Iris

 Gosh I love this song, oldie but goodie.

I hope you are all well.

Be safe 

Statement

 Said to his Lordship

"It will be so nice when we dont have to do the knee walk and the physical jerks of reaching behind your head for the toilet paper, without twisting and falling off of the loo seat.  All so you dont put your foot through the floor".

We have grout in the kitchen floor tiles.  At some point the drain man will be back to sort out the new kitchens drain.  As the new kitchen used to be 2 bedrooms that we have knocked through.

All go.

How are you all doing?

To blog, or not to blog

Where have I been?  

Life has taken some crazy turns over the last few years.  Move to Scotland make the over 500 mile journey to see my family.  Up down, up down.

Trying to settle.  Trying to grow things in a very inhospitable garden, one of my joys, growing anything gives you a real boost.

Then covid happened and I had to close my businesses, I wont go into details but as I hadnt been in business long enough the Scottish government didnt help us.  Where as in England people were given £10k, I got nothing.  As my business was also my new home, I was forced to sell it in the middle of a pandemic.  Trying to buy a house from 500 miles away, with Covid restrictions took its toll on me and selling in Scotland means you agree a date and that, is, that.  No pulling out at the last moment.

Then at the beginning of December last year, I moved home on my own to help my mum nurse my dad to his death in January.  I am not a nurse.  I am very much not a nurse.  I cant even watch casualty on TV.  And any smells or gore make me vomit.  Yes, I am that weak a person.  

Our house sold the same day it went on the market.  We had an open day, as I was worried about people coming in all the time and touching things due to Covid.  Four London couples were arguing over the house in the front garden.  The estate agent actually said that one of the women was wild, they had missed out on a few houses with closing dates and was furious with the Scottish system.  This lady told everyone in the queue who was looking at the house, "what ever you offer I will out bid you".  Covid has made everyone nuts.  

Que his Lordship slipping on the stone steps and nearly breaking his back.   He had to go to hospital and stay there to stabilise his spine.  He still has a walking stick a year on.  

Following my dad's death we were lucky enough to move into a friends partially renovated double garage.  Trying to see houses in Cornwall, when you live in Scotland was very hard.  Estate agents wouldnt even listen after we told them we had sold in Scotland already, had cash but would need to travel to view the house.  We eventually got around this by sending my cousin who looks exactly like me to view the properties whilst having us on the iPad watching her walk around the rooms.  Why did it need to be someone who looked like me?  Well, before you were allowed to look you had to send a picture of your passport to show you were British and your bank statement to show you had the money.  

We missed out on a few houses which was disappointing.  We have bought a wreck of a bungalow.  When I say wreck, I mean, it was very close of whether to knock the building down or try to renovate it.  We currently have 3 rooms with no floors as they have been ripped out.  They are completely rotted through and you are lucky to not fall through the floor.  One such room is still like it.  It, being the toilet!  ha ha it is a very small toilet cubicle, where you have to walk into the room with each knee and leg touching the sides.  Its comical in many ways, but as we are struggling to get tradesmen in who arent trying to rip us off, it is also super heart breaking.  It's very stressful.

And then last month my father in law died.  It has been hell.  

My mental health is at an all time low.  I am normally very even and calm with my emotions.  I am now like a paint can that is being heated from the bottom.  Annoy me and I cant keep it all in and the lid comes off.  I have never been like this ever in my life.  It makes you feel very out of control and it is not a good feeling.  

I dont say this for violins or for the "oh I am sorry".  I am not sorry, grief is a strange thing, my dad was an amazing person.  If I felt nothing that would mean I didnt love people enough.  So if you are reading this and you have lost someone.  It doesnt matter if it was yesterday or forty years ago.  Your feelings are valid.  

I have just started grief counselling over the phone.  I have no idea how it will all go, but you have to try dont you.  If you watch the you tube, the best bit is from 4 minutes 30.

