[Rosemary]

It wasn't too bad here yesterday. Dry for most of the day. Forecast heavy snow tomorrow though.

[Hilarysmum]

Pigs can swim.  Ours are enjoying the piscine that was their field. 

[Andrew]

Hope yesterday's extreme weather has abated for everyone and their animals who had to get through it.
This morning going through Glasgow the road was actually dry in patches and the forecast is that it will be dry today and the sun may actually make a guest appearance but back to rain tomorrow.

[carl]

hope things are improving kate and john. we have had lots of rain and more is forecast. the water table is very high and has started to bubble up behind my buildings. when i came home last night i could hear the torrent rushing down the yard and flowing into next doors paddock. water has got into most of my buildings, but nothing is harmed as i keep thing s off the ground just in case. we are 650 feet above sea level near the top of a hill but water still is a problem due to bad drainage and one neighbour sorting his own drainage out to the detriment of the rest of us.( they are poncey horse owners who moan about everything we do including kite flying, pigs, chickens and even strimming). i need to put land drains down one side for about 600 yards to send the water down the valley into the river. it also means i have not had the oppertunity to sort out my veg patch. i have postponed the idea of increasing my pig herd just now, as i cannot guarantee that any new arrivals would be secure and dry.( the lady i was buying new weaners from was telling me of her plight in having a new born lamb washed down a storm drain and having to rescue it).is this climate change? if so we will all have to adapt and get webbed feet or flippers.

[stephen]

I diddnt have to clamber onto the roof last night as for possibly the first time ever some diy i have done completley on my own hasnt fallen apart!! i was well chuffed as were the scottish wild cats and chickens lol neither of which seemed to care about the rain they just wanted food!! ive been hearing that today is supposed to be ok for everyone wether wise but tomorrow is supposed to rain again and because the ground is already saturated they (met office / bbc) are worried about the threat of flodding in many areas. Good luck to all of you who will be trapsing through the mud for i imagine some time yet! 

[pigsatlesrues]

Gosh Carl, you seem to have it pretty bad as well. Things have calmed here today - no wind thank goodness, but it is trying to drizzle a little. The severity of it all just takes your breath away doesn't it. I think you are right though, we do have to adapt and totally re think our layouts and make sure we have adequate drainage to cope.

Your decision to hold on re your pigs is a sensible one I think. They add to the problem of the mud totally with their digging around. There is nowhere on our smallholding that isn't deep soggy mud. Even the normal firmer ground is struggling to cope with a horrible glutenous mud on the top of it. Believe it or not though after all of this, the stream has once again stopped flowing, presumably burst its banks, so that will mean another few hours rebulding them - not today though. Tommorrow is another day!

Just spotted Stephens posting and thankful that you didn't have to go up any ladders! If you want to paratice your diy skills a little more, I can offer you full board here if you can finish me just one room to live in!!

The vision of swimming pigs HM just makes my day. Unfortunately here the luxurious pool/spa made by Delboy next to the overflow of the big pond has all but been totally destroyed. I guess he and Vannessa will get their hard hats on today and have a go at re enstating it. Well what is a boy to do after all when he is used to the 'Good Life'! His street cred in well in the pan - with no spa there is nothing to attract the 'babes' because he certainly does not have the good looks. He may be a gentle giant but he is an ugly brute!!

Have a nice day everyone and enjoy the lul!

Kate

[Micki]

Well its dry here now. It was a bit drizzly earlier on when i took the kids to school. I had to take a ferret to the vets earlier and the river is looking quite high. Hopefully it wont rain for too much longer and the land can start to dry out abit.
Carl i know what you mean about the horse owners next to you. My neighbour is just the same. They moaned when the farm next door to them got pigs. You've got to expect farm animals on a farm or smallholding.
I might let my horses out for the afternoon if it is forecast to stay dry    and just hope that they aren't too mental to lead over there.
I hope everyone is enjoying the break from the rain for a day.

