Winter Weather

We've just had a few days of lovely frosty weather with glorious crisp mornings and glittering grass, but it did result in us having no water in the house and cattle sheds. An unexpected major problem as we had not anticipated it to be so cold that night. Usually we are better prepared and leave taps just running a thin thread of water which is sufficient to stop it freezing. We just had to have patience waiting for the sun to move round to where it will thaw frozen pipes. Now we are back to milder temperatures and rain and mud once more. Despite the inconveniences of freezing temperatures it is so lovely to have dry crisp weather. Apparently, however, more northern parts of the country are blanketed in snow...the north/south didvide is surely emphasised by the weather! The Farmer & I have both had heavy flu-like colds for the past week so have been spending much time in front of the fire with hot drinks and doing only the most essential chores but hopefully we are now on the home run & beginning to feel more like ourselves. On the farm things are busy with calves being born and constant supervision of the cows who are due to calve. Elder Son has equipped each cow with an electronic collar that records her every move including a rise in temperature that can indicate the start of labour or if she is not in calf can tell him where she is in her oestrus cycle so that she can be inseminated. It all very clever and has proved a valuable tool, though The Farmer says, in a typical grumpy-previous-generation way, that he managed to run the herd just as efficiently without the expensive technology! However, we move with the times and it is certainly interesting to see the new technologies being applied.

Over the weekend my painter-and-decorators turned up and they have made a good start on the refurbishment of the holiday cottage. The Farmer has been working hard over the past month building a new kitchen and I'm now waiting for the new tiles to arrive and once the painters have finished in the bedrooms they will start on the kitchen/sitting room. As I'm having all the wood-lined ceilings painted it not an easy job as the ceilings are sloping steeply and go to a very high apex but it will be worth the effort and will make the cottage much lighter.