December 26th 2009: The Morning After
Who would have thought our first Christmas in our new home would have been a white one?! Well, it was more ice than snow but it was still white. Today MUD! We had a busy Christmas...and anyone who knows us would know that that is completely 'in-character' for us. Two days before Christmas, I was getting prepared! No, not gift wrapping or preparing the food. I got my chainsaw out and went and cleared felled trees and 'mess' around the gate that leads from our hayfield to the Brechfa forest. I was getting ready for our annual Christmas Day run. Yep, I'd even been training for it (and Kelvin had not!).

Kelvin took the chainsaw and petrol tank up the hill on a borrowed quad bike. At least I didn't have the carry the darned thing up the hill. My niece, Bridget, and her fiance, Scott, were here for Christmas so Bridget was my helper up the hill whilst Scott and Kelvin were hanging the kennel doors Kelvin had made. It didn't take us long to clear the path to the forest, and we even snagged a couple of gorse bushes while we were up there. We left the chainsaw and petrol tank under a tree for Kelvin to retrieve later in the day. BIG mistake. Kelvin went back up the hill on the bike for these but ran out of petrol half way up so off he, Scott and Bridget went for petrol and a last minute shop at Tesco. I begged off going to that madhouse.

While they were away, it started snowing heavily. Darn! I couldn't leave my precious chainsaw out in the snow so the dogs and I had a fantastic walk in the snow to get it (little did I know that Kelvin, Bridget and Scott were laying bets over whether I would walk up the hill to get the chainsaw. Kelvin won the bet). It was hard work walking it down the hill!!! The dogs had a great time but dropped me in a New York minute as soon as I mentioned time for 'cookies.' All but Jamie ran off down the hill to go make sure their dinner bowls were ready and waiting for me. Traitors!

Kelvin and I did enjoy our Christmas Day run with Bailey. We went exploring in the Brechfa forest. There are SO many trails there. Of course I left Kelvin for dead on the last uphill of the run. YES! All that training was worth my 2 seconds of inflicting pain - and shame - on Kelvin. It is usually me who suffers but occassionally I get to give some of that back! On the last uphill, Bailey caught a rabbit. Much excitement! A good excuse for Kelvin to walk!

After our run, the fun really started. Bridget was called into action to finish oiling the doors of the kennel. This was the last thing needed for the kennel doors to be finished. Merry Christmas to the dogs. No more drafts!

Here's all of our handiwork

With extra hands, it was time to get some gates up. Scott, Kelvin and I hung the last two gates and fixed a bit of fencing. We purchased a few gates months ago but some did not get delivered until the week before Christmas. We have now replaced 5 gates and while we need to replace about another 15, that will have to wait! Three of the five gates went on the main training field, and two are in the field leading up to the hill. This makes the movement of sheep and dogs for training much easier!

Gate leading from the kennel to the main training field

We also puppy proofed a play area for young dogs using some sheep hurdles. This is just temporary fencing until we get the outside of our kennel excavated and waterproofed. Once we have this done, we'll fence this area in properly and use the hurdles elsewhere.

As Kelvin and I repaired a piece of fencing, Scott sharpened the axe and chopped all our firewood. Then we all had a turn at shovelling a path from the kennel to the house. It was mighty slippery!

Of course, our plan was to work until our turkey was cooked. It was a good plan until we ran out of gas to cook the turkey! Oops. Plan B! BBQ turkey? Not enough gas in that tank either. Thankfully we have a small electric oven and that was pressed into action. We had to 'downsize' the 18lb turkey that Mike and Nora had given us for Christmas, and cook just the breast. That's all the oven could fit but it was plenty for us all.

A good day!

Not much in the way of dog training over the last few days. It has been so icy that the dogs have been slipping around and hurting themselves, or cutting their pads. Hopefully we'll get some dogs out today for a wee bit of fun.