Things get tough

Well where to start, after two days of thaw, we have more snow...but its different this time, its not just laying this time its blowing everywhere, my once red door is slowly becoming white!

Money is seriously tight now, cant get over how bad things are getting, Christmas was going to be cancelled as we couldn't afford it, let alone buy pressies etc, and the stock i have left, that i was going to sell at market tomorrow, is now going to be presents as the market is cancelled...still we have some coal at the moment, and we have some wood.

The poly tunnel broke today, the wind managed to break a piece of wood of the door frame...the rest of its OK, and it was a door we didn't use, will have to fix it tomorrow though.

Post has been pretty much non-existent in the last few weeks...when it has arrived we received a secret Santa, Christmas cards and bills that we cant afford!
The items we are waiting for, have yet to arrive...the letter from the body shop as my proof of working there, for the Canadian immigration...its taking forever, as is my NI information, another one that seems to be lost in the post!

We are hoping to do our English test in February, once Christmas and new year are over, unless we can find one at an earlier date ... hopefully the mortgage money would be through by then, otherwise we wont be able to do it.

The mortgage is another one that's taking too long, we would of had it now, but Morrison's took ages in sorting out the relevant info for the mortgage company, now we wont get it till after Christmas...and to top it off Oil fuel cant be delivered till the end of January now due to the back log...later than they originally said, yet down in Berkshire, where my husband dad lives, they have next day delivery! its not like they didn't know it was coming, its here every year in Scotland....how can they be this unprepared!

I must admit, it does look christmassy outside, with the snow and the lights...even if i am still struggling to get into the Christmas mood.

On another bright side we have one hen laying an egg every other day...its one of the rescue hens, but i don't know which one.
The cat has gone senile, uses her litter tray to pee, but not for the other, my floor gets that privilege...she cant go out at night as we don't have a cat flap, so she goes out all day and spends the night in....but just lately she is being a pain at night! mind you, she is elderly, so maybe i should give her some slack!

Well the fire has gone out, my husband is at work, both the cat and dog have gone to bed without me (after telling me its bed time at 9pm, they gave up when i ignored them), and its now 20 to 1 in the morning!
Night night all

Snow

There hasn't been much let up in the snow...that is until a couple of days ago, when the thaw started, floods appearing everywhere, and ice under allot of the water in some places, our lane is a major skating rink, the 4x4 is struggling with it.

The snow hasn't gone yet...the forecast is basically saying that if we think we have had it bad recently, wait till the next lot arrives, its going to make the last lot feel like a walk in the park!! time to get stocked up.

We have managed so far without heating, despite the -20 we have had a couple of times at night and the -5 on a daily basis..... the family down south have worried about us, i know they have, my mother sent some money to buy coal with, my husbands parents and aunt sent money for oil for the Rayburn, and although we have coal, we still cant get oil for two reasons, all the bills have come in so the money went on them, and they cant deliver oil until the new year!! so we will have to make do with a fire in the fire place, and two little fan heaters...its not so bad, you get used to it after a while.

Tonight, the snow is melting ... very fast!! and its incredibly windy, i dare not light a fire tonight as the wind keeps blowing down the chimney, so i have several layers on and a blanket over my knees, as well as the little fan heaters in the hall, but i do feel like a real old biddy!! hahaha

I am a bit of a nervous wreck tonight, my husband is working nights, and the security light keeps coming on, its probably just the cows going past in the field next door...but not knowing for certain and the noise outside, and being alone(well apart from the dog and cat), sets my mind racing....don't like it....i don't like it at all!!

The temperature has dropped, my fingers and nose is cold, funny how you don't 'feel' cold till your toes, nose and fingers feel cold.

well off to do some crafting! its only 11pm UK time, and probably if i went to bed i wouldnt sleep ... so may as well craft, i might get some stock done for Etsy hahaha

How Wet it is!

Oh the weather has been bad just lately! Heavy teeming rain! windy! its Come down sideways!!

Which means the ground is sodden!, the area where the ducks are, is muddy! and the hens you will rarely see as they are permanently hiding away in the bushes and trees! But they cant be that unhappy as they are still laying....well one of the hens and one duck is.....well was till the snow came down, and boy did it come down!!

We got snowed in for a week and a half! had to move the ducks into the barn as the snow covered their house, the chickens were moved into the poly tunnel, which although it keeps them warm, it also clears the weeds out of the poly tunnel...so win win!

