Monday continued

Quoted from createdbyme4you

Hi Elsa Good to hear your ok !!!!! you where missed on Sunday  

Thank you and also to you Danuta for caring...can I remind both of you, only the good die young....

As for the rest of my friends...haven't seen a soul so maybe I just 'went through the wardrobe'...and it was a lovely day here in Narnia..no...second thoughts....if it carries on like this I will have to ask my good friend MOS for the plans for the Ark.  I've got enough wood here to start one...and I foresee a need...

Tuesday 7th February

It's struck again....only this time with howling winds, snow sculpture around the house and it's stuck to the windows but fortunately it's on the outside.  So it's drifting, I'll have to get out there and get in a couple of days of logs just in case this keeps up but according to the weather forecast, it's only here for one day but it's going to get colder.

Seven twenty this morning when I raised my little head...the biggie was just in but the little one has given up the  ghost and has yet to receive resuscitation (that's the wood burner not me).....my kiss of life comes in the form of hot black coffee without sugar and I am on to my second. Breakfast has yet to be decided upon but since I have no eggs, I might have to dig some beans out of the freezer...in these temperatures a good breakfast sets you up for the day....

Looks like my student is off...it's not that the snow is deep, well two foot of it but it's drifting so I guess the roads are going to be tough in places...think I might just forego a few leva to struggle into Djebel and I think that's the snow plough that's just come down the road so as well as the snow outside my house, I have a road full all deposited in front of Beauty.

So pickies.... here you go....

Tuesday update

OK Oates...this make take some time....but it didn't.  I cleared the terraces on the theory that two feet on top of two feet makes four but two feet on top of a smattering is more or less two feet.  The wind is icy, whipping round the bends, I managed to rescue Homer (my windscreen shield) hanging on to the wing mirror by the skin of his elastic and now he's safely thawing out.  Path to the wood shed is cleared.  Path to the front gate is also cleared lest the postman calls.....there's a thought.  

So wood in, I'm in and have no need to go out unless it looks like there is another two feet out there and they're not mine....bbbrrrr....

Hey Elsa,

I must admit I did wonder where you'd gone to over the weekend. It looks like the weather is very exciting at the moment! I hope it clears for us in a few weeks

It has been frosty here but not that bad; thermals are on order for our trip

Cheers for everything

A and J

Tuesday update

Not a lot to report really...once all was safely gathered in, like wood and coal, it was a matter of keeping the home fires burning.  The snow has continued and all that hard work this morning has been undone.  They are now back under about four inches of snow but the wind hasn't abated at all...it's still gusting strongly.  As for the weather lifting in the next couple of weeks or so....we can always home Andrew but it is winter here as I was reminded by the father or my student when I mentioned how cold it was.  And it's still snowing

Got some beans out of the freezer and tonight's supper was a bit of a mish mash.  Fried off an onion, added the remains of the gammon, potatoes and the baked beans from the freezer and stuck it on the hob until I could transfer it to the biggie.  Took out an ageing red cabbage and sauteed it in butter and olive oil.  Both served with a glass of the red at sixish tonight...delicious.  Now nine your time...wind still howling, fire still going and about to hit the sack...LN... I promise tomorrow I am up in the roof of the wreck securing the polythene that's hanging on by the skin of its teeth if it had any....

Wednesday 8th February

Six am this morning and there weren't even any embers left in the biggie....it had burnt itself out so that was the first job.  It's still snowing hard and I need to get out and take that other thirty centimeters of snow off the terraces.  If it continues falling at this rate....despite both weather reports declaring that there would be only grey cloud today, I'm likely to find my front door fairly well hidden. The wind's causing it to swirl so I'm thinking that the sunbed might  be dragged from the garden and put somewhere to deflect the snow and wind. I haven't worked out where yet,  now where's that drawing board ....but first...breakfast....

Wednesday continued

Breakfast was two slices of buttered toast...no eggs, beans used up in last night's supper.  At this rate I might be on a diet before the week is out....I think not!!

Cleared the terraces, got the wood in. chopped some sticks, went up into the wreck armed with hammer and nails and hammered a few in...to no avail.  There is so much snow up there that I need a sunny day to get my trusty snow scraper out and do the business.  Cleared the road access so that if there is a problem I could get out and the car and noticed that my Avatar was out there trying to clear outside her house so off I trundled to give her a hand.  Her comment was that I was like a 'bagga' machine (digger) with my scoop and it was all due to the fact that her son was coming in the car from Djebel and the a space had to be made.  I carried on and cleared her way through to the front door and Tommy was watching while all this was going on.  As it happens...the car didn't come and the space is gently filling up again.  Silly lady was out there without gloves and only her little rubber shoes...I was out there like Nanook of the north with several layers, snow boots and insulated gloves...toasty.

