Messing around

Bit of ebay watching at the moment as my Vehicular Consultant has an eye on something for me. Possibly more news on that one soon.




I have sadly decided I must put dear Yosser up for sale so Carl and I have been doing our photographic bit which is going very wrong.  Carl is having a great time but I am not sure about Yosser!

Yosser's friends can't work out what we are up to!  (note Fiesta/field vehicle in background!)

 

We have two husbandry visits to fit in this week and Carl is trying to rub down the bathroom in between times - we need to attempt to fit a shower in which is going to be a bit of a struggle.  I had a man round to give us a quote as Carl really hasn't got the time but he did not get back to me.  This was no surprise as no one ever seems to get back to me with quotes.  The window man came round and then never got back, the door man came round and never got back!  This is a black hole for quotes!

Here are my new girls who are gorgeous. 

They are like steam rollers, slow but persistent.  They get up late in the morning, they snore, they feed from your hand and some like a tickle round the ears.  If you want to roll them and they don't want to be rolled they just walk - and keep walking with me hanging off the side of them - they are very strong but as calm as cucumbers.
Each one has initials very neatly stencilled on their bottoms - IRA, JI, ORS, MI, FLA and two others I have forgotten . . . maybe it is the initials of their names but Carl thinks if we line them up in the right order it will say something!

Echinacea

First, a grovelling apology!  If you read this, Hilary, you will know I didn't make it - a ewe with mastitis - I really will bring fleece on Monday!!

On inspecting the sheep I noticed an odd looking teat on George - Mastitis - luckily  I had a tube of the squirt up the teat antibiotics so I am hoping she will be okay.  I then had a phone call which had me scuttling down to Goose Farm and I have made a little purchase which I have not told Carl about yet. He may get a bit annoyed but I think I can talk him round.  More on that  tomorrow!

Then it was a quick trip to Stur to get some Echinacea for Rascal.  Now, I may have made a bit of a mistake here as what I ended up with was a liquid - and a very expensive one at that - which had me a bit flummoxed as I was expecting to rub it on her ear not try to make her swallow it.  In the end I compromised and gave her 5ml as a drench which she really enjoyed despite it smelling foul to me.  I then mixed a bit with some, equally expensive, face cream and rubbed that on the right hand ear with ordinary udder cream on the left ear.  She likes her ears rubbed.

This is a bit unclear but kind of shows you her ears at the moment.

I have a couple of other suggestions but I am going to see what happens with his first and go from there.  Everyone else is doing well.  I only have two cria this year but they are both growing well.  This is Flem's little girl.

Tyke and Wonky are still here at the moment and are both gorgeous.  Tyke will insist on rolling and getting covered in dust!

 

A request for advise

Really struggling a bit here with little Rascal and wondering if anyone can offer any advise.  Rascal is Trouble's baby - just over a year old now and Bert's grand daughter.  Bert came to us with dreadful skin - leathery and split - past damage from mites.  Rascal seems to be going the same way.  I think there is something genetic about it all.  Her mother, Trouble, does not have real problems but her eyelids do sometimes get puffy and look like they are going to go a bit bald so I catch them quickly with cream and a delicate bit of frontline on my finger and so far we have been okay but Rascal is another matter.  Her ears are now bald and have sore spots, her eye lids are a bit swollen and she has scabby bits round them and the skin on the front of her back legs and tops of front legs are cracking.  I have used camrosa, cydectin on a weekly regime, frontline, udder cream, udder cream with sulphur added, a zinc and selinium drench, vitamin injection, a shampoo called sebu something --- not all at the same time!  I even resorted to a bit of that louse powder you use on chickens on her back legs.  Nothing is working.  I have had the vet to look at her and he has said to continue with the frontline and cydectin which is what I am doing at the moment.  Tonight I also gave her some antibiotics as a friend has mentioned their vet talking about it.  I am so afraid she is going to end up like Bert and she is the sweetest little thing.

My field vehicle situation has reached critical stage.  The Mule has given up and I am back to the Fiesta which is ridiculous.  No wonder no one takes me seriously when I am driving round fields in an ancient powder blue fiesta with bales of hay and containers of water in the back.  To make matters worse there is a constant sound of waterfalls whilst driving which is very off putting and I have now reached the stage where all this running water causes a desperate need for the ladies.  And when you turn off the ignition the engine keeps going for at least a minute - how does that happen?

On the plus side I have got a lot of knitting done  and my highly complicate christening shawl/Ladies shawl is nearly finished.  The only problem with the shawl is that it is going to work out so expensive I don't think anyone will ever buy it!  Ah well, it was a challenge and I am proud to have completed it. 

Tomorrow I have to make it to Weymouth in the afternoon as it is already Friday and I said I would get there this week - I don't know where the days go!

WE NEED MORE MEN!

This was, apparently, a game Carl played at Ealing Infant School (or Little School as he calls it) - this was when he was an Infant and not in a creepy way now he is older.  It involved all the boys running around holding hands until every boy formed a long chain and then, I think, it turned into a sort of British Bulldog - or just a plain old fight.  Would be banned nowadays!  Anyway, that was my chant this morning as I have a very difficult day coming up and I need someone strong, large and of a very laid back disposition.  Luckily, Carl responded to my plaintive plea and he is going to have an afternoon off and be my man - he is strong and laid back although not very large!

