Arnie and Sylvester my two beautiful woodland bunnies have had to come down into the house today. They were covered in mud after digging in their mud piles the last few days. Arnie was a good boy but Sly decided to scratch the living daylights out of me as I put them in their carry case to bring down.
I popped them into a dog crate complete with fluffy fleece blanket. At first I didn’t want to spook them by just getting them straight into a bath. I decided to wash them down with some special bunny shampoo and warm water. They really enjoyed it as I guess they thought I was grooming them. However, they were just too muddy and it really wasn’t doing too much the sponge.
Arnie was enjoying the sponge 🧽
Mally got the green bucket type thingy thing we use for all our animal bathing needs and filled it with warm water. Both boys did really well and were stars. Letting us wash them. I wasn’t impressed with the bunny shampoo. Didn’t do a thing against that muck. Maybe I’ll try a baby shampoo in future.
Mally giving Arnie a bathDrying out in front of the fire. However, the fire tripped what little electricity we still have. Susie on her new clean cat basket.
They are both back in the dog crate tonight to thoroughly dry out. They’ve got a big pile of hay and some veg and water. The heater is also positioned near the cage to help them dry out in this cold weather. The only issue is they still look really dirty even after all that!
The roofers are due tomorrow to start work on the old roof. My very first post was about that bloody roof! Anyway at least it’s getting sorted. I’ve set up a brew station for the roofers. Complete even with biscuits and cappuccino sachets….I need a couple of extra tiles on one of the out buildings 😉
I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was awoken by the sound of a lot of banging noises during the middle of the night. I never found out what it was as the noise just disappeared. It sounded like it was coming from downstairs, but it is completely empty down there now. Everything has been taken away.
It was an early start this morning as scaffolders came to erect…..well scaffolding. I had organised my roof, well about four of my roofs to be reroofed in September but due to everything going on in the world, it’s only getting done now. It seems everything at once. But at least this means the roof will be in good condition in case of another storm. The strange thing was during the storm my old roof didn’t let a drop of water in. At least something in this building held out!
Scaffolding in the rear garden
My little quail DJ is still in the house with me. She’s good company and chats away. I don’t want you to think this is some Stephen King’s ‘Misery’ type scenario as she is free to leave at any point. However, I did catch her making a break for the stairs last night. I managed to grab her before she got to the back door. I only found her by luck as she’d knocked over my classy lady and the tramp ornament (that I’d found in a kinder egg) over. I didn’t break her knees like Kathy Bates did in the film. I really do think that was perhaps a step too far. On a serious note little DJ is doing really well and seems to be recovering from what I suspect to have been a cold or Covid. The other quails are totally fine.
DJ having her quail pellets resting in her makeshift house cage
The last two days a restoration company have been inside my sludge covered pit. All the damaged goods have been removed and the area thoroughly cleaned. There now stands several industrial dryers on the ground floor. Hopefully this will start drying up the place. I’m sure this building has seen worse in her 300 years.
After the cleaningThe morning after the flood
Things are starting to look a lot better already. However, we will have to continue living upstairs for quite a while yet. The electrics are too dangerous and in fact likely fried downstairs so no power there. The telephone and internet connections have been destroyed and worst of all Susie’s cat basket needs at least a surface of the sun degree wash in the washing machine…if I had a washing machine anymore.
I’ve been told by the insurance this is going to be a long process, especially as the building is grade II listed. A surveyor from English Heritage has to advise the insurance on what can and can’t be touched as some things in the building are nearing 300 years old. This is going to take some time.
Getting therePre clean up
Most of the day I have been upstairs in my bedsit babysitting one of my old quails who needed a bit of TLC. Whilst I was doing that, the restorers were hard at work cleaning. So glad for insurance otherwise I would have been doing that 😥.
DJ snoozing in the warm bedroom
DJ my quail is an old lady now and it was cold outside so I brought her in for a cuppa and chat. With COVID she’s the only visitor (apart from emergency clean up crews) I can have at the minute. She really perked up after her cup of tea.
