Ken gets a top

Still frozen on the hill this morning.  Everywhere else was defrosting nicely but we still had snow.  Alpacas and sheep in the distance!

After we had done the animals Carl had an assignation with two young Forest nymphs.  He went to collect the Truckman top for Ken The Truck - they kindly carried it round for him (possibly fitted it as well) and then they returned to their painstaking poo collection, hay clearing, paddock maintenance. . . .

Meanwhile I did some poo collection with Sam who got back from work early.  This was good as he can actually reverse the Poo Picker into awkward corners. 

Once all the work was done Carl returned having sorted out his hands free kit, set up his climate control, turned what was a deer on the side of the truck into what he calls an alpaca - looks more like a deer with out any antlers to me.  Here is the truck before top was added.

And. . a small puzzle this morning - who are Di and Mick and why do they carry cuttings of snippets from the blog?!!!

Talking to Elvis

W have had a bit of an absence from the blog for various complicated reasons.  Life has been full of ups and downs and we range from manic hilarity to hunchback gloom.  However, as we are currently on a shaky high, I'd better do a bit of a catch up blog!

The animals are all doing well despite a shaky start to the year.  Can't remember if I mentioned but routine sampling showed Greeves had a fantastically high count for cocci.  He showed no signs whatsoever - lovely little poos, body score good, lively.  We drenched him and have also had a sample sent to Baycox to try to determine the type of cocci we are dealing with (some are not supposed to be pathogenic) and then we will be able to make a plan!

We had one day and night of snow which was luckily at the weekend.  Luckily, as it meant Carl could drive up and down the hill!  The hill was, as usual, very exciting with Ladies stuck, tractor jackknifing, 4x4 spinning and a poor lone young lady wandering around.  We did a bit of escorting down the hill, rescuing a damsel and standing around shaking heads with complete strangers and by the next day it was gone.  I had to hide water in the hay as it froze quicker than I could get it round but now we are back to mud.  Here is the snow arriving with Cassie hurrying for the shelter while Lily lies there looking annoyed and Sherbert continues to eat!

And here are the sheep - bothered about nothing except their hay!

House hunting was very depressing and we had started scrapping the bottom of the barrel and then we suddenly found a real possibility - slightly challenging location for the main fields but a distinct possibility, investigations ongoing on that one.  We had a quick trip to see Red Van Man on Saturday to catch up on news and then dashed back to pay a visit to do some toe nails for some boys we had sold before Christmas and in amongst that we had a phone call with some information on another property (like buses - you wait ages and then . . ).  This one is interesting but not without it's difficulties - ongoing research there!

Sunday night was Chinese with Elvis which was a totally surreal experience!  First time we have been out for ages which was very nice and left us feeling more as if we were normal people (well. as normal as you can feel when Elvis has been crooning away next to you whilst eating noodles with a black bean sauce).

Sam has finally got a motorbike which appears to be reliable and which, despite falling off in the snow, he enjoys riding.  He also had Sunday afternoon off and spent most of it cuddling Bianca and Sapphire (his alpacas)!

Now I have just about, and very reluctantly, put my little ones on the sales page and on alpaca seller - just got to try and get better photos tomorrow - then we have 2 days poo picking waiting.

I'll be back as soon as I can, hopefully tomorrow and will hopefully soon have news of what is happening!  In the mean time I am going to read everyone else's blogs this evening as I have a lot of catching up to do!

Internet back again!

I did write a blog last night but then the internet went down before I could upload it!  Yesterday we woke to a little fresh snow on top of the old snow but then just as we were all leaving just after 6am (Sam to help feed at Landrover Man's, Carl to go to work,and me to go to the fields and see how everyone had survived the night) it chucked buckets of snow all over us!  Sam had to slide down Bell Hill on his bottom and Carl was still stuck trying to get up the slope outside our house when I returned at 8am!  Carl had to give up in the end and I ended up battling a blizzard to do the morning feed.  In fact we had all sort of snow yesterday - ploppy snow (big flakes), torpedo snow (sharp darts), icing snow (fine sprinkles) . . I could go on as, like the Eskimo I have many words for snow now - some of them quite rude - but Carl has got fed up and told me not to mention snow (tricky in this weather).  I have to do a few photos though!

