Autumn Arrives In Cumbria

A very good evening to you all, its Jenny once again blogging tonight. It’s taking me a while as I am typing a lot of this with one hand as my bad arm in a sling tonight. Right then before we get down to the main blog, it’s time for the local Cumbrian weather forecast for our local area. What would our blog be without it!

Well then now that the weather forecast is over and done with, now we can get on with the matter at hand or rather get on with the rest of the blog. Cumbria always has very defined seasons and if I may say so, I would go as far as to say that we have proper seasons unlike a lot of other parts of the country. Autumn has now really arrived in Cumbria with lashing heavy rain and gale force winds playing with leaves that are turning a golden spectacle. This has to be one of my favourite seasons, or I my go as far to say that it is my very favourite season. It produces stunning colours and the scenery changes in a dramatic fashion, its fantastic to watch and be part of it.

My arm is getting much better and recovering from the operation very well indeed, and I am starting to have physio done on my arm. I must admit that it is my fault that it came to this, this being having my arm re-pinned again! Last time it was re-pinned it was because I didn’t follow the recovery advice and then I went back to work far too soon. This made my arm weaker than it should have been and that is why I had to have another operation to my arm again. But this shall be the last operation I have to have on it as I am following the recovery advice to the letter. Motoko and I now have a daughter and I am no good to her as a mother if I can’t look after her and support her if I have crippled my arm due to lack of care. Another thing is that after buying the yard and becoming its new owners, I would be no use to anyone on the yard if my arm wasn’t up to all the hard work. Working Mondays at the moment and that is office work, such as making orders and phoning people and so on. Rest of the time I am doing small amount of physio and curled up on sofa with my cuddly rabbit and reading a good book and playing music or playing a game.

Motoko got me a small surprise present in the form of a new rubber catsuit from Libidex which put a massive smile on my face and really cheered me up. The catsuit is from there Princess Style and has built in feet and a three-way back-zip. Zip matches the same colour as the catsuit colour, and that colour is bright red. So the colour really matches the colours of autumn.

Its custom fitted to my measurements which my wife knows off by heart, and fits exactly which is fantastic. I have never owned a red catsuit before a catsuit with built in feet so it’s a nice new experience.

One more thing my awesome wife Motoko has been doing is building a new computer for our daughter. I just took a few bits and bobs to photograph for the blog just to have a picture to go with this part of the blog. But Motoko has the case and all the parts ready to go. She finished building it after we had dinner. It’s a really very nice rig and was built for gaming, as she said “It will play Elder Scrolls Skyrim on max no prob” we shall see if she right there. But she is fantastic at building computers.

Our friends Sam Mia and her good wife Moria came around to our home Saturday morning and we had a fantastic morning walk and then a very nice home cooked lunch and then an even better evening meal. Moria is a great fan of the old TV show called “Dad’s Army” and indeed so is I, so Moria brought her Dad’s Army DVDs down here as well and we watched them long into the night. Motoko has ordered the box set of Dad’s Army now for ourselves since we enjoyed them so much. It was fantastic to watch a classic and very funny show with great food; great drink our daughter beside us and sharing the evening with very great friends. Sam Mia and Moria have not brought our old boat off us now, so it is all theirs to do with as they please. I and Motoko feel a little sad but it must be done as we really want a new one, which is why we are going to the Southampton boat show this year to get a new one! Thank you to Moria for allowing me to photo the Dad’s Army box set before she packed it up!

Kendo always comes up in our lives, as Motoko is a master at it. She and her friend we call “Neko” (which is Japanese for the word cat) who is in fact named Ritsuko has been Kendoing (That probably isn’t a work but I am using it) each evening in a corner of our indoor school. The indoor school is brand new and stands on the site of our old one, and so because of this they are playing Kendo in it. They say they are crimsoning it, but I think it’s because its indoors and arm and nice soft surface It is how ever amazing to watch them as they are so great at Kendo, and Motoko is also teaching Amanda Kendo. Amanda I must say is getting on really well in Kendo and is really enjoying it, Motoko also teacher her younger sister Becky as well in the skills of Kendo. Motoko’s older sister is very good at it as well and when she up against Motoko you can be sure of a massive match, and an impressive one at that. Esumi is lethal at Kendo and is stunning to watch her, she is on the same level / grade as Motoko but she is the only one Motoko finds a full on challenge.

That is all about it for the blog tonight but We shall blog again real soon, so take care!

Click the banner to learn about our wonderful paradise in England, which Is Cumbria.

As always we are supporting the RNLI, click the banner below to find out what the RNLI is all about and what do can do to help and support them.

Motoko & Jenny Carterr

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All Photographs Unless Otherwise Stated Are Taken And Owned By Us, And Are Not For Public Use.

A Change in the Weather!

