November 2012 Back to October
Thursday 1st 2 to 8 to 2°C. 2.86kWh 1.2kW max. Mainly cloudy but with some few brighter spells and short showers between. Cold westerly wind
Started moving all the plants away from the house so that the scaffolders can get access all the way round. We will also need to move the water butts.
Friday 2nd 2 to 8 to 2°C. 3.73kWh 1.5kW max. Cloudy morning but sunny around lunchtime and clear in the evening to expect a frost by morning.
Feeling better so back to splitting logs. As the old saying goes "Wood warms you 3 times; once when you cut it, once when you split it and once when you burn it'.
Saturday 3rd -1 to 6 to 1°C. 3.43kWh 1.3kW max. Cold and wet to start, later clear and sunny over midday with a few short showers in the evening before clearing again.
Sunday 4th -1 to 5 to 3°C. 2.48kWh 1.5kW max. Frosty start but cleared to a bright day with very little breeze so feeling warmer in the hazy sunshine.
A good day to cut and split some more logs. Amazingly some of the begonias and geraniums are still flowering despite the frost.
Monday 5th 0 to 8 to 1°C. 5.38kWh 1.3kW max. Clear and sunny from mid-morning onwards.
Another crisp early winter day.
Tuesday 6th 1 to 9 to 7°C. 910Wh 200W max. A miserable dark day with spells of light drizzle.
Wednesday 7th 2 to 11 to 8°C. 2.76kWh 1.2kW max. Thin broken cloud and a light breeze making it feel quite mild.
Thursday 7th 7 to 11 to 6°C. 1.72kWh 1.2kW max. Heavy clouds except for a brighter period around midday but stayed dry.
It came so dull in the afternoon that the hens went back in their house well before 4pm
Getting the walls insulated is proving to be more complicated, and costly, than we first thought. The electricity supplier wants to relocate the cable to a place nearer to the consumer unit which will need drilling a hole through the wall. It may be 6 weeks before they do this and the cladding can't be done before this is complete. The other main problem is that the flue for the log burner needs to extended away from the wall. It is very old and the man who came to look at it doesn't think it can be taken apart without damaging it. Replacing it with a new one which meets new building regulations makes this more expensive and the log burner really needs replacing as well. The good news is that he thinks he can get an almost new one from another of his clients for a quarter the price of a new one. I don't think he is spinning a yarn; indeed he seemed quite apologetic about the price.
Friday 8th 7 to 10 to 7°C. 824Wh 200W max. Another very dull day though it actually didn't start raining till after lunch.
Saturday 9th 3 to 10 to 3°C. 4.13kWh 1.4kW max. This cloud with long sunny intervals and very light breeze making it feel quite mild
Still cutting and splitting logs for the winter.
Sunday 10th 0 to 9 to 4°C. 3,35kWh 1.4kW max. Sunny cold start, clouding over by lunchtime with some showers in the afternoon. Cloudy night so shouldn't be frosty.
Monday 11th 4 to 12 to 10°C. 588Wh 150W max. A very dull day with rain in the morning and a mild humid afternoon and evening.
Tuesday 13th 10 to 13 to 10°C. 555Wh 120W max. Another very dull dayy though feeling quite mild and humid in the light southerly breeze.
A good day to remove the fine net from the fruit cage without the risk of being caught by the wind. It is 22 metres square and quite bulky to handle. We do this every winter because if it snowed when it was still on the weight of the snow, which would lie on the net rather than fall through, could cause the whole structure to collapse.
Filled up the squirrel proof bird feeders with peanuts and sunflower seeds and hung these inside the fruit cage. Now the fine net is off the small birds can get in to feed and be kept going over the winter so there will plenty of them around next spring to keep down the caterpillars and aphids.
Wednesday 14th 8 to 10 to 8°C. 474Wh 120W max. Another very dull damp day
Thursday 15th 6 to 9 to 3 to 6°C. 1.11kWh 800W max. Dull foggy start clearing to a sunny afternoon, rapidly cooling after dusk but then rising again as it clouded over.
Pat took down the runner beans while I continued to cut up the brash from the two trees we had felled in the summer. The thin pieces will be shredded and the thicker ones left to dry out before being cut up for firewood.
Friday 16th 1 to 8 to 6°C 1.88kWh 900W max. Cold misty start, brightening during the morning but clouded over by lunchtime with intermittent light rain in the afternoon. Rained more heavily in the evening.
