Snow!!!...........lots of snow.....We rarely see snow in the south west and if we do its up here on the hills and usually lasts a day and then departs. The last substantial fall we had was in 2003.....well enough to make a snowman with anyway! So when we heard all this snow had fallen on Monday we were not too worried as we didn't have any whilst London was bought to a standstill!
Monday evening and it started.....Tuesday the school was closed so after feeding and checking animals we went sledging over on the hill......the sheep looking on from the nice barn where the ewes are overwintering thought we were mad by the looks on their faces as they stood in a long line observing us!
Wednesday it was still not good up here but ok and getoutable....!
Thursday they said it was going to rain in the evening and into Friday but on looking out at about 10pm it was clear the weather people had got it a bit wrong as it was snowing heavily..........and the following morning it was STILL snowing and it went right over my youngest sons wellie boot tops!!! The cars had become blobs and the 3 Ouessant rams in the field were up to their stomachs in it and were not amused at having to bound around like rabbits. The pigs had retreated indoors and refused to come out and the ducks had to be dug out to get their door open!!
An erie silence had descended as not a sigh of a snow plough had been seen and the road was blocked.
We struggled over to feed the sheep and 15 year old son walked to village to feed sheep there.
...........we then joined the crowds for snowman building, igloo making and sledging as we could not do much else as we were stuck!............and this went on until yesterday when we finally broke out .......!
Overnight it has rained and snowed again but now on Tuesday we only have 6 inches left......and hope it will go away fast as we need to work and resume normal life.....whatever that is!

All in all I can report that snow is great to look at, brilliant fun to play in but really hard work if you are trying to keep livestock fed, watered and dry!!!

The dogs loved it.....Humphrey spent ages being a doggy snowplough

Its freezing cold here....except indoors! Very slippy due to our being on a hill and I hate it!!! Its lovely looking at snow, and I even went sledging up on the hill across the road with my youngest son.........my sheep who are in the barn up there looked on with incredulity........I think it confirmed their worst fears about the human who cares for them!
On the whole though its miserable when you have to go out in it to do animals rather than have fun!
I was supposed to have a meeting this morning and backed the van off the tarmaced slush of the vertical drive/lane at the side of the house and got stuck.....missed the meeting and had irritated man on phone who was waiting for me at the unit!......Apologies said I managed to remove van from lane but parked up and retreated indoors as he couldn't wait!.............

I was musing recently on how our children always know best and it got me thinking! My older children have a slightly patronising attitude towards parents....poor old things! They always know best! We middle aged folks tand to do the same to our elders too.....it must be a parent child thing! But I was also thinking how it has affected history easpecially farming and food production.......
In the 50s it was the bright young things that laughed at the older generation and bought in machine milking, higher yeilding varieties from cattle to wheat, pulled out the hedgerows to fit in modern machinery and bought in the chemicals to make sure we grew more efficiently!
Old methods were laughed at, everyone wanted the latest, the shiniest, the quickest etc......and so it goes on.........no wonder we now have the global economy on its knees and an average of 3.5 worlds needed to support western lifestyles!
I heard yesterday that China was running out of water to irrigate its crops so was starting to rent land in South Africa to grow cereals, South Korea too and Saudi Arabia also are doing this as they havent got enogh water.....and as if Africa has?????
Perhaps it will be our children who take the lead in teaching us parents to save water, to be more sustainable, to use small and slow solutions, to save humanity from the crisis which inevitably has started?