Good evening one and all it’s Motoko Blogging tonight. As my blogs title says the weather is indeed starting to change and it’s about time too. The flooded lane at the bottom of our drive way has started to drop and the distance that the lane as flooded has decreased dramatically. Me and Jenny geared up and put our canoe on the flooded lane to check how far the flood was now, and that’s when we found that the water level had dropped. So we paddled back slightly happier knowing that things are changing for the better at last. It’s still raining here but that doesn’t matter, its Cumbria after all isn’t it! Below is the new forecast for our area of Cumbria.

We are still unable to leave the stables and so on so we are still working the mornings that we normally have off, but it’s not as bad as I could have been. I made a good call saying that our staff should wear our 66N waterproofs we use for hacking out and leading treks, rather than our Ocean Crewman waterproofs while the flooding is on. As it’s been so mistily with fog and hard rain and its very slippery on the yards and the fields are potted. Anna sipped up and twisted her ankle, it was hard and raining hard, but we found her as she showed up well. Once the harsh weather has stopped we will use our Ocean Crewman for working in and our 66N for riding and stuff in. Still I and Jenny took our doggy out for a stroll around the yard and we chose to wear our Musto gear for a change, some of our Musto gear is pictured below.

If you want to know what 66N looks like this is a photograph of our stuff. As for our Ocean crewman is Orange and Blue bib pants and smock, and they are sort of hi-viz but you will have to look Ocean Crewman up s our gear has our yard name on it and I am too lazy to edit the name out off them hehe.

Tonight I am going to make homemade spicy potato edges, with fresh carrots and broccoli. This will all go with my homemade stake and ale pie, which is currently in our Ray Burn and it’s making an awesome smell as I type this. Jenny is curled up on Sofa next too me reading one of her favourite books “The Wind In The Willows” she hasn’t head it for years. I my self have been playing Uncharted: 2 online, below is a score walkthrough from one of my co-op matched I played this evening.

Cumbria has updated its Flood Bulletin made by Cumbria’s public sector organisations, click on the picture below for the 27/11/09 update.

Click the banner to learn about our wonder paradise in England, which Is Cumbria.

I am still going to show my support for the RNLI, as they have done so much good work in Cumbria.

Right I must be off to finish off dinner, and then relax before our mornings work tomorrow morning.

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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Change in the tide!

Change in the tide is upon us I will reluctantly say in case the water rises again. But for now the flooding has not got any worse where we are and in fact it has started to withdraw from the drive and back into the lane, which doesn’t look as bad as it did a few days ago. A few days ago it resembled a white water river, but now it’s like a bubbling stream. Because the lane is still flooded that means that we still can’t get out of the stables grounds and that also means that we are still getting no customers, or the part time girls arriving to work fri sat and sun. Which is why me and Motoko have been on the yard this morning mucking out and doing odd jobs, we are still going to work the mornings on the three days we have off until all this flooding is over, and the rest of the girls are doing afternoon and evening work.

Our home now has ten sand bags in front of our front door and ten sand bags behind the front door, this works really very well and hardly any water is steaming into our home now, so this is a really good thing! Also currently have some nice big logs on our fire and the warmth is really very welcoming and slightly romantic. As you can see from the picture below our floor is water free.

I put on my waders and strolled out to the sign I painted and put on the yard gate the other day, as I had to re-tie it back onto the gate as some of the cable ties snapped in all theses high winds that has been battering us. Motoko watched from the edge of the drive-way waiting for me to slip up and fall in the flood water, but sadly for her I didn’t hehe. Some of the paint has run off the sign but it looks ok, which is the main thing.

Below is a picture of our predicted weather for the rest of the week, and so far it is fairly on target. Though at the moment it’s raining pretty hard, but nothing like the rain we have been getting of late.

This made me smile found this on YouTube from the BBC© TV show Top Gear. They find out that Cumbria is indeed the wettest place in England.

Also we are continuing to show our support for the RNLI. So below is another video.

Well that’s it for now, we are going to do some much needed house work and washing. Pile of work uniform to wash and other things like that. Then we are going to bake some muffins, since we ran out of our last batch.

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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Floating Nicely!

Good evening to you all bloggers, Jenny blogging tonight.

Well today we discovered that the lane at the bottom of the driveway of our stables this morning has in fact become even more flooded and deeper than it was on the weekend. It’s also moved up the driveway a little bit more which means that the water is getting close to our home, which is not a good thing really. The water is still running though the yards and down the drive and passed our home, but good news is that we now have ten sand bags in front of our front door that hardly any water is getting though. To get into our home we simply open the top part of our front door and in, simple really. Picture below is some of our grazing flooded, and this was on high ground, the bottom two fields are a good 2 foot under water at the lower end of them so no using the bottom fields again this year me thinks.

