[jools66]

Feel sorry for people flooded out of their houses. The village where i live is just reachable with care and my Koi pond is now covering large area of my garden
The day before the rain started i had a builders sack of woodchip delivered as the old stuff in the chicken run was needing to be changed so now i am waiting for the rain to stop long enough for me to bag up all the old stuff put down some disinfectant then new stuff
The forecast for tomorrow looks hopeful so i think my first day of my holidays is going to be very busy and looking forward to a small glass of red wine    as a reward later on

[jaykay]

Are the Koi also now covering large areas of the garden 

[MikeM]

dry today, but we have more heavy rain forecast for the next 3 days. We're OK for the moment, as we're on the side of a hill, so unless it washes the whole house away,we shouldn't flood. The ground is totally saturated tho, it's like walking on a bog.
My mum's in Oz for xmas, and apparently our weather has made the news over there!!!

[jools66]

So far the Koi are staying in the pond    weather due to improve tomorrow so hopefully will get woodchip changed but not looking forward to bagging up all the old stuff 

[Mrs Snoodles]

Jools.... wouldn't bother bagging the old stuff. Just disinfect and lay on new.  Surely the old stuff can act like an absorber and keep your new top layer less sodden ...  Less work too   

[happygolucky]

Hope this rain drys up soon, we are not effected at all but I feel for those who are, instead of Christmas prep I bet they are watching the flooding and worrying!! We are certainly getting a good dose of water!!

[Tala Orchard]

I feel sorry for all those who have suffered in these floods.

Not only is the rain getting me down so is all the mud, at least today is dry however the ground under foot is like walking on a sponge.

All said and done the livestock need to be seen to so managed to move two of our arks today on to fresh grass but no doubt these will be churned up in no time but at least it keep the pigs happy.  Although the land will take its time to recover.

But with more rain forecast let us all pray for a speedy end to it all and let us hope that the New Year will bring better weather.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

From a Wet and soggy Cornwall

[plumseverywhere]

We aren't as bad as some here in Worcestershire and I really feel for those who are affected so close to Christmas by homes flooding or who can't get home to see loved ones. Parts of the village have been cut off since Friday and we had a long and very nerve wracking journey between here and Watford yesterday 
Just telling OH we have a new 'stream'  in our orchard. We are nowhere near brooks etc and the Avon is a mile DOWNhill so its not off that    wondering if we are now classed as a Fluke area as we never were before? all this wet weather really changes the dynamics of what we get used to with our animals etc.

[ASSIST ACS]

 :fc:We get some prolonged dry spells after Christmas to help the water levels subside.  Came back from smallholding sit in Wales to find my hallway sodden.  Soaked carpet rolled back, underlay propped up on wire racks from greenhouse to let floorboards dry out.  Radiator on close by to try and dry underlay and carpet - impossible to ring them out of course but anticipating it will take a long time for them to dry, especially if we get more heavy rain which comes under door sill - never happened before. 

Did a one day smallholding sit in North Shropshire for a lovely couple with a great mixture of livestock, all lovingly tended and apparently hale and hearty, last week on my way back from Wales, but the fields, lanes and ditches were all awash.  Pigs and weaners and the Labrador dogs seemed happy enough splashing through the mud and puddles, but chooks looked somewhat bedragled, though they had dry sheds and huts on stilts to go in if they wanted to.  Goats had the best deal with a raised area of rubble covered in soil, grass and shrubbery like a mini mountain where they could keep their feet out of the mud whilst surveying their surroundings and scan for someone heading their way with breakfast or supper - but since it poured for most of the daythey spent most of the time in their shed munching haylage.  It was my first time looking after Dexter cattle - they came over a few times to sniff me and set to with gusto when I topped up their feed, but otherwise spent the whole day making serious inroads into their supply of haylage; all appeared to be coping stoically with the awful weather. 

Drove through numerous floods to get home - 1 hour journey took me 1.5 hours.  Fortunately my little Suzuki Alto is not low slung so she gamely coped with water part way up her wheels and inconsiderate drivers coming the other way driving through floods at speed, drenching us - over bonnet, windscreen and roof - in muddy tidal waves!

Sun actually came out today so pruned the rose bushes to make the most of it and get some fresh air too.  Left the guinea pigs pottering round the kitchen diner playing with a selection of cardboard boxes and paper carrier bags which they use as 'tents' for an hour.  Saw them peering hopefully through the patio doors at the green lawn but too cold and sodden to put them out to graze - they had to make do with some curly kale picked from the raised bed - what is left after the slugs have had their feast whilst I was away!

Happy Christmas folks.

[Lesley Silvester]

Living, as we do, on the top of a gorge, we are safe from flooding but do catch the wind when it blows.  I thought I was going over yesterday when a gust caught me.

Can't imagine what it must be like for those who are flooded out of their houses.

And for those of you with livestock, again my goats are yarded and, although I usually wish they had a nice paddock to go in, I'm glad they have a yard so they can get out a bit if it stops raining for a short while.  I feel for those of you who are running out of places to put their animals.   

[jools66]

Well yesterday after 3 hours of hard work - the last hour in pouring rain - the chicken run old woodchip is bagged the ground disinfected and new woodchip down 
The girls loved their xmas present and i enjoyed a large glass of red wine as a reward 

[jaykay]

 

[Lesley Silvester]

Well done, Jools.