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 !