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| The extent of my Xmas decorations! |
There was a lot of rain and wind throughout November and December which disrupted a lot of my gardening jobs – normally I finish for the winter at the beginning of December, but I was so behind with the autumn tidy up that I intended to carry on into the second week of December, but the weather gods had different ideas and sent deluge after deluge across Somerset, causing the area around Glastonbury to resemble it’s ancient marshland status with flooded fields in all directions.
The week after a very wet Bonfire Night, Yeo Valley put on a fireworks display for their employees and families on one of the only dry evenings. It was held right next to Dave’s new home so we all congregated there and then wandered round to the yard outside the barn where there were food stalls and a bar. The display was amazing and seemed to go on for ages – it was the best display I’ve been to since the sad demise of the Priddy Village Fireworks many years ago.
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| My new log burner |
After that brief respite, the weather returned to its wet and windy condition which was a shame as I had booked the stove guy a few months before to come and install a log burner in my ‘new’ house. He had to do some remedial work on the top of the chimney so had hired a cherry picker for a day. Of course, it was hammering down with rain, but he still had to go up in the basket and was soaked to the skin despite heavy waterproofs. Whilst he was up there, he discovered a slipped tile, which may account for a damp area in the sitting room wall as he said the water was running down into the cavity like a gushing tap! He did a temporary fix which should hold it in place until I can employ a builder to carry out the rest of the external repairs and, since then, I have been running a dehumidifier in the sitting room to try and dry out the wall. The log burner is an updated version of the one that I had fitted two years ago in Glastonbury, and I’m really pleased with it. If I’m up at the house for any length of time I have taken to lighting it to help dry out the room and the internal surface of the chimney which, prior to the remedial work, leaked water into the fireplace.
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| Stud wall |
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| Plasterboard in place |
There has been no movement on the sale of my house, but I am continuing to do some work on the ‘new’ house, although I am not going to spend any more large sums of money until it is actually mine! I’ve watched several YouTube videos on various topics (what did we do before them?) and have added a new skill to my repertoire – I have built a stud wall, albeit a small one, to block in a doorway and I am continuing to paper the bedroom wall with lining paper prior to repainting. All these small triumphs have stopped me getting totally downhearted about the situation and made me feel as if I am making some progress. I had booked a floor sander for the weekend of 16th/17th December but sadly went down with Covid on the Thursday and decided to postpone that job until the New Year.
I had three Christmas Fairs booked to try and sell some of my knitted and felted items but the first one was a complete washout, in both senses of the word – the weather was pretty dire so there were not many customers, even though it was in a pleasant village hall, and I sold nothing. The second Fair was cancelled as it was due to be outside and the weather forecast was for lashing rain and gale force winds! Luckily, the third one was in the middle of December, in Wells Town Hall and on the same day as the weekly outdoor market, so it was quite busy, and I sold several items. The Wells Town Hall markets are due to restart twice a month from February, so I think I will try and make it to, at least, some of them.
Right at the beginning of December I was booked to do a weekend farm sit for the alpacas and arrived on Friday afternoon to find Chris and Sarah desperately trying to put coats on three of the alpacas, two adults and one cria, as the forecast was for sub-zero temperatures and all three had thin fleeces. One of the adults already had her own coat that she wears each winter but Sarah had had to buy large dog coats for the other two. The one for the cria fitted quite well but she had had to cobble together extra Velcro fastenings for the adult male. Finally, they were finished and could set off on their weekend away.
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| A cold, frosty morning! |
The forecast was very accurate, and I awoke on the Saturday to a world suddenly blanketed in heavy frost. None of the outside taps were working and all of the buckets/water containers were frozen solid, so it was quite a task to get water to all of the livestock. There was a brief thaw at about lunchtime, but it only lasted about 45 minutes before the freezing conditions reasserted themselves. I went up to feed the male alpacas and found the one alpaca wearing his coat under his belly, dragging it on the ground, so I had to get all of them into a pen so that I could try and remove the coat without being trodden on, kicked or spat at! Luckily, I managed to grab one end of the extra Velcro fastening and the whole coat fell to the ground without injury to me or any of the alpacas. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, I made my way to the girl alpaca paddock only to be confronted by one small cria wearing his coat as a bib and tripping over it at every step! Obviously, I couldn’t leave him like that, so I had to get all of the female alpacas into a pen and try to take off Clyde’s coat. This was easier said than done as his Mum decided to be very protective, placing her body between us, kicking out with her rear legs and spitting at my face. Again, I managed to grab the Velcro fastening and pull the coat off before any injuries occurred! I didn’t want any of the alpacas to freeze to death overnight so I was relieved to find that the forecast for the next day was wet and mild.
Two of the older chickens had succumbed to the cold overnight, but I handed everything else back in good health on Sunday evening. The next day I had a message from Sarah to say that the river rose so quickly that the little footbridge into the alpaca field was underwater before she could get the geese back across to their sheds. It was nearly disastrous as they are prone to panic and three of them ended up in the river, some made it across the flooded bridge, but the rest had to be herded out of another gate and along the road to safety. It took Sarah the best part of an hour to get them all safely shut in by which time the bridge was a foot underwater! I was so glad that that hadn’t happened the day before!
On 23rd December Jeni and I headed north to spend Christmas at my sister’s in Sheffield, as we have done for many years now. I felt pretty much back to normal after Covid but Jeni was on standby to take over the driving if I felt unwell or tired. The journey was long (5.5 hours) but the weather was much better than predicted and we chatted and sang along to the radio so the time seemed to pass quite quickly. Weirdly, Dave arrived at the same time as us even though he had set off at a different time and taken a completely different route. We had a lovely Christmas with nearly all of the family present (my brother and his family were visiting Jo’s sister in Northern Ireland for the festivities) and then on 27th I drove Mum back to Cheltenham and am staying with her until the New Year.
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