We have a problem...

Spent most of today trawling through properties for sale. Not that many that fit our criteria!
The other temporary blip is that we are verging on being snowed in. So plan A was to arrange some viewings so we can try and draw up a shortlist. There isnt a plan B.
We have had blizzard after blizzard today. But Mike got to the post office for the paper, and some cars, admittedly 4 wheel drives have gone up and down the road.
Tomorrow I will make some appointments to view, after viewing the weather report.
The ducks dont like the snow. Although just before it began our hens had started to lay again and we were thinking they were well past it!
Well now its time to watch Come Dine With Me. I wonder where we will be dining in six months time.

Well!!!!!!

I thought they were going to move in! Two and a half hours - the longest viewing ever.

And still snowing.

Did the RSPB bird count this morning. As usual as soon as the hour was up there was standing room only.

Well - back to the viewing(s). All interested. Will there be an offer though. Back to the waiting game and ironing.

Its back again.....

Not a lot so far - and even though it was forecast the gritters did not appear. A friend of ours took 5 hours to get to Aberdeen, a journey normally taking 45 minutes.
Ah well.
We have had another viewing. And another tomorrow. Surely one of them if not more, dont forget the 3 wise men from Tuesday who are still in the frame, make us an acceptable offer.
I am totally whacked from cleaning and mopping and house doctoring....however this had a plus side, my blood pressure is so low they are considering taking me off some medication NOT adding to it...Yeay.

Burns Supper.

Why is he stabbing the haggis?

And I can't understand a word!

But a good night.

Further on the 'Three Wise Men', who turned up on Tuesday. Apparently they are still interested, but have other properties to view. And we have another viewing on Saturday by someone else. At least they wont be falling over bags of cans waiting to be recycled.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Yes - this is me - gone totally ! Bemused, worried, but keep on smiling....
4p.m. today three men, in three cars, turn up on our doorstep. "Got a viewing at 4p.m."
"Erm, I dont think so, have you got the right address?"
So- after a bit more discussion and looking at watches, them saying they have a lot to see... I let them in, warning them that there is no way the house is presented for viewing. (Hysterical laughter). So of we go, library with empty shelves, paint pot, ladders, books in piles on the floor. Snug. Even more piles of books and furniture squashed up in a huddle. Guest room one, bed stripped, no fancy bed cover, its on the floor. Guest room 2 - okay - set up for guest tonight. Room 3 bed stripped. Room 4, just managed to kick Mikes mucky clothes under the wardrobe. Then we come to our bedroom. Empty boxes of Tennants, bag of cans to be recycled, clothes over every chair, and bed only just made without the very expensive throws I bought for viewings........And muddy cat paw prints all over the bathroom (they came in through the window). So much for decluttering and being spotlessly clean for a viewing.
Well, they just loved it. The buildery person talked knowledgeably about repairs required, the architecty (?) person had various walls knocked down, in fact if we were staying he had some bloody good ideas. And then they wanted to talk money. Well I am not very good at this and insisted they spoke to the solicitor.
After they left I spoke to the solicitor. Apparently they were supposed to be viewing another house in the village, a small modern house.......
But they knew this house had seven bedrooms and 4 ensuite so what the hell is going on?
Hopefully learn more tomorrow when solicitor contacts for feed back and an explanation!
Please cross all your fingers and toes this was a genuine viewing and we do get a sensible offer.
I shant sleep tonight, but I will try to smile (note the red wine at corner of mouth.!)

Mist over the fields.

