Soggibottom 1000 post and giveaway.

The Soggibottom giveaway is to mark our 1000 cottage post.
It has been extended into January. As Soggibottom normally posts a giveaway on the 7th of December to mark the cottage birthday and missed this year's deadline.
I hope everyone is happy with the giveaway ending at midnight GMT on January 7th, 2014.
The draw taking place on the 8th January 2014.

As usual, the giveaway is intended for all friends and followers of Soggibottom's cottage blog.
If your not a follower, you can still enter, by clicking on friends and followers to become eligible.

I also ask that you share the giveaway by letting all your own friends and followers know, either by putting it on your side bar or by letting everyone know by a post. 
It's Christmas and it's about sharing.

I also have to know who you are, so a comment on this post will help.

That's it. Then your entered.
I do check, as most of you know, so no sneaky stuff :-)

One more thing, the bear will travel, he isn't limited to one continent and will travel to anywhere in the world.

This 7 inch little guy's pattern has been adapted from a 1940's pattern .I have a fondness for older patterned bears.
He has a sweater and hat to keep him warm on his travels.

The cottage is now 345 years old, restored loving by us after flooding a number of times over the last ten years. Hopefully Soggibottom will keep her feet dry for a few more years and Christmases to come.

Freya Rose Blossom and Frankie de tabby can be found over at CAT FLAP CAVALIER. They are still opening all their Christmas mail.
Little did we know when they joined a Christmas card swap list they would both be so popular. They have more Christmas cards than us.

 

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Soggibottom and The CAT FLAP CAVALIER :-) x x x

Jim's bear and bird houses.

One of the bears toddled off over our little bridge yesterday to his new home.
We thought it best we take his photo with our cottage bear to remind us that the lucky ted is going to sit under a palm tree, on a small Caribbean Island, he really did come from here.

He might have to take off his Winter sweater, scarf and hat in all the heat. I also forgot to remind his new owner, that although he will probably love living in the sun, he shouldn't be placed in full sunlight for long or it will fade his colouring. Mohair left in the sun tends to fade.
With an after thought maybe I should have given him a sun hat but I wasn't quite sure where he was going to live, in London or on that far away island.  Oh, lucky bear.

We've been promised an update and photo when he arrives, apart from a car ride, one long haul plane journey, it also involves a helicopter ride. He is going to be a house bear, sitting looking out onto a sun drenched, golden sandy beach.
At certain times he will have to  pull his weight at keeping Grandchildren happy when they go to visit. Oh, lucky bear.
It was a pleasure to see his new owners eye's light up as he was handed over yesterday.

Back to reality, the bird houses made last week were put into place.

The Soggibottom carpenter had to climb down a water relief channel and then back up onto the bank on the other side. JUST LIKE A CAT. With the help of a ladder.

The bird boxes (houses) are very popular, if you look back to old posts you can find out how to make them yourself. The patten and instructions are free.
THANKS TO THE SOGGIBOTTOM CARPENTER.
For everyone who has emailed to say thank you for the patten and instructions of how to build a bird box, your very welcome.
The bird boxes seem very popular with bird reserves all around the world.

The days of long shadows are here again, for one minute I was with the bear sitting under a palm tree, in thought anyway.
Have a great week.

Christmas Sparkle

Can the year have gone by so quickly ?
Another anniversary of us moving into Soggibottom. Wow, what a birthday present I had that year.
If I tell you how long ago it was, it will age me even more, so lets say, it seems just like yesterday.

I waited a whole quarter of a hour into December the 7th last night to open some of my cards.
The black Labrador pup I have been dropping hints about, didn't happen. Frank de tabby would have given it, a dogs life anyway. Poor pup would have been licked to death.

I had a needle case from Wendy and her beautiful cat Tia. Thanks Wendy, it's brilliant.
As well as other beautiful sewing related gits, makes me wonder if someone is trying to tell me to get back into a creative mood.

We had a great day out visiting three of our grand kids during the week. Not sure what they are fed on, but they get taller each time we visit. Thanks for such a great day out guys.

Our car was loaded down like Santa's sleigh.
They all opened one present, besides, we will miss seeing them on Christmas Day, and it should be Christmas Day every day of the year. I can see our daughter laughing at that suggestion.

The Soggibottom Carpenter has gone back to work, building new houses for the birds.
They are to replace the one's that were taken down when the large Ash tree outside of Soggibottom was felled to make way for the new water relief channel earlier in the year. Hopefully they will go up before the cold weather hits us down here in Devon.
Birds still like to shelter and huddle together in boxes like these when Winter temperatures tumble.
One slight problem, the Soggibottom carpenter will now have to climb down into the water channel, climb out the other side to put them up, as he often tells me he's, "just like a cat" when climbing, I won't worry until I have to go and help him out of the relief channel.

Around the park at the back of Soggibottom the road guys have started a new project. A rolling road no less. They are still working on the stream further down at the other end of the park, but why oh, why couldn't they have used this last year instead of doing so much damage right beside us ?
As they say, that's water under the bridge, time to move on towards Christmas.

