Red Red H2o

Well after such a long dry few months we finally have the rain I have been wishing for. Yippie!! I should be shouting! Now I don't want anyone to think that I only use this blog to have a good ol' moan about things, but now we finally have water, it is not really worth having. It is red with the dust from the fields, undrinkable, makes the clothes dirtier than when they went in to the washing machine, and if you fancy a bath, well you get dirtier getting out of the bugger, than you were on going in.
Anyway, it aint all bad. We got our wood in now ready for the winter, just need to be put into the barn and chopped so it will be ready for when the snow comes.
Had a lovely evening tonight with the wife and children. Started off with the children coming home from school with the weather being a typical November day, wet, grey, cold and windy. Got some fire wood in ready to burn, the children had their tea and played for a while. I started the fire with ready cut wood, which was nice as by the time I have usually cut the wood in to small enough blocks, I am that hot, that the last thing I want then is a fire.
The fire was lit for about a hour, then my wife and the two youngest of our children sat in the candle light with a crystal each and had a lovely meditation session. Then a little later, when the children were all in bed asleep, we both had a glass of Port and listened to the wild wind and the lashing rain outside.
Exactly what I think living on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere should be about on a cold November evening!.

Windy "On Top"

It is always quite windy here "On Top" but we now have the tail end of Hurricane Katia blowing at us. We did have a 15ft trampoline in the garden this time last year, but in the beginning of the year, the wind picked it up and threw it about 400 yards away into the field above it and it folded in half. That was in March.

Now this past few days have been even worse than the March winds. The place is a wreck here, though I must say, it is a damn site better than the U.S. had, so I now feel a little like I have over reacted by saying the place is a wreck, but you know what I mean!

I was supposed to have been collecting Sloe berries ready for an order I have, but it has been just too windy to get out there, and too dangerous. The bird table is shot to bits, zinc sheets have been picked up and thrown about like sheets of paper and the large tree in the garden has had a good pruning too.

When the weather is as bad as this so early in the Autumn, it really does make me worry what the winter has in store for us here "On Top".

Just hope that if we do have any snow this year, it is during my time off in December, as I dont think we would get out very far if not!