Goats Milk plus Baileys

Dozing pups, etc

For some reason Elise, our young heifer, decided to try to mount me yesterday. It was quite something to suddenly feel her hot breath on my cheek and feel the rest of her following on. I quickly side stepped, so she missed her target. After that she took it upon herself to have a go at mounting the ram. Both of them ended up having a head to head barging session, but it was half hearted and without malice.

Meanwhile, Blue and Maz, our two rottweiller puppies, have discovered that they can get up the step into the Tall Barn, in which can be found the living quarters of the goats and Elise, in particular the humungous piles of cow poo. I am not sure why our animals seem to like each others poo, apart from the sheep who hold a particular fastidiousness towards what they will eat, or rather, where they will eat it. We have a problem at the moment with grazing because there is still a lake lying across the field gate entrance to the Home Field and we can't get them on to that field to graze, so at the moment they have to stay across the lane on Station Field during the day. This they don't mind, although the grazing is getting very lean. However, the Paddock in which they rest up for the night does have grazing, which they will not eat at all. We often have to mow that grass to keep it down. Sheep, it would seem, can be fickle. 

To support the grazing we are scything fresh grass from elsewhere on the smallholding, and then taking it to the field. We have become a fan of scythes, they are not noisy, are good exercise, and the swishing sound as the blade cuts the grass is satisfying to the mind, as is the rhythm of the scything action such that I am able to remain oblivious to the stares of passing motorists. The goats will eat the cut grass, as will Elise, perhaps the sheep will, perhaps they won't, perhaps they will just stand and moan about 'there not being not sufficient grazing and why don't you give us the maize, we could live on that all the time'. 

'Well, no, you couldn't sheepies, because you can't properly digest the maize, and it ends up in your poo, which the birds or chickens will then eat depending on who gets to the poo first.'

*****

The water is still running swift and deep in the river, and has eaten a chunk of our land in the far paddock of Home Field. Since we can't do anything about this force of nature, we are trying to adopt an attitude of 'what will be will be', and that as long as we have at least five acres left then we can still feed ourselves and anyone else who stays with us. This is an exaggeration. We would probably be left with about ten out of the thirteen we have at the moment. 

I must try not to build a negative energy in the area of that erosion. It is one of the prettiest places here and overlooks the convergence of the Adour and the much smaller river Louet. On clear days the Pyrenees can be seen, and sometimes even otters. I must try to concentrate on the peaceful prettiness, and not keep thinking 'Oh damn, that ****** river is taking away our land', so that each time I approach that area I walk  back into   good thoughts rather than thoughts of a stressful nature. I think I shall have to work on this, because I built quite a high level of negative energy there when I was scything in that field last summer. I kept walking towards the edge of our land, seeing if the river had  nibbled away another chunk, which was making me more and more irritated with the river, thus robbing me of my joy about living alongside it. 

Message to self: Go down to the far paddock of the Home Field, and make friends with that area again. Look at the erosion, and see it as nature continuing its re-landscaping of the land, which it has always done, and will continue to do so when you have departed this world, because if you don't, then you will spoil your enjoyment of such a wonderful place to be living in. 

******

There is nothing like holding two snoozing puppies on one's lap, knowing full well that in a few weeks time they are not going to fit on one's lap any more. 

- Trying to be patient with pee and poo training. Oh why is it that one can stand outside in the cold for ages, waiting for the puppies to do their business instead of which they prefer to go on mini adventures and explorations, then as soon as they get back into the kitchen they realise that they need to squat. 

- Trying to be patient with Gussy, who does fiercesome growls whenever those puppies are within half a metre of him. He is a rescue dog, is very pretty to look at, but has a corner of his heart which is black. He has taught me to be wary of dogs. I am having to unlearn this wariness with Maz and Blue. 

- Using absolute bribery to get Maz and Blue to do the right things according to the rules of the house. Also getting Bools and Gus to remember those rules. 

- It is easier to get two puppies to learn the rules than one. 

- Time slips by when one has puppies. It is the rompiness of them, the naughtiness of them, the sweetness of them, which seduces one away from other things which need doing.

There is nothing like watching two sleeping puppies to send one off in to a doze as well!

Nearly gone!

