An uncertain day. The ferry was amber alert and at 930am they cancelled Canna with a review at 11am due to decide about a call to Rum. We are waiting on animal feed and had petrol going off so Ady and I went to meet the boat which did come in at 1 ish. On the way down we had a quick tidy up in the Pajero which is now used as a storage space, clearing some rubbish which had gathered in there, relocating some wicker baskets my Mum had brought up into the shed to be used as ‘props’ along with some tea light lanterns which I will probably repaint and hang in there.
The animal feed didn’t come 🙁 Davies’ laptop did come, his Christmas present, and we sent the petrol off. We decided not to hang around to wait for veg delivery or post as Ady is down in the village again in the morning to work at the hostel. Back at home I sorted out the bacon and hams which had been curing in brine or salt mixes since last week. The hams have been in wet cure and are now ready to hang for a few weeks. It’s my plan to cook them both a few days before Christmas. The bacon was in a dry cure and I have cooked one large lump as a gammon / ham joint to slice for sandwiches, the other half I have sliced thinly for bacon sandwiches. I think it was in the salt rub for a couple of days too long but the weather has been so wild I had not gotten to it before.
Ady put up a rail in the horse box for the hams to hang from. It will also be used for hanging chorizo and salami which we’re hoping to get made next week. I split some firewood but probably overdid it a little as my shoulder is protesting now. I like chopping wood though and we have a new grenade tool which I wanted to have a go with. I wanted to ring my parents this evening so I got dinner all prepared (bacon and cheese pasta bake and garlic bread) while it was still daylight ready to put in the oven, we watched The Apprentice and then I rang them while dinner was in the oven. A crime spate in Sompting saw something like 13 incidents in one night and our house was targeted with two of the windows shot with a rifle or bb gun and breaking!!! I had talked to the insurance company earlier to see whether that was covered in our landlord policy and what the excess would be and to authorise my Dad to be named on the policy to speak to them rather than doing it all through me up here on a mobile phone so needed to pass that information on.
Christmas film tonight was Christmas With The Kranks which was pretty good, some funny bits and a nice festive feel. Tomorrow my plan is some festive candle making with Scarlett for Secret santa gifts, packaging up some midge in resin stuff I have sold and Davies doing some Christmas cards so I can get stuff in the post on Saturday. Ady is working Saturday and Monday too, so some more festive stuff like that for me and the kids which will be nice. We need to do some more firewood processing and then next week hopefully the final two pigs and the processing of sausage and chorizo making. Then the plan is other than animal feeding and emergencies we take Christmas week off.
Hope your tenants are ok. Scary. :-(.
I know! The area we lived in was always really nice although further into Lancing could be a bit rougher. Dad said the tenants were fine about it and seemed unfazed by it all. I’d have been horrified – one of the windows was Scarlett’s old bedroom.