In and Out

That was quite a storm.
We've all been lucky, no flooding and only minor damage.  We did begin to wonder if it would ever stop.  TB's horses got soaked through and with the wind howling across their pasture (? paddy field more like) they were shivering with cold so now they are all wearing their winter jackets and it's not yet October; she was  worried that the river might flood the road in front of her house, however, it managed to stay within its banks (mostly).  Environment Agency records show that it peaked in the early hours of Wednesday, one measuring station on the Esk was at over 3m, typically it's running at around half a metre. My bird feeders are sodden again but are being emptied every few hours so no risk of the seed rotting! Another large sack of feed is due to be delivered this afternoon. There was one casualty, a huge chunk of the coppiced willow has come down.  It was due for felling again this winter so it's not too disastrous.  The toppings are being diced up for the horses, the bigger pieces will be cut into log sized lengths and left to dry out before ending up on the stove.
It's been a bit of an in and out of the office week for the Team. HB's had meetings and consultations to attend, AW's had to juggle hours to fit with children, TB works mostly from home but has had car (and horse) trouble whilst KH has been missing at odd times over the past month belting back and forth across the moors to the vets in Pickering.  It's all down to the trials and tribulations of a, not so small, occasional office hound (read all about Finnegan's latest misadventures here, (No, Niall not you, it's a bit gruesome!)) and today a specialist consultation for one of the labradors - we're thinking of buying shares in the vets!
I saw an amazing sight yesterday afternoon whilst standing around outside waiting for the troublesome hound to do his business. Overhead was the unmistakeable gabble of geese and there was a skein of around 20 pinkies, not so unusual at this time of year but flying in the opposite direction perfectly centred in the middle of the skein was a swallow.  Why, oh why do you never have your camera to hand when you really need it?
Despite all that this week's edition of the Weekly has gone to press, there are 14 pages this week with 48 new paid posts of which 36 came direct to CJS  and 17 adverts for volunteers.