Here He Is. A Bit Blurry But.....

This is Iestyn, (Yes-tin) our very first Shetland lamb.

He arrived yesterday afternoon. No fuss from mother, she just got on and did it and she's looking after him very well.

He has the longest legs ever, so I think he's going to be quite a big ram lamb. Very friendly, very pretty and doing well.

I'm sorry he's blurry. I can't seem to get him to stand still long enough to get a clear shot. Shall take more photos when I have someone who can hold him and we can get a proper portrait.

But I think you can see enough to know how wonderful he is.

Is the Day that I Meant to Post More Pictures...

But was too cold to take any.

So, it's more sheep instead. Omelette is the cream one and Pudding is the black. Both ewe lambs from this year.

It has been really bitter here today. The wind was at my back when I went up to feed the sheep, but when I turned to admire the sunshine on the valley, the icy blast across my face caught me by complete surprise and I had to turn my back on the view.

It snowed as we were winching up the fallen oak branch from 'the bank' (an almost vertical rockface to the stream). 'What am I doing?' I thought. 'Why am I not in a hot bath?'

However, we now have a rank of cut oak logs, a hot fire in the lounge and we've eaten.

Oh, and I got the hot bath. Bliss!

Pond Picture Sorted

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Sideways pictures?

Must be something to do with all that digging.

I have put it right and the cat (whose name is Dogger and who is known as 'the Dog') is now less seasick.

The sun is shining on my pond today. Long may it last.

Come on, grass, grow will you?

Fanfare for the Pond

Here it is.

I did say it was a very small pond!

But it makes good use of the old sink.

Now, I need to explain that this is only for the ducks to wash their faces in. Apparently, they don't actually need a swimming area, but they do need a washbasin for their eyes.

So, they will start with this and a proper pond will be dug, as time goes on. By someone other than me!!

In the meantime, as you may be able to see from the photos, I have puddled one of two areas near the current 'pond'.

You will also notice that it is tastefully positioned under the shade of a tree and that I have created this project in the Spring in order to get the grass growing round it as soon as possible.

Anyone who laughs at this project will be shunned. It was very cold, it was very wet, the sink wouldn't sink and I got mud in my wellies.

I shall take another picture when the sun is out and the grass has grown and the tree is in leaf. Until then, please employ imagination!!

The Pond

Turned into one of those jobs you wish you hadn't started.

The plug is back in the bathroom.

More later................

And Today is The Day That I Dig the Hole for the Duck Pond

Well. Duck pond is a bit of a euphemism. I am going to use the old kitchen sink, set into a very wet patch of the orchard, on the assumption that it will fill with water and I shan't have to carry buckets up all the time.

I have, of course, lost the plug. So I set about thinking what I could use instead. And decided that I needed something round and heavy to hold down a piece of plastic in the plughole. And came up with the ideal answer. A plug.

Having crisis of conscience about whether to temporarily 'steal' a plug from the bathroom sink...will it ever get replaced if I do (?), or whether to dig the hole, sink the sink and wait a week to buy a plug. It'll never happen. I shall steal.

And all this in anticipation of some not yet born ducks from an enthusiastic member of the family who has two and a drake in her suburban back garden and eggs in her incubator.

Such are the problems and conundrums that beset the smallholder. But they're not heavy problems or unsolvable conundrums and serve to keep one's mind off more serious matters!!

I shall post pictures of orchard, 'pond', ducks and, possibly, stolen plug at some suitable point in the future.

In the meantime, I have a tree picture, for your approval.

Is the Day That I 'Feature' My Daughter's Pengies

She's a talented child! Not only does she get A grades in school, she can winch logs up a cliff face, do the ironing and, best of all, make Pengies.

Her Pengies are selling well in shops here and she has taken the plunge and got herself a shop on the Internet.

This saves her having to work in the local pub and me having to drive her there and back!!

She also has her very own website, created by her equally talented graphic artist sister.

Oh, and apart from all their talents, they are both wonderful girls and the best daughters any mother could have. (I can feel them cringing from here.)

http://www.yourpengies.etsy.com
http://www.pengies.co.uk

And Today....We are mostly waiting for thestorm

Which is raging in Cornwall and South Wales, but which has not yet reached us up here in mid Wales.

We have an old barometer, which I check occasionally. I was startled , this morning, to see that it had gone down past 'Stormy' and seems to be trying to go off the scale.

I've never, ever seen it go that low before.

Tarquin's Turn to be Featured

Tarquin is my ram lamb. He is a real sweety, but he's growing up and getting more assertive (ie he butts you!)

He is so soft when in a good mood that he will stand by me while I rub his nose. But I am not complacent. He is, after all, a ram.

There has been great debate as to whether he has done his job this season. No one saw anything, but it does look a bit as though three of the four ewes may be in lamb.

There's a bit of a virtual book running on the outcome!

So, here he is. The most beautiful ram anyone ever had.

Is the Day I Show My Sheep

This wise looking old lady is Mushroom. She is one of my eight Shetland Sheep and she is the elder stateswoman of the flock.

She is canny and hard to outwit.

Which is going to making lambing tricky, if she is indeed in lamb.

I will, gradually, add pictures of all the others and, hopefully, of their lambs when and if they have them.

Whether they are 'in lamb' or not is a long running saga!!

Is the Day I Decided to Enter My First PCAGOE Challenge

So.

I guess I need an egg.

No problem there. Hens are laying loads. Well, two a day, anyway. (This is another disaster story, but not for this post).

Nice little bantam egg. Won't go mad and do a big one first time.

I can blow the egg while I make the lunch and cook the next batch of beads and take the washing out of the drier.

Better just take a quick look at a tutorial.

Doesn't look too hard. Make hole. Yes. Get syringe. Yes. Blow out insides. Yes. Swill out. Yes.

Oh dear, oh dear. My egg has cracked and there is yolk all over the work surface I was going to put the dried washing on and the timer has gone off on the beads and lunch is beeping in the oven.

Only thing to do is stop trying to do four things at once. (I can do three and I can prove this!) Turn off all beeping timers, put egg aside, leave drying to crease and lunch to cool down and.....

confess all the PCAGOE.

I'm SO glad I did.

My next egg will have two neatly drilled holes, one at each end, one slightly larger than the other.

And it will be by far the most beautiful egg that anyone ever covered with polymer clay.

And Yesterday..... We got a Wi

Well. What an amazing waste of time this is going to be.

I can do golf. I can do tennis. I can do bowling.

But I'm absolutely useless at boxing.

Not because I can't bring myself to hit the dummy on screen, but because it's too energetic and I run out of steam before the poor bloke falls over and stays down for a count of ten.

I am told that we are also going to get 'Olympics' which involves doing the hundred metres, amongst other things. I will let you know how I get on.

Have drawn attention of others playing with this silly thing, to the article in the newspaper yesterday regarding serious repetitive strain injuries caused by too much wi-ing. Fell on deaf ears of course!

I suspect this is going to get well in the way of 'The Tree Project', at least until the novelty wears off.

So, no new pictures of logs this morning and I refuse, point blank, to take a photo of the Wi. Although I shall be videoing some of the players because it is really very, very funny to see otherwise sane people throwing themselves around at the tele.