The hole in the wall.....

June 2014,

and the food storage area is starting to sprawl across the back wall of the temporary kitchen.

And this is what I have been doing the last few days....
getting all the stored jars of food over to one side,
so the wall at the end is now clear,
and emptying two of the three freezers out so they could be shifted to better positions.

And then this has now happened.....

A hole!

Yes, and what a grand hole it is!

And how much flipping colder the house has got!

Not to worry,

the hole is temporary,

and I can always climb into bed for a warm up with the electric blanket,

or I can go sit on the loo for ages, 

(a heater is kept on in the bathroom all the time

because I refuse to  let my necessarily exposed skin shiver when I am on the loo)

and as a last resort I can always 'borrow' my husband's longjohns.

But hey! Why has this hole thus been made?

To beat back the mud from the farm, that is why,

my thoughts being, 

( and the hole was my idea in the first place)

that if there was a longer trek coming inside from outside, 

then more of the mud would be left outside the house,

rather than being deposited in clumps around the house.

Now I must say that Lester is very good about not adding to the indoor mud,

all he does is leave his boots / shoes / slippers at various doorways,

which I tend to trip over as I scurry hither and thither,

with my boots on,

inside or out,

because I have flat feet,

and multi task,

so it is not always possible to keep taking my laced up boots on and off

off and on,

all the day long,

as I scamper about my work.

And then there are the three dogs with their twelve feet,

which can leave quite a trail of mud,

especially when the rottweiller girls have been digging holes.

They do have big feet.

And so in my head a plan was hatched,

and that was to have a door put in the end wall of the larder area,

which would give us access into the middle barn,

and from there, the outside,

thus giving us a back door,

which should keep the mud, shoes, boots, etc,... all in one place

and keep the front door and hallway clear of mud and boot clutter.

Well that's the plan.

And so the hole is done....

And this is what we were left with this evening,

the wind it doth blow

with a fearsome cold that chills the bone,

and I dare not think of any nighttime visitors 

that might scurry through such a lovely big hole.

And it is just as well that we don't have any heating on,

because it would be wasted in this draft.

About the Rayburn Project:

Lester and our builder are going to do the pipework themselves.

They start next week.
Meanwhile, we are already sitting beside it,
as if it is lit  and oozing warmth already.....

A bit about the cows:

They are doing well,

but do not like being indoors so much.

Lissie is with calf.

Bonny is as well, we think.

....and the sheep:

three lambs have now arrived,

black and white twins,

and a little black one. 

More on their way.

..... and the holy terrors, the piglets?

After their recent bust out, they are confined to their smaller electrified pen,

until Lester has time to repair the fencing on the big paddocks again.

Mum pig and Max are doing well.

...oh, and the goats?

There aren't any.

Zero.

We had our reasons, which were valid to us.

And so January dances itself onwards,

the end of this month possibly being a bit on the wet side,

as the soup mix of rain and higher temperatures,

so favoured by nature at this time of the year here,

create excess amounts of ground water,

and cracks the snow into avalanches.

some of which goes away to the sea,

via the river,

which runs past our house.

In other words, 

it is the time of the floods.

But we are dry for the moment,

so all is well.

Lester's mini tractor waiting for spring to arrive, as seen through the new hole in the wall.
I am not sure how he got it into the barn,
and I am even more unsure of how he is going to get it back out again!

Vx