Lets not all be woe is me.  If you are reading this, leave me a comment with something lovely in it or tell me about a present you would like.  Lets have something nice for today.

It is within me

A monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery.

He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation.  After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat colliding with his own.

With his eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising, and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who dared disturb his meditation.  But when he opens his eyes, he sees it is an empty boat that had probably got untethered and floated to the middle of the lake.

At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him.

From then on, whenever he came across someone who irritated him or provoked him to anger, he reminded himself : ‘’The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger is within me."

Adding to the Clan

Our original chickens are thriving.  We still miss Agnetha chicken, we still dont know what animal attacked her.  It will remain one of life's mysteries.

Meet the new girls.  We have added 2 extra Colombian Blacktails to house.  Blurry picture as we have only had them 24 hours and they are for the first time outside and near humans.  They have already worked out the metal bowl means food and that if they stand on their house's roof they can see the other hens.

The new emergency coop is made from the Christmas tree box we made in November.  I couldnt find a 16ft tree so we had to make a box and a skirt for it.  It has now been recycled to a chicken house!  The roof was the original roof from the chicken coop.  If you remember it leaked.  We used as many of the planks as we could that didnt have knots in for this.  Everything on this little house we already had.  The hinges were from a old cupboard in the cellar, the extra supports on the sides are fence planks that were warped and we cut them down.  The only thing that looks new, but is actually from the inside of the airing cupboard is a bolt to hold the door shut.  At present they are in the fixed run to give them time to quarantine from the older hens.  They can see and hear each other from a distance, but they cant interact.  Neither seem to be bothered with the others.  

They look a little bit bedraggled right now.  This is the first time they have been outside and they were in a bit of a sorry state when we went to collect them.  They will eventually look like Shazza in the first picture.  

We will train them to come for food as it will make it easier for us to get them in at night.  The original hens put themselves to bed.  These 2 sat in the rain and it was a bit of a Benny Hill sketch to chase them in.  They are drinking and eating well.  They are quite scrawny.  The will soon pick up.  No names as yet.  

Respect Others

Be safe, be well xxx

Harsh Land in Covid Times

 All of these pictures are out of order and blogger wont let me sort them.  Above is a salvaged plastic roof that be brought here from Cornwall.  In the last house it had an ugly as sin car port that we had to take down to make the driveway useable.  Waste not want not.  The carport would have covered 4 cars to give you an idea of how much roofing was there.  We have used it for a few logs stores around the house and the cottage.

 This is our Columbian Blacktail, we did have 2, but one was taken by some sort of animal or bird of prey.  We have many birds of prey in this area.

 This is our Buff Barred chicken, she is a funny thing and only lays occasionally and although she is still very young, she has already gone broody once.  We will see in the future if we want to use her to hatch some eggs.  

 As we were in lockdown when the birds arrived, we had to get a coop really quickly.  This one is from Cosy Pets.  Avoid at all costs if you can.  We had to get something that could be delivered as we couldnt go to the timber merchants.I will go through the list of items we have had to remedy to keep the ladies dry.

There was a pop door that had a handle to open it manually.  It is light here in the summer until well past 1am and then it is dawn again at around 3am.  Not wanting to run about in pajamas, a sensor door opener made sense - get it. Sense... lol  forget it.  As the run connected directly with the coop and its legs, we had to add some wood to extent it out.  This then meant rain could run down onto the doorway and the ladder.  We then had to use some more wood that we screwed onto the coop to shelter the gap and allow the string to the door opener to move freely.  

The roof was horrendous, made of tongue and groove with lots of knots in the wood that some popped out and the others just let the rain through.  We had to rebuild the roof with marine ply we had previously.  You've guessed it, we had it in Cornwall! lol  Womble, never chuck wood away.

