A wee bitty cold here . . .

Our next door farmer reported that the night before last it was minus 15 by his milking parlour. I believe him. I also believe it was even colder here last night, as when we walked down by the river today, this is what we saw. Believe me, it froze last January, but NOTHING as bad as this or so quickly:

Snowy walk today

OH and I had a walk up to the junction today, just to see how bad the roads were. They're bad. No chance of getting out at all as the snow has been compressed to an ice-slick like glass. I was hoping that we might creep out to Llandeilo with Honey to get her eye checked, but no chance.



As you can see, quite an appreciable snow fall yesterday and overnight too. I was glad to be wearing my walking boots . . . wellies might keep your feet dry, but not WARM! Our car wouldn't make it up this hill . . .


This is the more major lane to the A40 - impassible for us in our car, as it's a complete ice-slick.

The photogenic spot again.

The lane home, and a pretty scene - for walkers.

Down by the river, all was still, held in winter's thrall. The footprints below give you some idea of the depth of snow - probably 8" or 9" overall.


Blue snow in our paddock!

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Feeding the birds

I have spent a good time this morning both bird watching, and feeding them. Poor little chaps are desperate in this weather. Maximum sightings at any one time: 12 Blackbirds; one Fieldfare; 3 Redwings; countless Sparrows, Chaffinches, Blue and Great Tits; Nuthatch; Greater Spotted Woodpecker; about 15 Jackdaws and as many Starlings, a Robin, a Pied Wagtail. I have tried to spread their food about as much as possible, as the Blackbirds are wasting precious energy fighting over the apples. I had some rubbery carrots, so I chopped them up small with two chopped potatoes, and boiled them up for the birds, and some Lasagne sheets (well out of date) broken into little pieces too. They have had fresh water in the drinking/washing bowl under the patio table. This and the two manky old chairs were going to be recycled in the autumn, but we never got around to it, are now proving useful as feeding stations, and the only snow-free area is under the table, which is where I have put a big pan of water.

One of the Redwings looking puffed up against the cold.

Blue tits and a Sparrow on the nut nets and seed feeder. There are normally 10 or a dozen birds on or around each feeder. Lots of Chaffinches underneath and a Pied Wagtail too. Plus a Robin near the house.

Hen Blackbird versus Redwing versus Starling! That's the fish pond they're on . . .

One Fieldfare has been here all morning, glad of scabby old apples to peck at.

An assortment of birds pecking at the seed and apples I put out for them.

A "clattering" of Jackdaws! When they arrived, all the other birds scarpered . . . They are fascinating to watch, as there is a very definite pecking order, with the lower birds prostrating themselves to the higher ranking ones, heads down, wings spread. I have seen them punishing and attacking bird (summer months usually) for some misdemeanor, harrying it through the woodland with an incredible angry screeching. Whether it is a bird from a different territory or it has transgressed mightily, I don't know.

And then the starlings arrived. We NEVER have them in the garden - obviously the feeding frenzy brought them in. We had a big roost of them last winter, but just staying a few nights in the ash and oak trees down the hill. Then they flew south.

Deep and Crisp and Even . . .

Not much fun driving along this icy stretch, now that it is under fresh - concealing - snow!


Yup - MORE snow. About another 4" or 5" this morning and more to come. I am extremely relieved to say that we managed to get down the hill after some angel gritted it yesterday (we told "Next Door" the whereabouts of a full grit bin as he was desperate for some to grit the top hill so the milk tanker could get in. Perhaps this was his way of saying thankyou.) Anyway, I have NEVER been more glad to see the bright lights of the "Open 24 hours, everything under one roof" Tesco! Half the shelves were bare, so I guess the world and his wife had got there before us, but hey-ho, we did a double shop and should be OK until the thaw - there IS going to be a thaw soon isn't there? Next week perhaps? We have to get darling daughter back to Uni . . . or at least to her friend in Newport, for onward transmission . . .

My menfolk walked the 3 miles or so to the pet fod store at Wern yesterday afternoon and came home laden with a 10 kg bag of cat biccies and 2 dozen tins. The chap at the store took pity on them and gave them a lift back to within half a mile, bless him. He's got our business in future, that's for certain. We already buy the biscuits and bird food from him.

We have topped up the bird feeders twice today, as they are desperate. I've just melted down some fat and put an out-of-date bag of millet in it, so when that's set sufficiently I'll hang that out. I used a net that had lemons in yesterday - nothing wasted.

Honey's eye is still not right, but I have been given a tip from a LOVELY on-line friend (Thanks CW), so I shall try that out later. At the moment, it seems a little better and she has been out in the snow and then in demanding FOOD.

Below - a little band of wild birds, mostly Chaffinches, yesterday, after the seed I had put loose on the patio.


This is my pet pheasant! He is picking over a lamb bone we put out for any interested parties last night, but I think the foxes were staying underground, as no foxy pawmarks near it, and it hasn't been taken.

The depth of this morning's snowfall can be seen on the wall and the pond is just about covered in now!

