Thursday 28 December 2017

Christmas is nearly over

As usual, Christmas is flying by!  A nice Chrismas Day where sadly far too much food was eaten was followed by a good Boxing Day where even more food was eaten!  I have got to train myself to make less as I think the left overs will last us well into January.  Photos are of poor quality and I really must address the camera issue next year.
And mother just after dinner!
 
 
In the evening we had a quick trip out to see Sam who was having dinner at his house with Kristy's parents and various others.  It was really nice to see them sitting together playing Farm Monopoly which I had never heard of.
 
 
 


Boxing Day we managed to stir ourselves enough to visit a friend whose other half is away in Scotland farm sitting until the New Year.  They are having a bit of snow up there but so far there has only been a light dusting on the hill in our neck of the woods.  Yesterday, we had to go over to the other side of Bath to collect Leaf, the ram, who has been on his holidays with some ladies and we were surprised at the amount of snow there.
 
And now for a random festive sheep!!


Saturday 23 December 2017

Happy Christmas!

Almost every card is delivered, almost every present is wrapped, most definitely every bit of shopping is done and it isn't even Christmas Eve yet - that is a nice feeling!  Of course I still have the trifle to make, turkey to stuff, table to lay . . . . but I quite enjoy doing that on Christmas Eve.  The tree has remained intact despite it periodically being attacked by the cats and the presents are still wrapped under the tree despite the dog snuffling around them at every opportunity. 

The Carol singers arrived and I had forgotten they were coming so I was in the bath and Carl did the honours - I just hope he put something worthwhile in their pot as their carolling sounded very good in the bath and he gets flustered with things like that and is just as likely to have accidentally insulted them with a handful of coppers!

Weather is really too mild for Christmas but the weather man is giving hints that maybe colder times are on the way.  I would like a bit of a cold snap but will be glad when things look more like this

 
Mind you - this was quite fun!!
 
 
 
 
I did mean to do an alpaca Christmas photo but time has run out so here is one from a few years ago -  that little girl is now in Italy where they have had a bit of snow this year.
 
 
 
I shall enjoy Christmas I am sure but what I am really looking forward to now is lambing and there is not too long to wait as the first are due on 4th February - the countdown begins!
 
 
A very, very Happy Christmas to you all - may your dreams come true and your days be contented and fulfilling!!

 
 
 

Saturday 16 December 2017

Photos this time!

After the sad dearth of photos on the last blog I felt this one should be pictures - so expect few words this time!  It has been a mammoth clear up time here as now sheep tasks are up to date, alpacas are all winter ready and knitting is finished for the year we have  finally tackled the 'garage' - it isn't actually a garage anymore but is now part of the house but it's construction leaves something to be desired as it has very little insulation and is freezing!  It had also turned into a junk and storage room but has now become a proper dining room with an oil filled radiator (we do actually have central heating but, having a wood burner in the lounge, rarely use it).  It does look rather like a garage still but better than trying to eat in the lounge with three cats!
 
So, onto the pictures, and the first one is of the only snow we have had - so far.

 
Now this one is a rather weird one!  I bought a new kettle which starts blue and then turns red when it boils.  I took a photo to show someone who was asking about it but when I up loaded it I noticed something VERY spooky!  Can you see it?!

I never really think I have that many sheep but the other morning it looked like there were quite a number - and this is not all of them!  There are now 120 altogether with 86 lambing although 10 are Sam's.

 
The cats have been busy.  Ginger brought two mice/voles in but she then just leaves them, still alive, and goes off to look for more almost as if she thinks they are too cold outside.  Cruella and Little Wee then stalk and kill them if I don't get to them in time - this one I saved!

The Welshies are still mostly keeping to the highest ground but do venture off the bank at times.


And this is Grace who is too fat which is a worry as last year she prolapsed and had to have a caesarean so I am trying not too let her get any fatter or there will be problems ahead!