I have no more worries for the moment other than Bert whose walking is getting worse and whose eyes are going cloudy.  The vet has seen her but can do no more for her legs - I do not want to get him back at the moment as he go that shaky head, ominous look last time.  They all went in the orchard tonight - Bert can still find the apples alright!  She starts by putting them in her mouth and sucking them.

 

And then it all gets very undignified!

 

The trees are looking a little bare now!

 

Photos are not very good as I had  to resort to the camera due to not being able to trust them on their own while I found the proper camera.  They are NOT allowed to eat the medlar but take no notice and go right ahead and eat it!

Sleeping

Hot here today - made even hotter by me choosing to get to grips with the greenhouse!

Not much action in the alpaca paddocks - everyone seems to be either asleep or almost asleep.

 

Apart from these two!  And they were asleep a couple of minutes after I had taken the photo.

So - what's been happening?  Not too much really!  I gave a talk to the Ladies Luncheon Club in Verwood which I enjoyed, may have bored them to tears but I hope not!  We went to a BBQ with mother and I had a bit of a fleece rummage at Reddingvale - nice afternoon as the Mighty Brown Man appeared and there was a good bit of gossip - I couldn't contribute much as I knew no worthy gossip.  Now we are about to go off on a visit to see a delightful male alpaca with a bit of a problem in his nether regions and then get ready for shearing (yes, really, shearing in the middle of September) tomorrow evening.  Meanwhile, out the back, the Gravedigger and son are digging a hole - a hole which involves a tractor and a digger - room for a good few bodies in there!

Sheep kerfuffles

Bit of a day filled with disasters!  When I checked the sheep this morning I couldn't find George's lamb.  He was part bottle fed - he should be going to slaughter but is too  friendly and he somehow found his way into the keeping paddock - but I couldn't find him.  Eventually I heard a faint little bleat from the bottom corner and there he was with his back leg tied to the fence post with a bit of bailer twine.  How on earth that happened I do not know - he has been released and suffered no damage - thank goodness.  The rest of the lambs are ready to go on this weekend.  Just got to ear tag tomorrow.

Then, whilst  trying to negotiate the gate to the sheep paddock with no brakes I managed to  let three ewes escape -- luckily they were easy to capture but they have now ended up looking guilty in the wrong paddock.

Then I attempted a -photo shoot with Greeves who really has to go on the sales  list - but the batteries ran out on the camera - again, teach me not to buy cheap batteries!

Dorset County Show

Today was not an alpaca day - or not supposed to be.  We went to the Dorset County Show in the afternoon and, apart from the cost of the food, it was a good outing.  One little group of alpacas there and we were magnetically drawn to them, despite trying not to be!  The highlight had to be the Meerkats.  I have never seen Meerkats live and up close and these were gorgeous.  They look like models in the photos but they were real, alive little creatures.

Two young ladies, one big lorry, one steep hill!

Well, they have gone - export number one on it's way.  Slight issue with getting a massive lorry up the hill but, despite being little slips of girls the drivers were fantastic - needless to say, it turned into rush hour as soon as the lorry made an appearance and, where I see very few cars normally, it turned into gridlock!  Alpacas loaded and Carl was hiding behind his hanky due to runny eyes (hay fever he said!)  He had started work at 4.30am just so as he could make it back in time.  They have a long journey ahead of them and will not finally arrive until Tuesday so last night I could not sleep with worrying about them!  Four more sleeps (or lack of sleeps) to go  - - - and I forgot all about taking a picture!

Everything has been so manic and on top of that my car is still not right.  Carl is taking it to be diagnosed tomorrow morning and then, in the afternoon, we are going to go to Dorset County Show to have a relax and cheer up Sam.  He starts a new job on Monday which he was looking forward to but now he is missing his old job and his old boss - he had been there from school so it is a bit of a wrench!

Wish you were there? I do!

A very quick blog tonight as the alpacas are being collected tomorrow for their long trip to Italy and I just have to check paperwork is organised ready.  Actually, it is just a photo but what a fantastic photo - a new life in Italy (really wish I was going, I could live in that alpaca house, and I could learn Italian - plus I quite like olives and they look like olive trees to me!)

Sorely Tempted!

I am not complaining as we do need it but - it is raining so my photo taking is a bit limited!  We have been continuing halter training with some - the cria are a little young at the moment but they are getting used to having their feet picked up - that is not going too well!  Here is a good one instead!

Carl investigated my car and decided it was the Lambada valve and an issue with the exhaust intake - the spanner went away but then a yellow trombone appeared so he has told me I have to take it to a garage and get them to find the fault on their machine.  I have never taken a car to the garage in my life - I just tell Carl and he grumbles about a bit and then fixes it - I think he was in a bad mood because he appears to be getting it some spark plugs and things.  I am temporarily limited to a small radius of home and no where with traffic lights or narrow bridges as that is where it cuts out.

I have found a use for my surfeit of long, over grown runner beans as Caroline loves them - I only like the little ones and when you forget to pick runners they get long very quickly so Caoline is being a great help!

A contingent of Carl's family came to visit at the weekend and kindly removed some of the produce as I was becoming overwhelmed - turnip glut now - but I think they can go to the sheep.  I had made a very nice cake which I left on the side to fill with home made plum conserve (plum jam which went wrong - didn't set which shows how bad I am as plum jam always sets!).  However, Little Wee, the cat, is very partial to cake and got on the worktop whilst I was knitting and ate the top.  I was sorely tempted to just cut the top off and ice it up but Carl said I couldn't so we had shop bought cake instead.

 

Now I have to get ready for a visitor.