I Never Thought

I would be strong enough to carry a whole bale of hay several hundred metres.In fact this morning I broke one up & lugged just under half to the ewes & came in & said to dad crikey I am never going to be able to shift a whole one of those,bring forward the tractor & trailer lesson.

Late afternoon I went to take my hens some rice with poultry spice in to pep them up a bit,they were shoved into their coop on saturday for several hours as there was a hunt on & it often comes up through where they are.The farmers wife said it was better to coop them up than go there to find no hens....sensible advce but they were miffed lol!
I sorted them out & then looked out & down over the sheep field,damn & bugger the feeder was near empty! I had topped it up this morning!

Nothing for it then but to carry a bale over there, night was falling fast & I lugged & heaved & by the time I got there I was so chuffed! The ewes all came running over,they are getting a bit more used to me & one let me rub her head,she had such sweet eyes & started to pull at the hay as I fluffed it up & pulled it apart to make it easy for them to pull at through the feeder.

I closed the feeder up,called goodnight to the ram who had remained on the other side of the stream,I called over that his ladies were all enjoying eating!He just stood & probably thought you daft human :o)
The moon was swelling in the sky & my legs were weary but there was still a spring in my step as I clambered over the gates & trundled back in to the warm here feeling decidedly pleased with myself :o)

The day started with All Things Sheepy, the lambs wander around over several fields during the day but I woke to see a gate by the stream bridge had swung shut in the wind(note to self to find a rock to rest against it)its normally always open to let them come through to the shelter sheds by the side of me here. I trudged over the sodden field & opened it & they all came running behind me so I topped up their hay feeder in the shelter. That I noticed was empty this evening as well so what with the ewes,they are getting through alot of hay.Must sense the cold weather coming & need to eat something with a bit more energy to it I guess?

M small was up all last night,she was in my bed but at 4am wanted to back to hers, when I eventually fell asleep in mine it felt a moment later it was time to get up....I took E to school as M was too poorly then back here to take M over to work with me,my dear landlady has said if ever they are poorly then they can come with me,I am so blessed to have that said to me. M slept an hour there, wrapped up snug on a sofa in the great hall. I worked an hour at the farmhouse after & M stayed here with dad,I then dashed to get E & came back here to prepare a slow cooker full of beef whatnot,as in no recpe just what gets flung in! I am out of routine, so out of routine & getting the next days dinner on slow cook in the mornings saves so much time I hope I can do it tomorrow & find my feet again with it.

There was washing to get in as the skies had darkened threatening yet more rain, there was todays dinner to cook,some bizzare pollack dish with chinese 5 spice that I grabbed instead of paprika lol,hey we ate it. I have lost more weight which isnt bad seeing as I am drinking wine almost every night lol & eating lots of cake from dear friends visiting!Another 0.8 & I will be below 160lbs,not bad for someone that was over 195lbs not so long ago....

How glad am I? that I made the decision to start running, every gasp,every painful breath that felt my lungs were going to rip apart,was without me knowing,preparing me for this new life of mine,this very physical demanding life :o)

I am incredibly weary, but damned happy :o)
& yes! hurrah! I have found the camera but I cannot find the rechargeable batterys or the charger & the batterys in it were non chargeable ones that have now run out....
There are many many boxes to be conquered yet lol! but the hay bales?

Now they have been well & truly conquered :o)

Read more...

My Feet Dont Touch The Ground

These days....they really dont.
I have been meaning to blog for days,but I am either so tired my head fugs over & I turn the laptop off & crawl in to bed or I simply haven't stopped until late & then I dont even remember getting into bed.

I cannot find the camera.
ARGGG

I am in chaos & have neither time nor energy to do much at all about it. My clothes are all still at the old place. My car is rammed with boxes & slithering piles of stuff that have been in there so long I have no idea what they are or what room they need to be taken in to.

