BUTTER WOULDNT MELT!

After abseiling down the curtains and using my desk and shelving as stepping stones...oh and my drawings and paperwork as play things to be mashed in quite an unsightly fashion as to not resemble anything but litter protector! These two looked like it couldn't be them at all, just been sitting here all along must have been the other kitten eh!

PIGLETS DOING WELL

The piglets are doing well, 5 days old now and quite at home int he mud pit already. We would normally keep them in for a while but its been that hot I thought they needed to be introduced to mud and water as soon as possible. There are 5 boys and 5 girls!

THIS IS WHY I DONT HAVE ANY CURTAINS!

My last attempt at curtains I think I will give up then until the kittens are old enough. They are swinging on them, commando crawling under them and generally using them at their very own assault course! Smurf has this new technique that has seemed to shred the curtains as he goes....There was one time I would be having forty fits by now, but I really am past that now in more ways than one!..men in white coats...where are you!!!

VEG IS UP!

The veggie plot looking good...thanks dad!....Potatoes on the up ..think we might have a bit of blight tho'...peas and onions, lettuce, tomatoes all coming. We did have a Houdini rabbit that got in somehow and pulled up the onions, Dad reckons it was Lucky but we have had a chat and she assures me it was the pesky rabbit!!

ROCKY AND RINGO HAVE ARRIVED!!

Rocky and Ringo have finally arrived after 10 weeks. They have arrived with their suitcase and bottles!...Yeap back to bottle feeding and three times a day feeding....their mum got too poorly to continue. We showed them their new home with their climbing frame and house. I think they will be very comfortable there. They arrived on fathers day just an hour before I had to prepare a BBQ for 12 of us, I managed it somehow...not really sure how but it all worked out in the end! I am not sure whether Laura was just enjoying herself climbing about with Kait or whether they were actually trying to tempt the goats up the mountain???? The dogs watched on... Gem of course in the front and the other two structured behind, they are a right clan aren't they!...I think they would have liked to get in there with the goats but I think perhaps a little too much at this stage!!!

DIXIE HAS DELIVERED!

Dixie was overdue with her piglets and we were beginning to worry about absorption....But all is well, Pete was supposed to be away with Steven, but I just knew the piglets were going to arrive so their night away had to be cancelled and instead an early drive to St Pierre leaving at 5am! Oh well needs must...Dixie is usually a complicated delivery so I needed all the help I could get!

She started at 6.30pm just half an hour after Pete should of left so it was a good job he stayed, we helped her through a rough tiring birth of 10 piglets and I think on number 8 some of our guests joined us to share the happy occasion. Dixie only had one breach and a couple that needed to be reminded how to breathe! and all of them were in need of airway clearing due to late birth. She has got one a little weaker than the rest and the jury is still out as to whether she will make it. we finished late in the evening, just in time for a couple of hours sleep before waking again for golf! I only had shorts on and the mosquito's were out in force I think I have 100 bites on my legs alone, they are pickled I look like I have the lurgy!.. I have had an allergic reaction to some and my legs have swollen and are very sore to walk...Have to see how they pan out might need to go to the docs!!!

THE DAY BEFORE FATHERS DAY!

Pete and Steve were away golfing in St.Pierre and I was left home alone!!! What trouble could I cause!!! Bought Pete a hammock for his birthday and Auntie Lou and I set about trying to put the thing together...you might think its easy...but it was like a scene out of Charlie Chaplin going on...did it in the end and shoved Auntie Lou in it to test it!!!!!It very comfortable you know Pete will love it!!! HE WILL LOVE IT!....The cats helped wrap it too!

VIEW FROM OUR FRONT DOOR

I love my stable door and the view out through ...so thought I would share it with you, Laura thinks I am mad, but I love it, Every home should have a stable door it makes it! You can even see Ruby!...She has a bad leg at the moment so in a paddock on her own for a while and see how it goes, I think she slipped when she was hairing around

CUDDLES

And who said they don't like cats eh...How can you possibly not like these little guys!!!! They are full of trouble, but happy trouble, up the curtains, actually ruined the curtains,....wont get any more until November now ...until they have calmed down a bit....up the sofas...in and over everything they can get their tiny little paws on!