The electrician came and managed to install two power sockets that we could run extension leads from. He also managed to get the lights back on. As he went upstairs to check the boiler, my cat Cagney decided to drop a dead bird at his feet. Thanks Cagney. I apologised profusely but he just thought the incident was hilarious. But thinking on it, Cagney was rewarding the electrician with a gift for getting the heating back on. Cagney and Lacey spend most of the day laying on my bed with the electric blanket on full blast. The pair of them were very happy.
I had decided to set up camp in my bedroom. A student bedsit type approach was what was needed. I secured an emergency box of wine…yes a box! because that’s how I roll these days. I also sent out for provisions from the local purveyor of fine potatoes and fish…I ordered a chip butty with scraps.
Emergency box of wine and chip butty and mini heater.
I needed some sort of kitchenette type set up next. Although I love takeaways and will happy have them everyday the cost does mount. The dressing room seemed like a good idea.
Kitchenette That Stella fridge has come into its own. Shame there’s no Stella in there.
If I’m being totally honest, I love my new set up. Everything within reaching distance. Really cosy if you ignore the contaminated sludge over every single surface downstairs. Yes a lot of people think I’m mad, staying there with that sludge around but they’ve never had to clean Vinnie and Rambo’s bums with a sponge after their new sheep feed disagreed with them….this is a picnic in comparison 😂. The upstairs is completely clean honestly gov’ner.
Fonzie the house bunny has been relegated to the back bedroom as her beautiful white fur would never recover from a journey to the sludge side.
Fonzie now behind a baby gate. She’s in there somewhere….I hope.
And finally to complete my student transformation I bought that delectable treat…the quintessential and despite the flavour suggestion on the top totally vegetarian dirty pot noodle.
We’d had no sleep. I was so worried about my cat and what I would find at home. My brother in law dropped us back off home on his way to work. I was dreading opening that front door. The street was quiet and all the flood gates were still up. The water had almost totally disappeared from the road that had only a few hours earlier been a raging torrent.
I was expecting to walk into at least three feet of water, but there was now just inches deep puddles everywhere. A brown and black sludge now covered every single surface on the ground floor. The water had receded.
I ran upstairs shouting for my cat Cagney. She was sat on the landing looking over at me. I cried with joy. She was safe and well. She’d obviously hidden somewhere upstairs during the chaos and in the dark we hadn’t been able to find her.
Mud and sludge covering the living roomThe kitchenWhat a mess
Although it was very messy, I was very relieved, I had found Cagney and my house although quite damaged wasn’t still under water.
I went outside and into the woodland to check and feed my hens, quails, rabbits and rams. They were all completely fine and totally oblivious to what had happened.
The next task was to go and pick up my animals from Trish. I knocked on the door and could see through the front windows my Susie cat peering through the window. Trish welcomed us in. It was unbelievable she had been sat comforting my animals most of the night. She’d even managed to source a rabbit cage from a kind neighbour to put Fonzie in. As I put my animals into their carry cases the cats hissed….I think they wanted to stay.
We got back into the house. The electrics were damaged and unsafe to use. The house was freezing. We had nothing apart from luckily the old coal fire in the living room and the wood burning stove in the kitchen. I rang the insurance. They said they would send a clean up team straight away and try and sort an electrician. I declined their offer of a hotel as I stated I would accept nothing less than The Savoy and required rooms for my 28 animals. Obviously 😂 in reality it was because I couldn’t leave my animals. It was grim but worse things happen at sea as they say…but I think my home may actually have become the sea the night before.
Fair play to the insurance within three hours a restoration team had arrived. However, they couldn’t start work until the power had been restored and the electrician now couldn’t make it until the following morning.
My neighbours have been unbelievably fantastic. Dawn my neighbour who was also flooded came straight away and asked if we needed anything, considering she had her own mess to clean up! My friend from across the road Lou also came straight over bringing me food and making sure I was ok. Sometimes it takes events like this to realise how lucky we are to be surrounded by awesome people.
