We found out this morning why the sheep were talking to Ram last night. They were telling him all about their excitement of being sheered!
Our lovely farmer next door knocked on the door first thing to let us know that the fleeces were ready. She and her daughter had them all set out, some with names for spinning and the rest in a pile for insulation. There are only 11 all together, but that will keep me going for a while.
After we made some meringues to make up for not getting any yesterday, we went over and got them. We also heard that one of them had a nasty nick on her belly. It would have been what they call a pumper on ER! Luckily their daughter, who is hoping to be a veterinary nurse, was able to stop it. Because they had been sheered it meant that they could wrap a bandage round the whole sheep to keep the packing in place, and this morning she was fine. In fact they all went back down to the fields.
We finally had our barbecue delivered today. I have had a gas barbecue for many years, and the last one had rusted out, so I chose a slightly more robust one this time. It was delivered before I had my nap, but the weather looked ok, so I left it in its box outside, along with the fleeces.
However, when I got up from my nap, the black clouds had arrived. As I went out to see to the fleeces the big drops starting pinging slowly down. It was a mad dash to get the fleece either in the house or in the garage. Wool can absorb a huge amount of water and I didn't really want to have to lug around heavy wet fleeces.
Then as it really started to pour I realised that I couldn't leave the barbecue outside in the cardboard box, but it was too heavy for me to carry inside! It meant a rapid emptying of the box into an already crowded house. Ram had received his Lego in the post as well today and was busy putting that together!
In the end we spent the afternoon putting things together, Ram with his Lego and me with my barbecue, which is just like a Lego model for adults.
So you see, the rain was my fault!
We have also been having our own private Spring Watch today. It started last night really, with bats flying around while Ram had the bedroom window open for the conversation with the sheep. Then this morning while we were doing Ram's hair we watched an adult black bird with a juvenile following him around asking for food. Then of course there were the sheep with their short back and sides (and belly!) for the summer. And when the rain started we were able to see much more. A pair of thrushes started to look for worms, which is great news as we were worried that the thrush that died was and adult and that the chicks may not have survived. We also got a great look at some very wet and very newly fledged blue tits on the feeder on the window, as well as a frog that kept hopping up and down the path outside the window.
The lovely Kate Humble wasn't with us of course so it wasn't quite the same as watching it on TV, but I am not sure whose jokes are worse, Bill Oddie's or Ram's
1 comment:
we were supposed to get rain today but more sun, such a shame, there have to be some benefits to living down south!
Post a Comment