And quite a lot in my brain as well.
Update on the library. Well, its all going back again. Right back where I started. After a bit of decorating. Why I start these things I really dont know.
We decided to go through the Home Report on our house, now a requirement when selling your home. Some things listed are just silly. There is a bit of flat roof between the old house and the newer - so what does the surveyor write? "Flat roofs can collapse without warning. "
Well, yes, possibly they do, but ours has had quite a lot of attention and been treated with something that says its guaranteed for 20 years.
But there were comments about damp stains. Which were correct, so once the library had its furniture removed I painted over the damp stains. I should say that this stain has been there since we bought the house. I dont like painting ceilings and a small 'tide' mark didnt bother me. But hey ho now I could eradicate it. There being a bit of this tide mark on the wall I got out a tin of paint which I seemed to remember was the colour used in the library. Well it wasnt... so I have had to paint the whole wall, second coat tomorrow.
Mike has been going round outside re-fixing fall pipes to the wall. The ONE roof tile off the old house we cant find, so we need Charlie our sometime neighbour and ace roofer to sort that.
Then we need to ask the surveyor to update the Home Report, and remove all his not required 'advice', which will cost us 25% of the original fee. THEN we hope to get more viewers and a reasonable offer and then I am out of here.
I have also been decluttering like a mad woman. Just hoping the boxes for car boot dont get mixed up with the precious stuff.

Just a reminder

to myself that I do occasionally get out and have good fun. This was at our Rotary Christmas meal, it was the raffle prize he had won, nothing more!
Last nights meeting was not quite so exuberant but still good fun with some interesting conversations. I try and sit with someone different each week, even if I am not that in tune with them! Diverse bunch of people. Last night I sat with a G.P , a retired solicitor who is a DJ on a local radio station and the Christian Leader of the Seamans Mission, can't for the life of me think what his proper title is. The latter I absolutely love. Despite the fact we are poles apart in most areas of life we get on like a house on fire. You come across people in your life who no-one who knows you, or thinks they do, can understand your giving the time of day to a particular person. I can hear them now, "What on earth are you talking to him for?" But there is something inside that says this is a really good person and I would do anything for them should they be in trouble. Its not a physical attraction, but a spiritual one. I dont often go along these lines, particularly in public, but I can think of others in my life of whom I can say the same thing.
Much of the conversation last night, to which I listened (yes I can do that!) was about the problems in getting ministers to this part of Scotland. Beautiful houses for them to live in, The Manse, etc. etc. One comment which I had to have interpreted was "Theres no Markis for the wify." After three goes I finally cottoned on this was - No Marks and Spencers for the wife."
The North East is very strong on religion. They dont shove it down your throat, in fact till last night, apart from the obvious one who wears a uniform proclaiming his role in saving the fishermen spiritually, I would have never known the others were so deeply involved and committed to their own particular church. What I did find remarkable, thinking on it all later, was that at no time was I asked what religion I was, which church, blah, blah. Totally opposite to many other encounter I have had with persons claiming to be Christians. My comments were respected, my queries likewise, I did not feel the need to establish my agnostic views, or any view. Most refreshing.
All that has helped me get through this day with guests taking advantage of our good natures.
Unfortunately my real self may break through if they try it on again tomorrow. By which time I may have calmed down enough to explain what happened.

Now why did I do this?

So I was bored, so I decided to move the library into the snug. After spending most of the day emptying the shelves and dragging them to the other side of the house I began to doubt my sanity.
I have never been happy with the snug. Basically its a small room with an open fire, but wherever you put the seating it never 'worked'. That room has had more computations than any other. I blame the Admiral. The Admiral is our resident ghost. He closes the door to the room. If you ask nicely the door stays open. If you don't it gets closed, (which might be what you wanted! ) We call him the Admiral as our doctor told us that it was a retired Polish Admiral that had the room as his bedroom when the house was a Care Home for Polish Oldies. He is a friendly ghost, you dont feel any animosity or coldness, just having his bit of fun. Hope he likes the changes.
What really worries me that I have about three boxes full of books I wish to be rid of, some to possibly sell - and I have to point out that ridding myself of any book is like drawing teeth - but as I start to refill the moved shelves with the remainder I think I might not have enough room for them all. Now how is that possible?
Having given up for the day I shall resume tomorrow, guest arriving permitting and will post a picture of the new library. I shall be spending the evening trying to decide what to do with the room that was the library. Other than re-decorate, something I had not realised I would have to do, once everything was removed it showed, oh how it showed, that it was one of the first rooms to be decorated 8 years ago. Bum.

Weather - awful.

This picture of wood pigeons feeding in our courtyard shows the last of the sunshine days.
The snow is melting . But it is so dark and grey and a keen wind turns the slush into ice. Far worse than snow for driving on.
Hibernation a good thing.

