Tue Aug 07, 2012

a first for me.

 

 made a couple of spoons last night,and for the first time i turned a spoon on the lathe (the one on the left) basicly you just turn all the shape than cut a side away then carve the bowl as normal,i quite like this style but you cant lug a gurt lathe about in the woods can you?!

 

 

Sat Aug 04, 2012

rowan spoons.

 

 This week i managed to obtain some Rowan ,its a good wood for carving being as it is quite soft,makes a change from the hazel i have been using,i think there will be a few given that i have 14 foot of 10 inch girth to use!

 

Mon Jul 30, 2012

For a while i have wanted to make a saw frame to take junior hacksaw blades as i just hate the look and feel of the metal frame i had,sotoday i made this one from stained oak and antler.

Mon Jul 30, 2012

A new whitler.

 

 I had an 01tool steel blade knocking around for ages made by Bernie Garland and last week i decided to handle it ,for the handle i used a silver bolster,bloodwood and a red deer antler pommel.

 

Mon Jul 30, 2012

A pocket strop.

 

 Now given the amount of whitling i do i need a razor sharp blade and as most folk know a strop is a must,now with a regular strop you get messy grey stuff comming off in your pocket or day bag/tool roll,so i came up with the idea of a folding one.I had some diamondwood hanging around so this would be my frame,after cutting i routed the inner and added two magnets to keep it closed when not in use and added a nice lil hinge.

 

Sat Jul 21, 2012

whistles galore!

 

  been making some whistles of late on the lathe,the kids love them allthough apparently their teachers at school dont......

 and some hazel whistles mad from local copse wood :

Sun Jul 15, 2012

A kuksa for mrs fish.

finished this one recently,its made from beech burl that i found local to me ,the leaf inspiration came from http://spooncarvingfirststeps.blogspot.co.uk/ my atmpts are not as refined as his for sure!

Sun Jul 15, 2012

spoons ,some twisted some not.

 

 Over the last few months i have carved over 50 spoons but having a very poor camera i didnt get any useable pics,got a new camera and so heres a few i carved this week ,all are carved from hazel as i have a huge supply since i landed a great copicing job:

Sat Jun 30, 2012

sami inspired scrimshawed items.

been busy of late as the weather is just wet wet wet i have been doing some arty stuff.
first off i made a salt flask from juniper and peer davids deer antler,then i scrimshawed it with a trad saami weave pattern , then i made a spear head pendant from bone and decorated it with the same pattern:

Next i was inspired by the saami (sami) style sewing kit holders to make a small container suitable as a small stash pot for my pills :

 

Mon Jun 11, 2012

Been carving a few spoons of late and saturday was the church fete and i was offered a stall so off we went with a few spoons,sold loads at a fiver each ,i was supprised just how well they went!
sorry about the quality of the pic:

Tuesday 24th April 2012

Been without the internet for while ,but currently have the laptop with the broken scren atached to the monitor from the buggered pc,seems to work ok,now all i need is a camera again.
 For the last week i have been working in a placement from the ob center at unidome,they are a new company making a new take on the traditional mongolian yurt,i like it and james the manager is a nice chap,south african by birth,today he spoke to the job centree about me doing an appreticeship with him.

Friday 30th March 2012.

Busy day! after dropping the kids off it was straight to sarah and andy's place to continue with the rabbit hutch,a great day to work out side and inbetween the traffic i could hear the chaffinch and skylarks in the fields.
 Mrs harrison the teachers assistant in charlies class was upset today as her son George left for Afganistan this morning,he was at church the other week in his uniform,looked very smart,i hope he isnt mentioned on the news.
 By 6pm the hutch was done,and it is a big one ,the rabbit will be lost in there! after this it was a rush to get Ben to Nannys for the weekend,they are off down to weymouth to stay with lin and bob.
 We arrived late at barn buddies but still in time for tuck shop! tim and i started the big tidy up ready for easter sunday,the garden is ready and i am very happy with it.
 The threat of a fuel delivery strike has gone mad,every petrol station has run out in the area!

Wednesday 21st March.

Up with the larks today,David and I are going fishing over at shearwater today,we are picking him up after the kids are dropped off.
 David was ready for the off and was waiting at the door with all his ephemera,we arrived at shearwater in no time and we set about setting up,within an hour david had hooked into the biggest mirror carp of his life (all 54 years of it!) we estimated it as low twenties,and that was the last fish of the day! i blanked in style and david was just happy with the carp he had!

Monday 19th March 2012.

Awoke early ,cold still bad but on the up note the weather is glorious,bright warm sunshine with little wind at all,we dropped the boys at school and then we attended the class assenbly for jack,it was all about india and the kids all showed what they had been doing,jack made an incredibly good elephant out of clay,when we got back home shawn was here ,so we had breakfast then i got sarah to drop me off with my kit at shearwater for a session sat in the sun,it was glorious,i took scooby with me and she did an excellent job at keeping the ducks away from the swim,the air was full of the busy chatter of the finches in the trees and the crows nesting in the beeches too.managed to hook 2 big carp but they got off,this scared them off for a couple of hours,sarah poped back with skippy and then took the dogs for an amble round the lake,mean time i landed a common carp of about 11 lb,it faught well and when landed i saw it was the very same fish i caught on a previous session.

Sunday 18th March 2012.

Sunday came early,jack awoke me asking if he and his brothers could go and pick some wild daffodils for Sarah it being mothering Sunday and all,it was 7:30am,i dozed,next thing i know its 9am and jack is badgering me to supervise his cooking a full English for Sarah too,soon done and the desired effect had.Slowly we get ready for church but i have no clean clothes owing to a minor domestic oversight,as i have a cold i said bugger it and went back to bed Sarah and the boys went on to church without me.
 12 noon and the sound of the boys excited chatter awoke me again,its not a bad way to wake.I went down stairs and chatted with them and Sarah had a coffee and set about some spoon carving in ash.Pm we took the dogs over to the old site of RAF Hummingbird and the boys climbed bales of straw in a barn and excitedly ran along the tops of the dumped rubble playing soldiers.After this we went to Morrison's in warminster and got some ingredients for the curry tonight,on the way home we dropped into shearwater for the dogs to have a bath and the kids to tire themselves out,the carp were on the feed too made me wish i had my rod! on the way back home we spotted a black pheasant just up the road from the game keepers cottage.The sun was warm so we sat in the garden and had a cup of tea whilst i continued carving.Jack prepped the veg for the dinner and did a fine job too whilst Robin washed up.

Saturday 17th march 2012.

Late start to the day but hey-ho its Saturday! after breakfast we went to Tim's mums to do some more gardening,managed to burn 2 whole piles of twigs and saw up and remove a good deal of wood incl ash for burning now and carving.we felled 3 trees and one was a very nice straight piece of Hawthorne for Andy to make into a didge.When all this was done it was home for sausages chips and beans,a rare thing is the chip in this house! after which we cut the ash for the fire and i started a new big spoon for cooking with,the boys were busy carving too and robin carved a fine small spoon for mum as its mothering Sunday in the morrow.PM we went out with the lamp and gun hoping for a rabbit but we only saw one ,then we bumped into Ben and corvette at Morrison's ,twas good to catch up.

Thursday 15th February 2012.