For the staffs personal wellbeing me and Motoko and told them to wear their 66North waterproof clothing, we normally only ever use for hacking out. Reason is that the 66North clothing is same type as Ocean which is that oil skin type, but its orange and very hi visibility. Unlike our Ocean gear that is Orange and Blue. So all of our staff members now wearing their 66North clothing so they show up on the yard, this means we can see each other though all this flooding and rain. Also Motoko told them to go to their provided cottages and, do a stock take on all of their food and note it down and hand a copy to us so we know how long we can all home out. It’s good news as every one as plenty of supplies for a good whole week, and by then all this flooding should be slowly going. We have a plan to use our canoe and paddle around the flooded lane for supplies from local farm shop which is not as flooded as we are. Also Sam our friend is a flood response operative and she lives on the arm with her partner. So help is a flooded lane away if we really badly need it.

With all this weather no one as you know can enter our leave our stables, so today has been customer free. So that’s not so good, but means that there are no lessons and treks to take and lead. That means there is more time to work on other things.

Also if you are a fan of the band called Muse, you will love this video.

I think it was a really great performance but not as good as their Devon gig which was just fantastic to hear.

Everyone here been really cheerful and up beat about the whole thing and Motoko has been wearing a lifejacket all day over her gear as a joke all day, that made me smile. Also have a painted sign on our yards driveway gate with a cartoon raft with lots of horses on board it. Was my idea, so I was the one to wade in and tie it to the gate, once again I got my hunters flooded. I really must remember to wear my waders next time I do anything like test the depth or put if funny signs.

Here is another RNLI video to continue Motoko’s RNLI support in her last blog.

But that is it for now, I need to see to our fire and then help Motoko with our dinner. You can’t go wrong with bangers and mash!

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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Up To Hips In It All!

Hello all you bloggers this is Motoko blogging.

Well the rain still comes and with rain comes flooding, we are now really cut off from the closeted down about five miles away. Bottom of our yards driveway and the lane it leads too is totally flooded. Jenny felt like she wanted to test the depth by walking into it. It proved that the water was hip height, so after flooding her hunter wellies and wading back out we she agreed that it was not the best way to test the depth. So she now has her waterproof trousers and her socks and hunter wellies and jeans on cloths horse in front of our log fire. Told her next time she should try something like that she should year a lifejacket or buoyancy aid and a drysuit, that didn’t go down to well and only reply I got from her was a raised eye brow followed by a frown.

This morning we mucked out the whole yard between us, it didn’t take that long really. Part time people for very clear reasons can’t get in. So until they can and the flood water goes away me and Jenny will do the mornings on the yard on Fri, Sat and Sun and then some of our other staff that live in the stable cottages can do the afternoon and evening. So far its working really well, downside is that one of our part time girls is a college student who helps on Fridays, he arrived before the flood water burst into the lanes. So she is now sharing a cottage with Anna as she can’t get home or to college for that matter.

Our paddocks are oke which really surprised me. Oke in the way that they are still there and not been swept away by the flood water, but two out of five paddocks are flooded and the grazing is not that great but we will work around it.

Ground floor flooded again last night even though we added more sand bags, its like a bunker now and still the water floods in, never mind. We broke the hunters out and grabbed a broom each and swept it out in record time, as it didn’t flood as bad as before. I’ve stocked up on logs for the fire and we have plenty of food so I am sure that we will be ok.

The RNLI need to be thanked I think for helping our little part of the world that is Cumbria. With out you people would be stuck in cars, homes and other places. So I would like to thank the brave RNLI women and men who have been helping.

Click this link for the RNLI website: The RNLI

I think that will be all for now, stay tuned for me random blogging from me and Jenny.

Kind Regards,

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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Flooded!

Hello bloggers this is Jenny blogging tonight.

Well what a hard, wet and long day it has been for us, our home and sables are located in a natural basin and last nights long hard rain tipped the balance and we got really flooded out last night and this morning. Out ground floor sports a stone flagstone floor and only has two rooms and its all open plan, that’s living room and kitchen / dinner room. We woke up to find that the ground floor was just less than two foot of water and you can guess the rude words that we spoke. At this time of year we always flood but this year has been the worst for a while, but not the worst we have ever had. After five hours of brushing out the water and putting up new sand bags and water we can at last relax a little, but we are some what a little worn out but today’s goings on.

On top of all that in the middle of the night a power transformer blew up and that woke me up and somewhat creped me out a little. It also spooked my new horse Saber, who in turn cut himself open so I had to walk up to the yard in the morning in full Ocean waterproofs and sort him out.

As with all these things it didn’t look as bad as it first seemed and after a short while he looked as good as new. Also today made a Global Herds order, but with all this flooding I am unsure when it will arrive. The yard its self (we lie in our own home o the yards drive way) is cut off by about ¼ of a mile as the lanes are fully under water.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, and a little more relaxing. Motoko wondered around in a buoyancy aid and wore one of out Ocean waterproof suits that is work uniform today to make the whole thing slightly more cheerful. A good friend sent some funny llama pictures and the good old llama song which also cheered me up.

The Llama Song

Well that is it for now, take care everyone and hope you are well.

Jenny and Motoko Carter

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