Good intentions to write every day have gone astray. What with the hole, filling it up and putting culverts and Thanksgiving and the sheep…..well time is just evaporating before my eyes.
Yesterday was my oldest Grandson’s birthday. 13. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. Happy birthday Michael. 1994 was the year Dale and I got married and the year I became a grandmother. Blink and he will be married and having a family of his own.
My mother and father are well and have just traded their car for an automatic. Should have done it a long time ago. My dad had double corrective knee surgery a few years ago and has never been right since. Wished he had listened to me and had one done at a time.
In this past few weeks I have seeded the pastures and thrown 27 bags of seed. 50lb bags of seed. I can see it growing but so slowly…..
The rams are in with the ewes and a lot of breeding has been going on. Today one of them got in with the other group. A lot of head butting and he bred one of the other guys girls. Honestly you would think 15 girls would be enough. Anyway got them all in the correct places again. Put up a fence but did not muck out the barn. I will save that savory task till tomorrow.
Babies are doing well. Almost two months old. Eating hay and grain and running and skipping all over the place.
Watching James Herriot “All Creatures Great and small” really enjoying that. Need to start knitting again.
Well dear diary same time tomorrow? I will try.
He said,”when you go through the gate keep to the right there was a slide last night”. Indeed a slide, or I think I would have called it a hole. We are not sure why but a big chunk of ground under the road just gave in.
This view
Or this view
As it happens we have a lot of tree roots. So today Walt started filling the hole with tree stumps. All day and we have not even half way filled it. We have more but it is a chore to get them into the hole without causing another slide. We will then fill it with rock.
Lets hope we don’t have anymore unexpected holes to throw money in!
I don’t have a picture to show you so I will try to paint it in your mind.
Mei came to help. I was to sort the sheep for shearing tomorrow, Saturday. Only a few. And to separate and sort as the big Border Leicester ram is coming to see the big girls tomorrow. Wendy will bring him and her clippers and then be gone. The girls were easy with Mei opening and closing gates till we had them sorted. “Now the boys,” I said: “It will be easy”. We will go over with some hay and put it in the trailer. They will all jump in. We will hitch up and drive them to the barn. Dale, my friend is picking up 4 boy sheep and 4 boy goats in the morning and the others are getting a hair cut.
Sounded easy. And it was. The sheep all jumped in and we closed the door. But wait where are the goats? We started to look. I started to get worried. I asked Bil. No he had not seen them. But he said when they get out they generally stay close to the house. It was raining hard. Angora goats don’t like the rain. We looked around the fence line. Calling “goaties, goaties” I don’t know how to spell that. Good job I had not hitched the van to the trailer that now held the sheep hostage. Off we went down Huckleberry road to look. Calling the same refrain out of the window. Got to the intersection of Whaleshead. Now for a city person an intersection sounds scary if you are in hot wet pursuit of 4 goats. But on a country road all we saw was one car and a deer the whole I think 3 hours we were trying to get the goats.
Anyway should I go right or left. My instinct told me left. We came around to the back of the property. Good job I had Mei with me. She saw something, yes a goat. Only one though. I stopped the van. By the time I got out and around to were she was she was saying yes all 4. It was not too steep of a rock. But I did not want to fall. But I needed to get those goats. I clambered over the slipper rock and as fortune would have it one was tangled in some blackberry. An easy catch. Horns come in handy sometimes. We got a horn each and dragged him to the van. He got in and the others followed. Well we were almost home free. BUT they had a different idea. Maybe they wanted to give us a run for our money or they were scared. Or thought it would be fun. They took off toward the house. Up a driveway. We took the one captured home and put him in the barn. I changed my coat and grabbed a dish. My plan was to shake it with rocks in so they would hear the sound of grain in a pan.
