How things have changed!

Well wouldn't you know it....things have certainly changed...

After getting contract work for a short while, My husband had to move back down to the London area, the contract kept getting extended, but because of him being sent to Germany and the cost of a mortgage, plus his boardings, the flights to come home, the cost of the expenses while he was away, and the dream of emigration to Canada for more land, it worked out so much cheaper for me to give up my dream of the small holding in Scotland, and move back down to Midhurst from where i had once left.

We rented our house out to a lovely friend and her son. My own son came up with his girlfriend and helped paint the outside of the house as well as help me pack up boxes, and he help my friend move into the house from where i was leaving.
We had a fancy dress leaving party in the barn to say goodbye to our friends, there was a few tears, mainly from me, a few giddy heads that night too, again mainly from me, it was a very emotional night.

The following day the storms arrived, some of the hard work we had put into the garden, got destroyed, it was so disheartening, especially as i was leaving Scotland with a very heavy heart.
The archway i had put together and stained, and my husband had bolted to a concrete floor, was destroyed and about five feet away from its original position, that was the Monday night, again i wanted to cry.

The Tuesday we collected the van, collected a mates son and his mate, and loaded up the van ready, only to find, that although it was the biggest van that my husband could drive on his licence, it wasn't big enough, and we would have to leave some of our things behind for a while, we sorted out essentials and packed them, leaving non-essentials behind, later that evening, we said our goodbyes and left for the long journey back down south.....during which, we stopped at regular intervals to let the two dogs out for a pee now and then.

The dogs were brilliant during the journey, even though the space for us all was cramped, they didn't whine, and just settled down under my feet, the cat was beside me in her basket with coats and dog leads on top, in fact my husband had the best seat even though he was driving, he had the most space!

My son helped us move into a little rented mid terrace, town house, in a very neat little close... the garden out the back is the size of a postage stamp in comparison to the house in New Byth, with the front garden being smaller still. Getting used to stairs again was a bit strange at first, and Katie the Spaniel refused to go up at first, until of course she couldn't see me then she changed her mind.

Ghillie had managed to tear his paw at some point, so we had visited the vets within the first few days, and the poor dog is now drugged up to the hilts.

Well this is it, the end of a chapter.....well for now. After the amount of time, effort, and money, let alone the paperwork and events we have had to attend to be able to emigrate, we hope we can, its taken over a year and they can still say 'no'.... so i will write again at the next chapter, whether its in Canada, with a new life.....or back in Scotland with a slightly different life...either way, we will have livestock again, and maybe a small business to go with it, but will tell you about it all next time.

Another Addition

No matter what we do we just cannot seem to give Ghillie the exercise he needs, so we got him a little, very hyper, springer spaniel bitch...and she is gorgeous!

They get on like a house on fire, they constantly play, so much so, i make them have "rest times" when they just sit in their beds and chill out for 15 Min's.

She is not a young pup, more of a young dog, as she is 18month old, but she is lovely natured, quite well trained, great recall and a very amusing personality....hmmmm now there's a thought....can pets have personality's? as they are not persons per say.....oh well....she has it in abundance whatever it is!

So I would like you to meet the newest member of our family...here is Katie!

And here is Katie and Ghillie together

The weather up here of late, is lovely, very spring like, beautiful sunshine now since last Friday, and quite warm at times reaching 10+, although its a bit on the windy side today, and the wind is still cold.I am still not getting to excited over the warmer and sunnier weather as i am sure we will have another bout of winter to come...going by the photos i have taken over the last 3 or 4 years up here, we get more snow in March and April...so we will see.

A few weeks ago, we saw our first lambs in one of the fields nearby, and the Yellow Hammers are back in the garden.So signs of spring is around the corner.

I also took a class of four friends and gave them a watercolour lesson, i thoroughly enjoyed it, we all laughed, and the paintings they came out with were lovely, i might have to do another one sometime soon, but make it a little different somehow, don't know how yet....but i am working on it!!

The mortgage money finally came through, and we have been doing the house up, Living room and spare rooms are now finished, but still plenty more work to do!

We did go and buy each other a nice Christmas present, I got him an E Reader and he got me an SLR Camera...love it to bits... i am getting some wonderful shots....well i think they are wonderful, others might not hahaha

My Husband got offered a job down in Egham, which he took, its contract work, and it pays very well, but does mean i get to see him every other weekend :( I know its something that must be done, but i miss him so much when he has gone.

On a brighter note, we take our English test on the 19th, that's if we can get someone to house sit and look after the cat and birds (dogs are coming with us), getting worried as its getting to a stage when we are running out of time to book anywhere down in Guildford. So fingers crossed this gets sorted asap....and we are going through police checks as i speak, after that its a case of medical checks and a yes or no whether we are accepted or not...fingers crossed.

Well i am off to decide what to do next....do i start painting the kitchen or do i dig the soil for some trees?... or i could repaint the kitchen cupboards? i think i will make a cuppa and see what or if anything inspires me!! hehehe

A New Year...New Start?

Well the new year has started, Happy New Year BTW...

It didn't start off too well, we are broke, and still waiting for the mortgage money... My son came up with his girlfriend, which was lovely, but thanks to them we ended up with the lurgy :( it was not good.

My husband got it first, coughing, temperature, shaking, bones aching, and sore stomach from the coughing, he was in bed for a wee while....so, as i didn't have it at that point, i thought "oh dear, man flu!" and proceeded to treat him as such...you know the thing, "oh you poor dear" and "would you like some lemsip my love".....but he then gave it to me....it completely knocked me off my feet, i had everything he had, and lost a stone in weight in a week! I still have it and he has just a cough now, it hurts! and it aches....he now asks me if i want a lemsip.

It didn't help that we still don't have any heating in the house, apart from the open fire and a small fan heater, and it has been cold!

We had so much snow we had to dig the ducks out of the duck house(we also had to dig ourselves out at one point), we then decided that it was probably better if they lived in the barn and the chickens in the poly tunnel for a month, well, today the ducks went back outside, i fixed the duck house from the winter damage, and gave it a good clean out...the chickens also had a clean out, but are still in the poly tunnel at night, but have the freedom of the garden during the day...soon we will put the hen house outside too.

We started the year with snow, followed by a day when there was ice everywhere, the Canadian cousins would of loved it, because it was like parking the car in the middle of an ice rink, they would probably of played hockey on it!.......... but most of it has gone now.

The paperwork is almost sorted, we were hoping to take our English test next weekend, but as we still haven't got the mortgage through, we cant ... will have to wait till the end of Feb for the next test, and unfortunately it might mean all our paperwork will be out of date by then and we will have to start again :( Not sure if i really want to start again though, will just have to wait and see i guess.

Well its late again, the cat has curled up beside me, and the dog is hinting....he will have to wait as i am also watching CSi New York....soon Ghillie, soon

Night night all

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