Ups and Downs

Having a caravan means (in theory) that we can get away at the drop of a hat. It is always ready to go (in theory). No one will have borrowed bits off it for agricultural purposes (in theory). And everything will work as well as it did last year (in theory).

Having got first cut silage we have decided we can get away for a few days next week, so we went to check out the caravan. For some reason the battery had been removed to put on the old digger. We got it back in and connected and tested the lights. No good. We tried another battery. Still no good. Now, the battery can either be charged externally with a battery charger, or onboard using the caravan's Zig charger. This also keeps it charged when on site and connected to the electric. Every day last week batteries moved between the caravan and battery charger, but never managed to get the magic needle on the control panel to flicker. After much poking about under cupboards we found some fuses, changed one and Hey Presto we had battery power.

Next issue to overcome was the oven. It's always been a bit temperamental - switching off while cooking supper and we have resorted to using tape to hold in the switch to keep it on. Henry thought he should look into it and that maybe the jets were bunged up. So after disconnecting everything got to work with spanners and sockets. At one point it got a bit serious as something was unscrewed that shouldn't have been and it took much ingenuity with a long piece of wire to get it back together again. So it's working again - at least as well (or not) as before.

The last thing to do was to check and purify the water supply. Seasoned caravanners (and we should be called that after 35 years) know to drain the water system before winter. But we're too optimistic - expecting to get  away one more time in autumn, or too hopeful - "it'll be alright" - and don't always get this done. Remember the temperatures last winter (minus 15 in December)? When we put the pump in a can of water and turned on the tap, the water ran out quickly - but not into the sink. The inevitable had happened and something had blown on the water heater and water was leaking fast. After much wriggling and wiggling Henry got the water heater out and discovered that a vital tie rod had sheared.  No problem we thought, we'll look on the Internet and order a new part. Not as easy as we thought. It seems that this heater hasn't been made for eight years and there are no new parts. So we started looking at caravan breakers and eventually found a site in Wales with the part in stock. I rang up this morning to check if the website was correct and then ordered the part. It should be here in a couple of days, and assuming it's the right bit and we can put it all back together again it will be all systems go. A lesson learnt - always drain the water before winter!

All the hassle over the weekend was making me feel a bit low, but an emailed alert this morning lifted my spirits way high -

So I'll be on poised to click at 09:00 on Thursday. Something to look forward to next year. At least I don't have to check my working rota now.

Weather in France

If you've been reading the comments to recent posts, you will have seen updates from our cousins in France about the weather there. I thought I would gather them all together -

19 May 2011 18:34

Here in Charente-Maritime, France, it's been wall-to-wall sunshine since the beginning of March (only 50mm of rain since 01/03). We are now in "stress" conditions for farmers - no irrigation, no forage available, farmers selling their milking stock for slaughter because they have no feed.

Welcome to global warming?

27 May 2011 18:44

Thought I'd give you an update from Charente-Maritime after another week without rain.

You look to have some good silage there. Farmers here claim their first cut (about 4 weeks ago) was of poor quality,: and that the grass hasn't grown since. Some Mayors are now allowing farmers to cut and harvest the verges of the small lanes. Other farmers are cutting any fallow piece of land with anything like grass on it for fodder. Our large pasture opposite, which has not been "farmed" in the last 12 years to our knowledge, yielded a meagre 2 round bales. We've seen small traffic islands being cut. It's crazy. The grass - or whatever - is clearly of poor quality but the farmers are desperate for fodder.

Last weekend they blocked local motorway slip-roads, met up outside the Prefect's office, and blocked the roads to the beaches. This latter was important.

AS they argue, tourism is important here (we are N° 3 in the most sunny departments in France), and the visitors have been flocking here to enjoy the weather. Tourists also need water. They are getting it, farmers are not. (Crops are about 3/4 weeks ahead of normal, so maize needs water now).

The only good point is that fishing, especially Oyster fishing (our oyster beds are the largest in France) don't need fresh water - yet. Oysters grow in estuaries, so need both salt and fresh water. But the current mix of each is said to be OK.

The rain forecast for yesterday and today didn't appear. Showers are forecast for Monday. We'll see.

