OK.

We are still here.
22 rooms this house has and I have just heard 22 okays in about the same amount of minutes.
The viewer was American, female and owns fitness suites. Somehow I get the impression Greenbrae is not fit....

No apologies - more sunsets.

Nature is amazing. How can one ever tire from looking out.

More mundane stuff - yet another viewing on Friday and yet again they havent got their house on the market.

So - come sunrise back to cleaning and house doctoring.

Another sunset.

Days are getting longer. We have a blue tit defending a nest box in the spinney! A pair of tree sparrows doing the mating dance, head bobbing and tail flicking and snuggling up. Should really switch the nest box camera on to see if the blue tit is roosting in there. Apparently this is all down to the longer daylight. It certainly isnt down to the temperature. The day before yesterday we were minus 10, minus 8 last night. Minus 1 as I write - 7p.m. Beautiful sunny day today. The fields looked as if diamonds had been scattered all over them. Our road glistened, second gear max 20m.p.h. down to the village where the gritters had been.
I have had my slow puncture seen to, and my snow/frost damaged windscreen wipers replaced. Replaced the varnish so I now have the floor varnish to get going with rather than the stuff to do doors which I bought in a senior moment. So - roll on a new day!

Wheeeeee. I love Lucy.

Just after Christmas our cappuccino maker packed in, it actually disintegrated, but it has had a lot of use. Off to Argos . The one I bought we set up and did the usual cleaning where you have to put it through the process with just water. We then found that we had not a cup that would fit underneath! I tried to take it back but as we had used it a refund was refused. So much for being honest and unconditional guarantees. So I sent off for one from Amazon. The Argos one went off to the daughters in Edinburgh. The new one lasted a week before the milk hot plate ceased to function, so off it went and I got a refund. So then I sent for one from the manufacturers, this also lasted less than a week and the milk frother ceased to function. This has now gone back and I wait for the refund.
Mike was telling our friend Lucy about all this and she said, "You should have asked me, I've got one in the cupboard."

February ups and downs.

You may have to click on the first picture. This is our 'lonesome pine' - mid afternoon in bright sunshine still to be seen were natures tree decorations, icicles hanging down. Beautiful.

Second picture is one of the ducks on a mountaineering expedition, this is ivy covering quite a high wall. May well have to check for eggs up there!

Almost snowed in today, more snow last night, and struggling to get above freezing today despite the sun.

Not a good day for me, thought I was really losing the plot. Was going to varnish floor boards, then discovered the varnish I had bought was not for floors. Then I made some soda bread, just as I put it in the oven I realised I had used baking powder and not bicarbonate of soda. However, it came out looking good and tasted amazing. So what the hell. The wine is alright.

Wrong!!!!

I did say no more would come, but it did. In the night and most of this morning. Then the sun came out. But struggled to get above freezing. Fortunately our oil delivery came today, third this winter which is going it a bit.

Guest of the week left this morning. So stripping beds, remaking, washing and cleaning.

I am hoping to commence varnishing the original wooden floors which havent been done for some time. Its a question of which bit to maroon, half the dining room and half the hallway I think will be first, then the other half of the hall and so on. We will have to use the main entrance to access the garden bird feeding and poultry til its done. Obviously not taking in any guests for the moment, but then they would struggle to get here at the moment.

Roast beef tonight, lamb shanks marinading in the fridge for tomorrow night. Yum.

Not more!

Oh yes! Started at 8a.m. this morning and didnt stop till 1p.m. Just great lumps of it. I went out for a couple of hours after that for my occasional trawl round the charity shops. Bought a book. Then the snow started again so I thought I had best go home. Passed a snow plough at 3p.m. Our guests are worried they will be snowed in. I dont mind they will have to pay me! But theres little chance of that. The way the sky looked as the sun set I think thats all the snow for now.

Cheesed off.

My youngest daughter managing her cheese shop in Edinburgh.
We are forecast a significant snow fall tomorrow.
Just as I decided to go somewhere, anywhere for the day.
Like it says, cheesed off.

Another day over.

