A welcome thorn tree

Today’s guest picture shows a concrete warship which our holidaying neighbour Gavin visited today near Monterey.  He tells me it is the SS Palo Alto,  a concrete ship built as a tanker at the end of World War I.  He adds that it smells terrible.

We had another chilly and breezy day with occasional snow showers, though it was just warm enough for the snow not to settle.

It was a pity that it was such a chilly day because the electricity supply to our street was cut off after breakfast while essential maintenance work was done and the house got colder and colder as the day went on.  As we are all electric, there was not even the chance to make a hot cup of tea to warm us up,

The builders brought their own generator along and were able to continue their work uninterrupted,  By the end of the day things were really beginning to take shape.  Downstairs the new fireplace is now in position with the stove temporarily in place too.  The builders have used the large sandstone side pieces and lintel from our old fire, cleaned and slightly cut down for size.

The internal wall is coming along well too.

And upstairs, the external wall is finished and waiting for the chimney to go up through the hole in the floor.

Once again the building work with the added noise of the generator kept most of the birds away but a few hardy chaffinches braved the racket.

And a robin briefly strutted his stuff.

In effort to warm myself up, I looked for a sunny spot amid the snow showers and set off to walk up the small hill behind the house.  I was just far enough up the hill to look back over the town….

…when a sudden and savage snow/hail storm appeared over the shoulder of the hill.  Luckily I was standing beside a substantial hawthorn tree at the time and I was able to get myself reasonably sheltered for the few minutes that it took for the flurry to pass and I was soon on my way again.

The hill was fairly firm underfoot as much of the ground was still frozen so the walking was good.

There were no cattle on the hill either so my walk was undisturbed except by the buffeting of the wind.  There were good views to be had on the way up, at the minor summit and on the way down again.

There was a sprinkling of snow on the higher hills to the north.

I could look down to the green fields beside the Esk from the top of Meikleholm Hill.

Langholm had completely disappeared into the valley behind me.

Although it is only a few hundred feet high, the views from the top are very airy and always a delight on a fair day.

Walking back down the hill was a lot harder work than walking up with every step needing care so I was pleased to stop for a look round at Castle Hill…

…before getting safely back home.

Obviously there are going to be extensive electricity works because I passed a great heap of new poles lying ready by a track halfway up the hill.

As I came into the town, I could see the electricity men working hard at their task of replacing wires.

Luckily the corner shop at the end of the road was not only open but well supplied with power so I was able to buy two hot pies for our lunch.

After lunch Mrs Tootlepedal went to the Buccleuch Centre for a cup of hot chocolate and then went off to a meeting.  I went out to check on spring in the garden…

…but I soon got fed up when the temperature in the house reached 12 degrees C and retired to bed for an hour or so.

I got up just before the power came on again (bang on schedule) and was getting everything plugged back in and the boiler working as Mrs Tootlepedal came back from her meeting.

Not long afterwards my two eldest sisters and my brother arrived to see the works in the end wall.  They are spending a couple of rather wintery days in the Lake District and fitted in a visit to us.  They were suitably impressed by the works and after some cheerful conversation, we went off to have an evening meal in the Douglas Hotel.

Some of you will know that my eldest sister Susan writes a weekly blog about interesting places she has visited and Mary and Andrew, my other siblings often contribute excellent guest pictures for me to use so this gave me the opportunity to thank them in person for their contributions.

As the only visitors to the feeders were chaffinches, one of them gets to be the flying bird of the day.