Honiton Apple Cake and road update

HONITON APPLE CAKE

1 lb firm cooking apples
1 tblspoon water
1 tspn cinnamon
4 oz dark brown sugar
4 oz fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tblspn grated lemon rind
2 eggs
4 oz butter
2 oz currants (I used 2 big tablespoons of home made mincemeat instead)
1 1/2 oz cornflour
Caster sugar

Peel and core the apples and cut into chunks. Combine apples, water, cinnamon and sugar in a saucepan, bring to boil, cover and simmer until apples are really soft (about 20 mins). Puree apples through a sieve or food mill (I just beat mine with a wooden spoon, but you can leave them to go in unpureed, to be honest). Seperate eggs and beat the yolks. Add the melted butter, currants, apple puree and lemon rind.

Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold in the sifted cornflour (sifting's important). Mix in the breadcrumbs and apple puree mixture as lightly as you can to incorporate them (use a figure of 8 movement with a wooden spoon).

Well butter an 8" cake tin and dredge it with flour. spoon in the mixture and cook for 40 mins (350 deg. F/Gas 4). Leave to cool in tin, turn out and dredge with caster sugar.

This is yummy and turns out like an apply bread pudding.

A trip down memory lane here, as this recipe is one I wrote out on a card about 30 years ago, so don't know where it came from. Well worth making, and sorry, no photo, as we've eaten most of it already!

Now, the roads. Well, the car is still in the driveway. Honey is unable to go to the vet's so I am praying she will just heal nicely. My husband and son have set off with rucksacks to the animal feed place at Wern, about a 6 1/2 mile round trip. Tomorrow we will have to try and beg a lift into town from one of our neighbours nearer the A40, who has a 4x4 and no icy hill in the way. We are getting low on several essentials now and there is more snow forecast, so I want to get plenty of flour in for bread-making etc., and we'll all be reduced to drinking water soon (no bad thing probably!)

The neighbouring farmers are getting very worried as they have no way of clearing a lane in for the milk tanker to get through, which means they will be throwing milk on the fields after today (I would beg some for cheese making, but I have no rennet). The Highways department is no longer answering the phone, and the last message to a neighbour on Christmas Eve about filling up the grit was that there was a big demand as people had been using it on their driveways! Well, not around here they haven't, and our lanes are lethal/impassible. Even the 4x4s are going into freefall on the icy hills. Desperate farmers have been turning up at the Council gritting depot with tractors and trailers and begging for grit so that they could treat their own lanes but they have been turned away. I hope that there is a big stink over this in the papers, as we pay huge amounts of Council Tax and then get the bare minimum in return. Our rubbish hasn't been collected for 3 weeks now - because the roads have been so bad . . . I think it may be worth buying the Carmarthen Journal next week as there will be a spate of letters . . .

I have turned off the Hergom in the kitchen as even with it on it's only just scraping 54 degrees F, which is cold by any name, and we have had Jack Frost on the insides of the windows all week. When I have the oven on for baking my bread and an apricot crumble, it may warm up a bit. Time to move to the sitting room and light the woodburner I think, and thank heavens we have a whole large apple-tree's worth of wood to burn on it, even though it could do with seasoning a bit longer . . .

Still snowed in . . .

Were it not for our hill, we might be able to just get out, but it's horrendous on the bend in the middle, where one side is frozen stream and the other frozen compressed snow. Unfortunately, we are going to have to get out with Honey to the vet's tomorrow as she has a very sore eye and it's only very slightly improved on yesterday . . . I don't want it getting worse, though my husband reckons I'm panicking (but I'm not). Time to "phone a friend" I think - one with a 4x4.

Snowed in!

Snow photo taken yesterday night.


To be honest, we were snowed in after the first flurry around teatime yesterday, as without any grit in the bin at the top of our hill, trying to get out would have been difficult even then - as return UP the hill would be impossible. Think Cresta Run here . . . In the event, we have had about 3 inches of snow and whilst it is very beautiful, I am a little worried that this is going to go on for a week or more and then we will have to try and walk to the nearest shop for fresh fruit/veg and cat biccies (about a 7 mile round trip). Still, have walking boots and rucksack, will travel . . . Mind you, plenty of neighbours have 4x4s so will doubtless give us a lift if they're going to town. All the time we had our 4x4 we never had to use it in anger, then we sold it and have had two snowy/icy winters on the trot!

As I walked up the hill this morning, the sun was struggling to break through the clouds.


View across the fields with the mist lifting a little.

Our copse with a glimmer of sun through the trees.



Down by the river, looking upstream (especially for Yarrow, whose favourite spot this is). The slate slabs along the riverside looked like they had been dredged with icing-sugar.

Down by the river, looking downstream.


View across our paddock from the half landing window.

Morning's Minion is probably reading this and thinking, for heaven's sake, that's just a wee bit of snow to be making all that fuss about! Ah, but we have it so rarely, so we are never prepared and the Council goes to stick its head in a sack and pretends it won't happen, as then they can save money by not gritting in advance . . .