Chilly

While the rest of the UK and most of Ireland (apart from County Clare !!!) is submerged under massive amounts of snow (and we are a teeny bit jealous... I know...) we're experiencing Baltic temperatures too.
Lowest of the season yet was -12.6C last night - luckily Stanley keeps going through the night and with a quick rake-out first thing he's up and running within 10 minutes.

Unluckily it's a real marathon to keep outside water unfrozen for the animals - the hens drinker has to be brought inside the house at night, the ponies water bucket smashed with a stout stick every couple of hours, then this morning, despite our best efforts of heavily lagging absolutely every exposed inch of pipework after it happened in January - the water supply into the house froze.

Fortunately we'd some stored water for immediate use but now starts the twice daily trip to the river with buckets and ropes - dropping the watering-can off the bridge, filling it and pouring it into the bucket which we then wheelbarrow back home. All good fun (and good for keeping warm)
Hopefully it'll come back soon.

Keeping warm

Meet our best investment of 2010. We originally had a solid fuel boiler but it was on the small side and wouldn't stay lit overnight - Never underestimate how nice it is to get up to a warm kitchen, so after alot of research and deliberation we decided to look for a second hand range.

Meet Stanley...


OK, not the most streamlined or up to date model, bless him, but heats all the radiators, provides us with gallons of piping hot water now that the solar water season's over, and as an added bonus heats the oven and hotplates so we can save money on gas for cooking.
Stays lit overnight as well so within 10 minutes of getting up and us feeding him an armful of wood the house is warm...ah bliss....