Although, through all this, A Rat is still managing to go about his business! Bleeding things!

My partner has seen it in the barn, and put traps and poison down in there, I have heard it in the walls of the house and in the roof, so my partner put traps and poison down in there too....and the bleeding thing is ignoring them all!!

Its like a heard of elephants doing a tap dance in the attic some nights!!...no idea how they are getting in...have gone round the house to check if its the drains etc. but they are well and truly blocked off so nothing but water can go down them!

When the snow came down, and after my husband had put insulation down in the loft, we haven't heard them up there, but there is evidence they are in the barn and now the poly tunnel!!

Will win this war! once and for all!! Look out Rats! i am out to get you!!

One afternoon, (Saturday 13.11.2010) we went to see two lovely people...one of which is a blacksmith...something that i think is a lovely art...and he taught me how to make a hook! ..... I loved it! and sooo pleased with myself, when asked what am i going to hang on it...my husband said my ego... then decided that there wasn't enough metal to make a hook that big!! Cheek!

I know one thing though....its coming to Canada with us!!

I must admit, i am seriously chuffed to bits...and although he made it look easy....let me assure you all........it wasn't!!

I have open an etsy shop recently http://www.kimkerly.etsy.com/ to sell my crafts, it was a suggestion or two from some lovely people on the vegetable forum( http://www.growveg.info/ )but before i could put anything on it, i sold some of it to them ....so now i am trying to make things to sell on there...so far my crafts don't seem to be good enough compared to some of the things that's selling on there...but we will see what happens...still have ideas up my sleeve!

Christmas is only a couple of weeks away, and we don't at present have money to buy anything, we are hoping the mortgage money comes through soon...if not Christmas may be late!!

Oops

Oops, I forgot to do my blog i know...and yes i am sorry...but so many things on my mind, i just sort of, well, forgot!

Anyway, last time i was saying how worried i was with selling Sunny, well i needn't of been, people wanted him more that the others, so he went to a lady who took both him and Alice, We had already sold Rita,Tuppence and Penny to another couple, who already had one goat which needed company (plus they wanted to get milk for cheese etc), and we finally sold Bailey and Becca to another woman in the village...so now we are goat less, and have been now since the day before the wedding....I do miss having them i must admit.

The wedding was great, so informal, which is what we wanted, and people were very generous and gave us donations towards the honeymoon in Canada.

We spent two weeks in Canada, oh my it was stunning, my cousins, who i met for the first time and put us up for the two weeks, were wonderful, but don't tell them that, they will get very big headed hahaha

We stayed in Calgary for the most part, and was very kindly taxied around...we went to the Zoo, and the Heritage park, went into the Rockies to lake Kananaski's as well as Lake Louise...my that was a stunning place to go, if you ever get the chance to go to just one place on earth...go to lake Louise!!

The lake has the most stunning turquoise blue, the only place i have seen that kind of blue is in the Caribean...stunning, truly stunning.

Anyway we went to Banff...not the Scottish one but their one....completely different to ours, no sea for a start! Another lovely place.

We came back to a very damp Scotland, the house looked dismal, and we made our minds up...so its off to Canada to live...well for a year, and if we like it, then we will look to buy..so it wont be for a year or so that i can have goats again :( but I am sure it will go quickly.

So now its a case of getting the house sorted to sell, new carpets for the lounge, and spare room, and one for our bedroom when we have re-decorated it.

We have started the kitchen, painting the ceiling at the mo, painting the cupboard doors, and making curtains...trying to get the proper cottage feel, without MDF doors!

Well off to make banana muffins now...chat soon

soo busy!

I am sorry its been a while since i have posted on here, I have been a bit busy, and to be honest I did forget as well which is bad on my part.



We have been doing up the front of the house, with the help of some friends, getting wedding plans underway, sorting out honeymoon, chasing goats, milking goats!, making cheese, sorting out the website ( http://www.thegleefulgoat.co.uk/ ), had visitors staying then had more staying ...and the list goes on!!


So where do i start is the next question....hmmm that's a difficult one to answer to be honest.


My partner and I have decided we are going to Canada for our honeymoon, it will give us a chance to meet some family we both have over there, and when i say meet...its because i found some cousins through searching my family tree, one set in Calgary area the other in the London area of Canada, plus my partner has an aunt living in Toronto area.

