Vultures and an Advent Calendar

There is snowy Christmas stuff surrounding the house (as usual.) It's got that we don't even discuss the white stuff anymore, it's just there. Even the chickens are resigned to the fact that the outlook will be fairly colourless for the foreseeable future, possibly till March..... Archie Archer is getting v naughty, every time I open his coop he pops out for a quick play in the snow. It has to be a quick play; as the cats have got their greeny eyes on him, they sit outside the coop licking their lips although that might have something to do with the fact that they too love spaghetti as much as Archie does ....or fake worms as I like to call them.

Archie Archer is now 6 weeks old and getting bigger by the day. We thought he was a Barnevelder beed, born from an egg kindly donated by our neighbour, but having read up on that breed, it appears that Barnevelder chicks are initially yellow.Archie Archer arrived out of his shell as black as coal: Therefore I strongly suspect that Archie is a vulture.

The children and I visited my parents last week on the south coast. Every evening at dinner we lit the table Advent Calendar - a very nice tradition. On arriving home I felt the need to make an Archers at the Larches Calendar. I was the designer and I commissioned hubby (bribed with a home cooked ham dinner,)  to create the design: Four holes drilled into and a robin's feet nailed onto a lichen adorned log. (NO, It was not a real robin....although to be truthful, I did have that option as the cats have caught two fat ones recently..... not very Christmassy, sorry!) Anyhow now I feel right proper holy every evening at dinner. The punch-up after dinner relating to who gets to blow the candles out has, so far, not drawn blood....... What is is about kids and candles?

Six Days....

Is it really only six days ago I was buried in my writing (and eating,) trying to complete the NaNo challenge?

I'm glad to say I've got back to a much healthier diet since my confinement in November. This morning I had a coffee and some very healthy brown, nutty bread with a smear of Marmite.....hopefully that will counteract the massive handful of Minstrels I also had. Come on!! I had Splenda in my tea.......

..........which I nearly spat out after listening to the hilarious gaffe on the Today Programme BBC Radio 4 this morning. (If sensitive to poor language, do not investigate further!) .... Poor Jim.

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The past six days have been busy, we've managed to get Dizzy Discovery back after it broke down and the manifold gasket blew, (I've no idea what I've just said, but it cost us about £80!) We've been at the school play and been to a bowling birthday party. We've sledged. I've collected frozen eggs from all over the site which had expanded and cracked - very annoying as they are now in the compost bin. I've snuggled and kissed Archie Archer - who is as warm as toast with his mummy. Oh, and yesterday I did a fair bit of the Christmas shopping in a town called Hereford that was very quiet really, bearing in mind it's December. You can feel the recession biting, it's not just the cold. 

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Boy has been sickly since last Friday. He managed to limp through his Christmas play at school where he was a chef, then stardom took its toll and he went all flu-y, with soaring temperatures. No projectile fluids I'm pleased to say, but the snotty-ometer was off the Richter scale. Still, after three days of wall-to-wall Star Wars and a lot of home-made chicken stock, he's back at school. Before you ask, no I didn't murder one of the girls to get the chicken stock, I used the carcass from the free-range turkey we ate for Thanksgiving when 'Cross the Pond came a-visiting.

The Archers have been decorating the house for Christmas. Across the road from us is a wonderful tree farm. I drove over in my normal car, (or as I like to call it - The Sledge) and picked out a good sized tree for the inner hall and one for the Hubby to take to the office. The owner very kindly offered to drop the trees over to the house in his Land Rover. I waved goodbye to him and then went nowhere - totally stuck in the snow! So boring.

For your info; the owner of the nursery gives really good driving instruction, much better than the hubby. He quite simply told me to put the car in first, (keeping the revs gentle so's not to cut out,) and then to remove my foot from the accelerator and brake pedals, allowing the car to drive itself, albeit slowly, up his slightly inclined drive and back out along the track, towards The Larches. Phew. My little heart races when I get stuck like that, does yours?

We're happy with the tree though.....

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The whole country has been spookily cold these past few weeks, but last night must have been a SUPER-COLD night in Shropshire.

This morning Hubby took my car, laden with his Christmas tree, while we opted for Dizzy for school run. It took an age to defrost the cars. I hope Hubby's journey was uneventful, he goes in the opposite direction to us, up and over an ancient bridge on a thread of a road. He managed to pull a 360° the other day. He said it properly scared him and he doesn't really do scared. BMW may stand for Beat My Wheelie, then again it might not. (Whole different blog-post could be dedicated to what BMW stands for.. 'nuther day maybe..)

Anyhoo, our journey to school was awesome. The snow Queen had been busy overnight turning Shropshire into a Popsicle. The Common, usually so yellow and green with gorse and heather, was artificially white. The summit of Clee Hill at 533 metres above sea level was like something from Ice Station Zebra.... a Christmas movie your Dad would love!

