We Are Wild,

 Okay, I know we're not really. My partner is too into his computers and networks and I basically think I'm going to melt when it's raining, but we are both into camping (though I'm not sure about his definition of camping as compared with mine!) and paddle boarding and wild swimming. Well, kind of. I like wild swimming but swimming isn't something I'm particularly good at and I'm a bit stressed out by deep water, so I don't tend to do it a lot, and I don't tend to go very far, and I only tend to do it when I'm in a wetsuit because otherwise I get too cold... but I am a total water baby. I love being in the water or on the water or generally around the water. 

When we started looking at buying a new house together there were a few things which were priorities. We wanted something that would be at least a little bit of a project, we wanted something within a certain geographical area so that we were closer to my partners family and we wanted some outdoor space. 

We found a beautiful place that was on the edge of a canal and I could have hated everything else about that house and I would probably have still wanted it, but we decided that the inside space was too cramped and the space outside didn't work for the cars that we have or the way that we use them (in a rotation, because we have a couple of toy cars...) so sadly it would have needed to come down in price a significant amount before we would have considered it, because the only way to "fix" the issues inside would have been to build a big extension.

We saw quite a few different houses, though not as many as most people tend to go and see before they find that one, but then we were driving somewhere and went past the house we finally bought and I remember saying 'What's that?' and my partner thought I meant a bungalow that we had seen and that didn't really fit the bill. It took a little bit of searching to find it, but when we found it, I think we knew that it was potentially lucky, because the advert did not do it justice. The house is incredible, and the garden is just breathtaking. At the very back of the garden there is access onto a river, there are fruit trees all down it and there are lots of other trees, too, like silver birches, sycamores, a couple of conifers and a beautiful oak tree. 

The first time we walked down there, snow was sitting on the ground, and there were wild rabbits hopping about everywhere. There was something ultimately magical about it and we completely fell in love. Since moving in we've been able to put up our CCTV cameras, and because of the type of cameras we have, they've basically become wildlife cameras, so I can keep an eye on the dog in the garden without having to go out with her (which is great considering how terrible I am at being on my feet at the moment), watch the adorable number of cats who are knocking around, but we've also seen rabbits, a squirrel, a fox, a hedgehog, robins, magpies, blackbirds and more. It's glorious, because the place is so wild and so incredible. Honestly, everything about it makes me feel like this was always meant to be our home. 

No, I'm Not Calling Him Donald,

 Let's take a break from all the writing about pregnancy to write about the new house, because I'm in love with this place, even though everything is still messy and complicated and there is a job list of things we want to do that I daren't even try to write down, because I might run out of ink... 

Way back when we first came to see the house, one of the things we loved about it was the land and one of the things I loved about it was that there were chickens and there was a duck. I'm not sure if this has only happened since I turned thirty or so, but I LOVE ducks. Despite the fact I was bitten by a duck I was feeding in the park when I was little, I still LOVE them, and the idea of getting to keep a duck was just too exciting. 

On that first visit, the duck was in part of the enclosure where we couldn't see her, and I did the silly thing of getting excited like she was going to be the pure white runner duck I have dreamt of that I really want to call... Graham. I don't know why. 

I know that the "logical" thing is to go with Donald Duck, but Trump makes me not want to do that, and I know that if I have an egg laying duck, it's a female duck, and so it would make more sense to have Daisy the duck, or Jemima Puddleduck, or plenty of other names that make more sense, but I will not be persuaded! I desperately want a little white runner duck and I want to call her Graham... 

Other than this mad little dream about wanting this duck, there are other reasons I want a duck, or rather, a number of ducks. One of the great things about the land that we have, and one of the things I want to do with it, is use it for growing things like strawberries, tomatoes, maybe chilli but probably not since I don't eat them... but given that I love the nature of the garden, given my love of it's wildness and the character that gives it, and given the proximity to the river, the last thing I want to do is be covering it in chemical pesticides to keep slugs off my strawberries and aphids off my tomato plants.

Whilst I know that ducks don't eat aphids - far too small and faffy - they do eat slugs and other crop destroying bugs. They are little foragers, so they waddle about looking adorable, keeping the bugs and slugs at bay and as they're waddling around doing their thing (and yes, chickens do this too, but they're not anything like as cute doing it) they also do their business which is brilliant for the soil.

Essentially one thing I would love to do is create an enclosure over my strawberry plants that I can let the ducks into, let them do their foraging periodically, but making sure they're not taking all of my strawberries, and then let them back into their run and their predator proof house at night, and use it as that fabulous recycling system. 

As things stand, I have a composter, and I feel like I'm forever fighting with it (it's only been a few weeks since we moved in, but I do sometimes love a flair for the dramatic) because we were inundated by too many apples and I can't make a composter big enough or to go fast enough to try and get on top of the amount of them that there are, particularly along the path down to the river that means I can't go walking down there at the moment for fear of slipping. (It's not just an irrational fear, I tried it on bonfire night and nearly ended up in a heap on my bottom.) As we have the number of apple trees that we do, the birds would be amazing at helping keep on top of this as well, even if they do need a bit of pampering when it comes to apples with the way they need them chopping down, but I also have another plan for the apples for this year and I'm hoping it's not too long before I can put that into motion. 

Let's Be Adults About This,

Not like that. Well,.

As previously mentioned, - and I will continue to mention because I'm bloody proud of it - I've just moved into a new flat, but my God are there a lot of things to sort out. 

Getting out of the old place was a hassle and half, because I had moved into there from my little studio. I had a kitchen full of utensils and machines that had to either fit into a much smaller selection of cupboards, or be relegated to the boxes in the loft. As such, there was quite a bit of stuff to come down out of the loft, the furniture to be either moved or deconstructed and the room to be cleaned. Honestly, all that didn't go so badly, however the major snag which did occur was when the van had a blow out on the M25. Thankfully my dad was in the van with the moving men or I would have been doing a Chicken Run (place head between knees and kiss your bum goodbye). 

It was a little bit crazy getting everything in, but that is where the fun really starts. Not only are there a ridiculous amount of boxes covering my living room, there's bills to sort out and it took me until Thursday to actually get any hot water as the gas was capped whilst no one was living in the property. I'm trying to sort my life out whilst spending time back in Manchester looking after my dog, Teddy (@teddytheshihtzu on Instagram).

All in all, I'm really doing the adult thing. I'm even going to be going to Ikea to pick up some new flat pack furniture and then will be constructing it myself. (Granted, my mum is going to be there to help me to carry it home...) Part of me really can't wait to go home. 

Catch you later.