Today saw a continuation of the fog,real pea souper! got the boys to mere ok,charlie is off school due to a leg injury sustained at school by some kids,he woke in the night and can barely walk,off to DVLA in Bristol next to register/tax the car.
 jack and Ben have after school football clubs so sarah and i put up the bird table i made for the school,Mr Perry was very pleased with it,hope the kids will too.
 When home i was looking for seasoned wood in the outhouse and found Gareths old air rifle,a webly viscount,remarkably still in A1 condition despite being outside in just a gunslip for 4 years,seems to be quite powerful too,just waxed the stock and its done,as its .177 i will need some pellets for it,this could be the end of the rabbit problem or lack of.
 Pm we went back to the school for the musical extravaganza,Ben is in the choir and i was asked to be official school photographer,it was actually really good and one or two kids were exceptional,especially one little 7 year old girl with red hair,she played like i would imagine a teenager could.

Tuesday 13th March 2012.

Once the boys were dropped off at school we popped over to gillingham for some bait and munchies,today is the first fishing day of the year for me! back home we had a breakfast and then its off to shearwater,the fog was very thick,down to 20 yards mostly,once there it was great you couldn't see the float if you cast too far! today i was fishing with my cane rod and my 1890's reel and one of my home made floats.Within 20 minutes the float slid under the water as i picked up the rod i connected with a carp and 10 minutes later i landed a 5lb common carp it was a fish i had caught before,recognisable by a deformity in its mouth.The water fowl were a pain and were hard to convince to bugger off,4 hours 3 pies and a can of fanta later and  the rod was pulled from the rest and i just caught the rod as it near went in the water,this was a far more powerful fish and i did recall the rumours about catfish having been illegally introduced into the lake,but this just wasn't that big,none the less i fought for a good 20 minuted with 40 yards of line being stripped at times before i even got a glimpse of the fish,it was a mirror carp and incredibly no monster.After another 5 minutes it was landed a nice fish a real power house of piscatorial joy ,once photoed it was returned. Time to pack up the fog was thickening again and getting very cold,not the best days fishing i have had at shearwater but enjoyable and a chance to de-stress and at the end of the day that's what fishing is all about isn't it?

Monday 12th March 2012.

Over to the Worthington's first thing with Shaun to see if he could fit the new alternator to the skoda,after 3 hours it appeared to be impossible due to one specialist tool.This is very stressful,the thought of being stuck here with no car again is scary,no shops within 5 miles and sod all public transport,and the council wont bother laying more on kilmington gets left behind on every thing ,its a wonder we have electric and running water!
 I got back first ready for the kids to get home,its club day so we have a few lifts sorted,first home was charlie thanks to Andy and Sarah,they stopped for a gas and catchup,then our Sarah came back with Shawn,we decided that we would enquire about buying Keith's car,they were talking about £200 for it so Sarah went over to theirs to see about it,meantime the horrors got back thanks to Lou from church.About an hour later Sarah came back with the car,mot'd till November too but the price went up to £600 as we could pay on terms,so the transport problem is solved,ime sure God had a hand in this.

Sunday 11th March 2012.

Sunday school for the kids today which we like as do they,it also means we get the chance to actually concentrate on the service instead of the kids,today we had a stand in vicar ,an old boy and clearly a veteran of sermons.
 After church it was a rush home as Elijah and his mum were coming over for a cuppa and to play in the park,i made a plate of sandwiches and jack took them over they didnt last two minutes with 5 hungry boys! whilst they were over there i did some wood carving sat in the sun,then i got the rotavator going and rotavated the first bit of the back garden,the rotavator is not running as it should and this is worrying as it needs to do a lot of work.
 At 5pm we went over to tamsens for a cuppa and to drop the knives over to her that tim gave and i sharpened.

Saturday 10th March 2012.

Finally a night without a tooth ache! the new pills seem to be working.Once we had breakfasted we went to semly to pick up the new alternator for the skoda,then over to Bourton to see about fitting it,this proved to be a very difficult job and i have given up till we get a manual for it,there is just so many things to do to get to it.
 Whilst there we had a brew with the Worthington's and a chat,David said he needed a cover for their well so as to make it safe for Elly their grand daughter to play around,they had had the electricity board cut a bow down from their willow and i was offered some of the wood,so jack Ben and i found some nice bits for spoons,when we got home i set about making a spoon whilst the boys chopped wood for fun and Sarah sat in the lovely spring sunshine,poor girl is having a bad time with her knee and depression.
 later in the afternoon i made the well cover for the Worthington's and also the bird table for the school in mere,i am quite chuffed with how it came out .
 PM we went to the Worthington's for dinner at 6,Caroline had made a fine sausage casserole with rice followed by banana meringue,after that it was parlour games and chatting till late,the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home and are now in bed nice and quiet.

Friday 9th March 2012.

A cloudy day today but we have plenty to do,a couple of hours at wincanton gardening,my strimmer wont start,even earned a blister trying! so we burned loas of cuttings which is making the place look better.
  later in the afternoon we went to semly scrapyard to see if he had an alternator for the skoda,and he did,this is to be picked up saturday am.Tea was early so we could get to barn buddies early to do some maintenence jobs,jack had a bonfire which was great,barn buddies was a lot better and quieter tonight.

thursday 8th march.

skipped a couple of days on the blog,part reason being the tooth infection has wiped me out ,or rather the codine to fight the pain,today i returned to the dentist and he agreed that the steroids i had have lowered my immune system and thus the infection is far worse than we thought,he gave me a local anaesthetic in the nerve and a course of metronizadol antibiotics to use in conjunction with the amoxicillin,maybe i will get a nights sleep tonight!
  latest news being that we have baby rabbits from buttons ,6 of them and thyre eyes have opened now and are very cute we are to be taking them into the school next week for the kids to see and hopefully they will nag their parents into buying one or two.....
 mid morning we went to David Worthington's house to finish some repairs to his bathroom basin tap,i had spent the whole day there yesterday mending his bath,bog and taps. Then we went down to sherborne to see Shawn and on the way home we cut some more wood that we had previously found at the side of the road.
 Tonight i am accompanying David and Caroline to Westbury to a do for making Viki from upper stour parish and Mary Merrel lay parish assistants.Got back home at 10 pm ,the service was excellent and Incorporated communion,the sermon was by the Arch Deacon of sherborne,a really nice chap,after the service i had the chance of chatting to him at some length,he shared my views on Canterbury cathedral charging folk to enter.
 Hope that i can get a nights sleep without the toothe ache!

Monday 5th February 2012.

 Shawn came with us to drop the boys at school,whilst there i got an appointment at the dentist ,i have an infection of my rhs canine that was crowned last year,so back home for breakfast then back in for the appointment.The dentist took an xray and gave me a prescription for some amoxycillin,i am sur that this is linked to my body immune deficiency post steroid course.
 On the way to drop Shawn back at sherborne sarahspotted some core wood at the side of the road and on the way back we had a look,it was pine but clarlydumped as apposed to stacked,in all ide say a good tonne of it too,so as we had the chain saw in the car we loaded it into the car,we soon arrived back at home ,and first thing we did is cut a load and split it for Anne Foxgold,we did so in her garden to ave the mess in ours! she was very grateful ,in fact near to tears.
 When we got back the Wessex electricals electrician arrived to do the landlords safety inspection,he was a delight to have in the house and he did a most thorough job,usually they stop for 10 minutes ,this chap was here for about 2 hours,he fitted all manner of fulty stuff including the smoke alarms we haven't had for 5 years.,turnes out we were both brought up on Bemerton Heath he being 10 years junior to myself.
 As the afternoon was so nice i sat in the garden and started a new spoon,this one is a cooking/server spoon ,i like the big spoons.

Sunday 4th March 2012.

