Amateur Radio Posting

 My Pride and Joy

 Thanks to this Radio Ham

 60ft Versatower with Jaybeam TB3

30ft Tennamast with 6 band Hexbeam

When I lived in Worcester I Worked All States (WAS) but sadly two Nebraska stations did not send qsl card so I was unable to apply for the award.

2013 and 18 years later I erected a 30ft Tennamast with 6 band Hexbeam, it is so good hearing DX again, in all the years between I only had a wire dipole, in fact when we lived in Malvern Worcestershire I could not hear stateside due to the large granite hill to the west which was in front of the house! One reason I purchased an Icom 706MKIIg I was going to go out portable on top of the Malvern Hills but house restoration and doing managers job for BT in Wolverhampton and Stoke on Trent then changing to Network Auditor it really did keep me busy and away from radio operating.

It is only since I took early retirement at 54 that I have got back into amateur radio which is a brilliant hobby.

Recently in a 10 metre contest I worked Bill K0HA Nebraska he kindly qsled direct which enabled me to claim the Worked All States award. First thing was to send off my qsl cards to the HF awards manager who verified all cards were correct and Saturday 8th March my award came from the USA such a thrill opening up the envelope been a long wait but well worth it. Now to finish off Working All Counties all 3077 of them. 

   

Belated Happy New Year!

 Wood burner lit (hate the carpet it has got to go!)

 Water coming in via the stainless steel chimney

 First Camilla to open out

Double Hellebore 

 Another double different variety 

 Double snowdrops

 The open view since the beech tree came down

Looks like it is going to be a sitting out area!

A belated Happy New Year to my readers. My first posting of the new year and what a start to the year it has been in Great Britain. The South West has been battered by strong winds, heavy rain downpours & high tides. The low lying levels have suffered major floods & the sea defenses have also took a battering with a major clean up bill. Many trees have come down all across the country. On saying all that it has been a mild winter I am now thinking a lot of people would have preferred the snow & ice, yes you get cut off with bad snow storms but at least you do not get the flooding in the house.

Ros & I have been collectors for nearly 40 years so with all the wet weather keeping us indoors it has been a good opportunity to have a major sort out in the bedrooms, which has kept me very busy hence the lack of blogging. At long last packing boxes, materials, sewing items are all in one bedroom. I have put in some industrial shelving to stack the boxes, then we can go through each box at our leisure. Also had a clothing sort out, even though Ros has two wardrobes she could have easily filled four! clothes were stacked in piles everywhere! and when you see programs on the TV called the hoarders it makes you think have we got far to much stuff! thankfully we are not as bad as those people on the TV but we did need to reduce items. We do not collect rubbish but we do have too many items & if we have not got space to display these items they have to go.

We have had the new wood-burner fitted in the study/radio shack & that has not come without its problems. Came down one morning to find water in the room from the wood-burner, I sent off the photos to the supplier & within a hour the vehicle hoist was here fitting a new cowl thinking that will solve the problem. During another night of exceptional strong winds we had water in again! he is now thinking could be a crimping problem with the stainless steel chimney.

We are now into March & spring has sprung the garden & meadow is starting to come alive with spring shrubs & bulbs, I am looking forward to start planting my raised vegetable beds. I took a chance & planted broad beans in November and they are doing very well up to a good 4 inches. Also put in Japanese over wintering onions, still pulling leeks and digging up Jerusalem artichokes for our winter meals. We also have mustard & rocket leaves in the greenhouse plus field mice! thought I may have had a nest in the greenhouse had a good clean in there but nothing was found. I am catching a mouse a day in the humane trap & releasing them onto the commons at the bottom of the meadow. Our greenhouse is an old Victorian type with brick wall & corrugated steel roof on one side which is my workshop & the other side is wooden frame with glass & perspex roof, sadly the original roof was allowed to rot as was the wooden frame which I complete re-built when we first moved here. I am now thinking the mice are getting in via the corrugated steel roof just to look for food, we do keep the wild bird seed in there in a plastic containers.

Costume Collection at Killerton House

 Entrance to the collection

 Start of the dress & costume collection

 Stunning 1920s dress

 (sorry about reflections they are behind glass)

 1920s Wedding dress

 1950s

More 1950s Dresses & Costumes

Another reason Ros loves Killerton is the costume collection. Every year there is always new dresses & costumes displayed. After the walk around the ground floor of the house you climb the stairs to the top floor to view the stunning costumes collection and displays.

Killerton dressed for Christmas

 In church grounds

 Family church

 Trees decorated by local school children

 Even decorations in the grounds

 Scrooge counting house

 Victorian toy shop

 Manger

December 2013 we have been in North Devon for 6 years. During this time we have enjoyed visiting National Trust Properties dressed for Christmas houses. Our favourite is Killerton House near Exeter it is the highlight of December and a lovely build up to the special day. The theme this year was Scrooge. Inside the house as you walk around there is a row of Victorian shops and every part of the house is decorated, my photos do not show the amount of work & dedication the staff & volunteers have put into it. Really was a stunning display. The weather was very kind to us and we had an enjoyable walk with our doggie Beau looking at the decorations within the grounds.

Our 5 year wood supply

 Fence repaired

 Made a start on stacking wood

Left a space for Beau to run through

Ex Pine tree

Thick slices & heavy

Beech slices

Bottom of meadow is looking better, I repaired the fence & made a start stacking wood. As you can see from the wood slices on commons side of fence, which is still our land the slices are too thick & heavy. Hopefully Monday 23rd December the tree guys are back to cut them up into manageable pieces. When cut they will be stacked meadow side of the fence. All of the wood will become seasoned & my project for the new year outdoors is to build a wood store close to the house to keep it all dry. The tree guys state it is best to leave it for a few months to let the rain wash it all down.

We have booked up the guy to give us a quote for the chimney liner & plate on the slate roof, sadly someone took one of the chimneys down on the house & this is the one above the study/shack! but the guy's firm has a cherry picker which will be able to park on the drive & make life easier. So hope in 2014 to start saving on heating bills at least for a few years to come.

Trees Cut Up

This is posting is a update about the wood being cut up & showing more of the damaged fence. Only trouble is the tree guys did leave us some very large slices which to me I call them hernia busters. We have asked them to come back but again that will cost us more money! it looks like we have enough wood for five years so going to put in a wood burner into the study/shack the heat will dissipate around the ground floor of the house that will be fitted in the new year. Last week I repaired the fence with new bearers & 8ft 4x4 post & 16 new uprights I spent an afternoon de-nailing the uprights which had been forced off with the tree fall. Even with the wood we have, at least four trailers loads went to the tree surgeons it was a huge beech tree but the view at the back of the house is so open & more light into the meadow.