The terrible two, Frank and Freya seemed to be joined at the hip lately, where one is, the other follows. I think that has something to do with the postmen and all their Christmas Cards that have been arriving.
We have three, they have a whole pile of them.
You can find them both, over at CAT FLAP CAVALIER

At this time of year, Soggibottom normally does a giveaway. There will be one, but in January next year.  I won't forget.

One last photo, one I found on the net, of our youngest Granddaughter. She's growing up quickly, at this time of year Cambodia seems a terribly long way away, and it is.

Have a great day, even if the sky is darker than normal because of the weather, you can always go and stand under some Christmas lights to bring the sparkle back to the day.

Thanks again for all the birthday wishes and cards. Midge x x x 

The Gate Way to Home

It can't be rocket science to fit a new front cottage gate. Can it ?
We don't need anything so grand as the ones outside of Buckingham palace.
We like to be secure, but we don't need a gate to keep hoards of people at bay, we don't need to keep a herd of wandering cattle in either.

We've been waiting for ages to update everything on here, hence our absence.

Eventually our new gate arrived almost a month after our new wall had been built and after a few mishaps along the way.

It was too tall.

Right size, just built the wrong way around.

So many things that have happened down here this year, they really couldn't be made up. Can't help but laugh.

 Ah, just right.

It seems to have been a very long nine months on this side of our little bridge.
A whole nine months since the first arrival of a demolition crew to knock down the old cottage next door to us.
It was knocked down to give space to make a water relief channel to help stop the whole area from flooding. Living near a cute looking stream in the Summer can be a totally different bag of worms when living near one in the Winter and the stream goes through a known flood plain. Which most of you know was to our cost last year.

With our new gate in place, everything that had been broken or damaged by digging the new water relief channel has finally been put right. Well, kind of, the actual water relief channel, needs a bit of tweaking.

At the moment the new channel is taking all of the water, leaving the old stream dry.
The Environment agency might be keeping a close eye on it, but we are keeping an even closer one until it is all up and running as it should. More water running down the old stream and the new water channel a relief water course for any over flow of water.
Sand bags are on stand by, just in case.

 We also have a new front wall. It was painted, then it rained, the paint got washed away.
Next time the SOGGIBOTTOM PAINTERS will in charge to give it another coat in the Spring or Summer.

 Luckily the cottage had been painted a few days before it started to rain.
So far so good, the cottage still has that whiter than white, clean look. It was only after the first coat of paint that was splashed on that we realized how bad the ol girl was.

The road outside of Soggibottom has been resurfaced, we have a new car park to park our car and best of all, our little bridge has been fixed. The large lorries that came over it damaged our dear little Medieval bridge. Luckily not beyond repair.
Even inside, the Soggibottom painters have been busy decorating.

Painting, polishing, waxing, dusting. Soggibottom is now green to go for Christmas and best of all the bears are back.

They aren't hanging around long but making their way over the little bridge to new homes ready for Christmas.

Along with the very last rag doll.

A fleece dog pillow and blanket.
Yep, were green to go for Christmas, no more large machines, no heavy lorry loads of stone, cement, no more spoil lorries of earth, no more men with hard hats wandering around.
What will we moan at now !

Frankie de tabby and Freya Rose Blossom can be found over at CAT FLAP CAVALIER

Thanks to all those that have joined in the saga of the water relief channel. At times over the last nine months your good thoughts have been priceless. 

From a very cold South Devon, Happy Thanksgiving for all those over the pond.

11th hour, 11th day, 11th month 2013

All Hallows Eve 2013

You never know who is going to come over our little bridge these days.
Tonight we are watching for expected visitors to come knocking on the door.

Although this week it's been one of the quietest weeks we have had in the last nine months. Hardly a yellow coat to be seen around here. No large lorries passing our window. No concrete lorry coming and going, no stone mason's, no fencing people, no digging machines, no noise. It's like the good quiet ol days we used to remember.

We have a new front wall, waiting to be painted, a new road outside, a new water relief channel. THAT WORKS.

 Our little Medieval bridge has been fixed TWICE. Best not to ask why it had to be fixed twice.

 Just waiting for Soggibottom to have a whole new coat of paint to make her look clean and bright on the outside, with more rain heading our way over the next few days, that might have to be postponed.

We even survived the big storm last week.

This time last year things around the cottage were looking more than grim.  After being flooded four times last October our flooding problem was getting a bit out of hand.  We weren't the only one's around the village to have water in their door. One thing we know for sure, when you try and fight flooding, you seem as if you are well and truly on your own as you bucket water out of your house.

This October we are more confident that we are going to stay dry inside.

There are still outstanding issues to resolve about the course the stream takes as it passes Soggibottom Cottage. Our new water relief channel is actually taking more water along it than it should, now making it the main water flow of the stream. The old stream has a trickle of water. If the old water course dries up and silts, then we will need a deeper water relief channel. As I said, there are still outstanding issues.  The park at the back of the cottage is still a flood plain. Nothing will change that.

On the whole, things around here are starting to come together at long last.  Which also means more time to get back into the swing of updating Soggibottom's blog, and going back to the usual enjoyable things of life. 

You'll find miss mutt over at Cat flap Cavalier as usual.

Have a great All Hallows Eve.
:-) x x x