End of a week also. Been working this week. Had a guest in. Yet another who does not understand bed and breakfast. First day he was back in just after 9a.m. 'not needed on the job.' So why not go sightseeing then? No plonked himself in the sun room for the whole day. With his lap top, plugged in and the tele on. Second day in after lunch, job finished. Third day - announced he was leaving the next morning. Despite being booked in for four nights. To add insult to injury he tried to underpay us even on the nights he was here when we could legally have asked him for the four nights money. This on top of him being in the house more than he should using heat and power. Some you win some you lose. He wont be back again.
But on the upbeat the birds are now singing their heads off, a blue tit is in and out of one of the nest boxes, the woodpecker is back, and the ducks are laying! Spring is on its way.

Uplifting?

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do. We get this beautiful sight most days, usually when my camera is at the opposite end of the house to where I am and where it is happening! Of course this is only in the Winter, they all disappear back North in the early Spring, but come Autumn its wonderful to shout, "Theyre back!"

I need uplifting lots at the moment as not a lot to do other than the mundane. Just waiting for someone to come and fall on love with Greenbrae and take over the reins.

Oh soon it will be Summer.......

Me and Mike or should I say Mike and I with Zachary, our grandson, last June when it was very very hot.
More snow forecast, in fact more than we have had before possibly. Hmm.
Spent this afternoon planning our possible new home. Have ripped out most of the kitchen - on paper - and tried to work out what we have to get rid of before moving. Four large arm chairs went yesterday via freecyle. Theres loads more. It takes me three minutes to get from one end of the house to the other. Think about it. Meanwhile built in obsolescence means since Christmas we have had to replace printer, coffee maker and today breadmaker. No income as no-one has been able to get here due to snow. Hmm. Also tax man had to be paid end of Jan. hmm. Shall try an ohm now thats supposed to be good isnt it? Buddhism and all that. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHM.

A new viewpoint?

Could this be mine? We have been viewing houses this week, having had all the viewings of ours last week we thought we should see whats around should we have an offer on Greenbrae.
So we still await a firm offer. However this one see above is the top favourite for me.
Downsizing in a BIG way!
We viewed a modernish bungalow, beautiful it was but therefore boring, no challenges, nothing to do.
Others had too many neighbours. I would rather look at a field than another house.
But this one just got me going!
All in the lap of the gods or anyone who will make an offer.
Snow is going fast, still piles of it in places. Rain, mist and very dark all day. Forecast is for plummeting temperatures and more snow.....Snowdrops all over the place. Should I find out if the 'new house' has them? They do tend to be everywhere around here, growing wild. I may dig some up and pot them just in case, as my friend advised.

Yet another day of blizzards.

Costing us a fortune to keep all the bird feeders topped up. This is just one feeding station of many.
And I am BORED. Everywhere still clean from the zoom around for viewings. Washing done, ironing even. Do not fancy slipping and sliding down to the village and then on to a shop or supermarket, nothing we need. Have read all my House magazines about ten times. Can't pack anymore as its stuff we use! Cake tins are stuffed with cake and cookies.
Caught up with everyone on Facebook. Won at Solitaire (after about an hour). BORED.
Think I will go and have (another) shower. Then Midsomer Murders at 4p.m. and Come Dine With Me at 5.30. otherwise I am BORED.

Hmmmmm.

Sith being a pioneer. North Pole just over the wall.
Even more snow today. First time ever since living here I had problems coming up the drive after driving very slowly, second gear all the way, into the village for the paper. On my return I had to have four goes to finally get home.
I have booked us a couple of viewings. Most of the houses we are looking at have been on the market for ages so dont need a Home Report. This is a bit annoying as we had to fork out vast sums for one which then went on to - on first reading - condemn the house! Presumably to be on the safe side I am going to have to fork out yet again to have a survey done on the one or maybe two or three we have short listed, not fair. Ho hum.
Before the snow returned we were beginning to be awash with snowdrops. Hope we still get to see them.
We are also now getting bookings for July and August from our ancestor seeking hunters from the Antipodes. Do I take them? Well, yes, we might still be here.....and if not our purchasers may want to do b&b. If they dont and we have gone we will of course inform asap and fix the guests up elsewhere, but its a problem I could do without.