 Actually made it to Church this morning,twas family service far too happy clappy for my liking to me clarinets and guitars don't belong in church,at least we don't have drums ......yet! on the way home it started to snow we were  very surprised however it didn't last long which i am glad of,its too late for snow now ,i am in spring mode all the prunus trees are in flower and itd be a shame to lose the fruits.
 Pm the sun came out so i carved a spoon and then started another,just before dinner we went to pick up Shawn ,he is stopping over tonight .At 7pm there was a knock at the door,it was Anne Foxgold from over the road with her daughter Megan,they haven't spoke for 5 years and have done us a few wrongs over that time,but today they were in need and so we took them in and gave them a cup of tea,they have no fuel for the heating and were really desperate,they had tried all their neighbours and had been turned away we were the last house they tried,since her husband dies they've had it hard with the council and jsa doing their best to fcuk them over,still today we managed to give them some wood. Megan asked one of my neighbours son whom she knows for help by way of a lift and he said only if she sent him pornographic pictures of herself to him! and to think that Julie holds her head high and looks down her nose at us!

Saturday 3rd march 2012.

An early start today as David Worthington was picking me up at 7:45am for the Cristian breakfast,en route David was berating me about being on best behaviour and not telling any offencive jokes,once there at the inn i saw why,6 of the straightest laced chaps i have ever met! and i was sat next to a glove maker and oh boy could he bore the nuts off a walnut tree,next time i want to sit between the stamp collector and the bus spotter! after our full English was downed with some fine coffee we retired to the pool room,here we discussed the faith and in all honesty people like them are really the reason folk wont go near a church all talk and no action and when i had had my rant there was a silence......
 Then it was back to Davids house to have a look at the skoda that needs fixing,the alternator belt has come off and the belt with it,so we looked on line to see what a new alternator would cost,after some faffing it turned out that David and Caroline are giving the car to us and it has mot and tax til end of June this year all we have to do is give them the cash when it is scrapped,this is the most amazing act of christian kindness and will not be forgotten,truly a prayer answered and all we need do is bodge the alternator pulley.
 Once home we all took a trailer of rubbish up to the dump,good job done ide say and we bought a few nik naks there too amongst which were some vintage 1950's - 1970's darts,then home to have a cuppa and fix jack and Ben's bikes,

after this i made a spoon from some of the ash i have had from Tim's mums place.
 After a nice liver and onion dinner i set up the dart board in the kitchen,we got some very vintage darts at the dump and so Robin,jack and Ben had a match,and jack won! this reminded me of the dart board at my old mate Neils house and the matches i used to watch in his smokey kitchen back in the 80's,once the young were off to bed Sarah and i had a game ,she won hands down,Sarah and robin are playing as i sit here next to the fire.

 So all in all a productive day and i am looking forwards to church tomorrow.

friday 2nd march 2012.

 Got word today that a taxi firm can take the boys from zeals to mere,saving us half the distance to cycle,this is a result.then later in the afternoon Sarah and Andy say they can give the boys a lift for the 12 weeks,which is so good of them,seems like putting out more than one line means more chances of a bite!
 pm we picked the boys up and went over to barn buddies at west knoyle to do some more gardening,after a hour or so we stopped for tea and used Tim's BBQ to cook some sausages,the kids loved this as did Sarah and i it was so nice to be i the sunny outdoors.,the garden there has been transformed over the last few months of work and is pleasing Tim very much.Barn buddies started early ,there were about 14 kids turn up,there was a bad feel to the kids tonight,one bigger teen was rough play fighting with the younger ones .
 Tim is burying his dad on Monday ,he is dealing with it well,on the surface anyhow,with the altzeimers he has said his goodbyes 2 years ago,tis very sad.Tim let me read the eulogy he wrote for his dad and it was very touching.Tim asked that Sarah and i clean barn buddies next Friday evening before it starts.The youths seem to be taking the facilities for granted and were told so tonight by Tim,i think it was just one more straw on the proverbial donkey.

Thursday 1st March 2012.

  Pinch punch for the first day of the month! where has the year gone? the hedgerows are looking good with wild garlic showing in the shady spots,i will be digging some real soon.
 Signing on day today ,even the job centre couldn't find a job for me,they did a back to work work sheet for me to see if i would be better off working self employed again,worked out ide be £40.00 a week down plus another £40 worth of school dinners to pay for,great times we live in.
 After that we dropped in to see David Worthington for a cuppa,was very good to catch up with him,he is taking me for a christian breakfast on Saturday morning,i am looking forward to it,it would be nice to meet some new faces.Jack and Ben had after school clubs so we went to the park with charlie,being a bright sunny day the park in mere was full of kids for a change,at 4pm the two boys were ready and we came home,we did a lot of tidying in the front garden which went on till a late 8pm tea,the garden is looking better now!

Wednesday 29th February 2012.

So 11 days till we have no car,county hall wont help and so it looks like be indebted to others for lifts and cycling,bloody outrageous these kids cant cycle all that way daily,and now to top it all tinknels fuels have threatened county court due to Sarah stopping the direct debit months ago and owing them over £600.00 ,she keeps going on about 'all the direct debits' going out i just assumed it meant the fuel bills as well,also today a last chance letter from inland revenue,due to Sarah's mistake i have a £200.00 fine for late self assessment and she has one for £100.00 for the same. So that sets buying a car back a bit.
but on the bright side i finished a spoon today!

Tuesday 28th February 2012.

  Early start today as the car has mot,i am going over to barn buddies to to the garden,lots to do before holy week.
 Sarah came back to barn buddies to pick me up and had bad news on the mot, failed with a capital F! car has to be scrapped,this is a bad thing as there is sod all public transport here,just 4 or 5 buses a week and we need to get the kids to school. So we spent last week £500 on the car to scrap in 2 weeks! ,still Sarah spoke to Lorna and there is a possibility of borrowing her car for a couple of weeks but she has to speak to Bins about it,another plan is to try and force the county to allow us to use the daily school bus that passes the end of our road i will need to get support from the school and the county education department and these guys are all jobs Worth's!
 Well this evening Lorna rang back,she wont let us borrow her car in case she deeds it! well i wont be making a chicken run for them now ,how selfish can some bugger be?they have 2 cars too!

Monday 27th February 2012.

Awoke to find a drizzle infested day,not good,still we were spoilt at the weekend with the weather.Boys were off to school early and the rest of the day was spent doing household stuff,i cut and slit 1/4 tonne of wood whilst Sarah did the kitchen,most of the wood is sycamore which will do fine for next winters fuel once seasoned and the ash will do now as the stuff burns green,theres been some nice wood for spoon carving,when i get a camera sorted i will post some pics.
 Shawn came over for the night as he is needed to bring Sarah back from the mot station tomorrow .curry for tea tonight oh i do love a curry as do the boys,we bought a bulk sack of 20lb of basmati for £17.00 if bought in 1kg mags it would have been over £50.00!

Sunday 26th February 2012.

My dad slept over last night so the boys were manic,once breakfast was over  we sat outside and enjoyed the sun whilst the boys played over the park,they are really enjoying the great weather at the moment.Sarah and i enjoyed carving a spoon each outside,she gives up too easy,i am surprised really as she is a s stubborn as a mule sometimes.
 Midday we went up to whitesheet hill to walk the dogs,there were some rc glider pilots up there and we watched them flying their craft,my dad was in his element as he loves all things aeroplane.

 We had hoped to make messy church today but everything conspired against us and sadly it was missed.Still at least robin is back home i missed him.Tonight i will be carving a spatula as i broke mine when i chucked it at the cat! lol

Saturday 25th February 2012.