So polythene still rattling around and I think I need some new but as and when springs to mind.  It's still snowing, there's plenty of wood in and the water is being pumped around the system so it takes the chill off.  It's not hot in here but at minus ten out there at the moment....you can't expect it to be.  Came in and fancied something to eat and so I'll let the pictures tell the story.  Sunbed is now in place and the idea is that it keeps the snow from the door....I think it's back to the drawing board Cecil....

Last night's bean thingy is tonight's supper and is already on the biggie warming up.  Might not be eaten though since my lovely Avatar has just delivered hot filo pastry with local cheese...(banichka) and I've just eaten one of them already.  Birds might be in for a treat tomorrow....

So almost six my time....it's hardly going to get over the yardarm since I only caught a glimpse of it today and yes that's the sun I'm talking about.  I have a Reader's Digest four story book that I've started....not bad stories....LN....I have a glass to fill, a book to read and a fire to tend to....LN

Mmm home made chippies!  

I take it the mobile disco van isn't coming still with all that snow?

I was just imagining those chips sandwiched between that lovely local bread he sells with lashings of butter and a bit of tommy sauce! Nom nom  

Thursday 9th February

Quoted from MikeyB

Mmm home made chippies!  

I take it the mobile disco van isn't coming still with all that snow?

I was just imagining those chips sandwiched between that lovely local bread he sells with lashings of butter and a bit of tommy sauce! Nom nom  

No Mikey B...no mobile van...I'm out of eggs too but I do have a supply of bread in the freezer that comes out and gets stuck in the oven.  Justa lika momma useta bakea..  Chips in the post....

So at six this morning, no embers so had to start from scratch...but all this practice makes perfect and six fifteenish the hot water was belting round the system.  Snuggled up on the sofa washing the flames for half an hour or so clutching a coffee then decided that the nest wanted dismantling and the quilt cover, bottom sheet and pillow cases wanted washing.  Normally you'd wait for a good day but since they are made out of fleece and I have a 1200 spin on the washing machine...all done, dried and back on the bed smelling fresh, laundered and welcoming.  So definitely a shower tonight before I go to bed....but that's much later.

I cleared the terrace since there was a hint of sun but there was also a hint of snow coming down and I wondered if I was doing the right thing.  I cleared the snow from the route to the outside and inside of the wood store, so that when it does start melting it will be outside not inside and finished up with the access to the road .  Realised that despite the sun, the wind was icy cold so I wasn't out for too long.  Did the business, got the wood in, started Beauty to make sure that it did.

Looked at my desk area and the landing and decided that it needed some improvement.  Improvised and built a shelf area on the landing using a plank straddled between the bathroom floor tiles and the bathroom washbasin that still sits in its box.  Threw out lots of 'bits' of paper and did my filing and general tidying.  Perfick?  Never but much better.  Had the radio on most of the day and dear old Sally Traffic is having a field day.  Everything seems to have stopped and warnings tomorrow.....don't go anywhere unless you have to...you have been warned....check the weather....

Tomorrow I'm definitely curtain making.  The second bedroom is next to the chimney stack so it's actually warmer than the one that I use upstairs...no door though but since there's only me....I should be worried.  

Time for that shower...it's six thirty here...supper is curried something that I found.....and that glass is about to get poured...enjoy your evening...I'm about to start mine...LN

Friday 10th February

Slept like a little log last night...no...not in the fireplace.  Lovely shower last night, clean warm jimjams, and snuggled down in my new feathered nest. Six thirty, fire still going and I must work out the technique...it seems to be different every night.  I'll put it down to the wood not the execution.  It's a bright day today but snowing lightly so I'll need to be out there with my trusty scraper just to keep on top of it.  Checked my weather forecasts and they vary quite considerably from minus seven today going down to very minus tonight but I'll never know.  Yesterday I tried to remove the outside thermometer from the jar that was stopping it from falling over and now it states that the temperature is very, very, hot...yep...I snapped the tube and the red shot up to danger point. Reckon it's telling me fibs.

There's a recommendation that you don't ever go food shopping when you're hungry.  That trolley gets filled with all the wrong things and there is invariably a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar selected and set aside for the journey home.  I've come up with a similar theory...don't go looking in the freezer for something for supper when you haven't had breakfast.  So there they were facing me and knew that I had bread, butter, salt and vinegar and tomato sauce.....fish fingers.... and it had to be done.  Not normal, I could have saved the pleasure for supper and had them with mashed potatoes and peas....why wait...were the words that flashed through the brain...so I didn't.  Still sitting around in my PJ's this morning but the kitchen is tidied, I have logs to get in and a bonfire to get going in the garden.  

Onwards and upwards...snow gear to the fore....must get on and then think about those curtains .....