A good day for…

As Christine, my new cleaner came this morning I have no excuse not to get on with writing.  I have started to carry on with it, new work and as I get into it, fortunately it all falls into place and paragraphs follow each other.  I always try to finish in the middle of something and that way I can carry on.

I’ve also had an idea about how to start my Autumb article for The Countryman.

A few years ago I went to a Yoga Place in Bedfordshire for a week and instead of coming back to Wales I was going to drive down to Surrey to see my Mother.  I decided to go down the M1 and get onto the M25 which is close to Egham.

Somehow I took the wrong turning and ended up going towards Essex.  I started to worry about a. having enough petrol and b. wanting the loo.  I turned off and turned round in a field entrance to get on the correct side of the road.  With the traffic whizzing by I set off and was really pleased to see a straw lorry.  I know they go westwards so I followed it and got back to familiar territory.

Driving round West Wales is a lot quieter than the M25, especially when uyou don’t know where you’re going or the signs don’t come up with what they should do!

I have the doubtful pleasure of a visit from Small, sitting on my lap, purring whilst I type this.  I think he wants to sleep.

He’s getting heavier so is that much warmer when he sits on us.  He’s seeen the new lambs, black and white ones I don’t knowwhat he makes of them.  They’re not small enough to eat. 

He got done over by the neighbours cat yesterday, came in with a bushy tail and rather worried.  He stayed close for a bit then went out again, they are all bigger than him at the moment.  Hopefully he’ll have enough ‘balls’ to fight back, even if he hasn’t got any.

Connections

I’m hoping I can get this down before the phone connections goes.  Once it gets stormy again  it’s hopeless trying to do anything, it’s so annoying to write and lose it halfway.

We had lamb triplets last night but the ewe wasn’t so good this afternoon.  She seemed to be in pain and was uncomfortable.  She seemed a bit better at five o’clock so we just hope it was the effects of giving birth that upset her.

He’ll probably have to bottle feed one of the triplets, it’s a lot for them to feed three and one often gets small. 

Talking of which Small caught a little vole tonight, that’s like a little bank mouse.  I’m sure they do good, he’s become quite a little killer. 

I went to see my elderly friend May this afternoon.   She has moved from Hospital to a local nursing home in Henllan.  It was as pleasant as a Home could be.  A lovely sunny  lounge, very spacious with a large patio outside that will be nice in the summer.  There was also another local gentleman there I know so it was quite a ’social’ time. 

It’s a lot easier than driving to Carmarthen and trying to find a parking space in the hospital and then a quarter of a mile of corridors. 

She looked a lot better and was eating well.  She’s even thinking of going up to Lancashire to be nearer her daughter so things have improved for her. 

I thought my Powertrike was going to be out of action yesterday as it stopped working.  Kim was very disappointed.  John had a look at it today and put on the new cut-out lever I luckily had as a spare and it is working again.  Thank goodness as parts are expensive and it would have been nearly two weeks before the mechanic in Aberaeron could have looked at it.  I’m not going to take Kim out with me, with me driving the quad bike, with her being so deaf now it would not be safe, she sails along in her own world, completely ignoring me if she doesn’t want to turnround and and start going back.   She knows what she wants – long walks.

Could be better

I don’t like Easter that much.  The weather here is usually unpleasant and we can’t go out.  The ewe that had the gynaecological problem is no longer with us.

It reurred again yesterday morning, the vet came out, stitched her up, it recurred again this morning so the vet has been and euthanaised her.

So, we have a huge vets bill, no lambs and John has to dispose of her.  It’s a great shame for a young ewe but she obviously had a big problem.

We havn’t had any snow, John is disappointed with that, snow would make  change from grey skies and rain.  Not too much of it but enough for a day or so.

Our neighbour I is lambing outside now.  The weather is not kind for this.  The lambs will get chilled and need a good mum to get them cleaned and fed so they have a bellyful of colostrum (first) milk.  his

Daffodils

‘Beside the lake/ beneath the trees/ fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Wordsworth’s poem seems very old fashioned now compared to modern poetry (some of which I find very obscure).  It’s lovely to see the daffodils up on the bank here, as long as there’s no strong wind and the poor things are tossed and battered.   There are leaves shooting in the hedges and I expect that down south the early hedges are all out.

It’s good to think that winter is nearly over although often April can be vicious.  A sharp East wind stops the grass growing and chills the lambs. 

Gradually there are more ewes and lambs to be seen in the fields.  I saw some nice Suffolk x lambs near here today.  They looked well fed and chunky and cheeky with it, which was a good sign.

The ewe who had a problem seems to be ok, she will have to be watched when she is close to lambing. 

Small is spending a lot of time outside now which means he gets really tired, has to sleep when he comes in so is not being a nuisance.  He’s not a kitten now, he cannot wait to get out in the morning.  Unfortunately he is hunting the little birds that come to feeed.  I don’t like to put a collar and bell on him as he is climbing trees and could strangle himself.  He caught a bird yesterday.  Well, I suppose we’ll stop feeding the birds at the end of April so it won’t be such a problem.

