Sugar Beet?

With apologies to those who have really heard enough about beet this season. It seems a little ironic though that in the worst season for beet since way before my time; here we are in late February, digging parsnips which are bigger than many of the roots which get delivered to Newark!



The larger of the two weighed in at nearly one and a half pounds and measured more than 18". That will go very nicely with home grown broad beans and runner beans (out of the freezer obviously!)

If only the ground would dry up, we could start doing some prep work for this years veggie crops.

Ready for The Girls

Having finished the painting a few days ago, we have had a weekend off the decorating to wait for Gerry to come and fit the carpet.


It's hard to believe the difference from the pink to the slightly less offensive cream. I do hope Emma and Rosie like their new room - although something tells me they probably preferred it pink!

Once finished, in no time at all we had it crammed full of stuff from the back bedroom as we stripped that down ready for round two. No pink in here, just a really vile green with yellow woodwork.

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Hopefully this will look a bit better soon as well

First Glimpse of Spring

What a beautiful day. After a wet night, it stopped raining about 7.30am, and within an hour it was wall to wall sunshine, all day long. It was enough to convince the crocus that it was finally time to open themselves up - just for the day mind.

The World's Original Marmalade Awards 2011

Of all the places in the World, where would you hold the Original Marmalade Competition? Dalemain in Cumbria of course. as it is only ten minutes from here, in aid of a very good cause and a certain Jane Hayward was desperate to know someone involved; I thought I might as well enter a jar. At least I can say that I have been in a World competition.



There you go Jane. I did it all for you!

My Favourite Colour

If pressed, I would probably say pink. although some days it's purple. Today it is definitely purple. Having spent the morning striping this wallpaper, and left looking at walls this colour, I think I may have started to overcome my pink obsession (i did say 'may')

Operation Puppy's Paws

In years to come, the memory of just how awful Hyperkeratosis of the feet is for Hattie will no doubt fade, so I thought it would be interesting to have a record. As most of you know, poor Hattie has to go through a monthly operation to control the excess growth on her feet. This is something that would normally done by the vet, but due to the scale of her problem and hence the frequency that it is required, we do it ourselves (in agreement with Gary our Vet). This at least saves her the stress of monthly, day long veterinary visit, not to mention the costs that it would incur. That said, it is still very stressful for her and requires sedation.
After giving her a sedative, we then go for a bit of a walk somewhere wet (not difficult at the moment) to get her feet softened. Then 45 minutes after the sedative, we start work


Even with a well doped dog, it is still very much a two man job. Even then, she struggles relentlessly throughout.
Hair grows on and between the pads, and as much as possible that needs trimming back so that we can see what we are doing. Her claws grow at such a rate that with just a months growth, it is starting to curl under her toe. So having trimmed the hair on a foot, it is then a question of trimming her claws - up to 1cm off each one, each month.
Then we have to set about each pad, removing all the excess growth. This is what a foot looks like before any attention - the hair is hiding an awful lot of pad growth.

Four feet later, a lot of bribery in the form of milky treats, and three stressed out individuals we are left with a lot of Hattie bits on the floor and a very sleepy dog for the rest of the day (even more sleepy than normal!).



The one positive is that we won't have to go through that for another four weeks.

February Filldyke

Not only have we been battered by winds of up to around 70mph on and off all this week, February has been living up to it's reputation of being a wet month.

Rainfall so far this month has been:
1st = 0mm
2nd = 18mm
3rd = 18mm
4th = 43mm
5th = 11mm
6th = 28mm
That's the best part of 5" already, it was siling down all morning today and after a brief glimpse of fine weather this afternoon - it's just starting to rain again!

The Final Furlong

At last, we are starting to get the house back together. Gerry arrived as planned on Saturday, and we now have new flooring in the hall





As well as the bathroom



Lots of sorting, tidying and cleaning done today, lots more to do, and then we can start decorating all the bedrooms. Deep Joy!

In Days Gone By

It all looks rather different now.....