A little later in the day I heard a knock on the door. The local councillor had brought round hot food for everyone that had been provided by the East Cleveland good neighbours group and the very kind local loftus lounge. I was freezing and really hungry so this was a god send. Even later in the day the councillor came round and handed us all two bags of shopping each full of the most excellent quality food all donated. No one on the street had asked or expected help but it was given. The generosity of the local community made me cry. I’ve had so many offers of help from friends and family. It’s easy during these dark days of COVID to feel alone but I realised I truly wasn’t alone.
Vegetable pasta bake and carrot and coriander soup with a roll. Restaurant quality food given out and gratefully received
As the night went on the temperature in the house plummeted and we had no lights or boiler. I decided to go to my sister’s house. Mally was steadfast and wanted to stay in the house regardless. My sister and brother in law have been absolute superstars, helping bucketing out water and providing me with somewhere to stay.
My three year old niece saw this as a sleepover and demanded to share a room with me. I think I read every unicorn story known to man. She then decided to get up and rearrange her bedroom. When she said she needed the potty I used this as my chance and shouted my sister. My sister then said to my niece you can come into bed with me. Result. I love my niece but I was desperately tired. However tired I was I just couldn’t sleep. I was lucky though I was warm and in a warm house.
I went back home early the next day to await the electrician. Mally said it had been so dark and cold and he’d used my Yankee candles as lights. But complained saying they didn’t give off much light…..that’s not their primary purpose. Mally said it was strange going up to bed holding a candle. It was just like when the house was built in around 1760. We were going back in time, back to the original roots of the house.
Well Wednesday seemed to start like any other Wednesday, it was raining which isn’t unusual in the U.K.
Just before 6pm I was upstairs on my laptop doing some work and Mally was in the spare room on his Xbox. I received a phone call from my neighbour telling me to go outside as the rain was starting to pool outside my house. There is also a beck/river across the road from my house and it was looking very full.
I ran downstairs and immediately saw water coming in through the front door. We immediately ran and got the flood gates to put on the front door and gates. We also hold the flood gates for several of my neighbours as well. I went over to the beck to check. It was starting to rise rapidly. I immediately contacted the council for sand bags. They said they would come as soon as possible but were trapped in Redcar a few miles away as all the roads were now blocked.
A full looking beck
The water began to rise and we were bucking water out of the front of the property. Numerous people came to our assistance to help us and our disabled neighbours. The flood gates were old and my neighbour desperately tried to fill in the gaps using poly filler.
It looked like we might keep it at bay at first
I then noticed water pouring through the back door as well. The flood gates were already up but it wasn’t enough to stop it. It was still raining heavily and the drains had nowhere to drain to as the beck was filling fast.
The rear garden. Now filling with water.
My sister and brother in law arrived to help. We bucketed water out of the property for three hours. A gentleman appeared at our door who I’d never seen before with a bilge pump. We attempted to stop the flow of water through the house. Even the local councillors came and were bucketing water. We tried everything, even trying to use large bags of animal feed and hay to try and create a dam.
My sister and I had now realised that water was now entering the living room rapidly. But it wasn’t coming through the front door anymore. It was coming up through the floorboards.
Just as the water was starting to enter. It then became a big problem fast as more entered shortly after this photo.
The water had suddenly risen massively and within two to three minutes it was over the top of my Wellington boots. I rang the fire brigade and they said they were on their way. I didn’t know at the time as I was inside the living room that the beck had breached and now thousands of gallons of water was on its way into my house.
The lights went off as the water reached the plug sockets. I had readied cages for my cats and house rabbit who were all upstairs. I hadn’t expected to need it as it appeared before the breach that we would be ok. We were now in darkness and I ran outside to see that the beck was now throwing huge amounts of water into the street.
