DRAW RESULT AT LAST

We have the internet, the phone AND the Polo back, all on the same day. Things are looking up. I've felt bereft without the internet - far more than the phone, which is rather worrying. I realise I do pretty much everything online. I had to go down into Chagford on Tuesday to use my Mum's i-pad for the grocery shopping rather than actually make the journey to the shop. In my defense, the shop is over twenty miles away. I'm sceptical as to how long the internet will last so I'm getting a quick post in before it disappears again. 

This morning OB wrote a sweet little sign in his rather eccentric handwriting, and drew out the winner who is...........

Congratulations Cait (http://caitsphotos.blogspot.co.uk/), the cards will be on their way as soon as you send me your address. Shameful fraying on OB's school jumper; he shreds it with his teeth during lessons and I haven't got round to hemming it yet. He is not alone in doing this I'm glad to say.

While I've been away, there have been few opportunities to take pictures thanks to the weather. I have rarely been so glad to live on high ground. We may be getting the same amount of rain or snow, but at least it drains down into the streams and rivers. We are so lucky not to be flooded as so many are. Water can be such a force for calm and yet so destructive too. I did happen to have the camera with me as I set out on a seemingly sunny afternoon. Ten minutes later, this happened:

Ten minutes after that:

I took these in Trigger's paddock one evening. Incidentally, I just had a phone call from our neighbours who own said paddock, telling me he seemed to have escaped into the next door field. My fault.....I forgot to close the gate properly last night....oops.

One day in the week, I can't remember which, we had a sunny walk with no rain whatsoever. Miraculous. The paths were still like streams though:

Very strong winds visible only through the medium of Snippet's fur:

Someone was lost and making a lot of noise about it:

The kitchen window has been streaming with water most of the time, so only a few bird pics:

As I've got out of the habit of taking the camera this week, I have forgotten it on a couple of occasions and suddenly remembered the smart phone (which has been a godsend in the absence of other means of communication) and its camera. Because it runs on Android, I can access them on the laptop in a way I've never been able to with previous phones. I think they're a bit weird but see what you think:

Hmmm - not for me. I've done nothing to them and I think they need quit a lot doing to them, particularly that first one - the colour reminds me of an old Polaroid.

We've had power cuts, another plumbing emergency involving a valve under the kitchen sink and LOTS of snow, but I still feel lucky and very excited to have the internet back. I'm off to search for yet another new phone as the lightning fried our nice cordless one.....AGAIN. So, until next time, lovely to be back, happy valentines if you celebrate such things, thanks for your comments while I was out of action and here are those boys trotting down a fairly dry looking path.

NO INTERNET!

Hello everybody....so sorry....lightning strike on Saturday morning means we have no internet. Am writing this on my mobile leaning against bedroom window. Not ideal. No draw yet I'm afraid. Sorry.... No pictures. Hate to think what this will look like when I press 'publish'! Hope I'll be back soon and able to answer your comments. Em x

CALM BEFORE ANOTHER STORM

The last couple of days have been almost okay. Yesterday was misty and rainy, but not torrential and today was glorious for a few hours. Tomorrow is set to be terrible again but here are some images for me to hang on to as we are battered again.

This bronze age hut circle seems to be having some persistent flooding issues:

This one too:

Even when the rain has stopped, the ponies' coats dry in clumps as though still wet:

Actually, I think this one still is wet:

Tornado:

Tornado sizes up Snippet:

I love the different shades of grey in this:

Exercise while you can....

Or not:

Okay - if you say so:

The light today was extraordinary, and picked out all the contours in the landscape

Jack found a sheep's horn

We had a crow in the garden which is very unusual - they usually stick to the moor:

Trigger had the day down with the Madams and we all got out more than expected which was lovely, in preparation for hiding inside tomorrow. Who'd be a pony eh?

We had yet another bad night, with a power cut yesterday evening coinciding with an impromptu plumbing emergency. One of the in-line valves under the kitchen sink failed and was spurting water out into the flickering torchlight. M came home to find me in a state of some panic whilst OB sat calmly doing a sudoku puzzle with a candle at the table. Power back by about 8.00pm and water flow stemmed, I was delighted to get to bed. I hate to even ask the question - what next?

Keep safe all of you in the throws of bad weather and don't forget, if you want to be entered into the draw, leave a comment on the last post. Many of you have already and OB will draw the name out on Sunday or Monday, depending when I have time to write all the names on scraps of paper. So, until next time, here's naughty Jack with his sheep's horn.

STORM DAMAGE AND 100 FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY

About 7.00 last night, as the wind and rain raged outside, OB asked us what 'that whooshing sound' was. We said it was probably the wind. However, when I went to feed Trigger this morning, I found my way blocked by this large Beech tree across the drive. It only just missed our neighbour's house and took a lot of her garden fence down. Just underneath the tree in the picture above on the far left, is where we were parking our cars a few months ago when we were worried about the tree whose limb fell off last May. Thank goodness we forgot to do it last night!

M took the morning off work and wielded the chainsaw in the pouring rain with another neighbour and had it cleared by the time I got home from taking OB to school and my mum to Waitrose:

More firewood I suppose, but not good for the poor neighbours who own it; their greenhouse was completely decimated too. This Robin was looking on with interest:

For the last few days, we've had yet another damp issue, which reached crisis point last night, as water started pooling on one of the Kitchen window sills and soaking the window reveals. M had deconstructed the panel we'd put on the outside over the weekend, finding no damp and last night, the boxing in around the lavatory, which is above the offending window was hacked off to see if there was anything going on there. there wasn't. So, last night, as we wondered whether we would have to sleep in the kitchen between mopping up sessions, we decided to brave the torrential rain armed with torches. We realised that our neighbour's gutter was blocked and was overflowing so furiously that the water was flying up and under our soffit board, into the wall cavity and running down past the bathroom and pooling on top of the kitchen window. So, at 10.00pm when I would normally be off to bed, we were standing outside in waterproofs, M up the ladder, me footing it. At one point, I was hit by a deluge of water, as M released the blockage. All I can say is that at least it washed off the filthy clods of beech leaf sludge that had hit me a few minutes earlier. Not a good night. At no point did we notice the massive tree that had fallen fifteen yards behind us either.

Well before I expected, the 100th follower has been reached. I'm so excited and thanks so much everyone who does follow. So, as promised, I really should do something to mark the occasion, and will do a draw from anyone who comments on this post. whoever wins, I'll send two packs of five note cards: this pony from last year and the snow sheep from the Christmas card collection. 

So, until next time, when I'm hoping the weather MIGHT have improved a bit, here's Jack doing some litter collecting out on the moor, coneless and happy about it.