Warmer.

Back to the greyness today. It's warmer which is good though it has been raining lightly for a lot of the day. I started my morning by sorting out the wires for the hub and telephone in the space under the stairs. I had taped them to the concrete floor as a guide to the carpet fitters but either my positioning was off or the fitters were a bit careless but they weren't emerging from under the carpet in quite the right place. I had to unstick the edges of the carpet to move the wires and even then the wire to the telephone stand wasn't long enough for the phone to fit on the wooden shelves that stand in there. It took me a while to work out but eventually I realised that if I drilled a biggish hole in the back of the shelves I could feed the wire through. Now the phone sits handily on one of the shelves. Later I mixed up some filler to repair the holes in the plasterboard on the underside of the stairs. The hammering of the stairs to fit the metal gripper strips had caused the plaster that had been put over the nail heads in the plasterboard to drop off, something that couldn't be helped.

Later in the afternoon I baked some chocolate chunk cookies for Peter to take to work tomorrow. Afterwards it dried up enough for me to spend some time digging over the ground in the hens' run. I was quite pleased to have reached the far corner and got that bit re-levelled making a start on the lower path and ornamental planting area around the higher vegetable plot. Not that I intend to do much veg growing. I may sow some seeds as well as propagating more garden plants but mainly I'll keep it clear by hoeing so that prospective buyers will be enthused by the idea of growing their own vegetables. 

Frosty.

It was ccccold this morning. At 9.00 the garden thermometer read -5C and when I returned home none of the ice patches in the yard had melted so I guess it stayed cold all day 

This was the first proper frost of the winter and the poor arum leaves in the bog garden now look like wilted spinach. 

The carpet fitters came this morning and finished off carpeting the hall and stairs. No more echoing hallway tempting me to test the acoustics with silly noises. The men came at 10.00 and didn't finish until 12.30 with me following on their heels as I usually leave for work at 12.00. 

At school I started getting the children's handwriting books ready and realised after half were done that I needed to stop to have a break and a coffee before actually teaching through the afternoon. Never mind, I thought. I'll just have to do the rest of the books while keeping an eye on the children writing. Then I saw a note saying that the children needed to watch the end of Star Wars IV in the afternoon. As this is the input for their next bit of writing I couldn't even take out a few at a time for handwriting. Instead both classes sat and watched the DVD while I finished putting work in the handwriting books for next Tuesday. As the children had been sat down for a long time I then did some action songs with them before taking them out for a long playtime.

The staff meeting after school was all about filling in charts showing the interventions and extra things each class teacher is doing for their children with extra needs. There wasn't really anything for me to do but when I asked if I needed to be there it was suggested that it would be helpful for me to have an overview of the classes I work with so I didn't leave until 5.00.

Back home I had a lot of hoovering to do as there hadn't been time earlier to clear up all those strands of fibre that were everywhere. I'm off now to have more chicken and salad for my supper.

Sunny.

Today was crisp and cold, a perfect morning for a spot of gardening. I cleared up the remains of the bonfire in the hens' run putting the ashes in the yew stump hole which is nearly full now. Then it was back to weeding and forking over the ground with the hand fork. Not so many buttercups today but in the soil were still some bramble and nettle roots plus the bright white roots of a weed that can regenerate from the root pieces.

I had to work in the afternoon, back with the reception children doing more handwriting and guess what? Tomorrow will be the same. I don't mind.

I mark the handwriting as the children do it so I was able to leave school quickly. I went to the Co-Op and as well as the milk, tomatoes and coffee I had gone in for came out with a fresh chicken. It was all prepared and seasoned so all I had to do was put the whole thing inside its plastic bag into the oven. There'll be plenty for sandwiches, salads and a stir fry or curry.

Coming home, ahead the sky was cloudless while behind me over the sea was a pretty sunset. 

Lots Done Today.

There was a fine drizzle this morning which cleared up in time for me to do a tiny bit of work in the garden. I sawed a big branch in two so that I could move it on to the concrete and I bagged up some stuff that couldn't be put in the compost heap. The rest of my morning was spent on work for school. I had to use my lap-top and save documents on a pen drive as Office still isn't sorted on my pc.

Most days, if I'm lucky I get a glimpse of the sea as I drive in to work. Today the view was so clear that not only could I make out the sand dunes at Saunton but I could see where there was sand and where there was vegetation. 

It was my usual hectic afternoon working with both Year 1 classes, phonics and RE then getting them into or out of PE shoes and moving around the place fairly quietly. Hometime is terribly rushed as they only have a few minutes to change their shoes, put on their jumpers and coats and collect their book-bags and drinks bottles. We are getting into a routine for this and this is the only afternoon that I don't collect my class on the carpet for our hometime song and a calm goodbye before sending them out to their parents. Instead I get them to line up at the side of the classroom once they are ready so that those children who take their time don't hold everybody up.

Last night I finished my first pair of Bofur's fingerless mittens knitted to the same pattern and with the same wool as in the film. Now that I have mastered knitting with 4 needles I shall be making a smaller pair for myself.

My final job of the day was to drive the rubbish and re-cycling up to the road for collection tomorrow. 

Boiler Trouble.

It looked a bit more wintry today with a solid grey sky but here it has been relatively mild again and the rain held off until late afternoon.

