The weather continues in its icy grip, making life a little trying and causing concern and worry on several levels. On my worry list today:-
My Father is in a Nursing Home that has been shut to visitors due to illness and staff shortage and I miss seeing him, so I sent him a letter yesterday enclosing 2 tangerines and 2 bananas as I know these are some of his favourites - and I am not sure whether fresh fruit is getting to the home, I tried to send this package by special delivery, but unfortunately the postman did not make it up here to collect the post last night, and the Post Office had shut ,so this morning I am driving down to Helmsley to take the post to the Post Office and hope that it gets through to him.
My Mother lives on her own now, 20 miles away from me. I know she has plenty of oil for the heating and well stocked with food, and relatively fit and healthy, but she is still on her own and not within easy reach.
John has a bad shoulder and needs to attend an appointment in Kirkbymoorside today and the Pajero ( our 4X4) broke down yesterday so I do hope that the repair Stuart managed to do gets him there.
Stuart needs the 4X4 as he has built up his stock of sheep but they spread over 3 farms some distance from here. Some of the flock are on rented land and are lambs of last year and of course they are not able to get to the grass and therefore need several visits to deliver hay and make sure they are O. K. So for Stuart the 4X4 is vital and he had to drive to Whitby yesterday to get the spare part for the Pajero – not an easy journey but he has managed it. The sheep not only get last year’s stored hay but they also have nutrients and supplements, these are bought in concentrates which is a by product from the process of turning rapeseed into rapeseed oil, they also receive stored corn too.
The animal feed we have in stock is plenty for the time being but we will need to be thinking about getting some more from Thirsk soon. The beasts are a bit more ‘finickity’ than sheep and you cannot give them corn without crushing it first so this process needs to be completed daily before feeding them.
Peter is working in Australia at the moment and is due to fly back this weekend, I do hope the airports are open and he manages to get back home without any trouble.
I have some regular guests who come to the cottages for a week in January but the weather has put them off, quite rightly, – they are in their 80’s – and they have been moved into February as have another elderly couple. I really could do with more guests staying and keep thinking of different angles to encourage new and existing guests – maybe a cross country ski club?
I have not been out shopping and am having to resort to the toilet paper from the cottages to supplement the house needs, John managed to get 4 loaves of bread when he was out, but am pleased to say that the farm cats have an excellent supply of food – Andrew and Carol are our accountants and a neighbour of theirs, for some reason, had to make a ‘mock up’ of a supermarket for a display and this had to be realistic so real produce was used. The upshot of this is that there was an abundance of cat food given away and Carol brought round this abundance for our ‘farm pride’ I must think about getting some shopping done soon.
In the Village there are 2 old age pensioners who used to live next door to each other and were good company for each other however one of these ladies has been re housed in Helmsley, it will be better for her as she is close to shops and the Doctor’s Surgery, but this leaves May on her own – I must invite her in for a coffee today.
I am waiting for someone from a TV company to visit either today or tomorrow they are wanting to make a programme about farming families and the impact on inheritance and will writing, we will see if they make it.
The staff for AmpleBosom.com come from several surrounding villages and I wonder daily who will make it in. Jill had a problem with her car yesterday – one of her wheels froze solidly to the car near the gallops – and had to be rescued by her father. Wioletta (Violetta to you and I being the translation from Polish) made it in although she does live at the bottom of the valley. Betty lives with her boyfriend Peter who is a milkman and works through the night, and although he has struggled he has managed his round, and has brought Betty in every day – again they live at the bottom of a steep drive. One of the men have gone for Kelly this morning although she has made it in every day. Margaret lives in Boltby and has made it in although she went to the supermarket yesterday and she said that fresh produce was scarce. The good news is that it appears that this enforced confinement to the house has encouraged customers to log on and order!
The delivery men for AmpleBosom.com are not getting through, although one delivery had been left at the newspaper shop that Winsome used to have yesterday, so I asked Stuart to collect it on his way home from Whitby yesterday. It would have been a good plan that came together if the shop had been open but they closed early ..... I will collect it this morning.
We are lucky in the fact that we have electricity everybody is well and really nothing too much to worry about, however I better get on with the days work.
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