Coming and going....

Well the Adour paid a visit to our doorstep again, but did not come as close as it last time. And the amazing thing was, that within two hours the mass of water had disappeared as if a plug had been pulled out. One minute there was water, the next minute, none. Actually, that is not quite right so may I rephrase and say, one minute the water was there, but after I had had my nap, it had gone!

Almost had a calf and then not, as well. Yesterday morning she was up and having a suckle from mum, then the next minute she was in a heap with her head laying at an odd angle, which previously on other animals has signalled that they have given up and are getting ready to pass over. This was worrying. So Lester rushed off to the vets, and I just faffed. Didn't know what to do, so just sat down on the straw beside her, put her head on my lap, and just stroked her. Elise came over to have a look to see what I was up to, did a gentle blow of air in my face as if to say "She is in your hands", and then wandered off again. 

So I sat there for a while, then went indoors and had a look on the internet for any helpful hints, then thought I would give her a half pint of goats milk because internet forums had been saying that that is what one should do if the calf looks hungry, and since I don't think she was getting any milk from mum, this is what I thought I ought to do. 

And by crikey it is hard to know what to do for animals, but one can only do one's best, so I did just that. She was up on her feet by the time I returned, trying to get something from mum but not managing to, so I showed her the bottle, she took it down in one hit, skipped about, then danced over to mum, gave her udder a jolly good shove, which seemed to produce a result sufficient to make her deny the second half of the bottle I offered her. 

She probably would have been alright if I had not intervened, but she was definitely perkier after that little bit of help from the bottle. 

Today she is out in the Sheep paddock with mum and two little goatlings, romping around, being a youngster with the two young goatlings. 

The tomatoes have died, half the potato crop looks dire, and everything else is not coming  up. This is when one could give up, but after all the work we have done, we must keep going. So off down to Tarbes I went this afternoon, and purchased more tomato plants, some peppers, aubergines, parsley, basil, coriander, and two peanut plants. We should have had all this in seed pots, which would have saved us the money I spent today, but we didn't because the weather has not let us. We shall not be beaten. We shall have no plums because the weather has demolished the crop, but the apples stayed put, and no apricots either. Not to worry, the kiwis are starting to open out their flowers, and there are still bees flying from the bee hive, (we thought we had lost them due to the bad weather of the last six weeks), so perhaps the bees will help pollinate those kiwis so we get a crop from them. 

Otherwise..........

................her name is Bonny.

She went on strike this evening. Must have run her legs off because she refused to get up so we could get her back into the barn for the night. Elise went alright. She knew that she had munchings waiting for her, but Bonny was not going to move. 

It is worrying when she does that. Automatically one thinks that she is sick. Lester managed to get her to move, but she was reluctant. Not to worry. We have managed Day Three of having our surprise calf, and she has managed three days of having us give her mum a helping hand.