Glorious start to the day,not a cloud in the sky,Grandad Sanford arrived at 10am with a big old pork joint and was very pleased when i told him we had a venison leg out ready for dinner.Lorna and Bins arrived soon after to take robin to wells with them for a sleep over,robin loves a chance to go there as its a city ,all be it a small one,he gets to have a wander up town and go to Bins allotment.
 Once Robin left we all piled into our car and went to wincanton to the Merrel's place to pick up the trailer full of sycamore wood and some of our tools,showed my dad the gardening we had been doing.On the way home we dropped into the allotments and were surprised to see it wasn't as bad as i had expected,last year mid-season i put my back out and was laid up for 6 crucial weeks,still have 4 rows of spuds in the ground,it would appear though that a mouse has made the most of them ,hundreds of holes all over the ridges.We cut about 20 cuttings of the black currant bushes for Elijah's mum and dropped them off ,she was very pleased to have them and a rhubarb crown.
 When we got back Sarah sorted the pile of washing up and the boys brought the logs in from the trailer,i slit them,tis hard work and in the afternoon sun was hot work,we split about half a tonne.Afterwards we all sat out the front and enjoyed a cuppa in the sun and i carved a spoon and finished the handled bowl i had started in the week.
 Dinner went well nowt better than venison roast especially when the venison is free.could do with another one soon.

Friday 24th February 2012.

Hooray weekends here.dropped the kids off at school then we popped down to wincanton Morrison's for a breccy,was crap rubber eggs and all! then it was down to Sherborne to Shaun's house to pick up his old fish tank,he needed to get his old washing machine up to the dump,i cleaned the car out whilst there and got 2 bin bags of rubbish out!
  Once home we unloaded the car and then went to get a rabbit hutch from a freecycler in warminster,nice hutch too apart from the huge spider in it!we dropped it off at home then it was time to pick the kids up from school and back home,Sarah and the boys sorted the cabinet and fish tank whilst i bodged the lighting system from our old tan to fit the new one,quite successfully too,the tank looks good,just needs fish now as the one fish we were given gives me the creeps.
 We paid the farmer to cut our front hedge whilst he was cutting the rest along the road,Mel went ballistic as there were bits of hedge in the road and she was cussing and going on that we should have swept it up,what about the rest of the road all 3 miles of it? lol
 Soup for tea and then off to barn buddies,was the biggest turn out ive seen there over 30 kids.Mary told us that Tim's dad had dies that day,a relief for them i think as his continuing poor health and strokes were really a trial on their nerves.

Thursday 23rd February 2012.

 Had a real surprise today,i got a big package in the post and in it was a load of papers from my great uncle Donald Cox ,whom i found on the Internet recently,over at North stoneham near Eastleigh Hampshire,in it was a family tree of the Cox family going back to 1766! a book of poems by my grandmother Violet Cox and photo's of the cox family going back to 1900,as well as news paper clippings ,the cox family have lived in north stoneham for around 500 years and a member of the family has lived in the same cottage for all of that time till this very day.
here's some of the pics:

Wednesday 22nd February 2012.

  A dull looking day greeted me as i peered through foggy eyes out the bedroom window,still at least its warm,only 5 deg c today,and this is good as i am thinking of getting crops in soon and seed germinates at 5c.
 Robin had missed the school bus and we think it may have been deliberate,so we dropped the 3 hooligans off at mere school ,Mrs Bevan was pleased to see charlie in a happy mode,Ben and jack took themselves in.Quick trip to gillingham and robin was sorted,seemed happy enough.
  Home for a spot of break fast and then i finished cutting my adapted soon to be hammer adze,managed to blow the grinder up,smoked a bit too,very disappointed as i haven't the cash to buy one due to the small fortune we are spending on the car,hey ho......
  Once at Sutton veny the chap fitted the new part for us as well as a couple of bulbs,apparently the ball joint wont pass or the rear brake light so those jobs are for week Tuesday,so far:
rear brake discs and pads : £140.00
2 front tyres:                       £107.00
air meter:                            £145.00
failed MOT                         £57.00
6 months road tax:              £118.00

and near £600.00 is a hell of a cost when on the dole,and possibly a furthur £300.00 to go!not happy chappy.We are eating crap and really struggling with this cost,weeks shopping for 6 of us is down to £40.00 and just enough petrol to do the school run....maybe,electric is a joke i recon we have 6 days worth when theres 7 needed,still we love a challenge,i recon there will be some poaching needed this week.
  Still pacakes were a success! kids had 6 each and now have a sugar rush.sarah read a story at the school today in bens class,i recon she is very brave.

Tuesday 21st february 2012.

up early to be greeted by another blue skied sunny day,got the boys off to school ,then we had to drop the car off at zeal's motor co for the MOT,before doing it they needed to do some work on the emissions,Sarah and Andy took us back to theirs for a cuppa and natter,before we knew it it was 1pm and we had to get back home for lunch and some work.
 1:30pm and Andy picked us up to go back over to the garage ,turned out the air intake sensor is buggered and they cant fix it,so no MOT,they offered to bypass the gadget for a mere £300.00,no thanks! so we went over to Sutton veny to see what they made of it,within 2 minutes they confirmed the problem and ordered the part in for tomorrow 11am.
  After we picked the kids up we went to the park in mere at the back of the school ,started to drizzle so we left for home sharpish.
 As its pancake day we were due to make pancakes,however by the time we had been to the shop and got home it was late so we just had my home made lasagna with salad and bread,pancakes tomorrow instead i think.
 Settled down in the evening to a bit of spoon carving and a warm ash wood fire.

Monday 20th February 2012.

Another  sunny day! good job too as its off to the wincanton  gardening job,today we took down a small ash tree useful sizes kept for spoons,Tim rang to say Rev Barnes will be staying there for the next couple of weeks and asked that we keep clear for the rest of this week so he can settle in.
  The bowl i am carving is near completion now,all carved nice and symmetrical and of an even wall thickness,now it needs to dry and then be tool finished.Carved a couple of small desert spoons for something to do too!

Sunday 19th February 2012.

Sunday today and we are having a day off Church,since Paul Barnes left it hasn't been the same,it would appear the church of England is in a poor state that soon reverts back to crap without decent leadership.For now we will be attending when there is stuff for the kids which is 3 out of 4 weeks and we will aim to do communion on Wednesday mornings.
  The weather is superb today,the sun is bright and hot and all the birds are chirping away in the hedgerows,robin and jack are busy in the kitchen arguing over the washing up and Sarah is hoovering ready for Elijah's mum and dads visit later this afternoon.We are supposed to be off to wincanton in a bit,i resharpened the chainsaw last night and so i am confident the job should be easy.
 Just saw six deer in the front field,never seen that before!
Finally we got to Tim's mums at 11am ish and got on with the work,burning twigs and me cutting the logs,so far a clear 3/4 of a tonne,hope to do more tomorrow.Tea tonight is pork casserole with roast trimmings,smells fine in the kitchen.
  I started carving a trough style bowl today from a green sycamore log,hollowed it with the adze and the outer with the wicker chopper,hope to fully carve the inner this evening.

Saturday 18th February 2012

The weather started out gread but by mid morning it was rain ,rain and more rain,not good! my morning was took up pottering about in the shed and a bit of spoon carving in the kitchen,jack made a good start on a small spoon,i soon finished the one for Sarah the girl down the road.
 Tea was good,spag bol and lots of it too! the boys and us watched some heritage thing on the i player and that was about it for the day.

Friday 17th february.