Monday 11 December 2017

Snug as a bug in a rug

Even colder now!  But not a nice cold - far too damp, muddy and drizzly for me.  This morning I was feeling sad we had not seen any snow but I soon found a few flakes when I got up to the hill.  There wasn't enough to get excited about but a little smattering which meant the ewes did get a bale of hay despite not really being allowed it as they are all too fat.

Christmas Markets are all now over for this year and I did not have enough knitting left to make a profitable stall for the last one I was due at so I had to cancel.  This did not make me very popular but it would have been silly to stand there with a couple of scarves, a random hat and a pair of arm warmers!  My two big shawls have not sold yet but I didn't expect them to as they are a little expensive to make a quick sale.  I am now thinking of different ways of doing things for next year and attempting arm warmers with little fingers which are a bit fiddly but I will, hopefully, get there.

Now, there are no photos today and there is a reason for that.  I am sitting in the lounge wrapped up in a very comfortable blanket to type this as it is a bit early to light the fire and I still have to get the evening rounds done - the lead to plug the phone in for the photos is up stairs and I do not want to come out of my cocoon until I have to!!

Wednesday 29 November 2017

It is cold - to state the obvious!

Gosh - it is cold this morning!  First time in a while I have had to break the water on the troughs and very glad Carl put the covers on the outside taps at the weekend.  I like the colder weather when it is frosty but not so keen when the road is icy.  Last night was a bit touch and go as we ran out of logs but I have got more today ready for Carl to split up tonight so another cosy fire which will please the cats.  My stray, Ginger, shocked me by suddenly jumping up and going to sleep on my knee while I was trying to knit.  He must be feeling the cold as this is not usual, normally he curls up in a box which he hides in by stretching out his paw and pulling the top flap closed.









Another Christmas Fayre this coming weekend as I am going to Digby Hall Market in Sherborne.  I have not been there before so not sure how that will go.  It looks like there are a lot of traders there with some quite high class items which may make me look a little amateur but time will tell.

Leaf, the ram, is still away on his holidays with some lovely ladies  I had a photo of him sent to me earlier and he looks like he is enjoying himself!!

Sunday 19 November 2017

Alweston

Another brief post as it has been a busy weekend and just got in!  Alweston Fayre went quite well although there were not as many people there as in previous years.  We sold some knitting which was good and I had a couple of ladies who came back having bought something in previous years which is always nice - one lady was wearing the gloves she had bought last year!  I also had a surprise visit from the GHN (although I think she is now the Cup cake queen or the Fairy Godmother but I can't remember!)  Very nice to see her and The Knight.
 
Today was back to moving and footbathing sheep.  We also collected the lambs from the Gravediggers so all sheep now back on the hill - with the exception of Leaf, the southdown ram, who is still away with a few lady friends!

Friday 17 November 2017

It is done!!

Just a tiny quick little blog as I am pleased with myself!  Just cast off the complex Neibling shawl I have been working on.  It is the most difficult thing I have knitted to date and made from a fawn suri alpaca yarn - Yossarian's yarn to be precise!  That's Yossarian - the fawn in the background.
 
And here is the shawl - not blocked or finished yet!
 

Tuesday 14 November 2017

Chapel Minder

The cold snap seemed to be a little short lived and it appears to be back to damp and murk - but how long for?  I like it when it is cold but do not like damp, mud and fog.  However, the four wheel drive on my new car is lovely and means I can get in and out the field gate despite whatever the weather throws at it - so far at least!

The merry band of 20 leftover lambs are still living in the Grave diggers field but not for much longer as it is getting pretty wet in there.  At the weekend they will return to the hill and then the difficult decision has to be made as to which of them stay and which of them go.  As always some of the most friendly ones are the boys and they really do have to go.

