Moving and Stuff (by sarah)

So we have to move and we have been trying to sort it out and get a mortgage and what not which is somehow taking up most of the time we had spare.

But we have found a house we want - my only issue with it is it doesn't have enough grass but it is a garden I myself could maintain without having to wait for Alaric to be free etc... It is double glazed and has central heating - two things that with my health and having a baby again are most important - it was so hard trying to make sure Jeany didn't get too cold here.

There are allotments just round the corner for our veg growing and I can do salad and herbs in pots. There is a workshop in the garden for Al and a fantastic attic room with lots of natural light for my art - plenty of storage and room for children toys!

Obviously we may not get the house still - we have made two offers based on the 20% deposite and how much Al's family had sorted etc... which have been rejected - we are going for a finial offer based on what they say they will take as a minimium. Mortgage brokers seem to think there is no problem with us getting the mortgage though we have been referred by all the banks we've tried for more assessement a we're borderline.

There is no off street parking and there is a derelict building with graffiti and weeds oposite but last time we went to view the house it was being cleaned up as a church hall so I'm not too worried. We drove around the area at different times of day and night - and things seemed ok - kids hanging around drinking fizzy drinks and actually playing on the swings and stuff in the park - there were no needles or condoms in the play area or around either and crime figures seem ok. Prices are low in the area because there used to be a mental hosptail apparently.

If we get this house we will be finially be able to have say the swimming pool out 🙂 I can still have fruit trees in pots and may even be able to sneak in a super coop - though I need to check that the birds would actually be happy with that.

An outside tape - to do stuff with!

We are still hoping to be moved by Christmas. We are hopeful.

(if it falls through I have another house in a our price range book marked which I'm hoping wont be sold until after we have things all sorted - just incase!)

Cute Street Party Girlies (by sarah)

Jean's school did a street party she was supposed to be dressed in red, white and blue but I discovered we really didn't have anything like that so she had puprly-blue and pinky-red and glittery unicorn white!

Friday I actually sent Alaric with the girls to the village street party at the Black Horse. Jean took her union jack she'd made at school.

Mary meets Tom (by sarah)

Tom Long the long ginger tom cat has been scared of Mary since she arrived in the house though to be fair he is spending most of his time banished outside as he is the snuggliest of the cats and also the biggest by far! But like the gineu pigs and the rabbit - he is scared of Mary! Well he was until the beginning of last week - he now tries to ignore her existance 🙂

Kestral (by sarah)

Albert the gardener came to say there was a kestral on the ground and the kittens stalking about and maybe we should catch them and put them inside before it got messy. Unfortunatly Alaric woke me up with this info which in my half asleep state ment that I though a kestral had attacked either Hydrogen or Helium!

So I rushed outside with towels and what what not and got annoyed at dad for stopping to put cheese away before going out with the teatowels I'd thrown at him. Anyway it turned out to be a juvinile (I assume from the family roosting in the trees along the stream.) And Hydrogen had chased it into Barbara's garage :/ We flushed the cat out and caught the kestral which didn't appear to have anything wrong with it - Alaric had thought its wing was broken but after a lot of faffing and three adults chasing it. Alaric threw a towl over it and I scooped it up!

I then took it up to the top of the paddock as Dad and Al rounded up all cats and put them inside so they couldn't follow. I put it down gently and because I was wearing chunky monkey gloves I had a little look at it. It seemed fine just scared and the painter had said to me he thought it had flown into something.

So we are assuming it is dazed and scared - it's hidden itself in the gazebo/summer house so I left the door open and continued my calls to it (Al kept informing me that they only respond when trained but it definatly responded when I made noises like they do when they fly. On to of that it came out and sat on the grow bag and looked at me - then I called again and one of it's parents answered.

We have left the door open in the hope that it was dazed with collision and then chased by cat and humans and then bundled in a towel :/ It's mother is calling it and hopefully it will be able to fly up and join her.

If not it will probably still be in the gazebo when we check later - at which point we will catch it again and take it too the vets 🙁 I know we probably should have taken it straight to the vets but if we do that and its only dazed then we've sperated it from it's family.

However one issue came up with all of this - the towel got hooked up on some splintering old boards in the garage which Alaric says are asbestos 🙁 So me and the towels ect... where covered in asbestos dust. I stripped and showered and Al put everything in the washing machine. I am hacked off though as I've already paid for one lot of asbestos to be removed from this place and the whole lot could have all gone at one >:( And I asked if there was anymore!

Blacky Out for a Walk (by sarah)

We have a leash for Jean's rabbit which everyone including the rabbit loves! I wanted a nice picture of them walking up the drive but Blacky decided that there was a nice bunch of dandilions and that was it every sat down :/