Sheep rescue, weddings, royal garden parties, no chickens left, playing with Barn owls and starting a business.

May and June insanely busy as the post title may suggest.. it all began when Mr H went for his usual evening walk and found a fat sheep all tied up in Brambles, completely tangled and unable to get out so armed with a knife and some scissors I went to drive up (as far as car could take me) to help with the rescue. After 40 mins a lot  of fleece lost and incredible patience from Mrs Sheep we finally got her free to totter off and find her sheepy chums.

The beginning of May was taken up with getting the garden, the house and the WEDDING CAKE ready for us to potter off to the Isle of Mull for my lovely sister’s wedding in between times we had Mr H’s lovely niece, hubbie and 2 small people to visit which was not without incident.. a bash on the head from a coffee table for one and a batch of chicken pox for each child.. they were still on good form though and we had fun.

The Isle of Mull was amazing.. after the stress of getting 90 table centres, a wooden caricature, a PA and 3 tiers of hand made, lace iced wedding cake shipped from Wales to the lake district, from the lakes to Glasgow, Glasgow to Oban and Oban to Mull it was great to be able to chill out! The road trip (cargo aside) was great fun, we loved Grasmere and the hotel was amazing.. it was a fab spa hotel and Mr W and I had a rasul mud treatment. 

 http://www.daffodilhotel.co.uk/spa/mud-rasul

I can highly recommend it. 

In Glasgow we ate thai food, Mr W learned to Knit at john Lewis (long story) and enjoyed seeing civilisation again and in Oban, we went seal watching.. ace!

Mull was a hive of activity too, we went horse riding, puffin spotting, to see Balamory (Tobermory), Mr W had a landscape photography day and I had a lovely massage as the bride and bridesmaids went trotting off for a spa morning. The wedding day was amazing. The sun shone, the vicar was cool, the band were great and whilst I am clearly no good at ceilidh dancing what I lose in ability I make up for in wine fuelled enthusiasm. So all in all 10 jolly good days away.

We had brilliant house sitters as ever looking after the various creatures and the tomato plants and I came home to peace, calm and a very tidy green house. Having since battled with the weeds and overgrown grass the garden is now looking good (ish) again tomorrow is a strimming day (yuck).

So a day after my return it was off to the Royal Garden party.. what a treat.. I was invited as the WI turn 100 this year and so  member of each WI was able to attend.. sadly no photos as not allowed but the memories are firmly in my head and I had a great day.

So after all of that excitement, I then thought life was too peaceful so decided to open a business

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SackclothNSashes?ref=search_shop_redirect

Christmas shopping starts here folks  J

And in my spare time became a Volunteer fundraiser for these guys (donate at will people)

http://www.powysbarnowls.com/

on Friday I got to join them on a day of site checking of the Barn Owl boxes, which they lovingly make, install and monitor to make sure that this amazing bird stays in our countryside. These guys also rebuild tumbling down barns all over the place to further ensure the protection of their feathery inhabitants and do so with complete dedication and give their time and expertise 100% free of charge.. and the result of this humongous effort from this small group of volunteers is .. the 6-7 week old baby (photo below) .. who today with his sibling was with great care ringed with his own unique number for his future monitoring. What a beautiful creature.

and then… finally …  in sad news not so fantastic Mr Fox ate the last of my chickens.. so goodnight Katie, Glenda and Hilary. You have been great chums  L

Puffin watching on Mull

Highland Coo's 

Horse riding madness

all dressed up for the Palace 

My Posh invitation 

Pak Choi.. I GREW THAT!!!

stuck sheep

Free sheep

Best seafood ever (Oban ferry car park)

seal watching 

Mr W Learns to Knit 

baby owl

putting his ring on 

Rhubarb and Vanilla jam.. I MADE THAT! and GREW IT!

A very good day..