I am working hard & loving it.Today I got up,went & let my hens out, opened gates,the hens moved yesterday & I will save that excitment for another blog & hopefully Farmer Judy can email me the photo she took of one part of it.............you will laugh so hard :o)
But yes finally the hens & cockeral are here hurrah.
I came back & made a cup of earl grey,sorted breakfast for the smalls & myself,they belted out to the garden in pajamas & fleeces & scooted up & down on their scooters,laughing & giggling in the morning sunshine because yes hurrah no rain this morning!
I took them to school,up the winding lane, & straight back to go to work. I worked hard, one part of todays duties was laying a huge table up for lunch for 17.

I came back here & in less than an hour I hung some washing out,unpacked 2 boxes & had a quick lunch of poached eggs on toast & got myself over to the farmhouse where I have another job. 2 more hours there & it was time to get come back here & get up the lane again to get the smalls. Back here & with darkness falling fast I didnt even have time to change them into civvies as I call them :o) school shoes were flung aside & wellys pulled on. We went to check our hens, then took hay to the sheep( I argg SO need a penknife thats become so apparant this past week) we counted the ewes, nodded politely to the ram,& the smalls stood each end of the hay feeder & have learnt now to unhitch the ends & tip the long long lid back so I can get the hay in. We counted sheep & checked they were all walking around ok & then left that field & went to fill the lambs hay feeder. Until dad shows me how to use the small tractor & trailer here I am believe it or not lugging the hay in our glass recycling box :o)

We went & filled a bucket of goose food & filled their feeder & had just enough time to go shut our hens in & get back here to light the fire & throw together something for dinner,then back out to leave a note for the milkman,shut gates & batten the hatches. We ate,we read stories,the smalls were showered & carried to bed in a perfect delicous drowsy stupor that I envied, I laid them into hot water bottle warmed beds & smoothed their foreheads,whispered my ever growing love to them & wished them the sweetest of dreams.

Time then fold washing,wash up,run through the shower myself & then sit down yaya! tonight I have sat down! River Cottage is on & I have been watching & tapping away here.

Soon I will go to bed, I am sleeping so much better now, I still have one section of my life,not that hard to imagine which part :oS that causes me much anger,much pain but I am delighted to say dear readers, be it that my feet dont touch the floor most days , be it that I ache like a barger & dont know if I am coming or going, but know that I wear for a goodly part of the time, the very biggest of smiles :o)

Read more...

Am Back:o)

& so so busy,ye gads,so busy,theres still so much to move from the old place,I settled there with deep roots & they need to be gently unearthed & moved to here :o)
I am deeply exhausted,have lost 4lbs in days heheh I could sell THIS diet! lol!!! am a part lb off of the 150s so I am over the moon!!!! I was in the 190s a year or so ago :o)
Things are unravelling at a synchronistic rate,have been here before,done this before,it so SO hard to explain without sounding a total fruit cake :oS
So much to share but my beds calling.............

Read more...

Bye for a Bit

I lose my internet here somewhen today & it reconnects Weds...they say....! oh me of little BT faith lol!!!
I havent time to post much,lets just say yesterdays moving in a near hurricane made things a little more i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.i.n.g...................argggggggggg!
Will I be glad when this is all over,see you in the new place dear friends :o)

Read more...

Jeepers its Wild Out There!

If this weather carries on through the night we shall wake to no power I warrant! I am sat here by the woodburner & can here things being knocked over outside, argg,earlier on a very large clay pot got blown over & smashed, I was cross! it was so heavy yet blown like a feather :oS

What a day its been here, I dropped the smalls at school & then went to the manor. I did 4 hours today as there was a shoot so that was a bit of a baptism by fire lol!So much to remember what goes where & how,next time will be easier I am sure. I dashed to get the smalls & then we came back here,changed them into civvies! & filled the boot with belongings & went round to our new home. I reset the milometer lol its 0.3 mile away by lane,quicker by field but thats not an option with a laden car lol!Once inside the smalls were so sweet,so full of joy, last time they had seen it it still had some things of the previous couples in it so I dont think up till today they realised yes we are going to live there :o)

