The clutch arrived

The clutch kit did arrive so Carl fixed that and I saw the Bath and West disappear in to the great blue yonder - but no!  Carl has decided going would be a very good thing - so that is where we will be!  Luckily, this was decided before I ran over the pipe on the poo picker, yanking out of it's socket and causing much wailing and lamenting from both Carl and Sam.  They have now fixed it but I have strict instructions never to drive with it trailing behind me.

Sam is staying at home to look after the animals tomorrow - he is quite happy with that as long as I bring him back a present!  There shouldn't be any births yet, although Belinda still looks imminent.  Everyone in the girls' paddock has been tired today - Greeves was flat out -

As was Cassie, who is not a very tidy sleeper!

The boys though, were pretty lively - Barnaby Rudge is desperate to play with Greeves!

PLEASE don't let it arrive!

It has been wet, misty and cold today - which has made the morning task of taking a couple of up to date photos of Barry Norton and Barnaby Rudge impossible.  They cooperated by charging around and play fighting but the best I got in the way of photos missed the photogenic moments!

Dylan (the brown looking at the camera) appears to have droopy ear syndrome!
Now I am heading upstairs to trawl my wardrobe in search of decent clothes - smart but casual with a relaxed country feel to them - as we might go to the Bath and West Show on Wednesday.  This last minute decision relies on the fact that the truck needs a new clutch so Carl can't shear Wednesday (his day off).  That last sentence might appear to make no sense whatsoever but it does - just means if the part arrives and he fixes the clutch, we can't go to the show!!

Friends?

It's no good, I have to get it out of my system before anything else - I am very upset tonight by a couple I thought were friends.  It would be churlish to say more but I have lost my faith, temporarily I hope, in the basic niceness of people!  There that is it!!

Sam caused me pause for thought at lunchtime.  He told me a lady had said her cockerel kept going for Marines - Why Marines?  Was it only Marines?  Where were all these Marines coming from?  Then Carl enlightened me - it was Maran chickens - not Marines!

I went poo picking this afternoon - and, at the time, it was a lovely - if cold and windy - day.  I did more lying around and less collecting, as Sam captured on camera when my back was turned.

One wheel on my - race!

Flippin' cold today!
I did a little desultory poo picking whilst Cal painted the door and Sam fiddled around with the sheep race he has made - looks strange but seems to work until he towed it up the hill and the wheel dropped off!

This evening we have done more spit offs.  I think the girls feel the best part of this is the run down the hill to get to the barn.  Half way down they all stop to have a roll and a good argue about who should go first!

Dude is in the background with Flamenco at the front, Carolyn looking rather bow legged (not due until August by my dates!)  and about to roll with Lily behind her.

In need of a finger and a little lubrication!

I have just about recovered!  Thank you for the well wishes - I did think it might be serious but I met a cousin in Sturminster this morning and she said there was a stomach bug going round so I think I was maybe being a little melodramatic.  Carl said it was probably wind and I should eat more slowly and chew my food properly (not easy when your teeth are disappearing fast).

Today it was back to clearing a mammoth load of poo (from the fields!) and the sound of all this activity attracted The Scrap Man who made me jump.  He was impressed with my machine - mind you I think he also coveted the Fordson, and the Jalopy, and . . .  We had a long ranging conversation about alpacas, tractors, property, helicopters . . . whilst I clutched the Poo Picker pipe to my chest and tried to forget that I was wearing a tight T shirt with no undergarments!

Emily has now, I have probably said this before, been mated to Dude and she did spit off but neither mating nor spit off were that convincing so I had a little investigation with the aid of lubrication and hopefully the problem has been discovered and sorted - so another mating followed which went well - do it again tomorrow on the Two Day Thing.  This may have been the problem last year when we didn't get her pregnant - I didn't try that hard as I thought she might have been too young then.

Prue is spitting off well so I think there may well be a little Jed baby on the way there.  Little Star is also a pretty convincing spitter so I am off to have a shower shortly!

Sorry there are not photos but I will get some tomorrow.

Laminating whilst I writhe

A sad lack of blogging from me I am afraid - because I have been, and still am a little bit, ill.  It had been coming on for a few days and last night reached a crescendo after tea.  Not wanting to be a nuisance I said to Carl, I would just have to lie down a bit as I didn't feel great and as soon as I got into bed great waves of pain and an inability to breathe hit me.  I couldn't sit up, I couldn't move and I really felt I had about an hour and 20 minutes left.  At that point I had a moment of extreme panic when I realised a) we had not written our wills and b) Carl has no idea of the password for the bank accounts - or even what accounts we have.  I struggled to rise and feebly called him but he was busy laminating the bathroom floor and didn't hear me.  Luckily, I survived the night and although I have done very little I am still in this world and able to move despite a pain across my shoulders and a swollen, painful stomach.  I shall retire to bed again in a minute and if I don't return to regular blogging tomorrow do not assume I have passed away, I may be just weak and wobbly.
I will just leave you (hopefully not for ever) with some cheering pictures of a pronking Zara!

Chasing our tails!

All go again today and not much time for sitting around alpaca watching.  I did take a few photos and as I was looking at them I realised that Greeves is actually growing.  He doesn't look quite such a baby anymore.  Here he is with Crispie and his Aunty Islay.

Belinda has been lying down and either sleeping or eating with the occasional roll.

I ended up wishing I was an alpaca as I have been hoovering, polishing and putting flowers in vases (definitely not normal behaviour for me!).  Carl has finished painting the house and is now finishing off some fencing - garden not field - it has been too windy to shear - we learnt our lesson on that one!

 No time to admire the view today!

Now we are off to Mother's who volunteered to cook dinner!