Poorly chicken

[The Dogmother]

It has been thrashing about here all night, with increasing ferocity - off out in a minute to walk the dogs and survey any damage. Luckily, the leaves are all off the trees, so they won't be as likely to uproot.

[mullethunter]

Sunday night at home was horrendous- power cuts, trees down, all sorts.

I’m in Berkshire now and although it’s not a particularly pleasant day it’s much more benign here, and yesterday was actually quite a nice day.

[The Dogmother]

Was lovely here too yesterday  cold though. 

Today is vile..... rain and thrashing wind

[Valkyrie]

Yesterday was vile.  Was out waiting for the chickens to go to bed and sitting in the run, but the little ones seemed to be so scared.  I did hear something like a jet plane roaring across the hill - thought why would they send out planes in this - when the gust slammed into the run!  No wonder the littlelies were scared - so was I!  That happened a few times - the roar of it was amazing and then a few seconds before we were buffeted! Then out to do the ducks in a lull.  Got drenched by horizontal icy rain.  The only bit of me exposed got prickled by the icy lumps, although I don't think it was hail.  My trousers acted like a wick and drew up the water above my knees - and I had a long wax coat on.  Luckily it died down overnight, but it is still bitterly cold wind and there were a lot of showers with anvil clouds about today.

[The Dogmother]

We had those roaring squalls and rain too Val - I was working at home in the evening, house quiet, and wondered what on earth was making that racket!

[Valkyrie]

So weird wasn't it.  I now understand what people mean when they say tornadoes sound like a locomotive - nature is amazing and powerful, cruel and wonderful all wrapped into one!

[Beantree]

The weather is pretty bad down here as well. We are on alert for heavy rain, flooding and strong winds from 2.00pm today until 5.00pm tomorrow. The BBC weather showed snow down here this afternoon; hope it's wrong.

We get little tornadoes here which result from warm winds blowing from the Southeast up the valleys. Someone mentioned they stopped the car to watch one in a field of corn. It swirled around bouncing between the hedges and then just fizzled out, leaving the field completely levelled but nothing outside touched. A few years ago I was in the chicken enclosure and the farmer had just finished combine-harvesting the field next to it. There was a sudden strong gust of wind which then disappeared and immediately the whole enclosure was covered in inches of straw which the tornado must have picked up from the field on its track up the valley. Took a lot of clearing up.

[The Dogmother]

It was trying to snow here at 6am this morning.  Cold and wet now.

[Beantree]

So the latest forecast gives us 70mph winds and 4-6" of rain between now and Friday morning. Just what we needed, more rain!! Fortunately the slope of the land allows the worst of it to drain off, but the covered runs are still getting a bit boggy.

[soapdragon]

Torrential sideways rain here - squelched through the mud and horizontal rain this afternoon choosing a Christmas tree! Not the best day for it! Roads are covered in huge puddles and the ground is saturated - again. 

[Patricia W]

I’m in Surrey babysitting.  Soon I’ll have to drive up to Oxfordshire... M40... not looking forward to it..,

[soapdragon]

Do take it easu, PW.  Lots of standing water around. Also, when potholes fill up with rainwater they just look like puddles and it's easy to misjudge how deep they actually are!

[Beantree]

Definitely a Friday 13th! Couldn't sleep because of the wind (now 85mph) whistling down the chimney and the rain hammering on the roof. So watched the election results for a few minutes. Then discovered tar laden water dripping down the kitchen chimney (ancient fireplace) and onto the cooker, so out with the kitchen roll. After 12 hours of continuous heavy and near horizontal rain all the runs are awash and the chickens won't come out. Quick check in the garage revealed a small trickle of water coming through the west wall, which quickly became too much to mop up. So outside to dig a trench in the lawn to divert the water and then two hours of mopping; still coming in but much slower. Rain and wind is supposed to stop tomorrow morning.

[Valkyrie]

Yeuch - this is awful.  Thankfully there was a brief respite when the ducks and chickens got a clean out.  The road outside keeps getting blocked by leaves from goodness knows where and covering the drain.  OH has been out there every day to clear it (not bad enough to reach the house) and it's like one huge whirlpool!  Went to the village do this evening, came back and the road is flooded yet again.  Job for tomorrow morning, but it is torrential, the wind isn't as bad as it has been.  I have been assured that this is not normal down here!  I know - this yukky stuff is all over the place!

