Valkyrie

Well it was nicer this evening - the wind dropped too! Not quite as cold either. But my daughter had a storm up in Leamington Spa and while I was showing her the lightning map I saw further up in Derbyshire there were storms and lightnings aplenty! I think we escaped rather nicely!

Well inconvenient for sure. Wish I had gas though - we have LPG for heating but electric for the cooker (hate it with a capital H!) - but hopefully they will have overestimated it all and I think you should be entitled to a refund in the very least!

Hmmm lovely - horizontal hail to add to the flavour of the day!

Well done that girl! Why on earth would someone say something like that in the first place? Obviously one to watch if he thinks along those lines.

Confessions of a loopy Kooj. I misread the gauge! Like doh! But in 24 hours we had a total of 14ml. The Somerset Levels can breathe a sigh of relief! But the gales are back and the lashing horizontal rain has started again. I emptied the gauge and will check it in the morning. We have sunshine in between though.

Oooh looking forward to the pics - with sinks too! I did wonder if you had added a paving saw to your expertise! There is a Belfast sink round the side of the house, but it has a lot of stonecrop in there - different sorts! Not mine, but it looks nice enough.

OH has sent an email to the architect today! Hopefully we will be able to start the ball rolling on the rebuild! And my quilting studio! In the wish list is an area to bring on chicks (or perhaps ducks - I have duck envy as well as barn envy) and an area separate for chook equipment and possible dispatch area. I'm going to be a horrible chicken munching person - or maybe duck munching - at a later date. I just love the idea of having our plates with our own home grown food, although lamb, pork and beef - and goose will come from our neighbours. OH has put his foot down with regard to piglets. Oooh and I've emailed the Animal Health Registration peeps with regard to the smallholding number. Hopefully we can keep the number going - just in case!

Yes - much more chilly than the day before! Would be nice to have settled weather with a gradual warm up rather than swelter then freeze! Lots of rain today - I set up the rain gauge last night and so far we have had almost 3 inches of rain! At least the sun came out this afternoon for a little while. My FIL has had his lawn completely returfed and was hoping for a deluge. They had 10 minutes of light rain, so he is annoyed that he will have to use the hose and they are on a meter! LOL!

Oh dear Soapy! Got to hand it to them - they can get people daft enough willing to pay for doing their work! I don't think dinner and wine is enough for a day's work! Sounds like they've found another project then. LOL! Veg envy! Well we have diddy tomatoes already! The biggest is slightly bigger than a marble! Sounds like DM and M&M had a great day with the chicklets! Strawberries will have to wait - we've already run out of compost! Again! I've even run out of seed and potting compost so stuck! But did manage to finish popping in the second early spuds and some early maincrops. Another 2 rows needed for the Violettas but only 25 maincrops left. Instead I carried on clearing stinging nettles under the walnut tree. We now have a path through and the chooks have been enjoying the ground clearing. OH is really suffering with his shoulders and I lost count of how many barrowloads I shifted yesterday. Luckily it wasn't as hot and the breeze helped. I have caught the sun, but only slightly - I think I'm so weathered that I'm already conditioned to it. I had been using a small spade, but OH brought out a shovel - it was my dad's! I really zipped along after that! I'm definitely getting an upper body workout! And I feel fine! Even my back hasn't complained once! We had two spits of rain and it's been nowhere near as bad as they anticipated. Definitely feels cooler. At least we can sleep more comfy tonight! And after all the money spent on the yellow rattle in the field (and none showing as far as we can see) I have found one! In the greenhouse alongside my carrots! I can only think a seed got stuck to my boots and fell off in the greenhouse. When I've swept compost along for the seed bed it must have been brought to the surface and germinated! Perhaps the field seedlings will emerge later once they've had the warm weather on them. Dudley the hayfever pheasant is doing well and it sounds like he is less sneezy today. Poor little snufflebutt! He's been running around across the patio stones - bonkers! He also has 4 ladies to keep him company!

So cute!😍 Yum peanut brittle!

How super are they?!!! So well done everyone - loved seeing them.❤️ Here, DD has just left and we are waiting for the weather to cool down before trying to get the spuds in before the storms!

Funny you should say that - I had some Hotel Chocolate chocs too - and the last one I had was Eton Mess! But there are still quite a few left! And I know someone who does sneak everyone else's sweets and his family have had to find hiding places. Trouble is he now thinks that is fun and goes hunting for them. The worst one was when he sneaked away a whole panetone cake that was given as a gift to his wife. She hadn't eaten it and decided some months later to have a treat - the box felt light and it was empty! She was very annoyed and he just laughed which added fuel to the fire. Oopsie! Luckily it's a friend and not a family member!

Hmmm, I have accidentally scoffed a Lindt Easter egg that my daughter bought for me. That's the trouble with Easter and birthdays - chocolate aplenty. I couldn't stop myself. I am a big🐷 with absolutely no willpower. Which the family discussed at great lengths. Anyhoo I can't wait to see your handiworkings!

Fantastic that all the swaps are ready for action! Sad news about the chookie. Ahhh quokkas - they are cute enough too!

Yes it is a holly blue butterfly - and a male. It doesn't say anything about them loving poopy compost though.