Once again my afternoon was spent on my knees grubbing out buttercup roots. Once I neared the corner of the plot I combined several jobs. The weeding continued with bramble and nettle roots put to one side, the stony soil at the very steep corner was removed and put a bucket at a time, into the hole left when I dug up the yew stump. I intend to make a lower level along the end of the plot which will be planted with spare plants from around the garden so that the veg plot can be made less sloping.

Later on when I turned on the central heating I noticed that the boiler was making a new buzzing? sound. Peter decided that we needed to top up the water in the system which involves passing the garden hose in through the kitchen window, across the kitchen and into the back room. Naturally our hose has a leak in the middle which although wrapped with gaffa tape left a puddle on the kitchen floor. Puddles have been mopped up, the water topped up and the noise comes and goes. Peter thinks it's the boiler fan and anyway it's time to get the boiler serviced.

Popweed Alert.

As I lay in bed this morning I looked out of the window and saw specks swirling around in the air. Could it possibly be snowing? Then I looked again and saw that the specks were dancing around so not snow flakes but midges. A sign of how mild it has been today. Downstairs I found 2 ladybirds walking around on the kitchen table. I put them out in the porch to continue their winter hibernation.

Being not too cold and more importantly dry I took myself outside for the afternoon for more gardening in the old hens' run. I moved a pile of branches onto the concrete then wondered if it wouldn't be better to burn the smaller stuff. I got a fire going but didn't have enough dry twigs to get the wood burning. While my fire was smouldering away I did some emergency weeding as I had noticed that one weed, which I've just identified as popweed, was not only flowering but some had produced seed heads. Luckily it pulls up easily so I crawled around pulling it all up. Then starting at the worst corner I began digging the buttercups and docks out of the clay-ey soil. While I worked a robin perched on the apple tree beside me watching for things to eat. My final job was to roll the yew trunk to the corner of the hens' run and slide it down behind the shed. That was enough for one day.

It's been One Of Those Days...

....when lots went wrong but turned out okay in the end.

One of my current treats is to start the day drinking coffee in bed watching something I've saved on the tv. It's especially nice when it is dark and cold outside. But first I do some tidying up in the kitchen before heading back upstairs armed with 2 cups ready with milk and instant coffee (we keep a kettle in our bedroom). As time was a bit tight this morning I put the porridge pan with the milk in on the back of the rayburn to warm up while I was upstairs. By the time I came down Speedy had pulled the saucepan forwards and down onto the floor. Some of the milk had soaked into the rug, the rest was in the cats as were most of the oats, sunflower seeds and raisins. As well as my usual hoovering I had to wash part of the floor and then take the rug outside and wash that too. At least it was a bright windy day and I could leave the rug dripping over the back of one of the garden chairs.

I got to the hospital for my dental appointment in perfect time only to discover that I should have been there yesterday! I had written it down correctly in my diary and would have seen it if we had had a staff meeting and gone through  our diary dates but for some reason I had written it up wrongly on the  kitchen whiteboard. They said I couldn't make another appointment as I was down as a no-show but then after checking with that day's consultant if I didn't mind waiting I could see him. I had a book with me and in less than an hour I was seen. The consultant had a good look in my mouth and couldn't see infection or problem with the surgery that I had had. The aches in my jaw may well be another tooth on its way out but that will be something for my dentist to look at. What did concern the consultant was the split at the corner of my mouth. I do get splits and sore patches at the corners of my mouth which I put down to the cold weather. This guy was a bit more concerned and gave me a prescription for an anti-biotic/anti-fungal gel to apply. It won't hurt to try it and didn't cost anything as I have a pre-paid card for my prescriptions.

Then on to town I went; Lidl's, Post Office, check the sales and Tesco's.The only thing I got in the sales was a little silicone coin purse which I thought was quite quirky and fun. In Tesco's I got a half-wheel of blue Stilton reduced by 75%. I cut it up into smaller pieces before putting it in the freezer. I've frozen cheese before and although it goes crumbly that's fine for sprinkling over a salad or in hot soup.

Then I drove down to Braunton where I got stuck in a long cue of traffic due to a new roundabout being put in. It looks as if they are going to cover more fields with houses down there. In Braunton one shop I was hoping to go in was closed until February but the other was open and I bought one thing I was looking for. Then I planned to go to another shop a little way out only to find that you can't drive all the way down South St. At that point I gave up and headed for home going the Mullacot Cross route through the countryside rather than getting stuck in the traffic again.

On my way to town I was wondering if I needed to wear a coat, seeing this downpour in the distance made me think it might be a good idea. 

When I got home I found Speedy looking rather grubby with black marks on his legs, face and ear. I thought he might have been playing in the ashes of a bonfire or crawling around under some farm machinery. Nothing for it but to give him a bath. He wasn't too badly behaved except when I was first putting him in the bath when his claws caught me a couple of times. After that he stood fairly calmly in a couple of inches of warm water while I got the worst of the black off. Then he had a quick rub down with a towel before climbing into the warmer oven which I had left open for him. 

I filled the bird feeder yesterday and here a coal tit and a great tit are sharing the peanuts. 

It has been cold and bright for most of the day. I took this photo coming down the drive where I found lots of hail stones from an earlier shower still in the garden.