Very, very strange - and scary.

The first picture shows the view from our bedroom window. So do the second and third.

Within seconds a white mist appeared blocking out the view beyond the fence. As soon as I had taken the two pictures it disappeared. On the camera and here the white mist is a grey mass. Spooky.

Our Postie.

Doesnt actually walk that much. He drives a van. AND it isnt always a man. We have a lady and three men who deliver the mail. One is a really lovely guy who wears shorts whenever he can. Not at the moment. One who is non communicative totally. About 16, no he cant be, he drives the van, but to me is very young. The woman who is very chatty - and the one who is a bit of a sandwich short of a picnic. He always rings the bell and checks we are Greenbrae, he repeats 'Greenbrae' at least three times, despite the fact there are numerous signs saying Greenbrae and he has been delivering here for 8 years. Each time we have to convince him we are not aliens, and that the house has not moved since 1862 he will then hand over the post.

Our other oddity re the mail is that we take in the post for Charlie, our neighbour at the bottom of the drive. Charlie has been doing up his house 'bungalow' for over ten years now. It is uninhabitable. There is a caravan which in between girlfriends Charlie has to live in but he is rarely short of girl friends, despite the fact he removes his teeth to have a fag. Over the years we have fended off electricity bill pursuers, council tax ditto, t.v. licensing ditto and some scary heavy men where we claim to have not seen him for months..... In return Charlie repairs our roof when required and did a fantastic plastering job in our kitchen at a very reasonable price.

Better the devil that you know I always say to our guests when they ask about the hovel next door......

A picture is worth a thousand words..

The table outside our office window where we scatter seed. On the left, female chaffinch on the right a coal tit.

Our village, half a mile away, Mike walked down there today for the newspaper.

Two of our three hens on their way to bed.

Night falls over the village - and us. Minus 14 last night, lets see if we can beat that tonight.

Not more!

The spinney this morning. Heavy fall of snow during the night and apart from a brief respite its still snowing. Compare with yesterdays pictures!

Our post office became an 'outreach' post office some months back. This means that instead of being open 5 and a half days a week it is now open for some hours on a Monday and some on a Thursday. There is a proper post office in the next village. However where that was sited was in the Spar/Petrol station which they decided to demolish and rebuild. So there have been gaps when there is no post office other than in Peterhead. The petrol station is now up and running, but still not the post office, due to 'unforseen circumstances'. Ours is staffed from Oldmeldrum which is miles and miles away so frequently, if the weather is bad the post office does not open. How on earth pensioners without transport manage to exist I know not. Bear in mind the buses have now stopped due to unsafe road conditions.

We bank through the post office, our bank being an internet one, and I really needed to be puttting some cash in to reduce the overdraft. Fortunately the good news was that today our post office was open.

So off I went.

Our road gets cleared by the farmer. So far so good. But that stops at the village, and from then on it was pretty scary, especially as pedestrians were walking in the road and if I moved out of the tyre tracks I was following, to avoid the walkers, I would be well and truly snowstuck! I made it. In the small car park there was a young driver revving away like fury and wheels spinning right down to ice. It took 6 of us to get him off, and a few bits of advice as to how to drive in snow.....They just arent taught this any more. Dont think it was appreciated, the advice, or acted on as he screamed off and began to swerve all over the road.

Came home safely and it began to snow again. The forecast is more snow for the next few weeks.....The gritters/snow ploughs are only clearing main roads...all good fun. Just very pleased I dont have to go anywhere.

Snow on snow..

What a day. Mike decided to walk to the village shop - half a mile -for the paper. Five minutes after he set off we had some proper snow, a blizzard, which lasted two hours. He returned looking like a yeti.

It continued to snow but I was really stir crazy so off I went in second gear to Peterhead. The sun was shining! The roads were cleared and the footpaths. Stocked up on cat food and booze, threw some meat in as an afterthought, get your priorities right, and returned. Back to snowy wastes and still minus degrees all in nine miles!

The pictures are of the spinney at the rear of the house. Viewed from either our bedroom or bathroom. Taken at 4p.m.

I think that just might be enough now....

