Day 744

Day 744...

We have had a mixed bag of weather today from a light flurry of snow first thing to heavy snow to blue skies and sunshine and then back to heavy snow and then repeat.

Typically the snow decided to show itself just as I decided to pop out for a quick Lidl shop. I was due to meet my brother and his wife later this morning so wanted to nip out and get the little bit of shopping we needed out of the way.

By the time I'd got everything I needed (all of 10 minutes) the weather had changed from grey and very snowy to bright blue skies and sunshine! And that pattern continued for the rest of the day.

I met my brother and his wife at my dads house mid-morning and we set about getting some more cleaning done. They had brought a carpet cleaner with them and made headway with that while I concentrated on the kitchen. Unfortunately my dad had not been as diligent with the cleaning as he perhaps should have and so consequently there is a lot to do but we are getting there slowly. Unfortunately we weren't able to get all the stains out of the carpets but they all look, and smell, fresher now.

This afternoon we had an update from the coroner who has confirmed that because of the circumstances around my dads passing, and following the post mortem today, certain tests are now needed. It is going to take 8 weeks for the results of these tests to be known and then it is highly likely that an inquest will be needed. But we do now have an interim death certificate and his body has been released to the funeral home so that we can start to make arrangements.

Before we knew it the whole day had passed us by, and as I arrived home Simon was heading down our gym. I decided to leave him to it as I still had a few things that I needed to do as the coroner had emailed over some forms that needed signing, scanning and returning. I am in work all day tomorrow so wanted to make sure I actioned stuff tonight so as not to hold anything up.

So Thursday is done and dusted and I will see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 621

Day 621...

And we have a Monday and as usual it was a non-work day for Simon and I. Ethan was back at work after a week off, although as he is still working from home it made little difference.

The day started off very relaxed and that set the tone for pretty much the rest of the day. We sat with a coffee or two and enjoyed watching a You Tube presentation all about the 'fast pass' system employed over the years at Walt Disney World and other Disney parks. Absolutely fascinating and very enlightening on how these systems are developed and implemented; totally appealed to the geek in me.

We also had a phone call from our 'ground-works' crew apologising about not being able to get to us yesterday! Obviously the change in weather had impacted what they were able to do and we appreciated that circumstances were out of their control. But they have said they will get to us this week as soon as the weather allows! Fingers crossed we can get everything sorted this week so that maybe, perhaps, with fingers and toes crossed we can finally take delivery of our new electric car next week!

We then took a short drive out through our, still snowy, village to our local Lidl...

...where we picked up a few bits and bobs along with some more Christmas decorations! Well, they were just too good a deal to pass up; some outdoor, battery operated snowflake shaped stake lights. So I bought three sets to go in our courtyard garden. And bonus when I got home and went to test them I found that they came supplied with batteries!! I've not been able to put them out today as the snow has lingered about for most of the day but with milder weather for overnight forecast I should be able to get them in place tomorrow afternoon.

New lights!!!

After a spot of lunch I decided to have a quick tidy around our 'cupboard under the stairs'. We have a large cupboard space in the kitchen that is great for housing cleaning stuff and more but always seems to be overcrowded and awkward to get to things. A few weeks ago I'd bought some new storage boxes from Ikea specifically for re-organsing this cupboard but hadn't had the time. Well in about half an hour this afternoon I'd cleared out what we no longer needed, swapped over storage boxes and created extra space; so much so that I can now walk into this cupboard which I could never do before. Mission accomplished.

Th rest of the day was spent in a very chilled and relaxed manner; Simon was happily creating more digital art and I was happy to potter with my Christmas jigsaw.

Back to work tomorrow!

xx

Snow Day Monday!

Day 313...

And we had our first 'Snow Day' of this academic year! Although I technically don't work Mondays I did have to make the call as to whether we should open or not and then let all our parents know what was happening.

But our first task of the day was to collect the grocery shopping...in the snow. Thankfully we only have to travel about 3 miles to the store but none of the roads to get there appeared to have been either cleared or treated in anyway so it was a very steady journey there and back.

Making our way steadily to the store!

But it did look very pretty...