We returned to where they were but they had gone. Again driving up and down. Spotted them again. We tried driving after them herding them in the direction of home. Suddenly they dove down the bank. Rats. Well that was not my exact word. I clambered down the slippery bank after them and got behind them and they got up on the road again. We drove them a bit more. Good we are almost there. Then they went into my neighbors driveway. That gate is never open. Was today. We got them out of there. Back on the road again. Almost there. I am so wet at this point the water is running down my pants and into my muck boots. My knickers are wet. Cold and wet. I was getting just a bit upset. I was supposed to go to the post office today.
Thought we were home free. We have a neighbor who always has his gate open. I knew this and tried to get ahead of them. Two went into the driveway the other down the slope. The slippery slope. Up to my waist in bracken fern and tree branches, mud and fallen leaves. Lovely. But wait he is tangled up in the brush. I grab a horn. Got you, you blighter! But he laid down and refused to walk. Mei had by now got the other two out of the driveway and they too were down with me in the thicket! Mei came down and she managed to get the one I caught into the van somehow.
Angora goats have mohair. Well they have a lot of it and it was wet. And heavy.
Almost home, perhaps I will make the post office if I hurry.
We drove the final two up the hill. Now I saw the look on his face as the thought crossed his mind that he was going the wrong way. He turned. No, please. He got passed the van and passed Mei and was running down the road. Goats are herd animals and when one goes they all go. The other one ran after him. And I ran after them both. Why? Well I was to find out….
I guess 4 feet can run faster than 2 feet that belong to a 55 year old body who is wet and tired. They disappeared in a bend in the road. I arrived at the intersection again. Right or left? Mei then came behind me in the van. She suggested right as it was toward the highway. My gut told me they had gone left. But it was a good idea, just in case. No they were not that way.
We turned round and drove for a while. “There they are” They were running up the road again and into another driveway. But wait they are coming back. No, where are they now? I got out to look. They had found a little shed with doors open and it was full of HAY! After all the running they wanted hay! But it was someone else’s hay. we took one each by the horns and somehow got them into the van. Three (remember the other one is already in my barn) very wet and tired goats and two very wet and tired girls are on our way home.
We returned to the trailer. Hitched up and drove to the barn. I needed to pee. I could not get my coat off. Dale, my husband came to my calls for help and lifted the soaked coat over my head. I tipped the water out of my boots and ran up to have a warm shower. Just a quick one.
Sorry Lynette I will get to the post office on Monday, rain or shine.
Sorry. I seem to have had a gap. I thought the Bazaar was to be on the 17th. Good job Dale saw an ad and it was a week earlier, the 10th. Was I ready? No. I did sell a few things. Funny last year I sold bags. This year it was warm hats. I wish I had had more to sell. But when you fall asleep in your chair at night makes knitting a bit of a problem. Anyway so must of this void in the blog I was getting together my stuff and trying to get the most out of the shorter days with no rain. We burnt the big pile and cut out some of the dead trees. I disced up two fields but just ran out of time before the rain hit. So I hope today to seed two more pastures as we have another break. I woke this morning to see stars in the sky. No clouds mean no rain, at least for a while.
I have spent some time researching where in the world to send my sheep skins. Found a great place in California but they only want the fur 2″ mine are 3″
I also need to send away the wool to be made into roving and yarn.
Oh and there were recent birthdays in the family. Otherwise I think life has been uneventful!
Not me. But I did take a photo! I was so excited to see green fuzz!
After a long day Sunday of clearing brush and burning piles Dale took Mei and me out to Whaleshead for dinner. We don’t go out often and we don’t go to the little restaurant at the bottom of the road hardly ever. I was impressed the waitress remembered Dale drank milk. Anyway, a man and his wife came in and were shown to a table near us. They were most likely in their early 60’s. The husband walked behind his wife and helped her out of her coat. He put it on the chair back. Then pulled the chair out and you know pushed it in as she sat down. They chatted for a while. She must have indicated to him her coat was making her chair uncomfortable. He got up and placed her coat willingly on the chair beside her. Wow! And I expect he held open the door of the car for her too. There is a movie, “Take the lead” where Antonio Banderas is a ball room dance teacher gets up to open the door for the girls as they leave the room. The young man asked him why he bothered. “To see them smile”