The Journey: Winter happened

The rodent control crew. Betty has settled in
well with the boys (castrated, don't worry,
no little kittens from our cats, there are always
plenty more if we needed any)

Oh dear! I think I get later and later with my blogs. There are times I think of finishing but it is our diary to some extent.Ian's photos are the ones that pepper the page and liven up the text. My words are what stitches it together. Maybe in years to come our grandkids will read it and know what we were up to.

The changing face of winter

A new fence ready for when Marvin and Norman
need to be moved away from their Mums. The new
fence is a job that would have been better done
before winter but at least those poles went in.

I looked back at the blog from last month and the scenery is so different now. Winter just about caught us out this year. It had been so warm that we weren't really expecting such a sudden drop in temperatures. The snow wasn't particularly early, we have had snow earlier in the year before, but this snow was different, as it is still hanging around but only just as it has begun to thaw a bit this last week. There have been many years when early snow meant waiting for a thaw and then a mad dash around to finish off pre-winter jobs. Not so much this year, at least not yet, although the blanket of snow did at least mean the ground was soft and not frozen hard so that Ian was able to put some fence posts in and remove some electric fencing poles shortly after it snowed.

The greenhouse is showing signs of age now but
been up over 10 years now

Trying to keep the weight of snow against the side
down means clearing a path to put the snow into.

I don't fancy those grapes now. A bit past their best

Repairs on the repairs. I think the plastic is now
held together by an intricate web of greenhouse tape.

Looking rather worse for wear and very frozen.
This was partly because Ian was using it and so
had the heater on inside. It wasn't helping.

Our old caravan ended up staying outside, partly because the greenhouse needs some repairs and partly because the ground has been so soft anyway it couldn't be moved to a more sheltered position. Unfortunately it isn't holding up well and cushions froze to the outer wall. With the recent above freezing temperatures, Ian managed to prise off the cushions and bring them back to our apartment. We moved back at the beginning of December into our winter lodgings. It was kind of nice this year to be resident during the day in one caravan and sleep in the other. No making up the bed every night like we used to. It also meant that we could put an electric blanket on to heat up while we sat in the other caravan. It was kind of odd though to lock up one caravan and then move by torchlight to the other one at night. I know! I know! We are kind of odd anyway.

Outside our apartment

Have the girls been having snowball fights?

The hardest part of that kind of lifestyle though was the long evenings in a small space and the difficulties in preparing an evening meal in the dark, cold greenhouse or the cramped caravan. Neither solution was ideal. Other issues of caravan living are bearable to me and compensated by being outdoors more. It forces me out rather than kind of snuggling up in an apartment, which is what I kind of do in winter, at least while I'm in Latvia that is, but I'll get to that. It's a shame the summer house wasn't ready to live in properly but maybe next year!

Early on, 23rd November

8th December the first of the heavy snow

The day after

Spot the room that Ian uses. Insulation is the next
job, at least that room anyway.

So what is this white stuff? Is it safe?

So the routines are all different now. Ian leaves to go out to the land to see to the animals and I stay in bed to read a little longer unless I have a Latvian lesson, in which case I have to be up and sensible by 8am. So, no chickens to feed for me until spring. First thing in the morning I sometimes heat up the small office room with a heater and sometimes I just use a blanket to stay warm enough until mid-afternoon when I light the fire for our central heating. I will also often prepare the evening meal at that point and compensate my time of work by working a little later into the evening. It's a more comfortable routine than in the caravan. It feels kind of strange to turn on a tap and, shock, hot water! A luxury that we often take for granted these days.

I love the muted tones in this one on a cold frosty morning

Ian's car can be a bit temperamental these days,
but it is nearly 15 years old and handled the
Latvian dirt roads well in that time.

