creosote) is not quite yet mature enough to squat for him and she just runs away, so he is not happy at all.

He is a handsome fellow and has a very melodious crow, and is not (so far) at all aggressive.

While outside this afternoon tending to the hens I looked around through the grey veil of rain onto a totally sodden garden which looks a mess. The bindweed is taking over the veg plot to the point where I am seriously considering razing the existing beds back to grass and starting all over with new ones, elsewhere. The ground is awash and everwhere I walk I leave foot shaped mini ponds behind. 


Gloomy weather makes for gloomy thoughts in my head, which only longer days, outside work (with less rain!) will put right. 

So, having written this post and having had a good look around Blogland, I am off to watch the first episode of the new series of Sherlock - can't wait to settle down in front of the fire and enjoy it :)

And it is STILL raining outside - and now the wind is rising and wuthering around the house.  My thoughts are with all of you and hope you are safe, wherever you are.