Saturday 17th 6 to 8 to 0°C. 1.81kWh 1.2kW max. Misty wet start but cleared to a sunny afternoon and starlit cold evening.
Sunday 18th -2 to 6 to 5°C. 4.37kWh 1.3kW max. Cold frosty start with clear sunny sky all day.
The woodshed is now almost full.
Monday 19th 6 to 10 to 9°C. 521Wh 150W max. A damp dull day with light rain in the southerly wind.
I think I prefer it cold and frosty.
Tuesday 20th 8 to 14 to 9°C. 447Wh 120W max. An even duller day with a few showers but feeling very mild.
This weather has finally persuaded the begonias in the conservatory that it is time to go dormant so Pat cleared them out and I have started to pot on some primulas to replace them.
Wednesday 21st 3 to 6 to 4°C 445Wh 120W max. Rained most of the night and into the morning, clearing in the afternoon with some broken cloud by dusk.
A good day to turn the compost and split some more logs.
Thursday 22nd 4 to 11 to 5°C. 732Wh 300W max. Bright start but soon clouded over and became very windy before heavy rain in the afternoon and evening.
Friday 23rd 1 to 8 to 2°C. Cold sunny start but clouded over after lunch with a few heavy showers before clearing again after dark.
Still splitting logs.
Saturday 24nd -1 to 4 to 6°C. 547kWh 120W max. Cold foggy changing to light and then heavy rain as the day progressed. Still raining hard late into the evening.
At least there is no risk of flooding here; this is the highest point locally and there are no rivers nearby. Unlike many parts of the country, especially further south.
Sunday 25th 5 to 8 to 8°C. 3.98kWH 1.2kW max. Rained hard nearly all night but cleared by dawn to a bright sunny day. Rained again after dusk, though only lightly.
Dug over the remaining partsof the polytunnel in preparation for moving the short stemmed chrysanthemums inside once they have died back. At themoment the white ones are still flowering well. The rest I cut back to remove the dying flower heads before they to moldy. The taller ones, already moved inside, as still flowering well enough for Pat to cut some for the house.
We went for a walk round the back lanes in the afternoon. Many of the fields are flooded and the ditches overflowing onto the road in places. Still ,compared with what you see on the television of the wide-spread floods in the south and west we are are much less affected.
Monday 26th 5 to 8 to 5°C. 583Wh 600W max. A very dull day with mist in the morning followed by fine rain in the afternoon and heavier rain after dusk. Almost all the electricity was generated in a short spell after lunch. Earlier it came so dark that none was being generated.
Went on my annual visit to the doctor and as usual felt worse afterwards. Everyone in the waiting room is wearing recently washed clothes so I stay outside till he is ready to se me. Even so by the time I got home I was aching and very short of breath. We decided that maybe it was time I started thinking about getting a nebuliser so he has prescribed me some nebules of salbutamol to use in it when I get really bad - something which is happening more often.
Tuesday 27th 4 to 6 to 3°C. 285Wh 100W max. An even duller day than yesterday. Not really raining but my clothes felt damp after we had been out in the afternoon splitting more wood.
Brighter colder weather is forecast for the rest of the week.
Wednesday 28th 1 to 4 to -1°C. 2.02kWh 1.15kW max. Bright start with a cold northerly wind. Clouded over by lunchtime but cleared again in the evening.
Managed for the first time this week to go for my midday bike ride despite the cold blustery wind. Many of the roads are lightly flooded by water seeping off the fields and some are very muddy from the verges damaged by heavy farm vehicles.They are already full of potholes from last winter and the frost tonight, coupled with the water, will probably make them even worse.
Thursday 29th -3 to 2 to -3 to -1°C. 3.81kWh 1.15kW max. Another cold but sunny day. After dusk the temperature started to go down again but then rose in the late evening.
The potatoes in the pots in the polytunnel have succumbed to last night's frost. Earlier than some years but there are enough small new potatoes for a least 4 delicious servings in the next few days. This is always a gamble but sometimes there is no real frost till January and we have fresh new potatoes at Christmas.
Despite the frost the white spray chrysanthemums are still flowering away undamaged, even producing some perfume in the sun.
Friday 30th -2 to 4 to -2°C. 578Wh 159W max. A still grey day with thick high cloud.
Kept warm by hand sawing logs most of the afternoon.
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