I've just been to the fire section at work to use their hydrant to
fill my truck and thought some might like to see one of the airfield
fire trucks that they use... Ok, so actually I just like posting from
my iPhone now I figured out how!! Any excuse to post something now!

My pepper plants, I'm particularly pleased with these.

Amelia inspecting the potatoes!

My pees and broad beans.

I've just been out and watered my tomato plants before I go to work,
they are coming on well now. I am growing peppers, tomatoes, peas,
beans, carrots and more. All in containers because I have no room for
a veggie patch at the new house, and all grown from seed...

Bottling the homebrew!

Yay, I posted a picture!

Ok, so I finally got that right! Turns out to be very simple, I was just being stupid! Can't seem to figure out how to post several pictures at a time from my phone though so will have to settle with making individual posts for individual photos until I get a new computer sorted....

Around Chistmas time I discovered the joys of homebrew. I started off with making some ales using kits and then decided to try a few different wine kits. My plan was to get to understand the process before having a go at a full mash beer made completely from scratch and indeed, to make wine from scratch also. But, it turns out the kits are very very good. Not only are they great fun to make, but taste excellent and work out to be very cheap. The wine works out around £1 per bottle compared to the £5 or so that you pay in the shop and the beer turns out at around 35p per pint compared to £3 per pint in the pub!!! Madness, why are more people not making their own booze?!
I recently bottled 40 pints of lager which I made using a Morgan's 'Blue Mountain' lager kit. I am looking forward to trying it when it has matured some and will of course let you all know how it tastes! Once I bottled it all I realized 40 pint bottles take up a lot of space, therefore I decided to make myself a beer crate that looks like those old wooden beer crates you sometimes see in auction rooms. I used wood that I salvaged from a wooden shipping pallet and purposely left some nails protruding which I then bent over with the hammer to give that 'old' look! Anyway, it does the job at least, holding 20 of my 40 pint bottles. Now to make another for the remaining bottles!!

Pictures to follow..

My canoe

Ok, here is my second attempt at posting a photo from my phone. You
should hopefully be able to see one of my wooden canoes if this has
worked. If it doesn't work this time I will have to try something else!

Has it really been that long!?

I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted to my blog! A lot has happened since my last post, including taking up a new hobby, getting a pet rabbit and probably the most significant - we've moved to a new house. So I no longer live at cottage number 9 which is one of the reasons I never continued my blog. I am now considering starting it back up though, and can't decide whether to keep it as it is or try to rename it or indeed whether to start a new blog altogether.

So a year ago we moved from our beautiful cottage in the country to a modern 3 bedroom semi-detached in town. It seemed like a great idea at the time but I really do miss the cottage. For me it was more than just moving house, it was a lifestyle change too. I miss the vast amount of space that we had outside, now we have a small enclosed garden surrounded by other gardens and over looked by no less that 4 houses!!! I want my privacy back! I am grateful for what I have though and am lucky to have my wife and children,and a roof over our heads. I think we will stay here for a fw years before hopefully moving back to a similar property to where we were living before.

One good thing about moving into town is that we have a river running right through the middle of it, very handy for my new hobby - canoeing! I recently bought 2 wooden canoes and absolutely love to escape. Living in such a small country we are never far from civilization but the few hours out on the river feel like I am in my own little world, miles from anyone.

I have also started making my own wines and beers from kits. I initially started doing this to save money but I actually rathe enjoy doing it and the end product is as good as, if not better than, any shop bought wine or beer. I recently bottled 40 pints of lager and yesterday I made a crate for some of the bottles using an old shipping pallet. I also have at the moment 30 bottles of wine clearing ready to be bottled.

So I'm keeping busy, that's for sure! I will try to keep up with my blog now that I have figured out how to post from my iPhone!