January 2007

1 Happy New Year !!!
Nice day (just a little windy) for more garden clearing up.  I finished my first sweep of leaf collection from the back lawn, did general tidying, harvested the last of my celeriac and tended the chickens.  Meanwhile, Crow collected more barrows of leaf mould from the wood and has now covered five of the paddock beds.
2 Brrrr.  No gardening today - there's a very cold wind and it's dull & showery.  So it's indoors to try to update the household accounts and catch a bargain on eBay.  I also completed my latest knitting project - a black mix Fresco top - and started the next - a navy cotton jumper.
3 Off to the cinema to see The Holiday.  Very funny if you like the romantic comedy thing, which I love, so I highly recommend it!  We've also been shopping for new kitchen white goods - dishwasher, cooker and fridge/freezer.
4 Defaulted to the net to order my white goods.  Found Boots Kitchen Appliances were cheapest (by quite a way) for my chosen dishwasher and cooker.  Perversely, my new fridge was £80 cheaper at Dixons than Currys, even though they are the same outfit!
Harvest: my penultimate turnip.
5 Harvest: Last of the parmex carrots plus three autumn kings, leeks, red pepper and all of the Carlingford potatoes.  Very disappointing, only 2lb 2oz of potatoes because of the unseasonably warm and damp weather which seemed to encourage potato blight.
A vegetarian meal required tonight.  I bought an enormous pot of mushrooms going cheap in Tesco yesterday so home made mushroom soup was on the menu, followed by red pepper, olive & blue cheese quiche with celeriac & carrot salad.
6 Lovely weather for ducks!!! Rain, rain, rain all day long.  Still, I managed to finish the household accounts for 2006 and get this website up-to-date, which I had failed to do since our December holiday.
Out for dinner tonight.  Gorgeous meal! A starter involving avocado, strips of meat and bacon snips in a sauce on a bed of lettuce, a main course of chicken breast stuffed with brie and wrapped in bacon with roasted veg, followed by raspberry creme brulee and a cheese board, then coffee and mints.  Is that five courses!!!!
My pretend wine (I'm the driver) was a sparkling raspberry crush which was very refreshing.
7 Started to crochet a baby cardigan tonight.  NO, not for me!!
8 10th anniversary cardBirthday cardA wedding anniversary card for my brother -->

and a birthday card for a friend

plus more baby cardigan crocheting

plus chicken watching & reading & relaxing & tv watching & cooking......

9 Not much happening today, except that we had an excellent haggis for dinner.
10 It's going to be Xmas all year here as I made my first card for 2007 this evening.  Well, if everyone is to get a home-made card this year, I need to make 4 or 5 a month!
11 A trip to Duxford where we were nearly swept away by the wind and drenched by the torrential rain!  Crow is investigating this venue as a star/finish point for a new rally.
Harvest:  a ripe melon pear pepino plus another to ripen off indoors, brussel sprouts.
12 Travelled to Leamington Spa as Crow is "appearing" at the HRCR Open Day tomorrow.  Since he's last year's Champion Navigator, he and his driver were asked to be there to talk to other enthusiasts.
13 I had a very nice 6 mile walk on new territory, watched Pirates of the Caribbean and generally relaxed before we picked up a friend and drove back home.  Enjoyed the film!!  I'd never seen Johnny Depp before and was very amused by his rather camp pirate portrayal.
14 Nothing good to report - just  a plumbing disaster as we tried to disconnect the dishwasher to clean out the space for a new arrival tomorrow.  Got it disconnected, but then the isolation valve and reconnection wouldn't hold so we leaked water until a plumber came to our rescue.
It proving to be an expensive month!  Just when you budget for and make certain purchases, something else goes wrong.  Our water softener has stopped working and at 13/14 years old, no-one wants to repair it, of course.  Not an essential item you may think, but ask anyone whose got one if they'd like to give it up.  I'd bet they'd say No.  Crow did some internet research and came up with Kinetico as a "best buy".  We found a local supplier who is coming on Tuesday evening to check our requirements.
15 Well, I love my new dishwasher BUT the delivery guys couldn't fit it as it has a filter right on the end of the pipe, next to the connector.  The pipe needed to feed through a hole in our fitted cupboards and the hole was only large enough for a pipe, not for the filter. 
Our local hero, Ron, came to our rescue later in the day and made the hole bigger in the inch thick pine, then fitted the dishwasher.
16 Wow!  The water softener chap arrived, checked our set-up, explained the Kinetico and we said we'd have one.  He fitted it then & there, while we ate our dinner.  Now, that's what I call exceptional service.
On the other hand, I mentioned on 4 Jan  that I ordered a new fridge from Dixons.  I tried to place a web order, but there was no stock in my area so it advised me to 'phone.  I did this and a "forward order" was placed for the fridge, delivery and collection of the old unit.  I was told that written confirmation would be sent, but none has arrived.  However, I had a 'phone call to arrange delivery for 17 Jan, saying someone would call today to confirm morning or afternoon delivery.  The money was duly subtracted from the bank account on 11 Jan.  No-one called today.  Was this a bad sign?
17 You betcha it was a bad sign!  Had the new fridge delivered today, but what a debacle!  I called to check delivery and eventually the young lady found my order on the computer and said delivery was scheduled between 8:30 and 12:30.  At 14:00 I called again and this time the chap said there was no order on the system.  Then, the delivery men called )lost) and arrived two hours late, but they wouldn't take the old fridge away because their paperwork was wrong.  Another guy at Dixons acknowledged this but wouldn't give them 'phone instructions to comply.  The delivery guys broke the drip tray on unpacking.  After much argy-bargy they did take away the old unit, but only because they were stressed at running so late and didn't want further delay.  They were based in Kent so had no idea of the local geography and no satellite navigation system.  I 'phoned to report the broken part and, supposedly, a new tray should be with us in 4 or 5 days.  Anyone placing bets?  Dixons/Currys are now struck off my list for future purchases.  I don't need this hassle!  There are plenty of other outlets providing better service and communication than this.  Even though we had a fitting hiccup with the dishwasher on Monday, the service and communication and delivery from Boots were all spot on.
Harvest: carrots & leeks.
18 Bad idea number 1: we went for a walk in the wild wind.  The sun was out, it was warm for January, so how bad could it be?  Very bad as it happened.  Fortunately, all the trees which were going to fall seemed to have also done so.  We fought & survived, and were very lucky and probably very stupid!
Bad idea number 2:  I let the chickens out......
19 yellow flowers 190107A beautiful morning, calm and sunny.  I am amazed at the amount of growth in the garden. New shoots are appearing all over the two main borders, daffodil bulbs are sprouting both in the ground and in pots and I have some small yellow flowers in bloom.