.. pictures say it all..brilliant. Love this little guy xx

yikes its April already

Buying Mr Waen this 12 days of Christmas thing with an activity each month makes me feek like the months are flying buy.. we are already up to number 3.. we have been horse riding in Feb (loved it) and clay pigeon shooting in March. I am still to find the activity that I shine at ... perhaps I am a natural Gorge walker (April) we shall see.

Its my my favourite time of year.. I love spring.. everything is waking up in he garden and its time for the veg patch to get going again and best of all.. the WI spring show is just around the corner (Hysterical) and so i have been full of busy crafting my entries. I am entering;
5 knitted items on a 12 inch doll (and have already caused controversy in doing that). a fruit flan (which I had forgotten until just now) and a machine sewn peg bag!
I am also featuring in  some of the combined displays.. get me!

In other news I have retired from working at the farm.. I have a little business plan on the go and have turned the spare room into a hive of activity.. More later when youngest Mr Waen son has created my logo and I am up and running.. exciting  :-)

My Bib for the spring show 

A little pink friend I made for a baby due any minute 

check out the name of this shop in the village on knockin.. amused me  :-)

How could I forget to mention that Mr W had his modelling début (the things I rope him into poor love) 

This is a splinter that poor Freddie had in his paw. .. after much caffuffle he let me tale it out and looked slightly miffed that he wasn't getting any more attention

Frog spawn.. woo hoo. 

and this year we also have toad spawn (check me out I know the difference) 

My favourite of all of our plants.. the fab stink weed.. crazy looking stuff

The broad beans are doing well 

leeks and onion bed 

garlic is doing good work 

Salad and carrots all planted.. I used mole hill soil for the carrots...  I may get straight ones this year

green house filling up 

The beetroot patch 

my WI spring show peg bag!

Well I spoke too soon about the fact that 2015 was off to a flying start.. can you believe that we had oil spill number 2.. they say lightening doesn't strike twice.. well that's rubbish because one freezing night at the end of January I smelt the horrid smell of heating oil and when I went to the tank found it flowing from the bowl underneath the valve.. Brilliant. I am ever grateful for amazing neighbours, the fact that the tank was almost empty and the fact I have a sense of smell otherwise it could have been a complete pa-lava. As is my luck these things always happen at the end of the day but thankfully when I called the oil supplier we were in luck and the amazing Robert came an hour later with new valve and in less than an hour had it all replaced.

Between the time I called and his arrival I was busied with catching the leaking oil from the tank whilst dashing off to the lake to catch the oil coming out of the pipe which comes from our ground water. At least this time I had a vague clue what to do. Mr Waen was away bless him and 21 missed calls later (a long meeting) when I was up to my neck in oil filled buckets, and the snow was falling, I am afraid he took quite a bit of abuse. In my defence it is fairly heartbreaking to watch something slowly being ruined that you spend so much time looking after and it was bloody snowing and I was very cold. 

The oil catching went on much of the night to prevent any more hitting the lake and then the next day I called our lovely farmer chums and that very evening I had a dumpy bag full of straw delivered.. time to clean up the lake. 

Some ingenious chicken wire baskets and a considerable amount of straw later we were starting to mop up.. its taken 2 weeks to get to the point where we are now, which is looking fairly good.. the weather was an amazing helping hand (thank you mother nature),.. just the right amount of rain to wash through the ground water and get it all out and the freezing over happened just at the right time :-) so alls well that ends well and so the frogs and ducks can now crack on with making me babies with no fear of poison.

straw oil catchers

and more

the clear up was finished off with the professional blue oil spill mat... I am like  a ginger version of Red Adair now with my knowledge  oil clear up :-)

Anyway I mustn't grumble too much .. poor Glenda has had a much much worse time than me.. brought on, we suspect by rooks or crows.. she has been plucked to an inch of her life.. this is the state she was in when I found her, a very sorry mess.. she has been cleaned up and sprayed with special chicken fixer upper and is on the mend but still fairly bald.. Mr Waen is now on high alert shot gun at the ready. 