Half way through the month,February is a dire month and i don't like it much,theres a few signes of spring in the hedgerows but from bitter experience i know it can soon turn cold and be back in the grips of old father winter.
 Got a fair bit done today turned a nice handle for my basketry chopper,cam out very nice indeed,tried fixing the leaks on the Kelly kettle but i recon its buggered.late afternoon we all went down to the gardening job at wincanton,the wood that had been nicked by the builders was in the ditch so we used rope and hauled it all up out of the gully and into the garden,seems like a lot still to do but once the burn up has been completed i recon it will take shape really quick.
  Evenings on Fridays are good as it means barn buddies,we were a little late getting there but we were welcome all the same,Tim,Mary and Ben were there as well as tamzen ,there were a few kids i hadn't seen before.Tim showed me his pond,apparently theres a good few fish in there,mostly ornamental and i can fish it in the summer!
  A quick look about the garden and Tim showed me what needs doing before holy week,apparently theres a dawn service at barn buddies with bonfire,bacon butties and a deacon....
 

Thursday 16th February 2012.

A great start to the day,sunny and warm for a change! after a hectic breakfast there was a lot to do,first off was to sort a day sack for the adventures of the day,once done it was off to Frome to pick up the kids new glasses and to sign on at the job centre,once done it was off to wincanton to check that the builders adjacent to Tim's garden had returned the wood they stole the previous day,and they had .Next it was off to Lou's house in mere to start her car ready for out trip to moors valley country park.
  Once at Lou's it became clear that her battery was knackered! so we bumped her car easily and off we went,using sat-nav we went a different route to normal.on the way we saw all manner of things,a number of deer and hare,and over the top of the downs we saw an apache gunship helicopter landing in a field! dont see that every day thats for sure.
  Soon enough we were  there and  blagged a good car park space and set about lighting the kelly kettle and having food,Lou had not seen a kk before and ws amazed at the ease of hot water production. Food scoffed and tea drank we set off to finc Celia and her 2 boys ,i had taken a bit of apple wood with me to make a spoon from for our tea making and as we went around and sat at the various stops i whittled a spoon,to the utter amazement of some townie kids on the trail,i am sure you could easily do a bushcraft event there.We took our time going round the play circuit and then back to the car for another brew up which was very welcome indeed with a biscuit ,we sat and watched the sunset with our friends as we chatted,by the time the kids had payed we were after dark and to our surprise the barriers were open and this meant we had had a free day out! woohoo!

 The drive home was hell as Sarah struggles in the dark and the satnav had us on a very strange and unfamiliar route,but eventually we got home and had a light tea before the kids were to bed,cider was drank and bed filled early.

Wednesday 15th February 2012.

Finally for the first night in near 3 weeks i got an undisturbed nights sleep! up early and got ready to go to Tamsans house to sort the last bit of the wonky wardrobe,after getting it 90% complete i realised that she had assembled the first 3 bits the wrong way round so i had to strip it down and start again! it was soon sorted  whilst Tamzen my 4 boys and her two girls went to the library and Sarah was at Sutton veny getting the car rear brakes done,turns out the disks need replacing and Sutton veny will do the work £100.00 + cheaper than Zeals garage! so it will be back in on Friday for the work and w will be exploring the woods near there where i spotted a ww2 pill box.
 Once finished at Tamzens the kids and i went over to the meadow  for a mess about,managed to shoot a mallard drake with the catty which will be prepared after tea tonight(turkey curry).
 Made a start on an ash spoon for Sarah's mate Sarah(Elijah's mum), the log was a good 10inches across so i have a piece of top grain to work with.As of early eve i have hewn out the basic shape and have started the bowl of the spoon.

Tuesday 14th february 2012.

Tis valentines day,not as big a deal as i would like,still at least i carved a spoon for Sarah and she as always seemed pleased with it.
 Up early as Sarah had to take the car for MOT at zeal's garage,the boys were a little restless so we got ready and all walked the dogs up to the post box and back,one letter was to the author of the North Stoneham book of which my family takes a large part.Once home Sarah was already there ,and the car failed and we are looking at around £400.00 to get it through an MOT and then £200.00 to tax it,and we have to have a car out here in the arse end of beyond,which means serious cuts in the budget over the next month ,seems like something keeps coming along! i need to find a way to make some more cash.
  After breakfast with Sarah we all piled into the car and went over to Sutton veny for two new tyres for the front of the car,£120.00 !! still the old boy that runs it let me have a couple of hundred big bearings for catty ammo,then it was off to lidles for some shopping,this week the family lives off £40.00 for food for the six of us!we stopped briefly at home to drop off the shopping then it was loading the car up ready for more work at wincanton,once there it became apparent that the building site had taken my wood from the Merrel's garden so there was a hoo ha over that,we got more done and Sarah cooked sausages over an open fire which hadn't ,believe it or not ,done before.Next on the list of things to do was go over to tammsens place to fix a wobbly wardrobe,it turned out to be a complete rebuild which will need finishing in the morrow!
  Tea tonight is faggots,mash and french beans with gravy,and after a day out in the cold i am really looking forward to it as is Sarah and the boys.

Monday 13th February 2012.

Slow start to the day,the steroids are being the usual pain,up all night and crabby all day,as we prepared for the work at wincanton  Sarah's mum and step dad turned up ,stayed longer than were welcome,but i suppose i cont moan its not like we see much of them,Steve wants a chicken rum made ,but he has done for years,when he puts his hand in his pocket ille build one!
 Went to Tim's mums garden to do some work and it rained so we came home again with little achieved.Once home it was a rare treat of sausages chips and beans with plenty of bread and butter,then we watched gladiator in front of the fire and i finished a wooden spoon as a valentines gift for sarah,hopefully there will be a photo if i can find a camera!

Sunday 12th February 2012.

Icy start to the day and a small amount of snow on the ground,we were all up in time for church this week ,Sunday school for the boys,Mary was in charge of it this week with tamzen helping. Peter Lewis was the priest today he always does a good show.
  Once home the boys had to do the previous nights clearing in the kitchen,Sarah and i dozed in front of the fire whilst the boys watched a film on the PC.
 Once i awoke after a short nap charlie and i prepped the veg for dinner ,venison fillet pie today with all the trimmings,and was eagerly devoured by all,whilst waiting for it to cook jack cut wood for the fire and i started another spoon.
  Not a lot more happened as we just took it easy as after all it is the sabbath!

Saturday 11th February 2012.

Crap night with the chest coughing kept me up till 3am,finally got to sleep in bed at 6am,10am Tim turns up for me to go and ferret his place again,so off we went ,his whole family were there due to his dad being gravely ill,so me and Tim put the 2 Jill's in the attic then went to wincanton to sort tools for the gardening,he was happy with the improvement,then back to chez Merell,after 3 hrs it appeared Topsy was AWOL,so i came back minus a ferret,Tim will catch it hopefully.
After that we took the dogs and the kids over to shear water,the lake was frozen bar a small duck swim,got chatting to a chap,at first he and his family were behind me as i sorted the Kelly kettle,i thought his accent was Scandinavian but it turned out they were Romanians,and to top it all we had something in common,he too is a bushcrafter/hunter,i think his name is Lucian which means 'light' ,we talked for age's he was very impressed with the fire piston and the Kelly kettle,i recon he is going to buy one.Sarah gave him our details,i hope he visits.
  Once home we fed the kids including Alfie and then we took him back to mere,it was good to meet his mum and dad outside the schools spectre,Zoe is a townie aspiring to be a country girl and the dad is nice,he seems a bit younger than Zoe.They want a shed built in they're garden,i discussed the options and we came up with a design not too different to my workshop,there will be no groundwork to do as the surface is level tarmac.It appears we have made some decent acquaintances recently,i guess time will tell.

Friday 10th February 2012.