On the negative side, a tree has been completely uprooted in our orchard by yesterday's storm.  Of course, it's fallen on the fence and broken it.
20 Most of the daylight hours consumed by a visit to mummy-in-law.  Then a walk in the dark to Tesco to post a birthday card to Portugal.  Still knitting most evenings - I'm on the last sleeve of a navy lacy cotton jumper.
21 I actually ventured into the garden!  Well, the green house to be precise, where I harvested the remaining 9 melon pear pepinos to ripen off indoors, cut back these plants really hard and protected them with fleece, cut back my chocolate peppermint and apple mint pots and put them into the greenhouse, cut back my greenhouse lemon balm.  In the potting shed I harvested my last giant red pepper, which means the potting shed is now ready for clearing and cleaning.
Finally I removed the green netting from around my failed broccoli plants and found a few, fairly pathetic sprouting broccoli heads - a chickie treat, methinks.
22 The new cooker fitting went like a dream; electrician to disconnect at 7:15, delivery at 10, unpacked and packaging taken away, old cooker removed without question, reconnection at 4.
In the meantime, we visited our neighbour who is 96 today!  He and his wife are real characters.  They've lived there since 1940 and been married even longer.....  The weather's turned cold and wintry but we wrapped up for our five mile walk, just making it back in time for the electrician.
I didn't get to use the new cooker as we were out for dinner this evening.  A very interesting Burns night with a menu of smoked salmon, following by haggis, then cranachan with wine, whisky and drambuie.
23 A most horrible job this morning - cleaning out the cooker hood, in part prompted by failure of the two light bulbs.  I know I'm guilty of not cleaning it in the last two years, but I think it had been neglected for some time before that!  New filters and bulbs ordered.
24 A household day - shopping (incorporating a brief trip to see a friend at the "old" office), ironing and cleaning.
By the way, I just love my new cooker and dishwasher.  So far I've used the cooker hob and top oven and the dishwasher is so, so wonderfully quiet, even I can't fail to be impressed.
26 Sewing up my cotton navy lacy jumper tonight.  Look out for a pic in Chick Originals soon.
27 Remember that rally Crow is organising.  Well, he went off recce part of the route with Robin and I had a lovely girlie day with Cathy.  We had a walk in a wild life park, coffee at a local farm shop (where I bought another hen!) and then back to relax, listen to music and watch a video.  We shared the cooking - I took curry zucchini soup, sundried tomato & parmesan bread and mustard & cheese quiche.  Cathy provided salad and gorgeous desserts of chocolate bread & butter pudding and cardamom rice.  Very yummy!
28 So, a bit more about this rally......  you know Crow was crowned HRCR 2006 Champion Navigator?  Well, he's trying to establish a new event in this region (running in August) which hopefully will become part of the 2008 HRCR championship.  Lots to do, but he's done it before - 30 years ago!
29 Another girlie event as I visited Sue to have my hair done.  We had to walk the dog first, of course, and hasn't she grown!
30 Mum-in-law visit and a treat lunch out a a Toby Carvery.  I had an excellent salad with turkey & ham from the carvery and their range of vegetables was a treat.  Very sadly, I was too full for dessert even though a sponge pudding with a bottomless jug of custard beckoned.  It's definitely just starter & dessert for me, next time.
My new pink lacy jumper is now coming on well.  I've already finished the back & first sleeve.
31 Harvest: my last turnip and what a whopper at 4lb 10oz!