The breach of the beckThe beginning of the end
Mally went to move the cars. I shouted to Mally I needed to get the animals out. As I was shouting a lady appeared and said lets go in and get them. I warned her it was dangerous inside as all power was out and the water was now knee high. She didn’t care and came straight in. We both used our iPhone torches and went in. We found Susie and Lacey straight away on the landing and bundled them into carry cases. We then found the house rabbit Fonzie up in the loft. It was not easy, she had crawled into one of the narrow passages. Cagney my other cat had ran away. We couldn’t find her. We went back outside. The water had risen even further downstairs and it was a struggle getting through. The lady..Trish stood outside with my three animals, whilst myself and Mally went back inside to search for Cagney. We knew all the other animals in the woodland were safe as they were on a slope and it wasn’t flooded. In fact the water was coming down from the woodland and straight into my house.
We searched and searched for Cagney we just couldn’t find her in the dark. We knew if she went into the attic she would be fine as it was so high. As we were searching a voice came booming into the house telling us to get out now. It was the coastguard.
We went to the door and were told in no uncertain terms by a coastguard across the road from us to stay were we were to await rescue. I stood in my garden and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Within just a few minutes the pavement and road outside my door was turned into a raging torrent of water. There was nowhere to go. The back of the property was now under several feet of water and the rear flood gates were only just holding.
The end of road. My street had now become a raging river. This was taken just a minute or two before rescue by the coastguard
The coastguard lined up in a group of four holding onto each other. The lead coastguard had a long stick to poke on the water and they carefully made their way towards us. I climbed over the flood barrier and held onto the lead coastguard’s vest and then was surrounded by the other three coastguards and we made our way to safety. They then went back for Mally. We stood at the side of the road in quiet disbelief. A few hours earlier I had been sat in my bedroom without a care in the world and now my house was under water and my cat was missing. That lovely lady Trish had taken my animals to her house to look after them for the night. A true hero, I was a total stranger to her and yet she went into a dangerous house to rescue animals and then looked after them all night! It’s times like this that you realise that humanity, bravery and kindness are still alive and well.
We were directed to go to the White Horse Inn which had been opened to act as a rest centre for those involved in the flood. Although we are in lockdown due to COVID this was an emergency situation and the rules are able to change slightly in these circumstances. We stood outside the pub which was only a short walk away. The landlord came out and beckoned us straight in. He had lit a roaring fire and had put the football on the telly…my kind of place! We stood in front of the cosy fire. We had been stood in flood water for four hours by this time. I hadn’t even realised I was soaking wet and cold until now. The situation had been so intense that I hadn’t noticed.
We were then picked up by my sister and brother in law who had left just as the beck had burst. There was nothing more they could do by that point and I had told them to leave. We had a long drive to their house even though it is only around a five minute drive away. The roads were all flooded.
We made it to their address and changed clothing. I was given a hot water bottle and cup of tea. We then went to bed. Neither Mally nor I could sleep. It was restless night. I was worried about my missing cat most of all, I was worried about my woodland animals even though I knew they were safe. I was also very worried about what I would find in the morning……
It’s a much nicer day today. Still chilly but milder and no rain so far. The better weather has allowed me to spend more time with my Golden Girls today. The Golden girls are my hens BoBo and Charlie. They live separately to my other hens as Bobo has a leg disability and Charlie just seems to get beaten up by the other girls. They live in my bottom garden whilst the other girls live in the upper woodland garden.
They are both really happy hens and are constantly chatting to me. However, I bet they wouldn’t mind living in the Florida sunshine like the real life golden girls did!
Charlie came to me after my neighbour and friend spotted her hiding in a BBQ in her partner’s garden. Enquiries were made but No one seemed to know where Charlie had come from. I took her in and nursed her back to health. She was underweight, had bumblefoot and mycoplasma . Now she’s fully fit and is great company for my disabled hen BoBo.