Snow didn't come to much again,the kids have had fun all morning with it though,Jacks mate from mere is over for sleep over and Sarah has gone with charlie to Sarah and Elijah's for lunch,so i am here coping with 4 wild kids! made 2 toy rifles one for jack and one for his mate.
  The snow is melting fast as we head to 2pm,been no more this morning or afternoon ,the temp is now dropping again and the fire is lit.
  Sarah came home minus charlie as he wanted to stay with his mate and he is coming home with Elijah and his parents.
  Elijah's parents came over as i was carving another spoon,the seem really decent folk and have many great stories of their time in India,they stopped for 4 hours,and David turned up too which was good as we haven't seen any Worthington's in ages,charlie was very happy to see David and fell asleep on him.
  No barn buddies tonight as Tim cancelled due to the bad ice conditions on the road to his,quite disappointed really as i like a catch up with some christian company.
  Sarah has done me proud today with all her hard work again,a gem for sure,pain in the ass too! lol

Thursday 9th February 2012.

Had breakfast with Sarah ,bacon roll sarnies with hot drinks,then it was off to see Doctor Halsey,now this chap is a proper doctor,young but loves everything about the job and is always keen to listen to 'google docs' like myself! no messing he gave me prednisalone steroids.
  Then it was back to wincanton to do some more gardening,Sarah took charge of the bonfire and i set about cutting down the first tree and part of the second,stayed there till 2pm then came back home,bringing with me a couple of apple logs for carving,jack and Ben had after school club so Sarah and charlie stayed at lou's house for a cuppa,i stayed at home and set about carving the first spoon,it will be a serving/cooking spoon with hook on the back to stop it slipping into the pan when in use.

 

As I write  it is trying to snow out,the forecast is good for a layer by dawn and snow all day tomorrow. 

                                                                                                                                         

23:27hrs and its snowing really well with nearly an inch on the ground! woohooooo! theres something really special about it snowing at night,i remember as a small child waking in the night and finding mum not in her room,she was in the kitchen on a camp bed ,she had the cooker on for extra heat and it was snowing hard,looking out of the window across woodside road i could see the huge flakes falling in the orange glow of the street lamps,my mother had the wireless on and was listening to the police radio traffic,which you could do easily on any wireless set back then,there was chatter between the controller at the police station on the Wilton road and the coppers in the town or where ever they were ,dealing with snow related incidents,we sat there at the kitchen table dunking digestive biscuits in hot tea till nearly dawn.                   

Wednesday 8th February 2012.

Feel really crap today,bad nights sleep with the coughing ended up sleeping upright in the chair,managed to get up in time to take the kids to school with Sarah,when we got home Sarah said i looked awful and sent me to bed till 11am,then we went to Tim's mums in wincanton to do some more gardening,pruned the last of the fruit trees and cleared the side path along with the  budlia and brambles,have looked at the trees Tim has given us,theres a lot more wood than i thought.
  Once home Sarah cooked a lovely curry,she is a gem when i am ill.Tonight i am running out of benilyn cough syrup so i have turned to a very old recipe we used to use back when i was a kid and there was no money about:

Country cough mixture.

1 large swede,peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick.
8 oz of sugar.

place the swede slices in a crock and layer with the sugar.place in a cool place and leave for a couple of hours,once a syrup is formed just pour off and replace more sugar,once the swede looks dead bin it and start again.I have no idea how this works but it works as good as any cough mix you can buy.
 Its 10pm and ime off to bed,hopefully i will sleep better,my dear wife is stopping up late for the washing machine to finish so she can dry the boys school uniforms for the morrow.

Tuesday 7th February 2012.

Woke early at 5:30 wide awake so got up and took pills and had a coffee,ears still hurt and i am quite deaf today,spoke to Dr King yesterday and he just tried bullshitting me,thing is doctors have got away with it for centuries but now we can all google ,the fool is treating me for an inner ear infection when its a middle ear infection,tried the usual its a virus blag.
  Tis payday today so we are looking forward to some nice foods and a couple of bags of coal,things are especially tight at the moment as the car is due an MOT and we envisage a few quid needed for repairs.i may try and get a fleece jumper from the charity shop to make a warm hat from.
 Did all the shopping by 11am,that's good for us.had lunch and then did more work on robins sheath,then at 1:30 Tim turned up and took me and the ferrets over to his to clear rats from his barn and roof,this was fun and there were some mighty big rats!
  This evening we went to Morrison's to let the boys spend their pocket money,on the way back Sarah near hit a really nice looking hare on bells lane,we never seem to have the dogs when we see a hare!

Monday 6th February 2012.

Well today sees the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth Alexander Mary of Windsor's accession to the throne,seen by many as a time for national celebration,but has Elizabeth executed her duties well? not in my opinion.
 I would call my self a Royalist,whilst a freeman on the land and not subjugated to her majesty i recognise her God given right to rule ,but she does have responsibilities to freemen and everyone else  who legally are indentured slaves to the crown,the Monarch has a duty to protect the people from harsh and unreasonable law,protect us from rule of any 'foreign prince',and defend the faith of the land.Elizabeth has failed on all counts,The Monarch since 1707 has always given royal ascent to all laws passed by parliament,but the queen does have the right to refuse ascent and so stop any bill passing ,but she does not and has not,her role is to protect us she has failed us all in this respect.Elizabeth allowed laws to pass that have allowed a 'foreign prince' to rule this land other than by legitimate war,the EU now rules this sceptred isle,UK parliament CANNOT pass any laws without the consent of Brussels and cannot refuse any laws imposed by this foreign prince.Thirdly there is her role as defender of the faith,this too is a duty neglected,Elizabeth's reign has seen the church of England fail,in attendance,in steadfastness and in conscience,she has allowed acts of parliament to tell the church what to do and impose secular law on the church,this has lead to gay priests and bishops,women in the priesthood and assertion of gay rights on the church.Elizabeth has allowed other religions to enjoy privileged that should be reserved to only the church of England,allowed Islam to flourish to a point where Britain is internationally recognised as a hot bed of terrorism,a country where you can be prosecuted for having a 'piggy bank' in your front room window if you live in a 'islamic' occupied area and sharia law is upheld on British subjects in British courts!.Elizabeth has allowed laws of decency to be revoked or abrogated so that now gay rights exist ,don't get me wrong if folk ant to be gay,be gay ,but do it in your own home and don't push it down my throat.
 All in all Elizabeth has failed 100% and by what he has stated Charles the 3rd wont be any better.Should the monarchy continue? yes i believe it should ,maybe one day before the monarchy is like the old monarchy's of Europe one of the Windsors will get a back bone and start doing the job they are ordained to do.
 On a lighter note the weather is warm today about 10c which is positively tropical compared to thew rest of the continent,got a bit done too,wet moulded the top half of the sheath for robins knife,Shaun turned up to take Sarah out for lunch,and that's a first i can tell you! so late morning and early afternoon ime all on my own,as my old saw horse is now officially dead i made a new one from loaders from mole valley shop,i was concerned that i didn't have the right screws or nails but carried on,and it is one fine bit of bodging,stable and of a good size.
 The middle boys had clubs today after school but charlie is too young so Sarah,charlie and I went to the library for an hour,the poor woman there is now doing 3 peoples jobs ,council cuts rarely effect the managers spirit allowances and lunch allowances eh! Once home the boys and I set about a mega verders pie,40 portions in all,one for the freezer and then a load in foil dishes for barn Buddie nights when we are limited in time.

Sunday 5th February 2012.

  Rain during the night washed all the snow away :( the kids are bitterly disappointed,and my ear infection is now two. still we managed all age service at the church,was a bit happy clappy for my liking but the kids all enjoyed it.
  Jack peeled the spuds and robin made the dumplings to go with the venison stew for lunch,it went down really well and everyone had seconds.
 The boys watched a couple of movies on the PC in the afternoon whilst i slept in front of the fire ,will be glad when ime better.