Need to rethink the positioning of the new pig pen and hut, the temporary hut nearly going under water when the river became too full. Now going to enlarge the small veg plot and join it up to the existing pens to make an L-shape overall. Still keeping the drowned pig pen where it is, but to make a walkway over the path between that and the ex veg plot / pig pen. This will give Max, our Tamworth boar, at least two areas to wander about in. On the other side of the two existing pens there will be access on to half the total size of the big veg plot area, so that the girls can have space to move about in, as well as digging the ground up for us. We were going to put the pigs down in the woodland, but we can't afford the fencing at the moment, so that plan has to wait. 

 The chicken hut was going to go by the pig pen near the woods, but that would also have become drowned should we have built it there, so the new plan is to convert The Hut back to its original use. The Hut (the small building on the left of the porchway, this is on our first day of being here, and much tidier it looked then as well!) was first a storage space for stuff. Originally it has been the chicken hut for Labartere.

....then we converted it into an office...

.....then we moved into the house, and The Hut was used to house piglets for a few days...

...then used as a wood shed....

....and is now the night time stopover for the geese, and a temporary hay shed. 

So now the chickens are to have it back, with a walkway going from the upper side window, over the wall, and down out onto the side drive, thus removing them from the courtyard. 

The courtyard will then be tidied up, wahoooooooo!!!!!!!, and a garden made, wahooooooo!!!!! again. We so need to have a better space outside the front door, and although it looks quite impressive to visitors when the chickens and geese are all clustered together in the Courtyard at feeding times, the wear and tear on that area does make for a general crappy mess. We might also feel inspired to get rid of some of the building detritus as well. 

Thank goodness the river overspilled when it did. So why did it become brim full? Continuous rain on the already fallen snow in the Pyrenees produced avalanches and a sudden and massive Spring melt which started coming down the rivers. This was joined by drainage water from the sodden land, especially from the hills near us which had been suffering from days and days of heavy rain. So all the water joined  up into a huge flurry, and gracious me but it was indeed a 'huge flurry'. 

Apparently this really rarely happens, the 1950's being given as the last time the river was so fierce. Not to worry, we know how high the water can come, and how close to the house it is likely to reach. Like all our neighbours we shall ever after be aware of the possibility of inundation from the river and take necessary precautions in the future. And over time the image of that water glinting so close to the house in the middle of the night will recede into memory. 

Things I have learnt:
- that it must be truly dreadful to have water come into your home, whether be by burst water pipes, a collapsing roof, or an influx of river water. 
- that if that happened, you have to pick yourself up and get started all over again.
- that living near a river means risk, but that all life carries risk, that that is the way of life. 
- that our house is built on a mound, the original builders having been fully aware of the temperament of the river at a time when the river would not have been so well managed, therefore it really has only minimal risk of flooding. Will have to work on this one. 
- not to get cross at the managers of the river when they send men in their diggers to take away the shingle bank in the middle of the river. To understand that this shingle bank acts as a brake on the river flow, thus encouraging the water to back stop, the end effect being a flood.  The shingle bank is very attractive in the summer, but it has to be removed periodically when it gets too high, and not to get tetchy with the men for doing so, like I did last time, which was three years ago. 

- that I am building a respect for nature. That we, as human beings, are only fragile little things when nature is roaring away at full force. This is a good thing to learn. Makes one less arrogant.
- that all the animals stayed dry, and that we would have got wet before they did, should the water have got any higher. 
- that experiencing natural forces can shake your confidence in your own powers of survival. This is not a bad thing. Humility is good. Makes one respect other living beings as well. 
- that this was not a catastrophe at all, nor was it ever going to be. The house is built on a hillock, therefore the water would have only been a dribble should it have got nearer to the house, and since we are the highest house around here, then others would have had greater trouble than us. Will need to work on this one.
- that it is unfortunate that for years I have had 'water- based' dreams, during which water rushes towards me or flows around me in various scenarios. That they had nothing to do with the actual water approaching us, but to do with stress. Will need to work on this one too.
- that having things to 'work on' is good for the soul. After all, it is better to be a wiser older person, who has acceptance of the way of life such that in their heart and soul there is happiness and contentment, rather than a miserable 'oh woe is me' type of person who has only misery and darkness in their heart. 
- that on the whole, the river experience was a good thing to have. Perhaps will need to work on that one a little bit as well!