Firstly, I'm afraid there are no recent pix in this post. I haven't blogged for a while because I wanted to put on here pictures of the fatter sheep, the slimmer ponies, the enormous turkeys, the new quail, the turkey house etc etc but hadn't had chance to take pix of all of the above. On Sunday I put my mobile in my pocket, full of good intentions to take the photos, but during riding with the kids on the field the phone must have fallen out of my pocket and after many hours of searching the field (methodically, up and down in rows, a bit like wot the police would do) I have failed to find it. Damn and blast it, that's the fourth i phone I've lost this year.
Anyway, on with the news sans photos.
The sheep are on the large paddock now, doing their job and eating the grass. They are a little fatter, but friends reassure me this is OK. One of the ewes had a bad leg last week and would not put any weight on it. I said to Russell I could take it in the back of the car to the vets, he said oh yes on a lead you mean. I reaslied, duh, one can't take a sheep to the vets like wot you would a dog or cat. Anyway, we bathed the foot in salt water and I put the magic purple spray on it each day and I am pleased to say it is now better. Our first little bit of shepherding experience, box titled "sheep with limp" - ticked.
This week it is the turn of one of the turkeys to have a bad leg, and I am not so hopeful for a full recovery. I don't know if it just sprained / damaged from falling or jumping off the perch or something more sinister but the bird is not happy and not eating very much. I will keep a close eye on it.
The turkeys' electric fence seems to be doing the trick though. After managing not to get zapped (and being the only personage of this household not to get zapped, including the dog) I got well and truly zapped this week. The turkeys drink loads of water and in the hot weather they guzzle it by the gallon (feels like).
We haven't designed the electric fencing very well in that the gate to the fence is a long way from where the turkey house is and where the water station is. To prevent me having to faff about taking the top two strands off the fence, climbing over and then walking down to the water, I had been (cunningly, so I thought) kneeling on the grass by the fence and carefully stretching my hand and arm through in between two of the strands of electric fencing to turn on the nozzle on the water butt to fill the drinking tubs. Over time I had become a bit blase about this manoeuvre and one day last week I knocked one of the strands with my arm, and then knocked it again and whoozzuuummmmpppppppppppp I got a massive blast, a pulsing electric shock, on my right arm near my shoulder. I felt it pass across my chest, and I did think my heart would stop. I am now faffing about taking the top two strands off the fence, climbing over and walking to and from the water station.
I'm back on the case with the planners, architects and env agency re the stables and have an end Sep deadline in mind for submitting full plans to the Council.
New photos with the next post and a video of the lovely turkeys following me round the field. here is an old one of the sheep and a couple of chickens.
And Quito xx
OK, Russell has been buying riding school equipment on ebay. When kids and adults come to the school for riding lessons we can give them a nice pair of boots, a back protector and a hat to wear. Last night we unpacked it all (felt like Christmas), marked it all up so that Russell can give feedback to the sellers on e bay and put it all way neatly in the shed. If we weren't setting up a busines you'd think we have that awfully sad hoarding illness. Anyway, we now have riding boots in every size, lots of hunter welllies (I've decided only hunter wellies will do for sloshiong aound in our mud and muck), body protectors and hats for all our clients. Friends have also donated their old wellies and boots for our collection - thank you very much.
