Outdoor Day.

 A sign of a good day.

At last I've been able to get some work done outside. My last venture outside seriously wrecked my back so I wasn't going to overdo things today. Even so I finally got the 5ft yew tree stump out by working through a couple of brief hail showers. It wasn't too arduous as most of the work involved kneeling on the ground, scraping away the soil and cutting the roots with the loppers. It's quite a heavy log so I think I'll roll it down the hill and abandon it behind the shed as you can't burn yew wood.

Once I'd finished I intended just to wash my boots and loppers in the stream but then I thought I might as well tidy up the far bank of the stream. I pulled out or cut the brambles, shortened some new tree growth and cut back some of the overhanging holly that was at face height. By the time I moved some of the bigger rocks that had shifted when the stream was very full my boots, gloves and loppers were nice and clean. 

It hasn't felt so cold today maybe that was because I was working outside and apart from my frozen toes was warm and toasty from my exertions and also there hasn't been much wind. I've made a big pot of winter soup using up swedes, parsnips and carrots along with some pumpkin puree from the freezer and a handful of chunks of salami. Something warming for these winter days.