Happy New Year!

Yet another quick one as it is now 4 minutes past 5 and mother is due for dinner at 5!  Beef  is still pink, swede is hard, can't find mustard and fire has gone out!  I shall review my year tomorrow which I am sure you will all be waiting for with baited breath!   Just a few photos to be going on with - Happy New Year got to go and rescue the meat!

And - - news of Carl's Christmas excitement tomorrow!

Old and Slow

I have a computer problem - I always seem to have a problem these days and I think it is down to the age of the computer.  It takes enough time to make a coffee to load anyone's blogs and then it will not load all the pictures and then I can't comment . . so, if you read this Barbara at Beck Brow or Dave at Apple Vale - that is why I am not saying lovely grey boy or responding to anything you write Dave - can't open yours at all! 

All I will blog is - a very Happy Christmas to you all, I am very stressed over Carl's present, here is a lovely picture from GHN (and I really hope it loads okay because I am not going to be able to check!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

Fetes and things

From the photo you would be forgiven for thinking we were now doing so well we had hired a glamorous assistant!  The real reason the knitting is sharing a stall at Ibberton Fete with the very talented artist; is that we were unable to go.  We had to be in Devon, so left a few pieces of knitting to share a stall.  I hear the Fete was very well attended and a great success with trees, wreaths, puddings and jams and everything else flying off the stalls - well done!!

We are nearly out of knitting now but my new yarn is ready for collecting so after Christmas it is going to be a knitting marathon!  And we may have recruited a floral ornament knitter to embellish hats - more on that next year!

Everything is a bit grey, muddy and murky here but we have managed to get some decorations up in the house.  My tree looks terrible.  I had the idea of putting it in he window on the windowsill but the problem with that was that I couldn't get behind it so I has bald patches and just looks a mess.  Once it was done Carl said I should have decorated it and then placed it in the window - too late now!

We also managed to find time to deliver a little sold boy - Cedric (although he may have a name change soon).  He has gone as a companion to a boy who lost his friend.  They seem to have settled really well together and were tucked up together in a shelter when we went to check up on them.

D - Day

Before I tell you about today (D stands for disaster) I must apologise to regular readers for the sporadic nature of my blogging.  It is all due to a camera problem - the camera takes really rubbish pictures now, I think caused by dirt and general neglect.  I am hoping my brother can assist me with it but for now I am on mobile phone pictures and they are not very good.  People don't like blogs without pictures so blogging is a little lacking.  Anyway - here we go with a mobile phone picture blog and today has not been pleasant.

First thing I fell down the stairs.  It was dark and I tripped over the cat my behind is now bruised (don't worry no photo of that) and my side and arm hurts - the cat is fine.

I arrived at the fields to find all alpacas wet and muddy but looking fine

Greeves waiting for his hay

. . . and then went in to second field only to find a field shelter in the Southdown field had blown over (and it was one tied down with ratchet straps) - on it's way over it had taken out the fence.  Luckily, the Southdowns are very well behaved and they were all standing by the gap waiting for me - thankfully none of them had been sheltering inside or behind it - or, if they were, they had escaped it.

 

This year's remaining lambs - not sure why I took this, or why I am including it!  Grace's little white Southdown cross looks like a toy!

 

This afternoon I managed to fall in the stream whilst clearing debris and then couldn't get back up the bank - obviously, I have now managed to get out, by crawling on my hands and knees, but that didn't help my previous falling down stairs injuries.

A bit of a blog

I do not seem to have written a blog for ages - the intention has been there but time hasn't.  It has turned much colder here and I am now breaking water and scraping the car but I don't mind as I think it has been too warm for the time of year and I think we need a good bit of proper winter to scare away the bugs.  We seem to be finally clearing up Rascal's bald bits - actually, it is probably the cold weather that is doing it I think.  The supplements did not appear to work for her.  Having said that she was terrible at taking her tablets and could hide them and spit them out at least half an hour later.  Cydectin and Frontline on a regular basis did seem to work but not an ideal way to go I don't think.  She is the fawn one just behind the cutest little Black boy (possibly called Axle?!).

 

We have been having a bit of a worry with an alpaca we sold many years ago - Barry Norton.  He suddenly started lying on his side, rolling around as if he was in real pain.  We had the vet to see him and gave him pain killers and muscle relaxants.  He didn't appear to be constipated as I watched him go to the toilet (although it wasn't a huge amount).  This went on for a few days and this morning I was back to look at him as he still wasn't right.  In desperation I tried the warm water up the back end and reports just now suggest he is looking a bit perkier.  I am just off to check, followed by a trip to Mole Valley to stock up on feed for us and also for another herd we look after and are off to visit tomorrow.

 

Other than that all is well.  I am busy getting what is left of the knitting ready for Ibberton Fete at the weekend, the saga of the bathroom has reached a conclusion and, although it was a very poor job and the idiots failed to replace the lagging on the water pipes, we now have a shower.  I had a very l9ong hair appointment this week.  I went in and said I was feeling old and could she make me look better - she said she would try and booked a two hour slot - obviously I looked pretty bad!  I can't say I look a whole lot different as she said it shouldn't be coloured and cutting it short would be a mistake - ah well!

 

Finally,   three random alpaca photos for no reason whatsoever!