If we like it over there ... we might live there for a year...and if that works out...well...who knows what will happen!


Anyway, that's the future...maybe, but for the moment we have to have to concentrate on the here and now, and one of the first tasks is finding my partner another job...he was laid off last week and is the main bread winner, he has set up a website, in hope that someone will want him to do some work for them... his web address is www.ohs-consulting.co.uk its all to do with Health and safety in the workplace.

Well its my Birthday today, and it has been a good start! I got a Wii fit board from my partner(something i wanted), a watercolour set from my ex husband and my son and his partner, a lovely goat blackboard from my friend and a pair of PJ's that i am currently wearing as a t-shirt and trousers hahaha ...The sun is shining, which is rare on my birthday(usually a storm or rain on it)...my partner gave me a lovely breakfast outside on the patio set, and i feel like i have been thoroughly spoilt...i am a happy bunny :D

The wedding plans are going well...and the minor panic i had last week about everything going wrong, has now gone...thanks to the guys and girls on the veg forum.

Now we are trying to get things cleared out that we no longer need, and we are selling (reluctantly i might add) the goats, we cannot take them with us to Canada...the hardest one to sell is Sunny, our lovely Billy goat, he is a friendly goat, but people think Billy ...vicious...smelly.....and they don't want to know, Pity he is a lovely goat.

well i had better go and wrap the gifts for the wedding...another job done then, and i wont have to worry about people seeing them accidentally.

I must post some fresh photos on here...its been a while!

Been a while

I know its been a while since my last blog, but i have been a little busy, although when i came to put it in words ...it doesn't sound like a huge amount.

Any way...Penny gave birth, bless her, she always reminds me of the old maid chicken in the foghorn leghorn cartoon, although she is obviously a goat...anyway she gave birth to a little boy called Bailey (we are using an alphabetical system to name the kids, last year was Alice).

Penny almost looked at me as if to say " see what I can do" She was so proud, and protective...unfortunately, being a boy, he will be fattened for the pot, but that's a bit later on, for now he is a bundle of fun.

Still she has impressed me with her devotion to him and the fact that she is not kicking me so much when I milk her! In fact she is getting more and more amiable with the milking for such a skittish goat...and producing more milk each day.

Tuppence also gave birth, to a strong and healthy girl called Becca, named after my niece ... they share the same birthday...we were given the idea from my mother, although my niece didn't seem very impressed when we told her hahaha

Tuppence's girl is quite a bit bigger than Bailey...and very much more outgoing! in and on everything...we are having so much fun with her.

We put them outside, Tuppence, Penny, Becca and Bailey.

Bailey followed mother everywhere...wouldn't leave her side, but Becca was off exploring..charging round everywhere then she get around the far side of the shelter and call her mother who would come running....only to find Becca would run off again..... you could almost hear Tuppence saying "for goodness sake will you stand still! " I couldn't help but giggle!

They are of course a bit bigger now and both getting the first buds of horns coming through, and so are their characters!

Becca at the back and Bailey in the front...you can just make out Baileys horns.

Besides that, we have had a fire place fitted, ready for the last lot of snow! which started yesterday, nothing settling yet even though we have had a constant blizzard all day today...but the worse is yet to come!

I have also made a necklace to go with my wedding dress, and paper leaves for the wedding, also booked some yurts for the event too

I have been making goats cheese and biscuits, looking at making some cosmetics with the milk, goats milk is very good for you after all and I have been selling items from my website (which is www.thegleefulgoat.co.uk ), holding a try and buy for the site...so people can see and touch the items....and in between all that I am crocheting a baby blanket for my soon to be new niece(my brothers partner is due this next month).

To be honest, i am getting the hits but at the moment not getting as many sales as i would like or need to keep the site working...i need to get out and do some tabletop sales too!

We have a new car or two...well new to us! my partner needed one to get to work, and decided to get me one so i can buy feed and get out and about myself....something we desperately needed after someone vandalised the last car! hmmm now there's a thought...maybe i should get my website put on my car ?

Well i am off to do some more baking, ready for when my son arrives this week...need to feed the workers now don't I? hehehehe

New year, new start!

Well.... things are turning around, We bought one new car and put a deposit on another,which we collect on Saturday, and my partner has started his new job last week...so things are looking up....at last! hmm maybe i shouldn't shout too loud just in case!

