Wednesday 21 January 2015

This is the view outside my front door.   I didn't even go on to the step but just stood on the mat and 'clicked' - sorry it is going uphill slightly, but you get the general idea.   Since I took the shot five minutes ago it has started snowing - fine grains floating down.

The birds are ravenous and I am raiding the cupboards to find extra food for the bird table.   Yesterday I bought a coconut and the farmer has chopped it in half and hung it in the rowan tree for the tits.  I have added a bowl of suet, sultanas, currants and oats on to the table and all the feeders are full.   But by lunch time they will all be empty again.   Pheasants are arriving for the poultry wheat the farmer puts down.  I wish I could get a photograph (ten there at the moment, but as soon as they hear the back door they retreat under the bushes.  It is bleak.

One of my Buff Orpington hens just didn't arrive back at the hen hut last evening.   The Orpingtons are usually the first to go in and the rest did, but there is one missing.   She has therefore been out all night, which is a bit worrying, although the farmer thinks that 'something' got here during the day to prevent her coming home.

The sheep have been moved to the low pastures because all our top pasture is being slurried by a giant machine.   I haven't seen it and I am definitely not going up to the top fields just to view it, but apparently they just 'thread' a giant pipe across the fields and then send the slurry through it.   Whatever they do, the top pastures are now brown whereas the lower pastures are a mixture of white (snow) and green (grass).   Now that there is grass to be had by a bit of scraping with the foot, the sheep are totally ignoring the silage and the sheep nuts.   The grass is bright green, frozen and lacking in a lot of goodness, but the Swaledales are a hardy breed and prefer grass in whatever form it takes.

I have just looked at the photograph and I see that there are two cock pheasants in the front garden.   One is clearly visible and the other is behind a bush to the left of him (in the middle of the picture).

The ground is hard frozen which the farmer is pleased about as he says we haven't had really hard ground for several years and it really does kill off a lot of slugs and other 'bugs'.  So, it is an ill wind as they say.

So far, so good today on the Broadband front.  Am keeping my fingers crossed.   A BT Open Reach Van has just gone past - maybe that is relevant.   All I know is that I wouldn't be a worker out in the Open Reach today (or open anything else) - the woodburning stove for me.   Incidentally, I love the way that Cro calls his two stoves Gilbert and George (two of my favourite artists) - I am now trying to think of a name for mine.  I wonder if there is a name which means reliable, loving, dependable or something like that.

**A friend has just e mailed me to suggest David (the farmer's name) as she says he is all the things above (and she knows him well.)
***My Buff Orpington hen was in the big shed.   She had roosted
in there overnight and strolled out large as life when the farmer opened the doors this morning.

19 comments:

Tom Stephenson said...

I wish that was my view right now Weave!

Twiggy said...

We have the same sort of weather today. The sparrows are hopping round in the snow and tucking into sunflower seeds and fat balls in the garden, there are loads of them.
Twiggy

Heather said...

Apart from our light dusting the other morning we have had no snow, though that could change. Hope the weather doesn't cause too many problems for you and the farmer. It sounds as if all the livestock is well catered for so fill up the log basket and find a good book!

Helsie said...

How about ". Hector" !

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Wow, Pat, the view out your front door today could be the opening shot of a movie.
Just oozing with mystery!

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

PS Josephine says you should name your stove Josephine. (She wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote this.)

Elizabeth said...

Walter?

Mary said...

I'm loving your garden gate and its posts.
I hope Ms. Henny shows up.

Be sure to stay in where its warm and safe.
Mary

Linda Metcalf said...

Love your view and that gate! Beautiful.

MorningAJ said...

Is that a pair of pheasant? Looks like a cock and a hen to me, but I could be wrong.

Granny Sue said...

It has been a cloudy, muddy winter here in West Virginia. Very little snow, and I miss it. I like wintee to be winter! We have had some good hard freezes rhough, which I hope will impact the bug popylation. Stay warm , Weaver!

Gerry Snape said...

Bitter here but damp bitter....that would be the Cro's thought pattern...love it...let us know what name you think of! Hope the hen returned.

Cro Magnon said...

My eye keeps being drawn to your 'Ripe for development', bijou, country cottage, in your header photo. Price range £400,000- £450,000.

Joanne Noragon said...

My BIL calls everything by its color, and when we have two of the same one becomes big, one little. Three, and one is relegated to old. So, if your stove is red, it's Big Red. If you have two red stoves, you have a Big and a Little Red. And so on.

Frances said...

Glad that your broadband is staying strong.

The photograph of your front gate could surely encourage a novel's beginning. Thank you for letting us have a glimpse.

Our NYC January has suddenly turned a bit warmer. I imagine the confusion this will cause plants and even insects.

Best wishes.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Unfortunately Cro that 'ripe for development' is a good mile from any of the services.
Thanks for all you suggestions as to naming the stove.
Also, make no mistake about it I intend to keep warm!!

angryparsnip said...

Beautiful !
I always click to make you photos bigger so I can really see them.
I saw the one pheasant but not the other.
Not sure if this is good or bad but I posted about planting my garden today.
We have had some rain and snow this winter but not enough. Another storm is coming in today so I hope the mountains that ring Tucson get more snow.
I love your front garden and gate.
So happy Miss "I can do what ever I want" wasn't dinner for some hungry fox.

cheers, parsnip

ChrisJ said...

What a lovely view from your front door even in the middle of winter. So glad your hen showed up!

Penny said...

So glad your hen was OK. Love your front gate.