Saturday 4th February 2012.

Busy day here,been doing jobs with the family around the place,a bonfire in the back garden ,repaired the trailer tail gate ,cut kindling,and the boys helped Sarah and i clean out and insulate the small pets.
  2:30pm and the snow is here! at last i was worried we would have a snow less winter.Sarah and charlie have gone over to the deverells for one of charlies school friends birthday party,robin , jack, and Ben have been over the park playing in the snow and are now warming themselves next to the wood burner with hot chocolate drinks.

The house is full of the smell of the venison stew ive got on the hob bubbling away,we are all really looking forwards to it,it will last till tomorrow lunch too.

friday 3rd February 2012.

Crikey its cold! this morning it was -12c and didn't get a bove -2 all day by 6pm it was -9c and as i write at 8pm it is -10c! the fire is lit and i am glad of it.
Went over to Tim Merrel's mums house today with his son Ben to do some pruning in the apple orchard over at wincanton,we made great headway and Tim gave me 6 ash trees for fire wood,all i have to do is cut them down and leave no trace,i would imagine in all there must be 4 tonnes of wood.
At barn buddies tonight it was really cold ,in the kitchen it was -4c all evening,Tim was in a meeting with the pcc choosing a new vicar so we didn't see a lot of him.
We are due some snow tonight ,i am doubtful though,guess we will tell in the morrow.

Thursday 2nd february 2012.

Glory be! its another bitterly cold but sunny day!job center today to sign on,the job center said theres nothing to offer me this time,still if theres no work about its not like i am just unemployable.On the way home we came via gare hill ,the woods were looking great with the bright sun.

When we got back i cut some wood and Charlie helped make the Mexican sausage casserole,the front of the house is such a sun trap,it was very warm there and the sandy the cat was making the most of it sat on the ferret hutch.

Doctors this afternoon ,ear infection,the same as charlie has,only he is worse,infected in both ears and chest,poor lil sod.
Just send Robin and jack to post a letter and take Skippy out at the same time,once out of sight i realised in the fuss they were making i forgot to put the letter in the envelope,don't suppose either will spot the envelope isn't done up and is empty.
 Checked the outside thermometer at 9pm and it was -9.5 deg c! bet barn buddies is gonna be bloody cold tomorrow night!

wednesday 1st February 2012.

  Another fine sunny day,bitterly cold but it sure beats the wet! the current cold blast is due to a north easterly coming off Siberia,southern Europe is seeing its coldest in 30 years and Turkey in more than 50 years,Poland is seeing temps down to minus 30,the councils in the towns there are putting out braziers full of burning coal to keep the homeless alive.We are yet to see any amount of snow but again the met office is promising snow on Saturday,i guess we will see!
 The council area manager Mrs Bullen came round today with the asbo officer with regard to our complaint about the steins and their taxi,it would appear the council don't give a hoot to us or the steins.Apparently my metal scrap has to go!
  Jack had tea at his mates house in mere this evening,so things are a little quiet !

Tuesday 31st January 2012.

Up early to help with the kids,they love to play Sarah up with getting dressed,i had a really bad ear ache,haven't had one in 30 years,couple of pills helped,Sarah took the kids in on her own as i didn't want the cold air to make it worse,heavy frost this morning ,just what i have been wanting.
  Did the shopping at lidle today,its a tight week this week with only £100 in the kitty for the food and everything else shop wise.Went to mole valley for a saw blade ,they've gone up in price,last time i bought one from there a year ago they were £3.00 today they were £5.99! still i found that a sack of Swede is cheap there as they're classed as animal feed being as they are the small and miss shaped ones,£3.00 a  sack compared to £7.50 for human grade.
Once home i cooked a little light lunch and did the prep for tea tonight,ready for toad in the hole and veg,then cut some wood for this evening,the new saw blade is really nice.

Monday 30th January 2012.

 Early start  and the kids were excited to see we had an inch of snow,it didn't settle on most of the ground due to the rain earlier.Ben is still unwell but was eager to go to school as he has a trip to Shaftesbury school to use the climbing wall and other big boys equipment.Sarah checked the website and it said the school was shut but a phone call was made and it turned out the school was open,in fact it turned out there was no snow anywhere in mere.

 Had small flurries till 12 noon,but by then it was too warm to settle.Picked the boys up with Sarah,i look forward to the social side of picking them up,a chance for a chat,don't get that much here as we are so isolated,you can go a month here without speaking to a soul!
 Once the kids were home we cooked tea,bubble and squeak with cold meats,its a tasty way of making use of yesterdays scraps,the trick with bubble and squeak is to burn the bottom and add a couple of chicken oxo's into the mix.
  quiet evening once the boys were off to bed,not before a game of chess with jack and Robin.

Sunday 29th January 2012.

Bad nights sleep led to no church today,Shaun left early to sell his trike ,Sarah took charlie to Elijah's birthday party at the mere lecture hall 12-2pm so the boys and i took to doing some tidying up,cleaned the front room and concentrated on cleaning the windows and the surrounds,looks much better,the net curtains are down for a wash and to be honest i like it without them ,we get more light and you can see the fields and the hedgerows which is very nice,need to cut the hedge though!
  Got the roast well underway before Sarah returned ,jack and Ben helped with the prep,roast pork today which is always well received here,especially if i manage to get crackling.In the afternoon we watched a film on the PC ,'the long walk' the kids loved it ,story of a bunch of soviet convicts that escaped Siberia and made it to India on foot!
 Dinner was ready by 6pm and was eagerly devoured,everyone was hungry as we missed lunch,still its an extra meal in the cupboard.Baths were had by all and the fire burned bright ,the met office predicts snow from 10pm .
  2am and the promised snow is light rain,am disappointed maybe there will be more during the night.

Saturday 28th January 2012.

The weather is great! sun is out and its nice and cold,the meteor didn't hit us and theres no snow! Ben is unwell with a sore throat and is in the chair with a duvet,the others were sent out with the dogs,five minutes later jack is back all upset,apparently the dogs chased 2 deer right across the fields ind into the back fields! so we sent him back out with a phone and told him to find the dogs ,he found Robin and he had the two dogs,apparently scooby took the doe down but it got back up and made off,well what a great start to the day!
next on the to do list is chain the trailer up and then chop kindling as there is a rumour of snow for Monday.
 Got a fair bit done this afternoon,hung doors,put up mirror,and postit board,Fat Pete came over today had a cuppa T and a chat,not many old Ravens about now.
  Chili con carne for tea tonight,one of my faves as i can load up the chili for me once dished up,Shaun came over,got a new car,don't suppose he will keep it long!
  Finally got the kids off to bed,watched a film ,soon off to bed.Hope to make church tomorrow,apparently its called 'matins' which i am told is a very old fashioned service,will be interesting to see what its like.

friday 27th January 2012.

Overslept this morn,woke up by Sarah she had been verbally attacked by the taxi driver that picks up the Stein's kid,credit to Sarah she got straight on to the council and complained to the school transport folk at Trowbridge,hopefully they will take this seriously,the Steins love to use others to do their dirty work still they will get a return on they're wicked ways ,the big man assures us of that,oh and the asbo officer!
  Just lit the fire as its cold in the house again,just cant afford to use the oil fuelled heating,it does make the front room cosy,problem then is convincing myself to go out in the cold to chop wood!
  Apparently according to the bbcr2 news an asteroid the size of a bus is on a near earth trajectory and will pass between us and the moon some time today , so if this is my last post it hit us! lol the big question is i suppose as i sit here next to the fire,do i bother washing up and chopping wood in the cold if the world may end today?
  from BBC :

"An asteroid will pass by the Earth on Friday in something of a cosmic near-miss, making its closest approach at about 1600 GMT.

