Mikes weather bits & Photo Blog: Espresso beer maker & a now and then walk

Laborious, time consuming and complicated is how the story describes home beer brewing. So a kind of Espresso brewing machine has been invented.
The makers of the machine call it the Pico Brew Zymatic and it appears that all you do is add "water grain and hops" and grab your favourite beer glass! made in the US at $2000 i wonder what it will cost once it crosses the pond? - - -

Another miracle test to spot Alzheimers from the Express today but the sad death of the Corry star Anne Kirkbride is also across the front page - - -

Our current multi faceted project is coming on apace the,new wood store can be seen on the left of this pic

Here the inside of the woodstore is more obvious, the car port has to be a limited length otherwise it would be too difficult to get the vehicles in either one

The original idea was to have a seperate felt covered roof on the wood store but i have now opted to continue the corrugated pvc roof of the car port across it. The car port "should be square but the continuation will need some "trimming" to make sure it doesn't overhang.

As I set off for a walk yesterday I mused how may times we had walked this route

The frosty view across the valley with the sun just hitting the wooded hillside hasnt changed mush over the years.

neither has the Peak Rail level crossing, the steam enthusiasts comings and goings are rather quaint except when you are held up by the closed gates when you need to "be somewhere else!"

heres a view of a field that hasn't changed at all this is from 2009 in the summer time

this view across rather than down this field hasn't changed but it holds a fond memory for us both. We were walking along the track i am stood on to take the pic and had often seen foxes in the area. Very early one morning we were approaching this point and spotted a man kneeling by the track with a pair of binoculars. We hesitated then moved forwards and his attention was focussed on a vixen sat in plain view watching her 2 cubs playing in the early morning sunshine

here's the pic i got back in 2008, you can just see the vixen by the bottom of the tree, she's seen us and is hiding in the brush with her cubs

leaving the metalled tracks and just before walking along the fields there's this old stable and riding school. Sadly closed for many a year now but often busy and with the horses peering over their stable doors as we passed by

just getting onto the fields now, the sheep are relativity new to the ground

back in 2004 Sally talks to one of the Aberdeen Angus cows which once roamed the same fields

another pic from 2004 shows horses from the stables in one field and the cows including the magnificent Aberdeen Angus Bull with his ring through his nose appearing to be stopping us crossing form one field to another.

This lovely old stone barn is just the same as its always been with the addition of the metal grills years ago. Its a favourite barn owl haunt and we have seen them hunting in the fields and going in and out of the barn

The view South from the barn shows the winter sun struggling to get rid of the frost

heading onwards with the Chatsworth Estate hills as a backdrop i come across this old and largely forgotten tree stump

Once again a pic from 2004 shows it in all its splendour. It was covered at ground level by countless carvings of peoples initials and dates some going back to the 1930's. Even in those bygone days though we could spot some of the branches wilting. Honey fungus was rife around its base and eventually after it invaded the trunk and the boughs died it was cut down.