The end of the pen, we have added a door to it.  We snipped the wire off and built a frame with a wash board (I cant think of another name for it, you use these on boats and yachts to keep the water from the cockpit out of the living area of a boat...).  This is actually the side of a chest of drawers we bought as a set with a Victorian wardrobe.  The drawers were broken and all very damaged.  Chopped it down, routed the edges to make it slide easier and the frame is double sided for rigidity and to hold the door in.  A bit of blue rope with a carabiner hook to hold it in place so the wind cant make it fall on a chicken.

You can just about see the inside frame of the wash board.  We also had chicken wire from the previous house and the deck boards are left over from another project.  Waste not want not.  The chicken wire gives them slightly more area than the pen, we shut them in there with the wash board open if I go to the supermarket etc.  When I am home the free range the whole of the back garden, except for the raised beds.  Which to be truthful are a complete waste of time in this area.  You can see why below.  It has rained none stop for 8 days.  Some days torrential rain.  And when it stops raining it is still windy.  In the last week we have had the wood burner lit 3 times.  It hasnt been warmer than 10 oC, its cold and miserable.  Welcome to Scotland!

Here are my peas today.  Yes, those are peas.  They were planted as it said on the packet.  The wind and the rain seem to have stunted their growth.  Pathetic arent they.  Their height is about 20 cm about 8 inches tall.  lol   

Yet strangely I have 14 figs on the tree and lots of flowers on the olive trees.  What the heck is going on!

Love the NHS!

Please share this.  We love the NHS, lets remember this.  

Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives.

Stay safe.

Be well

Dont tell me you didnt sing along!

Day eleventy billion of the Covid 19 (Coronavirus), lockdown in Scotland.  I was going to do a post on the chicken coop and pen and the retrofits we have added to make it work well for our set up.  I didnt take the pictures as we hadnt finished them all and will probably make more changes.  I will document the progress.

For today, I give you another youtube.  We have to look on the bright side of life as I dont really know what else to do.

Be safe
Be well

While Staying at Home to Save Lives!

Tomorrow, I will try to post about the retrofits we have added to the shop bought chicken coop and pen.

Stay safe 
Be well

Celery Leaf

Re-sprouting celery

What is this plant?

Can you help me?  What is this plant? 

 it is popping up everywhere.  

The Elements

Checked the vehicles this morning, to see that the solar panels are topping up the batteries.  Yep, that is correct, -4 oC.  Wind is coming from the opposite direction today, so a little bit warmer this afternoon.  

Been out, putting compost into pots to try and grow seedlings on in the dining room.  No idea if this will work, but no green house means we have to be inventive.  They can grow on, whilst we think about the beds.

Reading a lot about permaculture at present.  I am hoping to get lots of ideas and what is possible in my area.  Gosh, it is time like this that I become really homesick. This is a challenge.  I hope I can defy the elements and grow something in the garden.  Wish me luck.

Be well

Next stage

Now that the chickens have their area, coop, run and their free range area, I can now decide where to put beds in.  They have to be raised as the back garden is very uneven and rough.  Where it slopes it doesnt drain well and will become water logged.  I need to look at each area and think hard about where to put things to get the most of the light and what can fit in the space.  Its not small by any means, a person in a new build house would think that they had the best plot in the estate if they had this area. The exposure and the massive trees cast shade and the plants could become wind burnt if I am not careful.  

Chickens left to right, the one that looks white is a Buff Barred, she is called Edna.  The one resting on the ground is a Columbian Black Tail, this one is called Agneta and the one showing off on the top of the wood pile that we call 'Pride Rock', this is another Columbian Black Tail called Sharon or Shazza.  She gives the alarm when we approach, I hope she doesnt turn out to be a cockerel!  lol  

They are quick to put themselves to bed and to come out of the coop in the morning.  They havent mastered roosting yet and seem to all pile into the one box?  lol  they are getting a bit big for that.  

Grow Your Greens

I have featured this youtube channel before.  I really enjoy watching youtubes about gardening.  I find this and Nonna Gina really relaxing.   He is very excitable, but I think this shows how passionate he is about his garden.  