The snow is still with us and not showing any sign of thawing.  Sam was off with the Shepherd again at 6am this morning - helping with burst pipes and new born cows out on the hill.

Far from being unusual, it now seems to be quite the fashion to go to Sturminster for the shopping in the Tractor - Carl threatened to take his but I don't think  an old Leyland or Massey (with no cab) is quite the same as a Valtra or a John Deere

Blue Lips and a Feather Duster

No more snow but what we have had is still there and shows no signs of going away.  It is very cold, in fact it is so cold I have permanently blue lips!  Sam and Carl went delivering presents - after Carl had glossed the skirting board and did a bit of serious feather duster wielding on the beams - and I meandered around delivery hay, feed and filling water.  I then went round again cracking water which had refrozen, round again filling, round again cracking . . . . .

There was a welcome break at lunchtime when The Shepherd called in for a coffee.  He has had an adventurous time rescuing vehicles, sliding down hills sideways and rescuing people trapped inside a 4x4 which had overturned.  They were unable to get out as the central locking had jammed.

Tonight we are relaxing!!

It Snowed!

Last night it snowed - we now have more than a dusting and it has been pretty quiet on the hill.The alpacas are eating hay like crazy and are wolfing down their food.  Little Vellocette got the hang of Camelibra, oats and peas today and hoovered along the trough, pushing everyone else out.  Greeves is still not interested but he does eat up any peas that drop on the ground and he is moving around much more.  His weight still does not appear to be going up but with this weather I am not that surprised.

We had to leave Sam in charge and take a trip to Blandford this afternoon as we were out of milk and tea which was pretty disastrous.  The roads were fine for the 4x4 but I would not have attempted it in my car.  I do like driving the Mule in the snow as the only other road users are Sam, Carl and the chickens so it is not so bad if I slide - not that the Mule does.  Carl is going to get me a heater for it after Christmas and I do need a new nodding dog as the current one has taken a bit of a beating.  How I would manage without it I do not know, particularly with the water (the Mule that is, not the nodding dog which is purely decorational!).

When I checked the email this evening I had a lovely surprise.  Despite the snow, Sandra from Warrenfield had been out taking a photo of my little Harry (or Black Arrow!).  I was so busy cuddling him (which Sam said was highly embarrassing) that I forgot to take a photo of him!

Now I just have to be patient and wait for an improvement in the weather before he can come - and, of course, Zara, Emma and little Dylan!  Before that all happens we have to finish the quarantine arrangements and put together the field shelters which are languishing in a trailer covered in snow at the moment!

A Little Wintery

Well - we woke up to snow this morning.  Not a big dumping more a severe frosting with lumps.  Sam went off beating but he did do the chickens and early morning hay first which was kind.  A lot of the time beating seemed to involve pulling cars out of ditches and helping rescue a John Deere and huge trailer which had crashed into the bridge by Mum's field.  I was supposed to go to the Dentist but a blizzard struck and the car couldn't get up the little hill outside the drive. 

Apart from the fact that I am yet again in severe pain, I was glad not to have to go to the dentist as it was taking ages just coping with hay and water.  Everyone spent the day by the fences waiting for me!  It always amazes me how much contact with the sheep the boys will tolerate.  They guard their own personal space fiercely, except where the sheep are concerned.  Little Teddy is virtually pulling out hay from underneath Caedmon who just lay there chewing.


Greeves, who is due another fecal sample on Monday, is looking more and more like a walking haystack but he certainly holds his own with the others and will not be pushed out.

This afternoon the Church window needed doing ready for the nativity tomorrow so I trundled down with a motley collection of hedgerow bits and pieces and attempted something artistic.  Luckily, mother assisted.

And on the way back I took a couple of photos for Alf who is still languishing!

On top of the world

No more snow has fallen but what we have had is still there and this morning we woke up to freezing fog.