The sky was its coldest blue, clear of cloud. A pheasant looked gaudy at the edge of the road, watching us pass he looked a bit like a dandy, over-dressed for such a simply coloured day. The sheep were perfectly dressed as snowballs.

As we drove along the hill road that drops down to sea level to Ludlow, it looked as if someone had filled the valley with squirty cream. Ice fog engulfed the land, only one lonely island remained, far in the distance towards Wales, the top of a forested  mountain.

We turned down into the fog and the blue sky was gone, replaced by sepia countryside, where only larch or red brick or the warm orange glow from a window pushed through into the picture postcard landscape.

And now I'm back home, a warm fire crackling quietly, cats asleep. Chickens fed and watered and me to finish cards and bake I think.

Keep warm.




(Pic of the radar at Clee Hill courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Marathon ending.....

Think of all the swear words you know and multiply them ten-fold: I have 2800 words to write for NaNo and I have all but run out of steam. The deadline is midnight tonight, although, as I am sure technology will let me down, my deadline is lunchtime'ish.

Last night I came to bed late after a big 3500 word day, slept in most of my clothes.This morning when the alarm went off I couldn't open my eyes. Hubby was great, 'Get up, finish that novel,' he said. I thought he was being supportive, turns out he misses me. Awwwww.

We were NOT, I repeat NOT, due snow! But there it was, all over the garden, as I peered out into the highlighted darkness at 6am. Nightmare really, as Dizzy Disco is broken! I seriously feared that I wouldn't be able to get the kids to school in my car, my day would be scuppered. But s'OK, the roads were passable.

There was no wood in the house, but I fetched some when I fed the chickens and now, with bread and cheese and coffee.......

......Are you sitting comfortably? ......Then let the story begin, opps sorry, I mean end...

My sledge...the car

Sod's Law:
To recap; as we all know the weather has been pretty bad here since Christmas. The children nearly drove me demented after almost 6 weeks of extended Christmas holidays as we were trapped in sodding Santa's wonderland!!! So we did it, (deep breath) we purchased a bloody 4x4 from the auction in order to ensure we would always be able to escape our rural retreat. Naturally as soon as we did this Spring sprung and I even caught sight of a couple of newby lambs.

Following so far?

As the weather had turned so nice we decided to give the beast, now named 'Dizzy Disco' by the 7yo...to the top banana mechanic cousin. He decreed he would need it for 1 week to fix everything and we delivered it to him last Sunday, approximately 35 miles away.

Therefore it is clearly our fault that the snow returned with a vengeance for half term week, and why it has remained ever since. I ventured out once to buy new school shoes and for a bit of retail therapy at Ikea in Birmingham and was truly scared as I desperately tried to slide home. While we shopped in the city enjoying a cosy 4°, I was blissfully unaware that our neck of the UK had turned into Siberia:

'Hold hands,' I yelled to the children as our 'real' car (not the 4x4) hurtled down a steep incline near Clee Hill. I felt like we were in one of those populated coffins from the winter Olympics, although I had marginally less idea how to control it. We were headed straight for a white van and driver (justice really) who clocked my speed and instantly reversed at top speed with hazard lights flashing. I narrowly missed him by dumping the car in a field entrance. I may have said some rude words and hope desperately that the kids had their TV headphones on high. I was definitely shaking. I am beginning to despise snow.

Finally making it home I had 3 vodkas and decided not to do the ironing (sadly just for that night and not forever more!) I can understand now why people in cold climes drink lots of vodka.....

We got 'Dizzy' back this Sunday and although it's cold, the bloody snow is immediately melting and the sun's come out. I feel powerful knowing that I control the weather for this part of the UK.

The only upside is the beauty of Clee Hill. We went to the snowy summit with some good friends who came to stay this weekend - wow it's stunning, wish you could see it.



Catch up soon
Lou
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The Auctions.....

I love going to the auctions. We are lacking in furniture here at Chez Larches and the auctions offer a cheap solution to our needs, especially as our Sweedish stuff looks completely out of place now. It appears that no one seems to want the mid Victorian oak furniture so it goes for a song and it matches the age of the house. Last month I bought seven pieces including a huge beige Persian-like rug for the sitting room and two interesting tables with drawers. The whole lot cost £180.

Have you heard, there may be snow again later this week? Boo Hissss. Husband has finally agreed that we need a 4x4 and has enlisted expert help to ensure we get a good one at an auction this week....no more missed school for my two darlings..ha,ha, she laughed like a pantomime villian.....what a clever mummy and daddy.

I'll let you know the outcome later, unless we're snowed in tonight and you never hear from us again. OMG! As I type I notice a little snow is beginning to fall....Noooooooo!