The best thing?? ooo there were lots! the fact they can run! RUN! in there! The look on Ms face as she stood on a little table I had taken & rested her chin on her hands on one of the windowsills in the sitting room & said theres sheep mama! sheep in our garden! E rolling from one end of the sitting room to the other laughing & laughing & then both of them jumping with glee at the swarky bathroom,well no bath,just a very lovely shower but that suits me,I havent been able to afford baths for a long time & am used now to showering.The bathroom here whilst big,is so grotty & freezing. The new place has lovely old style windows but they have been double glazed which I am so over the moon about,no more gappy leaky rusty energy draining metal ones hurrah!!!!
The fact I will be able to have such Major Move~Its theres so much potential for shoving things around you know how much I adore that lol!

We sat on chairs in the kitchen arranged as if round the table & laughed at ourselves, the smalls stuck their anmal magnets on the boiler & asked again & again what the room was called,a utility room I answered, with oh joy oh joys a simply massive airing cupboard in it yayay! I did 4 journeys but by then the weather was grim so called it a day. I just took over small things & some chairs, a bedside cupboard of the smalls,they laid either side of it as if their beds were there :o)

Now of course...life is never perfect is it....there IS a fly in the ointment my dear readers......
we are very near an enormous pond,a lake like pond,(all fenced & seperate from the garden but I will be vigilant about the smalls have no fear) & my landlady today told me how its full of frogs & in the spring they all gather right around my new cottage to mate.......................ahhhh...great I said with a smile........

If you know me,then you know I have a phobia of amphibians, arggg even the word makes me shudder!Happily I have managed to raise the smalls quite fearless of things that make me quiver,frogs & spiders are magnificent to them :o) They will both be quite quite busy then clearing a way to the gate & back each morning lol lol lol

Well I sit here surrounded by chaos,I dont know where anything is, I am so tired I might go to bed in my clothes, yet I am blissfully happy. I am off up the lane in a moment,yes in this weather! to have a whisky with my darling neighbour R & catch up as I havent seen her for a few days. A good natter, a good dram by her fireside, I will sleep well tonight :o)

Read more...

Moving!

starts this weekend.



gibber...


whimper....


muffled shriek............



AARRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! lol lol!
Its bedlam here, utter bedlam,its so tiny that theres nowhere to put the packed stuff...we shall start moving it to the new place on Saturday. My broadband will be connected mid next week so if I vanish then I will return :o)

It seems only a few weeks ago I wrote my last post at the old place, I was excited to come here yet heartbroken at leaving such a big part of my life. I had known that house my entire life. Now I leave here for another cottage a mere wink & a smile away. If someone had told me how I would be feeling right now back when I left Bournemouth, had told me how my life would have changed, crikey ha! I would have laughed.
Probably in a sarcastic yeah right sort of way!

Yet here I am, surrounded by complete mayhem yet loving it, I have started a business, I have made the transition back into earning a wage & I am blessed beyond comprehension by love from my daughters & family & friends.

A Life Full of Blessings indeed. No one said it would be perfect but its my life & its wonderful!

Read more...

Good Things

Seeing 3 green woodpeckers flying into the woods as I drove to get the smalls.

Seeing a sparrow hawk fly very low alongside the verge as I drove back from school,I drive so slowly in these lanes, & puttering along at 10mph it was incredible to see it dip & skim along in front of me then GASP! I exclaimed outloud as it suddenly exploded into speed taking a sharp angle & blasted up in front of me whalloping into a small bird,sparrow or blue tit, I couldnt see. Feathers showered down & it glided away with its meal in its talons.

Seeing ancient wood glow from my elbow grease, I truly understand the word patina now :o) Inside I glowed with pleasure at seeing the glow from the wood. I am quite enthralled by the thoughts of how many hands have done what I am now doing,how many years have passed.

When my life feels turbulant, spending time with things that have been there for centuries is very soothing indeed :o)

Read more...