Oh Beanie that sounds awful!

[Beantree]

Well today is a nice contrast Valkyrie. Started with drizzle and now the sun is shining. Few things to mend after yesterday and some tidying to do, but we escaped anything serious. Friend of ours lost her poly-tunnel in a gust and it's been there years, so that was a very abnormal day. Only seen wind and rain like that a few times here, but that's enough. We have a poly-tunnel which we bought from England; I doubt we will put it up. We also have a greenhouse and that is going into a section cut into a bank so the wind goes over the top of it. Still got to sort out some hail protection though as the last lot dented the car, so it would certainly break the glass roof panels.

[The Dogmother]

We have had a day of contrary weather; nice enough first thing, followed by 2 hours of gales and torrential rain, then sunshine and bitingly cold wind. I got the dogs out to walk with a friend in the sun and it was truly lovely, although we were both togged up.

It is now raining again, but the stove has been roaring away and all is snug indoors.

[soapdragon]

No rain here after 7.30am but biting cold wind, which is fine as it is December! Went out into the garden to cut bay and rosemary for decs this afternoon and froze. Might it snow ?

[The Dogmother]

Apart from a spat of rain this morning, it has been lovely here today - very wet and muddy though. I have been outside most of the day.

Edited December 15, 2019 by The Dogmother

[Valkyrie]

Was in Hook for the weekend - very hectic as meeting friends and family while stopping over at the neighbours - popped in to say hello to Mr and Mrs Mostin!  It was fairly nice there but torrential rain in the evening.  Sunny on Sunday.  Travelling home via The Deverills and I saw the first huge flash of lightening.  Hmmph!  Not nice, the closer I got to Taunton the worse it became - at one point the thunderclap (and flash simultaneously) drowned my music which was on loud to deaden sounds - and hear over the heavy rain!  I lost it behind me when I reached the Blackdown Hills, although the rain continued.  OH said they had nothing here.  Later my old neighbour said the storm had reached Hook and was terrible.

Bright so far today and relatively still!  Cloudy though.  Better than nothing.  Over the past few days OH has been clearing the drain because the water had brought tons of leaves to block it and the rest of the road was like a river.  Once cleared it whooshed away!

[mullethunter]

lovely day today - bright and sunny and cold with hardly any wind. Back to normal tomorrow though with wind and rain - 1 decent day a week seems to be the the moment.

[The Dogmother]

We started today with mist, which developed into thick fog by the time I left for work - very pretty driving between fields with mist settled in the valleys and medieval furrows.

Freezing fog forecast here for tonight though.

[Valkyrie]

Same here - dense mist first of all and it burnt off to a really lovely day.  Not warm enough to take off the jumper - yet too warm to keep the jumper on!  Nice dilemma to have!  Actually much warmer in a sheltered spot in the sun!  I agree mullethunter - one nice day and we pay!

[Beantree]

For a change the forecast was wrong for the better. The strong Southerly winds with heavy rain due overnight didn't arrive and we had no rain at all. It's not cold but overcast and damp, so the coop parts painted yesterday still haven't dried. Might see some sun this afternoon and an air temperature of 16C, so the chickens will be happy as we will be.

[mullethunter]

Had possibly the most unpleasant drive ever back down the A30 from working today in North Somerset and North East Devon. Hammering rain and howling wind - now home and it’s SO windy again and the chicken run is like a swamp. Glad it’s wood chip on slabs so at least it isn’t muddy but the rain just isn’t soaking away in any ground anywhere anymore.

[Valkyrie]

Glad you got home OK.  It certainly has been vile and only started after lunch.  Still lashing and howling away.  Our flood out the front in the road grew so big that it burst over the top of the dip and was cascading down the road this evening.  OH spent ages clearing it and as soon as he got some of the drain emptied of leaves, the water just flooded down the hill blocking it back up with leaves again!  Last winter we emptied it just the once - this time we've lost count overall, but this last week this has been the 5th time - one of those was twice in one day.

The chicken run is on a bit of a slope and just outside the electric fence is what possibly was once a pathway or track as the ground starts levelling out.  It has become half a moat!  The ground felt reasonably dry yesterday and non squelchy - it is swampy today.  Luckily it will drain fast when the rain stops, but this doesn't bode well for those on low ground.