So to counteract all of this gloom and doom I have been on a making spree, new frock for me, new cushions for our new seats (a Welsh and an English couch) you will note by the worded cushions and the start of the Xmas jumpers 

The lake is still frozen.. Blueberry is managing fine however, and little does she know we have a surprise for her this weekend :-)

And my most major plan for 2015 has been decided.. I will entice a hedgehog into my hedge hog house.. I have cleaned the house.. added a lovely straw bed and purchased hedgehog bites.. surely thats enough to make them want to come and live with us!

Christmas was amazing and 2015 is off to a good start..

Well since I last typed I am a year older and in proud possession of a Birthday bike.. I am a bit rubbish at riding it.. I daren't cycle down our hill and I can't cycle up our hill so the term 'push bike' is very apt. Though practice makes perfect and by the end of 2015 I fully intend to be able to cycle both down and up the hill. Watch this space.

Christmas break was fabulous and the festivities were great fun.. Christmas eve in Leeds, Christmas Day in Darlington and Boxing day in Chepstow.. so we got about a bit but it was lovely.
I was as ever spoilt but was really pleased with my Pressie for Mr Waen which was the 12 days of Christmas.. every month of 2015 we are doing an activity of something or another.. From trampolines to weekends away, Horse riding to cable cars.. should be fun.

Mr Waen was actually off work from Christmas day right through to the 5th Jan as was I and we spent 7 lovely days pottering about, getting  loads of jobs done and we went on Day 1 of the 12 days.. A trip to Bounce Below... http://www.bouncebelow.net/.. for those who don't know Bounce Below is a disused slate mine filled with gigantic bouncing nets on 3 levels .. we were lucky enough to go with Mr Waen's Big Son and his lovely partner and thank goodness because I bounced onto it.. had a minor panic scenario, a few tears, bit of mild hysteria and then scrambled (bouncing now out of the question) off it to watch.. the other 3 though.. had a great time and I did enjoy watching :-)

Apart from bouncing we have done a lot of jobs around the garden, decorated the snug had a major tidy of the outhouse,  and had a load of fun pottering, nesting and enjoying the rest.

The Piccies;

Getting ready for Xmas.. Santa or indeed Mr Waen.. comes to Kerry farm :-)

Best Xmas cake ever eaten .. Thank you Mrs Rose xx

No room in the car to take the pups to Kennels on Xmas eve so it was the foot well for them

This was the back seat and boot of the car. 

New solar light chickens from our Leeds Chum.. cute :-)

It got cold after Christmas.. skating ducks!!

Christmas Present for the birdies 

Time to add some nutrients into the fruit and veg patch.. and so 50 bags of that muck heap were wheelbarrowed through the garden .. that was a hard work day! 

Christmas pressy off my sister.. off a real boat.. hopefully will never have the need of it but will make a lovely feature  :-)

Mr Waen spent a day tidying his woodpile... 

.. and the big garden tools ....

.... and all of the animal provisions.. 

... and the left over wedding booze .. a good day's work at last we can move in the out house. 

At the Waen Welly Wedding a lovely chum helped to serve the bubbly.. she asked if I had a tray and was presented with a baking tray (I am not a propoer house wife) and so in the event of this situation ever happening again.. she has resolved my problem. In all honesty... no idea how I ever lived without a tray!!! What a difference a tray makes (there 's a song in there somewhere ! )

The wrist bands from bounce below.. some poor sod actually got number 13 .. that would have just finished me off!

We have another family wedding coming .. I am on table centres, favours and cake.. 50 of the  above.. are now finally finished.. peas in a pod saying 'on this Hap-pea day'.. such wit! 

We are nesting and embracing colour in the dull winter months.. Check out Mr W's lovely bright new kitchen lights ...

and our bright new snug chair .. 

... and our jolly new snug curtains :-)

BUT best of all.. introducing my lovely new sewing space.. Thank you mammy for my lovely sewing table and chair.. we have renovated it and now I have a sewing space.. which does not annoy the mouse.. My sewing machine is currently in hospital but never worry.. I have my new christmas overlocker .. whoop whoop !!!

Sewing heaven :-)