[rustyme]

beautiful day here again today. Blue skies all day so far, with the birds singing it almost sounded like a spring morning.....hehehe...not yet me thinks.....very heavy rain forecast for tomorrow and Friday. Although my land is the sides of hills with the river at the bottom ,it is at about200 meters high, so very little chance of flooding .It is just the sheer amount of water that causes problems. My horses are outside all year , they were bought up like that before I got them ,so they know no different . They are very hardy and grow really thick coats to cope with the weather. The problem with some neighbours is a pain sometimes. Coming from a London suburb council estate myself, I am not having a go at all people from that sort of background, but some people who come from towns tend to think that life is the same in the country .It is not. They can tend to think that THEY can do what THEY want and bugger everyone else. There are country people like that too , but far less on the whole I think. They are used to getting on better with their neighbours . I think it is just that in towns you hardly know who lives next door to you , let alone get on with them . God forbid that you should actually look at someone on the tube too.....Been there got the t-shirt.....It is really funny now round here , you can tell who is from a town or city, when someone new moves in to a house or smallholding ....up go the new fences right up to the very edge of their bit of land . Out go all the lovely old doors and windows and in go the new plastic ones. Decking goes up all over the place with brand new never to be used bbq's . You look at what was a lovely old cottage and see instead a house that looks like it just got lifted in from suburbia....All very cynicle I know ..but it is like that sometimes. All that aside after a year or two of the rain we get round here, they sell up and go elsewhere, no doubt somewhere drier....lol
         Batten down the hatches, to all that are struggling with wind and rain !!!hope it isn't as bad as they are saying it may be.
 
Russ

[Rosemary]

It's been absolutely lovely here today - blue sky, sunshine, white wispy clouds - and clear skies and frosty now. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring - bbc still forecasting heavy snow, but we'll see. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts.

[carl]

russ, you have good observational skills. we bought our place as a badly done barn conversion that the previuos occupants had messed about with ala changing rooms. otherwise we could not have afforded it. slowly  we are undoing the suburban style bits, as you say decking, barbeque area, koi carp pond and filter system, upvc etc and even i kid you not a swimming pool area , and a steam room.( needless to say these were all done on the cheap and have been removed and sold on) . as we can afford it we will replace most woodwork with sturdy oak or ash. some of the decking has been turned into the heaviest hen huts known to man. it is easy spot the people who have moved out from the subarbs ( i am one of them, although i was brought up in the country). once you get into sinc with the enviroment you calm down and stop woorying too much. but when neighbours divert their insecurities your way it does not help. i am unhappy about one side draining all their excess my way but am worried about it rushing through to the otherside and causing them problems, so i'll deal with it by draing it down the hill toward the water course.

[Tony J]

Has anyone ever designed water wings for chickens, if so I need some, they already have web feet! but much more rain and they will need the water wings. Took pig to the abbatoir in Tregaron yesterday early am, rained again the night before then froze after 6 am - interesting trip, took twice as long as normal.

Had a stream I didn't kow existed running through the chicken run the other day, possibilities of damming it and having a couple of ducks, but it will dry up if the rain ever stops!

Just think in a couple of months the sun will come out, the veg seeds will be comming up hens will be laying lots of eggs again, and we will have so much to do we won't even think about this awful weather. Remember this is Wales or England or Scotland we should be used to it by now 

Tony

[Hilarysmum]

But Tony I live in beautiful Brittany where the first January we spent here we wore shorts for a large percentage of it.  (Froze in February had snow).  Its normally dryer and warmer here.  And the damned tap is still flooding.

[rustyme]

I think that this is about the third year that we have had lots of rain at this time. Prior to that I think we had very much spring like weather for a couple of years . We always do get lots of rain here in Wales, but this last few years has gone potty.Two or three years ago we had rain for about six weeks almost non stop . Then a very summer like spring and then a so so summer. Although we are getting huge amounts of rain at the moment , at least we are getting the odd dry sunny day here and there. One thing I have noticed over the last few years is how everything goes mouldy ,gates, fence posts and anything that stays put for a week or two. Must remember to keep moving...... (How Green Was My Valley?) Very apt.........
 
Cheers

Russ

[rustyme]

24 hours plus now of continual rain, not really heavy but non stop persistant, drenching drizzle. I did the tv reporter bit today ' Russell Clarke ,in the rain, owner of 4 dogs , 3 horses, 6 acres a broken down car, several useless bits and bobs, no money , soaked to the skin, covered in thick glupey mud, P**sed off, utterly ,totally  , thoroughly P**sed off ......then I fell over.....I won't print what I said, but it went on for ages ... the bleep machine would have had a fit.....Sitting here with a nice warm cup of coffee , it seems funny now ....it DID NOT at the time. And still the rain falls........OOOOOOOH THE GOOD LIFE............
 
cheers

Russ

[Rosemary]

I'm sure the winters are getting wetter. It's been so mild here - 6 yesterday and warmer today. Still dry and the wind has dried things up a bit. It was lovely yesterday - sunny and still. Unfortunately, I had committments that meant I didn't get into the garden, so a bit of a guilt trip. It's OK today so I'll have an hour (?) or so outside once I've walked the dogs (also outside, of course).

Rosemary