January 2015 - Going, going.........soon to be gone!

Sometimes I wonder if it not just a waste of life!

This sitting around day after day in winter, watching the weather and counting the days until Spring, sunshine and fresh clean air.
We have after all been doing this now since November, we hauled out the boots, coats, gloves, hats and scarves, kind of looking forward to the changing seasons, autumn was utterly awesome and it did stick around a while, but of course from the beginning of December, it is winter, no ifs, buts or maybe's.
But our wood store was pretty well bulging at the seams with wood, our wood fires in bedroom and kitchen were earning their keep, the pantry and freezer were stocked with more than enough food, and we breathed a sort of mental sigh, realizing that we could be really lazy without feeling bad about it.

We have now been lazy and very slothful for over two months! Eating way more then we should, drinking way more then we should, mostly due to utter boredom.
Cabin fever gets to us now and then, but we genuinely don't mind each others company and, bottom line, we love each other! As my friends pointed out, we are  a lucky couple, in that we actually like each other.
 We have had little spurts of minor activity, when the thermometer hits double figures, (10, 11 or 12 degrees!), and of course, I am motivated everyday to feed, muck out and water my chickens, but there has not been much activity during the last 6 weeks in the Bailey household, I have to admit.

But then think about it.......

From February/March last year, Steve has been busy, and by extension me too.If you scan through this blog, you will see that every single month, that there was sunshine and/or summer, my husband has been tackling some enormous project or another, too numerous to mention here!!!!

So, No!
It is not a waste of life, it is a regeneration.
A time to sleep long.
A time to relax.
And definately a time to indulge ourselves in whatever pleases us at the time........

Breathe!
Spring and summer will come soon enough, with all of this years projects and builds.

I think we are perfectly justified in our slothfulness and hope you do too!!!!!??

December! Re-capping and gracefully Closing 2014 down............

We spent a really wonderful two weeks with my brother Dave, who came from Canada to have a new mouth full of teeth put in for a fraction of what it would have cost him in Canada. He suffered for the first three days having his teeth ground down, and impressions made for his bridges top and bottom, so eating was a little hard for him and I tried to keep the food sloppy and easy to chew, but we often just resorted to the liquid form of sustenance!

It was fun having him, and he soon got into the swing of things, helping to collect wood from the barn for the log fires, sweeping the kitchen, packing the dishwasher and other general chores. I am not used to having a man help around the house (shame on you Stephen Bailey!) We went out on the bus twice to Marcali, once missing the bus completely on our return journey and being saved by some nice Hungarians who arranged a lift for us.

Our local forester Laszlo came through for us in the planting of the "Bailey Forest". He arrived with two helpers and stacks of Acacia saplings, a special planting spade and lots of enthusiasm  and spent the whole day planting them in our bottom field, Steve has counted 550 trees.

Our forest in the making!

We are assured that these are fairly fast growing and we hope to be self-sustainable with regard to firewood in 5 to 8 years from now.
It was also suggested by the friendly forester that we obtain the services of two sheep for this area, they can keep the grass down, as it is a huge area and a real pig to mow, the sheep can fatten up and then.......?  So that's the plan come April May, we hope to have some frolicking lambs to keep the chickens company.

The remainder of December was spent huddling around log fires, playing computer games, watching videos, reading and of course making sure my chickens are okay, fed, watered and warm.
Autumn dragged its feet, with weeks and weeks of gorgeous golden colours as the trees slowly lost their leaves, the sunrises more and more spectacular each day.

Christmas came and went without much fuss in our household, no presents were exchanged, no decorations put up, we saved a fortune by ignoring it, making only a small concession by having a fabulous matured rump steak for lunch.

New Years eve, we spent re-capping 2014! What a busy year! This is what we achieved in no particular order:-

Tramping through some woods steeped in WW2 history, with our intrepid guide Nandi/ I spent one glorious month in South Africa with my folks and extended family/Steve erected fencing around the chicken pen/Rotavated vegetable patch/Fencing in the bottom paddock/Front gates re-painted and mended/Patio brick laying completed/I took over the running of the ex-pat club Balatonbrits/We acquired six hens and a rooster/Bought a brand new gorgeous car/I broke my ankle/I spent six weeks in a plaster cast/Spent six weeks installing a beautiful new bathroom/Over ten tonnes of logs delivered/Chopped and split ten tonnes for firewood/Bought a new oven/Watched it rain a deluge for a month/Hosted my parents for a month/Went to Croatia/Organised and attended the first Balatonbrits dance/Designed and built a new garage for the car/Organised and hosted a Quiz for the club/Hosted my brother for two weeks whilst he had his dentistry/Spent a fabulous night in Budapest City/Had 600 sapling trees planted in bottom paddock for future firewood............

It sure has been a busy but absolutely fabulous year!

So in closing, we wish a most heartfelt and warm New Year to all family and friends.

We have lots of plans for 2015 and just hope it will be as wonderful has last year!

Sharon