Cross Country

Two years ago my Mum bought a cheap set of cross country skis second hand on Ebay, of course, last winter we had no snow, so they didn't get used at all, but today they were great fun in one of our local forests.

The snow was really deep round here, nearly a foot in some places, which was pretty hard work because you just sank in. Of course the dogs came with us, and had a great time. 

Gwen is part German Shepherd and loves the snow, lots of good smells, and it keeps you lovely and cool!

Of course, there are also little creatures hiding under the snow, and it's fun to try and find them!

The sun might not be out, but with views like this, it's hard to mind. 

I ache in places I didn't know had muscles (which is probably part of the problem!), so this afternoon is a leisurely one with my spinning wheel in front of the fire.

Blizzard

There isn't really a better word to describe the weather. It's been a blizzard all day, not just heavy snow, but heavy wind as well, so much so that I have no idea how much snow has fallen. Some patches on the drive are free of snow, and in others it's over the top of my wellies.

This is probably one of the most sheltered spots, its a bench outside the caravan and there's probably around 4 inches of snow sat on it. 

This is the back of the house, where it sits in to the hillside, my barn is on the left and the main house on the right, the wind has been blowing down the valley, so I've been blasted all day, the deck is mostly clear of snow. 

Round the  other end of the building is another matter, here the snow is piling up in drifts, we've cleared the back door several times today, but it's so windy it just keeps piling up. 

The chickens are unimpressed with this state of affairs, their front door normally faces away from the prevailing wind blowing up the valley, this is blowing down the valley so it's been a bit crafty, and they've pretty much sat inside their house all day!

The main road running past the house has remained passable all day, but overnight with more snow and   the wind I suspect that it will be blocked for a while tomorrow morning. This is all due to stop for the weekend, but then we're due more snow at the start of next week. Good job I work from home and can just sit back and watch it fall!

Wintery Musings

We have snow, not much, but enough to make me happy. This winter has been so wet that it's nice to have a bit of variety. Today was particularly nice because the sun came out as well!

This is the view down our valley, the hills in the distance are pretty big, and Mum and Dad were walking in them today, apparently the snow is pretty deep up there. I would have loved to have joined them, but I had to use this instead.

It's the brand new boiler in my dyeing caravan, the last cold spell we had burst the pipes, which was a rather expensive error in not draining all the water out. This boiler looks rather space age, but isn't actually any better than the 1970's model it replaced. 

While I was busy dyeing, the chickens were busy being spoiled pests! They spend most of their day hanging around by the caravan and my Dad's workshop. He throws them a handful of corn on a regular basis, so today, every time I stepped outside I was met with sqwarking and indignant waddling unlesss a handful of food was produced. Of course, they then ignored most of it in favour of finding yummy things under the caravan...

All this is a roundabout way of saying, look out for some new dyed fibre in the shop over the next few days, there's definitely some Camel/Silk, and a few other things coming your way soon.