cold weather and foxes

We have had some truly cold weather recently - the duckpond is 10cm thick with ice and the ground has been frozen solid for a couple of weeks. The local foxes have obviously been having a hard time of it too, and with 4 fox-free years of poultry keeping we have been getting complacent.I saw a fox just outside our back door a couple of days ago, sniffing around where we had recently slaughtered a couple of lambs. Pete had buried the remains of the said lambs (heads and skins) in the woodland on our land and yesterday we discovered a large empty pit was all that remained. Also yesterday, one of our Indian runner ducks went AWOL, presumably eaten by a fox.Today, I went out to fed the chickens and ducks and saw a large fox eating another of the chickens, with two more chickens missing. So I'm afraid we have set the fox trap (humane - its a box with a drop-flap) in the woods, baited with the remains of a dead, half eaten, chicken. I don't really have much hope of trapping the fox, as they are too clever for that, but one has to try something. The remaining chooks & ducks have been corralled into the old hangar area, so will no longer be free to wander up into the woods.....

On a happier note; we have started work again in the house - for the first time in nearly 4 years. We have finished the 'pelmet' round the kitchen area. The outside is plasterboard, with a wooden moulding surround, which has been finished using liming wax.
'inside' the kitchen we have used tongue and groove, again finished with liming wax. Gives us a shelf for the jars of dry goods (sugar, pulses, rice etc) and serves to differentiate the kitchen area from the rest of the house.
Future plans include hiding the hood over the stove with a similar construction, then getting on with tongue-and-grooving the rest of the ceiling, using liming wax throughout to keep it light. After THAT lot is done, we will lay the reclaimed oak parquet on the floor of the main house. Should keep us occupied for this year...

New Year 2009 photos

Here are some of the photos that I take on each new years day, so we can keep track of what has changed from year to year. Probably only remotely interesting if you have been over here!

Below is the newly redecorated office - we rarely live anywhere long enough to redecorate a room, but I knew as soon as I had finished the previous yellow paintwork that it was not going to stay that way too long.
We have started the pelmet-thaing we had always planned to do around the kitchen. Here is the basic frame, now plaster-boarded in. I will post photos when it is finished (soon, I hope)
Outside, the sheep have a tidier enclosure under the hangar, with a gate, so the vet doesnt have to vault the wire fence (she's a bit short and found it somewhat awkward!)
The area I used for nursery beds when transporting plants out here has been cleared out a bit more, but the grass hasn't had time to cover the bare patches yet. That christmas tree is getting big now!
This is the filter bed with our little (polythene-covered) greenhouse, which went up in the spring.
The hangar, with some of our firewood store:
The new fencing round the field:
More fencing, plus the fruit cage:
The shrub bed behind the hangar:
fencing round the bottom field:
The next two pictures are of the (becoming) wooded area to the east side of the land, that we call Pixel's wood. The hole in the right bank is where we have discovered a large quantity of lovely compost/soil (what we suspect was the compost heap/dump/midden when the house had no plumbing). The soil is fabulous and most will go in the yet-to-be-set-up polytunnel.
This is the newly-laid hawthorn hedge round the orchard - the far side has yet to be laid, but the weather is too frosty to do it now.
Cant take pictures of the gîte, which we finished about June, as we have some long-term tenants in there at the moment. Will post some when it is available again - June this year. It is great not to have to pay to heat an empty building over the winter!

cats and christmas

Despite Rupert still being scared stiff of Gertie, Milly plays with her quite often now. Gertie finds a tail hanging over the edge of a chair more than mortal cat can bear, and takes a swipe. This usually results in a game of mutual biffing with Gertie usually getting mere than she gives, but it keeps her in her place!
This is the teaching room decked out for christmas dinner. I have been looking forward to an excuse to decorate it properly and we had fun fixing up all the greenery. Got to get it down now! Some of our friends came round on christmas day, and we shared the cooking between us. Started eating about four in the afternoon and finally left off about eleven o'clock. Rhett had devised a quiz about different countries and their national anthems/ currency/ which-side-of-the-road-driving habits etc - which was more hilarious than it sounds.... Definitely a good day was had by all.