I want to get some buddleias for the garden but they attract butterflies and they will get chased by Small.  Perhaps the novelty of all these insects etc will pass off for him.  Perhaps he’ll snap at a bee and get stung and that will put him off.

We had a good writers group meeting here on Monday.  They picked holes in my story, but that is as it should be.  It’s nice to have more men coming.  They add a new dimension to it and seem to be talented writers.

Problems

Whilst J was trying to sort out a ewe this morning, having had to get the pregnant ewes down from over the road Small was ‘assisting’ by running about and bouncing around on the tarpaulin that covers the old van.  So much for problems from his op.  I don’t think it’s caused him a moments bother.  He is still quite clingy and very affectionate. 

We had to have the vet out tonight as the problem got worse and whilst she was here she had a listen to Kim.   Her heart and lungs are sound, thank goodness but somehow she has got herself a throat infection.  We shall get her some anti-biotics on Monday and Benylin for children is recommended for her cough, which is really quite minimal.  I’m not sure how she’ll take to that twice a day.

It’s been raining here, surprise…surprise.  I hope the weather improves before our neighbour starts his outdoor lambing.

An even smaller, small blog star

Small has spent from 9 til 3.30 at the vets today.  He has had his little op  and seems none the worse for it.

He was a little bit unsteady when he came home but very pleased to be here.  The nurse said ‘don’t be surprised if he doesn’t want to eat’.  Ha ha, she doesn’t know him, he’s had his tea, drinks of milk and has just been playing with the dogs water, putting his paw in, stirring it round, then licking the paw.

He alternates very clingy and trying to get out of the window. He’s desperate to go out but is not supposed to tonight. 

Anyway he’s jumping around and is full of joi de vivre .

I think the wind has lessened tonight, than goodness.  We are fed up with all that howling and moaning in the trees.

It’s cold as well although there is warmth in the sun.  Kim had a good run out today, lovely blue sky.  She has started being sick in the mornings when she gets up, two mornings it was like a brownish bile and this morning it was creamy coloured. We had a word with the vet who said it could be she has an enlarged heart and this is pressing on internal organs.  She is a rescue collie so we don’t know how old she is but think she is 11 – 12 ish now.  She might be older than we think but she is still full of bounce and loves her 2 -3 mile walks.  She’s certainly not breathless at all. 

We’ll keep an eye on her and give her the best of treatment.  If  necessary I would take her to a homeopathic vet.

Lambs time soon. 

stormy, stormy night

in haste as the connection keeps going.  Showers are blowing across from the south, south west, hitting us on the hillside.  Even Small doesn’t want to go out tonight. 

Let’s hope there is not too much damage done.  Glad we are not on the coast.

Getting sorted

I’ve editted and revised the opening chapter of my novel and prepared it to put in to be marked for the writing course.  I’ve had to write (well, I don’t have to) but I have done 1200 words of a ‘journal’.  This talks about what I have gained and learnt from the course, the input I have had from the others and help from the Tutor.

It certainly makes you look at everything much more carefully.  I think, if I did enough of these courses it would count towards an MA in Creative Writing but I don’t think I have the energy for that.  I am going to do another course in the summer, novel writing 3. 

Small is booked in for his ‘op’ next Wed.  I shan’t like leaving him but it is in his best interests.  He will start wandering, he already goes next door and they have tom cats.  He will get into fights and have facial abscesses.  We cannot stop him going on the road as he likes to go with John in the morning when he feeds the sheep. He knows cars are ‘bad’ but might panic and jump the wrong way.

Catty has always been ultra careful.  She likes to go along the road with John and Kim for a walk but the second she hears a car coming she leaps into the hedge and doesn’t come out until it’s safe. These last two days her bum has been glued to the sofa in the living room, in front of the fire, she’s a fair weather hunter. Unfortunateley she doesn’t like Small any more now than when he first came as a fluffy kitten.  She does a really nasty hiss but cannot smack him anymore as he pats her back, claws out.

A Small blog star

I never thought we’d end up with two cats, both such characters and here is Small the Snooker champion.  I can’t see him ever earning any money from it as he hasn’t learnt the colours.  I’m sure he’d be good in tv advertising, he’s quick to learn, very keen on food and full of cheek.

We went shopping in Carmarthen yesterday and on the way there and back looked for lambs.  All the fields are green and empty.   I needed a photo for my next article.  We came home via a former neighbour’s farm and she had plenty.  We got some nice photos of lambs in the field jumping on hay bales. I don’t know if they are good enough to be used as the standard of photography in the magazine is very high.  I’ve sent them off and will hope.

We just had a scattering of white in the bank this morning, no proper snow.  I don’t want any as I’m going out to lunch on Thursday and have a writing workshop Friday morning and writing course Friday evening.

These back lanes can be treacherous if it snows.  Years ago when we had blizzards the wind would blow the snow really high and make the lane impassable. We had to wait for the snow blower to come through.

Global warming has certainly changed all that. 

Small is playing snooker

(Click the picture to see the whole cat!)