7 June 2011 18:49

May I give you a late - but final - update on weather, etc in Charente-Maritime?
We hadn't had rain since 01/04 (5mm). Saturday 04/06 it got hotter, and hotter: 36°C in the shade, and humid (it was unbearable outdoors). Then, about 8,45 in the evening it started raining; then the lightning and thunder; then the downpour. By 10,15, when it had stopped, we'd had 18mm. Wonderful! Since then we've had a couple of light showers only but hope for more.

Final tales: Farmers locally have been harvesting winter-sown barley for about 3 weeks now. Normally they burn the straw in the fields to help the soil; but this year have been asked to save it for stock and milk farmers. The local paper reported that one farmer was burning his straw, when he was visited by about 15 other farmers, who "took him aside to explain his responsibilities". So polite French farmers. ....
We have trials farm locally where they are piloting Sorghum, noted for its hardiness against summer drought. But it needs water to germinate: and, with our dry Spring, it hasn't germinated.
River fishermen and oyster farmers are now complaining about the low river levels: worst ever. So, it looks like fewer gifts from our fishing neighbour; and more expensive oysters. How will we manage?

Back online

Last night I got the new weather station talking to the computer. And this afternoon I have got the computer talking to the website.

So if you click on   here  you can see how hot/cold/wet/dry or windy it is at Strickley. Or you can open the Strickley Weather tab below the picture of cows and click on the link on that page. Or - click on the link on the right - "Strickley Weather" - so many ways!

As I said yesterday, we have moved to a completely different weather station. It came with it's own software (Weatherlink) which I thought I might use. But I don't like the look of the charts and graphics. It's very "blocky" and almost childlike. I know that design is very subjective (and I'm not the most artistic in the family), but I prefer something subtler. But of course looks aren't everything, and I thought it didn't show as much information as I'm used to. The information was there; but not always where or the way I expected. Maybe I've been hasty, but I've gone back to the software (Weather Display) I used before.

The data now should be much more accurate and I'm confident will continue to flow seamlessly.

I'm still tinkering with the web setup - there's things I want to tweak a bit, but the basic data will stay the same.

Just a word of warning - the updates to the website only happen when my computer is switched on. I won't be leaving it on all night. So between about 10 pm and 8 pm there will be no updates. (The timings may change, depending on how late I stay up, and when I get up ).But the data is stored on the weather console, so as soon as I start up the program all the overnight data flows to the computer and onto the website. And - we've started with a clean sheet from Day One. The history doesn't show on this version.

If you have any comments please let me know.

Weather watching

Or, once a weather girl, always a weather girl.

When we finally called it a day with our old weather station last month, we sort of said "never again". I stuck it out for about two weeks then admitted to my cravings and ordered a new system.  We've taken a bit of a leap and invested in what promises to be a much better system. It's well regarded by weather watchers all over the world and should give many years of faithful service. One of the problems with the previous setup was the location. While the Teapot Field was handy, it was also slightly sheltered by the house and buildings. It was originally put there to transmit to the computer in the office at side of the house. But that computer is also consigned to the scrap heap, so we had a blank sheet to start planning on.

So the new setup - a Davis Vantage Pro 2 - is up on top of a hill (about 130 metres above sea level), on a purpose built pole (7.5 metres), with the anemometer at the top and the other instruments half way down. It's fenced in by the hedge in Plucker and transmits the data to a console in the kitchen. Currently that's as far as it goes, but in the next few days I'll get it set up to connect to the computer (slight problem with USB connectivity at the moment) and then onto out website.

And this is the view looking west from the weather station, down towards Morecambe Bay

Evidence

This (taken yesterday), shows evidence of which two creatures at Strickley?
(ignore the finger - there just to show scale)

Sorry it's only sound and vision

Or maybe you're glad it's not in Smellyvision.

Click here to watch on You Tube 

Once again I had problems uploading straight to Blogger.

 It's the first warmish sunny day for ages - but the whiff in the air is a bit too strong for sitting out

Done and dusted

All of first cut is now in the pit and sheeted up. So, there will be a rather agricultural whiff in the air as we spread muck. The promised heatwave never arrived, but we were lucky with the weather. While it rained round about us we managed to keep dry. In an ideal world we would like a few more dry days to get the muck on, then some rain to wash it in.