About Fluke-ing Time

A few months late, we finally had a spare moment to inject the ewe lambs (one-year-olds, also known as hoggets) against liver fluke.

On the way up the lane to the handling pen:

We had brushed out the footbath before gathering the flock. Pip happily used the resultant shallow pool of terribly dirty water to cool off. Typical.

"What on earth is the scary sheepdog doing now?"

There are some pretty faces in the crowd - I bet they'll have some really cute lambs next year.

Dad walked through the sheep, injecting them and marking those he'd done with a yellow spot.

A quick run through the footbath and it was onto a new field of fresh grass for the sheep...

...And for Pip, another refreshing bath.

Sod It

Dad is in the process of getting one of the fields ready to be reseeded. Driving backwards and forwards over the field with the rotavator only served to make sods, so we're waiting for someone to come and plough it for us. Jess enjoyed grabbing the sods, running with them and shaking them apart.

This is the face Jess made when I picked up a sod and waved it in front of her:

Go, go, go!

She loved this new game, and it had the added bonus of making her nice and dirty.

She did a better job of braking up the soil than the rotavator did, anyway.

What's in the Box?

Oh - it's a Pippin!

How cute.

The Pippin politely requests to be let out of the box now.

The 500th Post ::: Wood

My very first post on this blog, on 7th March 2010, was about Ben and his obsession with eating twigs. Five hundred posts later, Ben is five-years-old, I'm 20. In five years lots has changed, including Ben's relationship with wood. Now it makes a nice background when he's having his photo taken, rather than an impromptu snack.

Here's to another 500 posts!

Evening, All

I love the evening light at this time of year. The golden glow, the long shadows. Wonderful lighting conditions for photography. Sheila looking as beautiful as ever:

Look at how the light catches in Pip's eye...

And Teddy looks really cute in the last of the evening light, too.

I love spring.

The Sheep are Coming

When the sheep see the snacker - or even hear the quad - they come running. If I don't find a gap and exploit it quickly enough, we (that is Sheila, Teddy, Dad and I) end up surrounded by a hungry mob of ewes. If I spot a gap and put some speed on, the flock chase us at full pelt...

It's amazing how quickly these sheep can run. Eventually I slow down, since the race was only on so I could get ahead of them before they mobbed us. I have been known to run the odd ewe or lamb over, simply because they keep running in front of the quad once I have slowed down. The ewes and lambs don't even seem to flinch at being run over - that said, it is something I'd rather avoid.

The ewes happily enjoying their nuts.

We were lucky yesterday because a majority of the flock was in another field so it took them a little longer to realise we were there. Not that long, however...

The sheep running towards us is so scary that Sheila refuses to get off the quad and chase them away from the front wheels - so Dad has to! And Teddy is no better. He sits up front and looks pretty.

It'll be great when the grass starts growing again and there's no need for the snacker. It can get cleaned and put away for another year, and I can stop worrying about running sheep over.

Doored

I've often thought that this old calf house and its roof would make a good backdrop for photos, but I'm only now getting around to it. And I was right.

Jess was nervous about sitting on the door at first, but I talked to her in a funny voice and she soon felt comfortable. She was even wagging her tail.

Jess' tan fun really looks wonderful in this lighting; the orange glow from the tungsten bulb on one side, and daylight through the window on the other.

Her ears are still silly.

In other news, it's Easter! That time of year when my diet is 50% chocolate - an increase of 2% in my case.

HAPPY EASTER!

Little Grey Friday

This is my late granddad's little grey Fergie. He bought her in 1949 for a little over £300 (we know this because we have the receipt). Then he sold her, and after she had a shed fall on her, in 2008 Dad bought her back and had her restored. She doesn't get out of the shed much, and the last time she was running was in 2012. She started first time and didn't even need a pull-start.

I love driving this little tractor. It's such a different experience from driving the modern tractors. Four gears and reverse, no handbrake, and a throttle that is a lever rather than a pedal.

Mighty good fun though. And since I had her out, it was the perfect opportunity to take this photograph:

What a difference 59 years makes...