It looks remarkably pretty - rather like looking down on the sea.  There are a few lanes and farms under all that grey mist!  Sam had to go and push Carl out of the drive and up the road as there was no way the van would grip first thing.  He got him out and off he went with his bobble hat and his spade.  The more hardy girls managed to venture up the hill this afternoon but most stayed in their sheds.

The sheep remained firmly at the bottom of the hill, under the shelter of the trees - mine are the fat white ones and Sam's are the black ones.

Rammy is there in the background, tucking into his hay.  It does feel slightly warmer tonight and they are predicting rain tomorrow so no doubt it will all be mud soon but in the mean time we haven't got to the fed up with it stage yet.  Yesterday afternoon Sam and I spent sledging on a bit of perspex which was great fun.  I thought I had broken my arm at one point but I'd forgotten to take the hand shears out of my pocket and it was them sticking into me (I'm not shearing at the moment, obviously, but had used them to cut the string on some bales of hay).

Finally . . . Snow!!

Last night it dumped snow on us!  I have one very excited boy with a day off school and a fair amount of snow!  Not too much - Carl still managed to go to work - took him two hours to get to Weymouth but he made it.  Sam and I have already fallen out as he left me to do all the hay and water and feeding while he roared around with his home made snow plough.  This contraption compacted the snow so much even the trusty Mule slid down the slope, almost depositing me in a hedge.  So, some photos - -

The garden first thing - just after Carl had left for work -

The view Sam woke up to, looking out of his bedroom window.  The alpacas were nearly all in their shelters - even Dude.  Prue and Barnaby were solitary little mounds all on their own up the hill surrounded by snow.  They all enjoyed their sugar beet this morning.  I don't normally give it to them but I had been a bit worried about Bert and the Suris so I thought they deserved a bit of a treat.

As soon as everyone had finished eating they were straight back in their sheds.

So was I!

Slight Snow

We woke this morning to a thin smattering of snow.  Last night we had several texts and phone calls from the SFS desperate for a bit of snowboarding!  Sadly, we have had to disappoint them and they were all ready packed up to come over - may be more on the way though!

The snow was pretty but it did mean a lot of hay delivering and cracking ice first thing.  This was done at speed as we were off to spend a lovely morning in Hampshire helping with a bit of toenail trimming and injections - great fun and delightful alpacas!  The roads were a bit slippy down to Winterborne Stickland but then it was all clear.

When we got back it was back over to our alpacas - a little snow was still there and they were all waiting at the gate!

Prue and Barnaby in the other paddock seemed to have lost the rest of the herd who had retreated back up the top where it was less icy.  Barnaby is sneaking a drink whenever he can!

I was pleased this evening as I  managed to get Greeves to have a couple of mouthfuls of Camelibra - it's a start.

Now, with Sam's room finished, Carl is furiously knocking down the dining room while I sit amongst the dust typing this - I am fearing for my keyboard as I do not want another Jelly Baby Incident!

No snow yet?

I spent a while on the internet last night researching Jayne's recommendation and had another email on the subject so, as there was no chance of getting to Mole Valley, I ordered some - looking forward to it arriving.

Very cold today, the ground at the bottom of the fields didn't defrost all day.  Mind you, I think it was warmer outside than in - the cats certainly thought so as they spent all afternoon down by the barn annoying the alpacas.  Cruella was fine just stalking things but Smudge kept creeping around by the fences.  As soon as Dude came down to look at him he dashed away causing Dude to become very frustrated.  I had lined up a lovely photo and then the batteries died.  I think I had left the camera in the Mule too long and the cold had deadened the batteries.

There seems to have been a lot of snow everywhere else and I was just about to type - No Snow Here! - BUT, little flecks are beginning to fall as I speak and looking out of Sam's new bedroom window there is a strange whiteness in the distance.  I have to admit none of that is obvious from the photo - batteries now replaced - (but I do now know where the watering can is!).

Carl and Sam are finishing off Sam's new room by putting up the blinds - the rather snazzy carpet has to stay for the time being.

The one with the best idea is Cruella!