Today I shall be Mainly...

[EileenDavid]

Today I will be ironing and then resting Eileen

[Stanley]

Eileens need resting every now and again.....

[Wendyf]

Nursing a toothache.

[Gloria]

Ouch, hold a paracetomol over it with your teeth that should numb it.

[Stanley]

Oil of cloves Wendy! Pot gobblers cure toothache permanently!
Keeping warm, eating my way through the freezer and reading Mantel.... Lousy job but someone has to do it!

[Wendyf]

Trying not to get lost in a snow drift.
I'm sure my toothache is to do with the cold....it travels around from tooth to tooth. I thought we had some oil of cloves but I cant find it and I'm not going out to buy some today!
I was supposed to be going over to HAPPA at Brierclife today, but I'm not going to attempt to get out. They have many extra horses & ponies up there following problems at their other rescue centre in the Wye Valley and are desperate for anyone with experience of horses to help out with grooming etc.

[Sue]

We are fetching the cat back from the cattery which is up a narrow farm track, and it has snowed heavily overnight!

[Stanley]

Smart move Wendy..... Sue, walk up the farm track! I shall be watching my footing very carefully as I walk Jack. This increased frost on top of the trodden snow makes it likely it will be treacherous....

[Nolic]

Home and keeping warm. Planned work in a home in the Rossendale Valley had to be postponed. School heating down so staff plan to take kids on a snow hike. Good for them.... just means I might have to go at the weekend. Just hope Blackppol does not buck the trend and end up with serious snow tommorrow!! Nolic

[Stanley]

Busier than ever! Smart move to stay at home.... Roads are treacherous.

[Sue]

Stanley I could have walked up the farm track but not carried the cat basket back down. Anyway, they brought Soda(the cat) down the track in their land rover. We could only get within two miles of the farm as it is an unused road and was very Icy. We could never have carried her that far.

[Wendyf]

Today has been one of those fun-filled, exciting days that make living up here so special...
I was busy cleaning our bathroom when it dawned on me that the water supply wasn't what it should be....in fact it was fast disappearing. Panic stations......don't mind for ourselves but getting water for the ponies & hens is vital. We had a bite of lunch and set off down the hill to the pump house and spring that provides water for our neighbours & us. We had to clamber through knee deep drifts to get there but were relieved to find that the spring was running and the lower storage tank overflowing. The pump was working but the higher storage tank up on the hill was dry. It turned out to be a small section of frozen pipe inside our little pump house and it took half an our or so with a hairdryer to defrost it and get the system running again. We still haven't got any water though because our supply pipe is full of air and needs to be bled, poor Col is so exhausted by his efforts that he doesn't have the energy to face that problem tonight.
We have enjoyed our afternoon though....honest.

[Stanley]

An old trick in this weather is to leave a tap running slowly so that the water is moving in the pipe. But you knew that didn't you.....
It takes a while for frost to penetrate to water pipes but once it does it can be a bugger. Many people will be having problems with frozen condensate pipes from their CH boiler.
I ditched my vest when I went back into shirts and waistcoat but have put a tee shirt on under my shirt this morning. Either it's getting colder or I'm getting old!

[Wendyf]

The new pump we put in last year is much more powerful than the old one Stanley so it has only been running for about half an hour twice a day, whereas the old pump ran 4 times a day....Col thinks this is why it has had chance to freeze around the flow & return valve this year when it hasn't in the past. He has put a 100w light bulb in there now connected to a thermostat, so hopefully it wont happen again. Still got to get the water flowing down our supply pipe today!

[Wendyf]

Washing, washing up, cleaning, showering...the water is back on. Three buckets of water pumped up the pipe with a stirrup pump did the trick.

[Moh]

It sounds hard work Wendy - today I shall be retracing my friend's family tree, I did it for him two years ago but so much more info. is available now, so I shall look into it prior to our seeing them in Majorca in March.

[Stanley]

Glad you are not a health hazard any longer Wendy. Mind you, washing is highly overrated!
I shall be keeping warm and possibly watching heavy snow later in the day.....

[Sue]

I am pottering on my sewing machine, trying a new technique. We can't go anywhere so it's Bob in the workshop and me in the dining room.

[Stanley]

Best option Sue. Mind you, a completely different picture this morning!

[Sue]

Yes , what a difference a day makes. The roads are all clear bur we still have an inch in the back garden. I am glad it has cleared as we are going to a 70th birthday lunch in Manchester today. I don't think we could have got there yesterday. However had a productive 'skills' day on my sewing machine as I am about to embark on a new project.

[Nolic]

Forgot all about my self employment tax return. So completed and paid with 4 days to spare....phew. Nolic

[Stanley]

I thank God many a time that I no longer have to carry the burden. Glad you realised in time!
I think I might start the cull of my bookshelves, getting short of room so I am going to give the books to the new second-hand book shop in Barlick.
It came into my head yesterday to look for my new slippers as the old ones are nearing their sell-by date. Hunted high and low but couldn't find them. Then it dawned on me that I had taken them to the cobblers to have a non-slip sole glued on them but I can't remember collecting them. Will call in at Birro's today and see if he has them..... Echoes of my mother saying she had put something somewhere safe.....

[Wendyf]

Going up to HAPPA to help out with a bit of grooming.

[Sue]

Usual Monday today. Aquafit, then French, then art. Snow still here but gone enough to avoid problems. The car park at the swimming pool may be bad. It was already several inches of compacted snow before we had the twelve inches on Friday night.

[Stanley]

Enjoying my Shardlake books. Postman Pete delivered them yesterday!