My first Christmas Fayre is on Saturday and The Flower Lady has been busy helping to increase stocks so I am hoping to get a sale or two at the weekend.  Last year I did well at Alweston but that is no guarantee I will this year.  The banner, table cloth and all the other paraphernalia is ready with my alpaca broach waiting to be pinned on so I shall let you know if the event is a success from the knitting point of view.  Carl is delighted he does not have to go with me as he will be busy setting up the race and footbath so all sheep can be checked and a few persistent limpers dealt with - that is Sunday's job.

I have spent a nervous week in my temporary role of Chapel Minder.  This should not be an onerous task as the chapel is opposite the house but The Mother of Boys is so diligent I didn't want to let the side down.  My duties were to check for animal attack (apparently a badger was once found behind the organ) ensure a fire didn't break out and deal with the remote possibility of human pilfering of the hymn numbers.  Luckily, all was well and The Mother of Boys now has the key back and Chapel care is returned to her capable hands.

Now I don't really have a photo for you as I haven't taken anything very interesting so I have searched the archives and come up with a random lamb one from last spring - note that pesky bird in the background!

And an old one of Carolyn with her cria, now in Italy, behind her and Axle, the black cria, who went to Lincolnshire.

Sunday 5 November 2017

Still knitting!

I have been moaning away about unseasonably warm weather for the last few weeks - but not any more!  Suddenly turned rather chilly and the jumper is now firmly on!  Hopefully, this will mean people will be in need of scarves and other warming knitwear at the Christmas Fayres I am doing soon.  First one is in a couple of weeks so I am busy finishing things, washing and labelling.  I have finally finished my Shetland shawl which was a rather mammoth undertaking and is currently being blocked to bring out the lace work.



Alpacas are all doing well although Cassie is struggling a bit due to her age.  She has to have a coat on sometimes when the rain is too bad although she could go in the shelter but for some reason refuses to.  The sheep don't seem to mind the rain or the cold and have been shrouded in mist for most of the time- somewhere in that lot there are 58 ewes!!

Thursday 26 October 2017

Fat bottomed girls

My bruising is now fading but sadly my body disintegration continues as I now have to have a tooth out - and it is not at the back!!  If I never smile again you will know why.  I knew it was coming but have been putting it off for as long as I can.  No longer can it wait and I will have a gap which will have to remain as a gap for the time being as the cost of a bridge is extortionate.  What next?!

Alpacas are doing fine but not enjoying all this wet weather.  Hopefully, we are soon in for a bit more drier, colder weather.  The main group of sheep have happily settled up in third field where they have more grass than I think they have ever had at this time of year.  This does mean they are getting a trifle fat which is not necessarily a good thing as we don't want birthing issues and over size lambs.  Time will tell!

The Welshies have settled beautifully and, despite still being on the wild side, I managed to move them without any help.  Not all of them have been mated yet so it looks like a very extended lambing for them  next year.
And now it is back to knitting - more arm warmers needed!!
 

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Feet and remarkable bruising

Well this really has been a bit of a week!  On Saturday we went Winchester way to collect my new draft Welsh ewes.  Sam's boss kindly lent us his trailer as it would have been a bit of a squash with ours for 30 ewes.  They need to be fairly close together so they don't fall but I don't like to see them all squashed too tight.  I had a message the day before to say one had a slight limp but had been sprayed and sheep do tend to have a knack of limping so I wasn't too worried.  They went into the trailer easily with limper amongst them and when we got back I had a close look at her.  Poor girl had obviously been bitten by a dog and had a nasty infected ankle so was given antibiotics and put in a pen under cover with lots of 'treats'  They are all pretty wild so I am not sure she appreciated her treats much!  Her ankle still has not properly mended despite me squeezing vast quantities of puss out of it so tomorrow I am going to try a turmeric poultice and see if I can get more infection out.  Despite this, she is very perky and has now decided she loves ivy and sheep nuts.  Any sheep who is off colour gets ivy and willow - ivy seems too get them eating and appears to have some sort of healing properties for sheep.  Willow, I think, has some sort of pain killer action - they certainly like it!
I was a bit worried about handling the rest of the Welshies as they are a bit wild and I thought I would struggle to get them all penned or moved on my own.  Once we got them off the trailer and gave them all their quarantine wormers etc I didn't think I would be getting them in very easily, even with Carl, Sam and Kristy. BUT they are the most easy sheep ever! Despite being wild they flock at the drop of a hat and once flocked they do not break out! Amazing as even without a dog you get behind them and shoo them and they go into the pen no bother with no one trying to split out - we did it twice to check it wasn't a fluke!  Sorry for the quality of the picture.
Some of the Welshies meeting Alf the ram

