Snow again

More of the same today. About 3" more snow overnight, and it didn't get above freezing all day again.
The birds are very happy we live here at the moment. Current amusement is often cause by fighting Robins. We get none in the back garden all summer, but now the immigrants are here looking for their winter territory, we had 5 all at once the other day! We also had 4 hen pheasants all at once one day this week, as well as 4 partridges. It seems like multiples are the order of the day (until I get the camera out of course).

Wildlife in November

One of the highlights of November was seeing a Peregrine Falcon at very close range as we walked back from the local shop in the snow. It was on the ground, no more than 20 yards in front of us, and then took off and flew across our path to adjacent woodland.
The freezing conditions have brought other visitors into the garden who we haven't seen much of for months. Namely Robins, Blackbirds, a wren and two different partridge families. A family of four pictured here and another, larger family - at least seven, who have been furtling about early in the morning.

I Should've Looked Out The Window

Chatting to Sally on the phone tonight, Our Old Patch has about an inch of snow currently - although temperatures over there went down really low last night. A different source tells us -17'c at Navenby Lowfields. Trina in the Borders tells me they have about a foot of snow, which they have had since Thursday and it keeps on snowing on and off.
Merrily I tell them that it's not bad here. 3 or 4 inches, although we seem to get topped up over night each night and it has been bitterly cold - not having gone above freezing for days. However, it's really dry powdery snow, so it's not really causing too much problems.

Then, I let the dog out..............



We seem to have had at least an inch since I last looked out, and it's a white out at the moment.
We'll have to see what the morning brings!

Global Warming

Like much of the country these last couple of days, we woke to an eerie silence this morning. It's normally very quiet here, but you know that feeling: That this is a different sort of quiet? Without opening my eyes, I had knew that today's plans were about to change.


The temperature got down to a low of -5.8'c overnight, with a high today of -1.8'c. Mind you I've no idea when that was, as it was below -3'c every time I looked at the thermometre.

Some of us couldn't contain our excitement at the prospect of going out to play in the snow.

Chaos Reigns

Having got the bathroom nearly finished, it's time to start on the wetroom. This is what it used to be like.....

and this is what it looks like tonight.

I would love to be able to say that we are now getting straight upstairs, but as the sparkies haven't managed to get here to finish off the extractor fan and some switching in the airing cupboard, we haven't been able to give the bathroom it's final clean down prior to putting everything back in there, and the airing cupboard is still empty. It sounds ridiculous, but every room in the house is currently a bit upside down, either because stuff is in there that shouldn't be, but it's got nowhere else to go at present; or, there are dustsheets about because the sparkies need to be getting in/out of the loft to do the extractor.

Never mind, it will all be worth it in the long run. I don't like housework anyway, and this is a really good excuse for not doing any :-)

A Year Later

It hardly seems possible but it is a year since we moved here. Today we woke to a frosty morning with a few flakes of snow littering the ground. This time last year it was WET, WET, WET; with much of the county trying to recover from the recent floods. How much has changed in 12 months!

We're off out to celebrate tonight. A 'Majestic' wine tasting followed by an Indian meal - with our 'new' neighbours - who have now become very good friends.

It just goes to prove that good things do come to those who wait. It just doesn't feel very likely when you are doing the waiting!

Collecting the Christmas Tree

No, we haven't degenerated into Urbanised Christmasaholics, playing Carols in October and Decking the Halls in November. This tree is a Christmas present, not the Spruce type of tree at all. As now is the ideal time to be planting it seemed a bit silly to delay getting the tree for another month just for the sake of it. A trip to a fairly local tree nurseries this morning gave us a beautiful afternoon in which to get it in the ground.

The package as collected. The observant of you will notice that there is a smaller shrub lurking in the bag too.


Duly planted and staked. The Cotoneaster 'Hybridus Pendulus' will hopefully look good and help feed the birds for a long time to come. Thank you Mum and Dad!
Whilst we were ordering the tree, it seemed like a good opportunity to get another shrub we were wanting to fill an awkward space. This time cover as well as food for the birds is the long term aim. This one is Cotoneaster 'Wardii'.

Christmas Comes Early

The local Blue Tits seem to think it's Christmas (more of that later). They have been eating coconut for many months, but suddenly they are far more interested in it. It's quite satisfying, sitting less than a couple of yards from a Bluey hanging upside down.



Meanwhile, those that can't get on the coconuts (they are not keen on sharing them) or the seed feeders and peanuts (for all the other birds) have decided that now is a good time to demolish the sunflower heads that have been left standing, for precisely that reason. It's lovely to see them going to good use.



Christmas has also come early for us today. We thought we'd try something a bit different this year. Having grown new Potatoes in tubs as opposed to in the ground this year and found it to be incredibly successful; we thought we'd have a go at growing some for Christmas. One of the tubs has developed a drainage problem in the last week or two, so rather than let them rot (if indeed there was anything in there), we decided to have a dig about and see what was what.



The variety is Kestrel, and I am hoping they will taste as good as they look. I wonder if any of the other tubs will still be intact by December 25th?

The View From The Loo

Finally, we feel like we have turned a bit of a corner tonight. The plumbing in the bathroom is finished. Other than flooring it's just the sparky to do his second fix on Monday. Till then it's bathing by candlelight - as well as toothbrush by torchlight, etc etc etc .........



The bath has already had a test drive - and it was great!


So it's lights and other bits of electrical works on Monday, and then we start all over again in the wetroom on Tuesday.

Too Hot?

What do you do when you are too hot?
Move away from the heat source?
Not if you are a Red Cocker. You just stay put and pant.

Wet and Windy?

Well, that's what the forecast said, and they were pretty accurate. They also said snow on the tops. Obviously they meant the tops of anything above 1000ft, because this was the view from the window at 7am this morning.


The jaunty angle of the bird table tells you that it was pretty windy - especially as it is anchored in two places!

And Still it Rains

Did I mention it was a bit wet here?
so far this month.......
7mm 1st Nov,
27mm 2nd nov,
18mm this morning and it has rained pretty much ever since. Best guess would be that there has already been 20mm today and it shows no sign of letting up. Locally becks and rivers are bursting their banks and fields are underwater. Roads through the County are flooding and I bet many who were flooded twelve months ago in Cockermouth and Keswick are getting very uneasy.

Water Water Everywhere ..............

Back home after a relaxing long weekend catching up with friends and family. Nigel, Mike and Evan have been busy changing our hot water system and putting in a new control system. They decided to do this while we were away rather than concentrate on the bathroom hardware, so that we wouldn't be without heat/water while we were here. Bless their little cotton socks!
Many things have happened in the bathroom as well, although most are behind the scenes. We do however, have a new ceiling as well as a new bath!

Don't worry, we are not about to get into the bath, it is filled purely to make sealing more effective!

Today it has been the turn of Gordon the tiler (who is also one of our neighbours). After filling an awful lot of very big holes in the plaster, he has managed to get most of the fiddly wall tiled.
While we are on the subject of water, it seems as though we are heading towards a wet month. We have had an inch of rain since yesterday morning and fields are getting seriously waterlogged. Welcome to Cumbria in November. (it continued to rain after posting this - we had 34mm by the next morning 03/11)

Wildlife in October