I've been up to Estonia twice since I last blogged. It's a very different routine with my new work responsibilities and I'm very grateful to my friend for letting me stay at her place while I'm there. So much easier and one less thing to worry about. While I'm up in Estonia, I make sure I'm available for staff to talk and just try to find out what is going on to help me plan proposed changes to our programmes for next year. It can be quite emotional as we learn to relate to each other after the isolating times of COVID. On the subject of COVID I've managed to dodge that fortunately and students seem pretty good at staying away if they are not well. But then again, they don't have to miss out these days, we just use conference software and they can join in too.

Good job I got in before the snow then.
I parked up at the university in the
staff car park and then walked to my
friend's house. It's a pleasant 20 minute
walk - well usually. Not looking forward
to it if it is icy next time.

The two wheel tractor sees a lot of use. Cuts grass
in summer and as a snow plough in winter.

The last time I went up to Estonia I had to time it due to an expected heavy dumping of snow with high winds. In the end it wasn't as bad as forecast but it could have been nasty. Ian stayed out on the land because sometimes his car doesn't start in bad weather and even if I had been around my car wouldn't['t make it out in a large dumping of snow. My car is to get me to Estonia and back not trek out to the land and back all the time. I do have new winter tyres on though.

Some days it's best just to stay in

But then again!

An unexpected visitor

The university environment has of course changed a lot over the last few years. The recent pandemic has opened up new possibilities of hybrid working that not everyone is comfortable with but know how to use. Students have changed, the economy has changed, staff have changed, new staff have joined, others gone on maternity leave. So much upheaval in such a short space of time. Navigating through all of that and yet ensuring a good quality of education is going to be a challenge, but then again, I get bored without a challenge and I'm comfortable with change. At the moment though I feel like I'm clearing a path through the rubble to try and see a way forward. The early January period will be a time when I get the chance to reflect more on what I've gleaned over the last few months.

See Norman, the snow's not that bad

Norman's dad, George

Freddie, is back to his sweet self now. Sadly he had
to be castrated to calm him down, but at least it
worked.

Marvin has been causing us some concern. He
was feeling the cold and seemed to be losing
energy. We are now beginning to suspect he
didn't get the point of hay. As the grass died off
he relied more on his mother's milk and wasn't
eating the hay. He does now and has been put
on extra feeds of lucerne to build him up.

I'm looking forward to a little more thinking space this next semester. One of the projects I was working on is nearly finished finally with the publication of a draft report, this is out for people to comment on. There will be a final tweaking of the text for the finished product - or at least that's what we hope for, but then that will truly be the end of that. I was also teaching a brand new course to bachelor students last semester. Previously I was just teaching master students and that was mainly using material already written by a colleague. The new course has been a learning curve, but I think it went okay from what I understand. Coming across as a motherly/granny type has its advantages sometimes. If there is one thing I've learnt over the years is to give good feedback. I prefer that approach anyway to presenting myself as the font of all knowledge. I might know a little about a lot due to my research interests but I most certainly do not know everything and would rather students find out for themselves with some guidance. It seems to work anyway. I've been very pleased with the work that I've got back from the students so far.

Marvin and his mum, Amanda

Enough energy now for a roll around, he's also
got a taste for Christmas trees

Norman and his mum, Ilvija

Josefs

We don't plan on going anywhere at Christmas because of our animals, which does limit us to some extent, which is a good job because I needed to renew my passport and it took five weeks to get to the passport office in the UK. I was shocked though to find that they then processed my passport within two days of telling me they had my old passport. It is a good job I have residency in two countries that are side by side and so I can still travel to work and back. It would have been difficult if I hadn't. Now I have to wait for the passport to be couriered to me - whenever that will be! Let's hope it's not another five weeks. What tales could my passports tell me, if they could speak?

Who says that winter lacks colour?

Lolly

So here we are on Christmas Eve, snug in our apartment. Ian is processing Lolly's fleece (first year fleeces are not great for mill processing and so it will be done by Ian). The Christmas tree is up - only just though -because that is what we normally do and Ian only cut the tree from our land this morning and I'm finally writing this blog. So on that note, I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may the next year be more peaceful than the last.