After all that excitement I hoped for a quiet week as I have lots of knitting to finish but I then had a bit of a disaster which I put down to my age.  Rushing out to the car I tripped on the top step, head butted the car and landed heavily on my knees and (any gentlemen readers may wish to skip to the last paragraph (- but do not fear, there are no photos!) landed heavily on my right 'bumper' (I can think of no more delicate way of putting it)  It is now remarkably bruised - in fact it is black and red - a quite breath taking sight!

Italian classes are a little hard going and I am struggling a bit with a message I received from my Italian friend which reads "Ê già passato un anno Nana Malefica! Auguri Nilde "orecchi a patatina" "
which appears to be something about a malevolent troll with potato ears!! 

Tuesday 10 October 2017

Head butting

Up pretty late tonight as Carl is away and I set my self a list of jobs to do and I am determined to finish them before retiring!  Not that going to bed seems to do any good these days as come 1 o'clock in the morning I am up again -  probably an age thing!

The rams are now all out and back in their own paddock without too much arguing.  Walnut received an almighty head butt from Kane which put him in his place and he has not tried his luck since, which I am not surprised about as the sound of heads clashing reverberated inside the truck.

 
Getting in between two rams intent on fighting is not to be advised - their heads are very hard and there is a lot of power there!
 
Branson and Pickle - the two cria - are growing well.  They have not been handled much at the moment - halter training will have to start in a month or so.  They need to get used to being gently handled before a halter makes an appearance which is fun apart from when the dreaded Lina makes an appearance.  Lina is not Mum to either of them but is very protective.  Come to think of it she is very protective of anything!  There are two little ram lambs in with them at the moment as I didn't have any where else to put them.  They can't go in with the big rams or they will be terrorised and they can't go with the ewe lambs as we would risk underage mums!  When I was checking their feet the other day Lina got in rather a panic when she saw them being sat on their bottoms.

 
 
The shawl I am knitting is making progress but is, probably, the most difficult thing I have ever tackled.  At the moment it looks like a complete mess but I hope once finished and blocked it will miraculously turn into something elegant.
 


Thursday 5 October 2017

Sheep everywhere!

Quite a successful week in many ways!  Almost all the ewes are now marked which means there should be a fair few lambs arriving in February.  In fact, 55 ewes are sporting red, yellow and blue bottoms which could work out at rather a lot of lambs!  I sourced another 20 ewes to join the flock and they should have arrived a  month ago but they were delayed and are now arriving next weekend which is not ideal as they will have to be quarantined before the ram goes in so they are going to be a bit late.  They are having a bit of a change of scene as they are Draft ewes from the Welsh hills - too old for rough grazing so they have been selected, or drafted, out of the flock to move to better grazing.  They are beginning to loose their teeth so need a slightly easier life (something I know all about but that is a dental story!).  It does mean they are a lot cheaper and they should be fine to lamb  but they will be a little on the wild side so that will be fun!  We go to pick them up in a weeks time and will need double decks in the trailer which is something we have not used before but Sam is coming as well which is a good thing.  The reason he is keen to help is that he is also having 10 so a total of thirty will be arriving but his will go to the field he is renting once they are in lamb.

