And by the way.....

It's probably time Jonathan slowed down a bit.

He came back from the cattle yesterday saying one of the cows was pooping very strangely......turned out it was a calf.

And then this morning he asked me what that Kite was doing next to a sheep.  Well, it was a lamb.

We love telling the story of when Jonathan's father looked up on a hillside and commented on what a good looking herd of cattle was up there......they were pig huts.

And there has been a pair of swallows flying around the house all day!

We've Got to Stop......

I just had a flurry of e mails from quilting friends and we were all worrying about not accomplishing anything - me included.  I keep starting stuff and then moving onto something else.  Twice last week I put the hoover in the hall ready to do a bit of housework.  Then, come evening, after stepping round it all day Jonathan asked me if I wanted him to put it away, and I said he might as well.

Anyway, after all the e mails I went upstairs to get something, looked out the window, and decided there was a lesson there:

Just snoozing in the warm sun.

We are all so worried about not being busy when we should all just ease into a slower pace and enjoy it. 

Spring is coming along beautifully - I had to deliver newsletters around the village yesterday (wearing gloves) and thought everyone's gardens looked so pretty.

Up in the wood the Bluebells are out.

All the trees are in blossom and the Tulips everywhere are beautiful this year.

I'm so pleased with the lovely Wallflowers Eileen gave me back in the Autumn

this picture doesn't really do them justice - their scent is glorious.  My mother used to plant loads of Wallflowers every Autumn and her garden would burst into life every spring.

So really, I think we need to just kick back and enjoy taking time to 'smell the roses'.

Right, got to get on now: I need to get the washing in, then do the ironing, hoover the house and if I have time I'll get some gardening done.

Still Bleating on.....

It's all about sheep around here.  Lambing is coming to an end and the first lot have been moved out into the big field.

Well, Easter came and went very quickly - Hot Cross Buns

Easter Eggs

and now we're back to sheep, sheep and more sheep.

My little pen of four lambs has now increased to 12 - and it isn't really a lot of fun, although thank Goodness we've had such lovely weather.

Four times a day I have to wash up all the little bottles

The aim is to get all the lambs confidently drinking from the bottles on a rack, but because they come to me in dribs and drabs (no orphans, just rejected by their mums) they are all at different stages, so instead of me looking serenely on as they fill themselves up, this is the reality

all pushing and shoving and trying to get the bottles off of each other

But slowly they are getting the hang of it, and yesterday I managed to get four on the rack

and this morning eight,

so things are improving.

As far as the war with the rooks is going, Jonathan set up an ingenious tunnel into the chicken house that we hope will be so daunting they won't risk going in.

It certainly terrified the chickens - only one dared to come out this morning.

Away from the animals I am persevering with my Skype piano lessons.  By the second lesson I managed to tape the phone up to the piano quite successfully, and I thought all was going well.  My teacher said she was having trouble hearing me though, and asked where the microphone was on my phone.  Well, I had no idea, and she suggested it could be on the bottom.  Well, off course it is, and turning the phone onto the side meant she could actually hear my beautiful playing.  This solved another of life's mysteries for me too.  I'd always wondered why young people always hold their phones horizontally when they are talking to someone - I thought it was a strange affectation, but now I know they are talking into the microphone.  I shall now be far more patient when my mother tries to talk to me through the TV remote.

What else am I doing in these long, isolated days?

A bit of knitting

with thanks to Ros for finding me a nice, simple sweater pattern,

a bit of quilting

and a bit of crochet

which is well past it's due date and I need to get finished.

Good Morning!

Well, I woke up at about 5.30 and lay in bed looking out at the sunrise on the frosty fields, and then, as I watched, a heavy mist descended.  I decided it was time to get up and get all my morning jobs done. 

It's funny how the bigger picture has become so different very quickly, but life on a farm keeps pretty much to the usual routine.  Every morning my first task is to let out the chickens and feed them.

I'd like to say that I collect the eggs too but either their laying has become extremely sporadic or something is getting there before me.

NEWS FLASH  - this blog is taking so long to load that I leave it and go off and do other things while it is working.  Well, I just went to look out the window and saw a rook with something big and white in his beak, sitting on the fencing around the chicken run.  I watched as it flew down into the grass and then stealthily went outside.  He saw me and flew into the geese field so I ran down and he flew off.  I went to where he had been and there it was - a whole egg.  I could hardly believe it - so they HAVE been stealing the eggs.  This means war....

Next I head over to the geese - let them out and give them some corn.

Then take the dogs out for a walk around the garden

 

And finally out to feed the pet lambs

So that's the morning routine - all done by 8.00am.

And then I figure out what to do with the rest of the day....and that can take all day.  Although, following the News Flash above, I shall probably spend all day staking out the chicken house.