The asteroid, estimated to be about 11m (36ft) in diameter, was first detected on Wednesday.
At its closest, the space rock - named 2012 BX34 - will pass within about 60,000km of Earth - less than a fifth of the distance to the Moon.
Astronomers stress that there is no cause for concern.
"It's one of the closest approaches recorded," said Gareth Williams, associate director of the US-based Minor Planet Center.
"It makes it in to the top 20 closest approaches, but it's sufficiently far away... that there's absolutely no chance of it hitting us," he told the BBC.
The asteroid's path makes it the closest space-rock to pass by the Earth since object 2011 MD in June 2011.

Earlier estimates put the asteroid's closest distance at as little as 20,000km, near the distance at which geostationary satellites reside, but observations by observatories overnight showed it will pass at a more comfortable distance.
Although the asteroid will not be visible to the naked eye, Dr Williams said that keen backyard astronomers could get a look.
"We've had three sets of observations in the last few hours from amateur observers in the UK," he said."

Thursday 26th January 2012.

A sunny day woohoo! time for some vitamin D rush! dont suppose itll last though. bit colder but i don't mind at all at least its dry.
  Slow morning followed by Kedgeree for lunch,sounds posh but just scraps from dinner last night,then off the mole valley shop for coal and wood.Tis the cheapest place anywhere for coal at £6.50 for half hundred weight,they have these wooden skips for all the scrap wood in the yard and this is free to have if you ask nicely ,i was surprised to see there was loads,we filled the trailer to the top with wood ,most OK for kindling.Once home i set about cutting it with the saw,this proved problematic so i used my Gransfors axe,piece of cake! stopped to pick up charlie from Lou's house and the boys from after school footie club,they were a bit muddy.
  Once home and changed the boys bagged up the kindling,2 buckets and 6 bags of it,i was very happy to have that amount done ,more to do in the morrow.
  Ben had the rabbits indoors for a bit peter and hotpot are nice bunnies,hope they will breed this year ,i am planning on rearing rabbit for the pot this year,ideally some fenland giants,lots of meat on them ,must remember to get a rabbit for Walter.

wednesday 25th January 2012.

Weathers still crap! been less than 10 frosts all winter,good for the heating bills but the place is just so wet,I've got so much to do on the allotments and the veg patch here but i cant do it in mud,the rotavator is still ticking over OK,started it up last week ,got me itching to get some crops in,just hope the summer is warmer and dryer than the last one.
The kids are all doing OK today,Ben got a certificate for 100% attendance at school this term,he is well chuffed as a certificate means an extra pond in the pocket for the fortunate .
The saami needle holder is near finished,all polished and looking good,will post a pic in the morrow,i am tying with scrimshawing it with a cross,will be looking for a design tomorrow.

Tuesday 24th January 2012.

Busy day so not much to write,dropped the kids off at mere school and went shopping straight away,popped into Morrison's first had a cuppa with Sarah and a slice of toast,we decided to now only buy what cant be bought at lidle's at Morrison's,the main reason for shopping at Morrison's is the fact that they don't sell Halal meat at all and i just cant eat halal and in my view no Christians should,however that it would appear is down to personal conscience. The butchers counter is always good there and the counter assistant is a cheery chap with a good sense of humour,wanted a hand of pork but theres sod all profit in it now so they only sell it attached to the shoulder and bone and roll it ,so we bought one for a tenner and some chuck steak to mince ,the last lot of cheap mince we bought there was awful when cooked we nearly got 1/2 pint of fat from 1lb of meat! the weeks bill from Morrison's was about £60.00 and that was a small trolley too.Next we went to lidle's the main saving was a special offer on beans 4 tins for 99p ,branston too,so we bought 40 tins! we spent £60.00 in there but some of the stuff will last a month.
  When we got home Ben and i minced the venison trim and the chuck steak together,makes a nice mix too,some of this was made into a meat and onion pie with veggies,then we settled down to watch the new Robin Hood film,kids loved it but it was factually inaccurate and in my opinion a lie,ruined it for me really.
  That was then the end of the day really and an early night for all.

Monday 23rd January 2012

Been a dull day here today,not a lot of get up and go,Sarah is still not right with the dehydration problem,slow start to the morning then after lunch i went up the shed to do some work,decided on a saami style needle pouch,its made with items in my inventory,deer bone and burl oak,its coming on real well ,hope to post a pic real soon. Took the dogs with us to pick up the boys from school,it as raining but soon passed,spoke to Tamsins husband,turns out he has a degree in pottery,i intend to learn more from him.
 Once home i made a chicken and veg soup out of yesterdays scraps,the boys loved it and asked for seconds,only sliced bread today,soup just needs crusty bread! 
 Tomorrow is Giro day ,cant wait to get some fresh food in,got a craving for salad ,problem is its not in season and the shops charge more than its worth, will do most of the shop at lidles i recon,the tins are certainly cheaper, if i remember i will take my camera to picture some of the 'not so special offers' i spot.Got to get the hinges for the new doors too,shame we aren't near Salisbury in the morrow ironmongery is cheap at in-excess on the netherhampton road.
   Just been watching NCIS on the pc,good series ,one of the few things we bother with as we have no actual tv,personally i prefer the wireless.
charlie took the school teddy back today with his diary,i did the pictures and Sarah did the diary write up.

Hope to get a better nights sleep now the winds dropped,at least giro day holds some attraction to getting up!

Sunday 22nd January 2012

its the day of rest so I've got lots on to do,just fixed the kitchen table as it was wobbly at the joints added glue and thicker gauge screws,seems sturdy now,added some casters to the legs to facilitate it moving at mealtimes.
  Sadly missed church today,petrol's short and got no money,so we are going to messy church this afternoon instead and hopefully there will be enough petrol for the school run in the morrow.

 roast chicken is in the oven rubbed with smoked paprika ,sage and chicken oxo,smells mighty fine! the spuds and parsnips are in now too,the boys love a roast. not sure about pudding as we will get a snack at messy church at 4pm,maybe a doggy bag is needed!
  have an urge to do some crafts today,i want to start the chess set pieces ,its gonna be a hard job ,unsure what woods to use Ive got some hornbeam in the shed as well as lots of other stuff,maybe i should get some Lyme wood to carve ,not sure of the cost though.The decoy duck is on the back burner i must get on with it this week,Tuesday is Giro day,don't know why we still call it that as no one gets a giro anymore it goes in the bank,and it seems wrong to call it pay as i haven't worked,still at least I've contributed to the system,on the news they reckoned that migration from outside the EU has cost 130,000 British jobs! so some git has the job i need,when will the government see that it isn't racism to kick these illegals out ,imagine these Lilly livered governments fighting WW2?! 'oh you cant intern these Germans they've got human rights you know!'  'oh don't drop bombs on the Germans its nasty' , we would all be talking German now! mind you having said that Germany is the leading power in the EU  so they won in the end eh! i heard on the wireless that Germany and France are printing deutch marks and french francs 'secretly' in case the euro collapses,and i hope it does.
  The wind has finally dropped  and there is a bit of sun,the week ahead looks dire though,i yearn for crisp frosty morns,nothing like it for a walk with the dogs.Been seeing masses of deer around here lately saw 2 yesterday run in front of the car,roe deer they were up by west knoyle,very dark in colour compared to most here,I've got a replacement deer arriving today so the freezer will be looking better.Its about time Skippy earned his keep on the venison and hare front,if we get a dry night ill take him out with the lamp.