The alpacas are mostly doing well with the exception of poor Rascal who is still troubled by her skin and now has very swollen eyes.  I am going to try some anti-inflammatories as nothing else is helping.  This is her from when she was born with her mum Bert.  Bert was my all time favourite alpaca who sadly had to go after a hip injury which, despite an operation, never fully mended.
 
Now must get back to my knitting as I am knitting the most complicated shawl I have ever knitted!

Saturday 30 September 2017

Finish eating before reading!

Bit difficult this weather at the moment - damp and dismal then sunny and bright.  Still warm but the wood burner is going this evening.  This should be a time of just watching which sheep are marked by the ram but the watching is a little closer than would be normal as there are still nasty blue flies about.  Yesterday I thought FLA (an old Southdown ewe looked a little twitchy - kicking at her tummy and restless - closer inspection revealed damp, dark fleece that smelt unmistakable.  No photos as Fly strike is not pleasant!!  A quick shear and an application of Crovect and she is now fine - not nice though!

Sam came over today so we took advantage of him as I wanted to catch one very awkward sheep and check her feet.  I didn't want to get them all in so we used Roger, our new sheep dog.  He does take two people to handle him and I had to cover one side with the truck as he is not that fast.  Here is Roger (sometimes known as a piece of green debris netting) in action!

Tuesday 26 September 2017

Buon pomeriggio!

Buon pomeriggio!  Last night saw me venturing out - a rare occurrence!  It was the start of my Italian for beginners course and I am hoping to make a little progress with my woefully inadequate Italian.  I had thought there would be a little more work on speaking and a little less technical stuff but it might get better..  Strangely, one lady on the same table also lives in Leigh - with only 14 in the class that seemed quite a coincidence!

At the moment whenever I think of Italian I am reminded of our recent Methodist harvest festival.  Monday night is the eagerly awaited auction of produce and it is always a hotly contested affair with some quite frantic bidding for tins of beans.  The Boggy Farmer seemed desperate to get a bag of pasta and the price rose quickly which was surprising as he does not seem a pasta sort of man.  He did look a little confused when he received his hard fought prize and the mystery was solved the following day when it emerged his hearing was not 100% and he thought he was bidding for a bag of parsnips!

No Italian photos but this was an interesting one I found.
For years I have driven past the pound at Okeford and wondered at the purpose behind it and then a random internet trawl turned up this picture.  Apparently, stray animals would be herded into the pound to await rescue by their owners and this photo was from the restoration ceremony.

Saturday 23 September 2017

HELLO!!

Hello!!
Really find it hard to believe that the last blog I wrote was way back in February and I was in the middle of lambing - not an easy lambing year either.  Sadly, I had some problems with toxoplasma which caused some abortions in the sheep and some who gave birth to strange little mummified things.  In the end there were 72 lambs but a few were fairly weakly - all should have moved on by now but I still have eight who will be here until the end of the year!  The rest grew well and have either gone to market, been sold as breeding stock or as pets.  Thankfully, my favourite little wether (number 21) was bought as a pet - I really could not have taken him to market!

In has been such a long time since I wrote last that we are already into preparations for next year's lambing.  The rams are in and a fair few are already marked.  I have a new ram this year called Alfie - a blue texel - he is only young so time will tell what he manages.

We have finally found a few days to paint the outside of the house.  It is still in progress but is already looking much better although the house sign is a bit of an issue!

Hay making went smoothly.  In fact it went very well as Sam and Kristy were both here to help and no equipment broke down.

I think, as a catch up just a few photos might be good as there is too much to write and it would get a little tedious for any readers who are still here!  So- in no particular order .........


Charlie gets 3rd place at Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show!

Cruella gets a trim to remove hair balls

Hay making

One of the two cria born this year

A day learning how to use a sheepdog

Two little favourites

Shearing - hard work but we did it

Sam having a go at knitting a hat

An attempt with some dyed alpaca yarn

Number 21 - the lamb that smiled!  Now in a pet home

Dorper lambs

Tiddler - now in Italy

Lambs!


A lesson in lamb shearing!!