But it keeps on coming. All schools are shut, many roads, the gritters just cannot cope.
Every year since we have lived here we have had snow and on rare occasions been snowed in, the usual snowfall being a lot dumped but only for a day or two, but this keeps on and on.
We had an hour today where the sun came out and the temperature rose to above freezing, then another blizzard swept in, temperature down and now its growing dark.
Mike managed to get to the next village this morning to stock up the bird food.
58 chaffinches on the front lawn, many greenfinches, house sparrows, a few; tons of tree sparrows, greenfinches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, robin, dunnock, starlings, blackbirds, yellowhammer, wren, buzzard in the big tree, crows and rooks. Then theres the spinney at the rear of the house and a feeding station in the courtyard, and one outside our bedroom. Yes, it does cost us a fortune! But the rewards are immense.
As far as we humans are concerned there is still food in the freezer.
The oil tanks were filled last week. And the snow isnt the sort that brings down power lines. Hope saying that wasnt tempting fate!
Rotary has been cancelled for tomorrow night. So, on with Come Dine With Me on the box. Blanket round the nether regions and a glass close by. Hibernation has its good points.

And theres more

Snow that is. Scotland is, in the main, still shut till Tuesday. But we were low on cat food. Although the cats manage to keep the vermin population under control, and unfortunately bring in the odd bird (no wonder Sith coughs such a lot - all those feathers and fur), they still queue up demanding loudly that they are starving twice a day. So, Mike still not well with a heavy cold, it was down to me to slip and slide into town and find that there was NO SNOW! Its only ten minutes away for goodness sake, and we are almost snowed in, but none in the town. Presumably because its by the sea?

The supermarket was totally different to the last time I visited on New Years Eve, when one became on first name terms with almost everyone, as you spent so much time with them trying to get down and up the aisles, no-one being able to see over their trolleys piled high with Tennants.

Today was almost empty and peaceful. So much so that I was shouting at my mobile which was saying it had no battery when I had only just charged it up, I then got into a conversation with a chap in one of those mobility wheel chair things. I often wonder why I shouldnt be able to zoom up and down the aisles in them, would anyone ask for a medical certificate?

Anyway I got a lot of advice from him about cheap mobile phones, the television shopping channel, "How much do you think this ring cost?" ( a very feminine ring I might add for a very large chap) (£6.50 apparently) and how he loved ladies from Yorkshire, especially blondes, at which point I thought we should cut the crack and move on, especially as we had somehow managed to cause a traffic jam in a near empty supermarket.

Coming sideways up our drive on my return, sideways as someone had gone over my wheel tracks, meaning I hit a pile of snow, I found Lucy and Sandy polishing off the rest of my Pecan cake. We all announced to each other we were packing in doing bed and breakfast and then backed down a bit to say it would be nice to have some bookings. Then about all the b******* we had had and then the lurvly people we would have back!

So as the sun began to go down, joining in with the temperature just on freezing, they hit the road, slowly, and I opened the bottle of wine.

Two in one day!

Feeding the birds, large and small.

Back to work.

Like it or not. We had a man in last night who was the Hogmanay entertainer at the village football club. He asked for breakfast at 10a.m. which is way beyond our normal cut off point of 9a.m. But it being New Year and him being the only guest in we agreed... Mike, valiantly fighting a very bad cold, set the table, made the muffins, and prepared the personalised menu while I kept well out of the way of Mike's germs and nursed my hangover. The man appeared at 10a.m. announced he 'didnt really do breakfasts' so could we do him a sandwich, hmm, slight shift of gear....then when presented with the bill said the football club would be seeing to it and drove off, with sandwich, menu (so he could see what he had missed) and a muffin. When I girded up my loins to do his bedroom I found the radiators in bedroom and bathroom whacked up to full and the patio door opened as far as it would go. Hail and snow on the floor, just thankful there were not three cats, two ducks in there ruining the bedding and ducks shitting all over the floor. Work??????????????? Why does no one make me redundant with a big fat pay off.......Back to turning down singles as "Its not worth putting the heating on." This one would have used a weeks worth of oil in one night. Aaaaaaaaargh.