What vegetables are you growing this year?  

Tears for Fears - Mad World

As there is no tip open to take the garden waste away I now have to process it by hand.  I am using secateurs to snip the leaves off and chop the thin bits of stick into the bin.  Giving it a good kick every so often to make it all sift down and leave no gaps.  Or at least that is the idea.  There is no recycling in this area of Scotland.  I know, shock horror.  I normal separate all of my waste and take it to the tip and dump it into the right bins.  At present there is now where to take it, so it is slowly mounting up in the shed.  It does mean though that I can throw garden waste into the general waste bins (right or wrong this is the only option at present as we do not wish to burn it and put any more pressure on the emergency services if we cant keep it under control...).

Snip snip snip, kick kick kick.  The dogs are loving it and are running back and forth with their toys as this is all great fun to them.  It is managing to be sunny at present, there is as always, wind.  lol  

There is some more chopped wood to move and we have some wood left over to make some raised beds, although we cant leave the property I feel I am at least being a bit productive.

We need to do some shopping tomorrow, some for us and some for my 80+ year old FIL.  Wish me luck.

Stay safe.
Be well.

Gardening in the Coronavirus Pandemic

I have been chopping things down in the garden today, I am dreading trying to get rid of all the holly bush I have hacked down.  I have also gone a bit crazy chopping at a tree that is giving too much shade to a large area.

The picture is beech tree seedlings trying to grow.  I was hoping that it was monkey puzzle tree, no such luck.

There is also a plant that I have no idea about.  It seems to spread under the ground and come up somewhere else...  I will take a picture of it another time.  It is huge.  It is about 1.2m high by 3.5m wide clump.  It is taking up too much space.

I planted some of my plants from last years shopping frenzy at Morrisons.  Every time I went I bought some plants on their £1 special of the week.  Heathers and the such like.  I also bought some conifers (dont worry they are dwarf kinds that dont get taller than 1m and the other 1.5m).  I will slowly start adding these to the border at the very front of the property.

I still have lots of fire wood to move from the other border, I still have plants to go in there as well.  

I have 2 camellias that are in flower, the first is one called Ruby Wedding, it is very pretty.  The other one was a bargain £1.75 job from Aldi that I bought and potted on as soon as I got home last summer.  I have a few of these ones.  They are exceptional bargains and if you have the time to grow them on you will save a fortune.  I cant really afford to buy from the garden centres, the camellias would have probably been £10 for the size they have grown to in the past year.  Its worth looking when you are shopping, if and when we go back to normal. 

I am very anxious at present.  I am 500 miles from my parents and the rest of my family, it is weighing heavy on my mind and I feel homesick for a home that no longer exists.  I think many people will probably feel like this.  

Please stay home.
Be well everyone.  

Be Well

The gardeners

My gardeners have arrived.  (The man down the road walked them up to our house yesterday and left them in the parcel box. He rang, to get them straight away. Paid by paypal. Life sure is different at present.)

The pink one is the only one with a name.  Evil Edna.  She is a Buff Barred and the other 2 brown ones are Colombian Black Tails.  {Kev} also recently got some of these, it would seem they are very popular right now.  I wanted a Sussex, but in these times you take what you can get and be happy about it.  Little bit of a scuffle last night trying to get them to use the ladder to get in the house.  Evil Edna decided that she was having none of it and was pecking both the other 2 and myself.  Hence the name.  

They have been out this morning in the run and already seem to have got the hang of getting slugs.  There was much glee and throwing it about and then they all descended on it like they didnt have any food!  The dont seem to like the water dispenser and keep pecking the top furiously.  I might change it to a metal one as it could be their reflection.

They are 17 weeks old and wont lay for a month.  But they are already doing the job and are scratching the heck out of the area.  When they have done a thorough job there, we will move them on.

New house

Chicken house is up.  

Nesting boxes

It looks rather cosy.