Charlie living under a BBQCharlie having some TLC after being found in a BBQ. This was around seven months agoCharlie after she stole my sandwich 🥪
BoBo is quite the character herself. She was in the local press a few months back. One quiet autumn afternoon the peace was suddenly shattered for miles around. A sonic boom had tumbled throughout the whole area and people were concerned. Everyone believes it was an RAF exercise but it was never confirmed. At first people thought, oh no now an asteroid to add to our covid woes, but that appeared luckily not to be the case!
Anyway why might BoBo be part of this sonic boom? Well I have wildlife cameras set up to keep an eye on my girls and to monitor the local hedgehogs. The sonic boom had been captured on my wildlife cam. BoBo’s reaction had also been captured. It appeared that I was the only person to have actually captured the boom on camera. The local rag…Evening gazette ran the story and a video of BoBo running away from the sudden blast. Below is a link to the article if you’d like a look.
So both Charlie and BoBo have stories to tell! Today they are both in their bird flu quarantine run. They seem happy enough but I will be glad when they can finally go free range again and I’m sure they will be too!
Bruce finally came home yesterday. I found him in one of the little wooden coop boxes I have in the bunny run. He was dead. I Couldn’t see any injuries on him and he was still floppy. A few hours earlier I had pushed my endoscope camera back down into the Warren just to check again. I got a shock as thought I’d seen two eyes in the darkness. But I thought my eyes were playing tricks.
A few hours later I went up into the dark woodland to put some extra hay into the boxes to make Arnie and Sly warm during a cold night. As I lifted the box lid, I gasped. Bruce was there, clearly dead. The light of my head torch had caught his blank eyes. He had been missing for around four weeks. He had finally come back home. He appeared to come back home to die. I’m sorry Bruce I wish I could have helped you. I just couldn’t find you.
He’s buried now in the woodland.
His two brothers don’t seem bothered at all. But I guess that’s life in nature. Bad things happen and you have to keep on going. I was used to having all my animals in a safe urban garden, shielded from the outside world. Countryside living is a different beast altogether. It can be brutal and there is danger everywhere for all animals. I always try my best to keep them safe. But sometimes I fail and Mother Nature takes her beasties back.
Bruce(the grey lad) and his brothers Arnie and Sly
I feel it’s appropriate to quote that magnificent book Watership Down…. “My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.”
The weather forecast isn’t good tonight. Looks like snow from the early hours. Although I love snow, getting to work, shopping and other essential tasks are a nightmare!
The rams have big thick coats but I still worry about them, so I’ve just put a load of warm hay in their shelter. They love it. Hopefully they’ll stay snuggled down in the shelter all night.
Vinnie and Rambo enjoying the fresh hay
Vinnie and Rambo are miniature rams. They are from the breed of Ouessant sheep. Although they still pack a punch with their horns despite being “miniature”. When I first adopted them in June I hadn’t realised what I had let myself in for. Vinnie constantly rammed me and everyone else….it was painful.
They had both come from a very loving family, it’s just that family had two very small children now and it was becoming dangerous with the rams. After being rammed for a few days, I decided to contact the vets. Vinnie needed the snip, ASAP.
However, this wasn’t like a regular visit to the vet as I would with my cats, oh no. I got to see the whole operation whilst holding vinnie’s tail up for the vet.
The lady vet arrived at the house drenched, it was pouring down. Thunder and lightening the lot. We decided quickly that the op would take place in the old workshop/shed in the garden. The vet asked if I could fetch a bucket of water. I erred on the side of caution and brought a warm bucket of water out….that’s what happens on the telly when people give birth at home don’t they???
Mally took hold of Vinnie’s front and horns. I lifted his back legs up and tail up and the vet got to work. To be fair Vinnie was a really good boy. He had a numbing injection and then the vet used a razor blade for the work then stitched him up. She did a really good job and made sure she showed me the erm baubles she had stolen from Vinnie. It was actually quite interesting. Yorkshire vet eat your heart out haha. We were given a few injections of antibiotics to give him and the vet went on her merry way. Vinnie ran away from us for a week or two…can’t say I blame him. But he was fine and after a few weeks he had completely stopped head butting me. Success!
In the country not in the country 