We have snow again! mind you i love the stuff, but it does cause problems for others driving etc, and it has caused problems for us in the past, being snowed in...not now though...we hope. And the white stuff is a pain for the animals who cant get out yet, well we can put them out, but our goats will only hop over the fence and head back into their nice warm pens in the barn, so its just not worth it. We did lose two birds to the winter, one chicken, Kiev, she was getting on a bit, and one duck, Daphne, who was disabled and a bit on the weak side anyway, so at least we lost the two weakest birds...but still sad, and before you ask, no we didn't eat either of them as they we too flattened by the other birds!

Snow was fairly deep, it was up to the top of my legs in the driveway, this photo is of the white stuff before it really came down, some where in there is my old smarty! the snow has gone but more snow is forecast this week, although i am not expecting it to be heavy.

I do expect it to be heavy in two weeks though, its usually about two weeks after America has it bad that we get it....so we will have to wait and see....but if i am right ... you have been warned hehehe.

There is no chance of buying the field we wanted, the farmer decided he wanted to grow silage on it....why he has decided that, i don't know, he told me he wanted to be a part time farmer, which with the amount of land he has its impossible, not only that he has trouble keeping the cows fenced in. they are always on the road, and the field is just a small one, compared to the rest of the land he has....also today he sprayed shit all over it, so it now stinks to high heaven, also wont lend it to us for the wedding, god knows where everyone is going to park!

Oh well its his field and his choice and i cant do anything to change that.

We have just had a new beautiful fireplace put in, but looks like we wont get much joy in using it much now, we will have to sell and find somewhere that does have land with it, only need around 5 acres...still we will make the most out of it till then.

well i have jobs to do, so better get on with them...bye for now

new year!

Happy New Year everyone!!

Well i am sorry i haven't been up to date recently, so much happened over December, that i am sure you will excuse me when you realise why.
December was not a good month for me, first my partner was made redundant, then one of my relatives died, then the illness in my back went into my hip(so now back on the pain killers and back in much pain using the walking stick), then and thankfully finally, someone vandalised our only means of transport on Jan the second, which was parked away from the house as we were severally snowed in, to the point where it has been now written off.
Some good points of December were, my son can up and built a great smoker from an old fridge, and stayed over Christmas along with a couple of friends, then a quick turn around and some other friends came up for new year.
My partner and myself had a good laugh that if we hadn't parked our car at the top of our lane, we would of been snowed in since before Christmas, it was waist deep along the driveway, i know , i had to try and walk through it at one point, but it only hit the news when England got snowed in three weeks after we had been, and it was total chaos down there. We all seemed to just get on with it up in Scotland! But at least my son got the white Christmas that i had promised him the year before! Phew!

Nothing much has happened on the small holding to be honest, we had too much snow to be able to do much outside, we had a duck living in the house for parts of the winter, she didn't seem to have enough down feathers for her to manage the snow and cold, she is a Saxony, and we also have a Saxony drake, we have decided to go from Aylesbury ducks to Saxony's, mainly as they are a better breed for meat and eggs, Aylesbury's are more a commercial breed for meat.
We have two Aylesbury's in the freezer already, with another two drakes soon to follow.

We are having an open fire fitted in the lounge next week, little after the snow i know, but we usually get another bout of snow in Feb and again around March/ April, so at least we will be warm then!
Out of all the goats that have been to our Sunny, we know one is pregnant, the other two we are not sure on, Rita we are fairly sure, is not with kid, Tuppence we are not too sure, it looks like not, her girth has got bigger, but not by much, Penny however, we are fairly sure is, her girth is growing each time we measure her.... wish it had been one of the other two in a way as she is a kicker when we get near her back legs, Tuppence and Rita will just let you get on with whatever you need to do as long as they have some food in front of them...still they can become pregnant yet, they will keep coming into season for a short while yet.

Pigs? yes well there are still pigs in the freezer, debating whether to get two more this year for a hog roast for our wedding menu...yes we are to marry in August, if everything goes well and i can get rid of my walking stick!!
But also we will need the space that the last pigs had, for the goats and kids....still no chance of getting next doors field while my partner has no job....will have to cross everything and hope!

I have set up a web shop that takes Paypal, although i am trying to sort cards side out still, but take a look and I do hope you like it and buy from it. www.thegleefulgoat.co.uk

Anyway, that's it for now, next time i will upload some photos to make the posts a little more interesting.