Once we were safely home and the shopping took into the house we set to clearing some of the paths around where we live. We have a couple of elderly neighbours so along with another of our neighbours we made sure there was a clear path for them to use.

After we had unpacked and put away all the shopping we decided to take a walk out across the fields where we live. We are extremely fortunate to live right next to farmland and have numerous footpaths and bridleways to walk, which have been a lifeline during these past 303 days!.

We managed a couple of miles which took us just under an hour which is slightly longer than it would have taken normally due to walking through snow and across uneven ground...and stopping to take photos of course!

We even came across a family of snowmen!

After a spot of lunch Simon re-organised all of his various tools and supplies that he had accumulated while completing the elecronics for his R2D2 build. He then left R2 plugged in to see how well it worked and suffice to say he was very pleased with the results. Head over to his Simon Phipps Art Facebook page to see a video of R2 in working order. He is now left with just the legs to finish off and attach.

I made a start on my next jigsaw which is another Disney and Christmas combination and I have managed to complete the outer edge...I think this will be the third time I have done this particular jigsaw!

And there we have 'Snow Day' let's just hope that it's not too icy tomorrow!

Take care out there.

xx

Snowy Sunday

Day 312...

So this morning we weren't quite up and about as early as yesterday but still a little earlier than previous weekends.

We decided to venture out for a walk before we settled down to do anything else so we put on our wellies and wrapped up warm as it was very frosty and cold this morning.

As we started off we noticed a few tiny specks of snow in the wind and about a mile or so into the walk it started to snow; nothing major but it was definitely snowing if on;y lightly. By about half way through the walk the snow had begun to get a little heavier and by the time we were homeward bound it was coming down at a pretty decent rate and was settling quite nicely.

We managed a 5.6 mile walk in an hour and 45 minutes and when we arrived home we had a few millimeters of snow...

Photo taken about 10 minutes after we arrived home

...and about 40 minutes later it was looking like this...

...and an hour later we had about five and a half inches worth...

Decided to measure the snow, ruler was placed on top of a wall in my patio

...but look how pretty it was when the lights came on.

I did spend a lot of the afternoon video chatting with Molly and showing her all the snow that we have at home. She is at her boyfriends house about 3 hours away and they had the complete opposite weather; sunshine and blue skies! Molly loves the snow so it was an opportunity to make her a little jealous!

I apologise for the snow spam but we don't get it very often here in the UK and when we do we all kind of get a bit obsessed by it all. If we're lucky it might hang around for a day or maybe even two but then it will be gone almost as quickly as it arrived.

While Molly and I chatted Simon managed to complete all the electronics for his R2D2 build; he had some adjustments to make with the programming to control the timings and activity level of R2D2 when he comes to life and everything is now working as he had hoped it would.

The afternoon was rounded out with the now usual Sunday Disney quiz hosted by the podcast I co-host, the Disney Dream Girls...and this week I won! This does mean, however, that the job of setting questions for next weeks quiz has fallen to me.

So wherever you are and whatever the weather is doing, take care.
xx

Snow Day

Day 286...

Well today we had to be up and about a bit earlier than the last few mornings as we had our weekly grocery shop to collect...and we woke up to snow!

Now snow in the UK is always a big deal; we don't get it very often and most times when we do get it it is never around for very long. Plus we seem to go into a mild panic and everything seems to stop functioning all because of a light covering of white stuff!

Anyways we had to venture out in it this morning to fetch the aforementioned shopping and thankfully the roads weren't too bad and the snow was pretty light.

Molly had ventured out in the snow with her camera and I'm looking forward to seeing what she has been able to capture. As we returned from fetching the shopping it had started to snow fairly heavy again so I decided to capture some photos with my phone...

...it turned out to be a good idea as not long after these photos were taken it started to rain and then the grey skies turned to blue and the sun came out. Suffice to say when Simon and I went out for a walk later it was icy chilly but rather slushy and squelchy underfoot.

The rest of the day was spent inside in the warm and dry and while I spent time on my current jigsaw Simon spent time with his R2D2 build. So I guess we were both assembling things in our own way!

Take care

xx