BADGER ARRIVED!

It was about 12.30am and I was awoke by a rumbling in the paddocks. At first I thought the ponies had got out. But then I heard the metal bit being pushed, I ran down in my White dressing gown ...so if anyone saw me...it wasn't a ghost ..just me!...and went running bare foot to the chicken house and I could hear a pig grunting noise from inside.... I picked up a solar power light to see more clearly and saw that it was a badger. I knew they were not a force to be reckoned with, by that time Pete had arrived and took the weapon in question from me!!! The solar power plastic light!!! Yeap we are real heavy weights eh!...The badger flew out from the shed half frightening me to death...good job my heart monitor wasn't connected!!! We chased him off but were left with a carnage of 3 chickens, if we hadn't got there when we did we would have lost the lot.... I used to like badgers but they are the thugs of the natural world not at all to be liked I am afraid! The only day we didnt shut the door quite right too....cant believe it, we were dealing with Dixie as she as due to give birth this week.

VIEW FROM THE GARDEN

Its not the best weather today but heres a picture from the other day that makes things look a bit more happy! The fruit and flowers are coming out now, have to get the elderflower coming in for the wine, I think I will leave the haw wine this year though, you have to pick quite a few pounds just to get one gallon! Gorse is a nice smooth wine though and dandelion, which I was surprised at. I don't think there is anything here at Woodmill that I haven't jammed or wined!...Well except Pete!

ART

Some may say this is an old scrap of wood...But for me this is art, I chainsawed a tree up and brought it home and lovingly sorted it out...whilst half killing the car in the process...But I love it and if it was for sale I would have bought it...Now you know how I get in so much trouble!!!!

THINK MY CHICKENS HAVE TURNED INTO POLITICIANS!

I think the chickens have taken to politics, it's a very political thing being a chicken, like who sits where and with who, who says what and what coalition you belong to. Basically nothing ever gets done cause there are too many sitting on the fence!!!

HERES LOOKING AT YOU

The kitten are 4 weeks old now and play for a lot of the day, But when you try to take a picture they all have this startled look about them, Smurf is the black and white one, and Scrappy is the one with more ginger on the face or as Caroline says 'Apricot" we get some posh people holiday here eh, Wait till she reads that when she gets home!!! The other one hasn't a name yet as Tim is still deciding, that's the only one we are allowing to leave us, only because we know that Tim loves cats, they sit on his desk most of the day helping him!!! Oh and Smartie watches over them with a careful parenting eye!

SPRING!

The drive way looks great, a real cute path, not sure everyone likes the flowers brushing their cars but unlucky I love it!..Welcome to my world!

TROUBLE!

Sorry its been so long, but its been day after day of trouble! I cant remember all of it but one day I was in a rush, desperate for a cup of tea, and you know what that's like.....So feed animals got Steven to school for around 8am saw Laura off to college, chased the chickens back to there area, rescued a duckling and ready for a cuppa by now its 8.15am and I need a cuppa.....Then just as I was about to sit, you know when you are half way down and your body thinks its going to have a five minute break.....then an almighty commotion outside, I could hear Shadow yelping, I ran nothing on my feet down across gravel through the stingers and saw Shadow by the fence, couldn't see what was wrong, but I guessed her paw was stuck, she froze momentarily. Then as I got closer I could see she was in real trouble, she had tried to jump the pig netting after a rabbit of all things....The pig netting wouldn't have been a problem , but she was stuck on the barbed wire on top and because she had panicked her back leg was tightly wound around another bit of wire, she is 50-60kg so I couldn't lift her without breaking her leg, I shouted for Pete in a panic to come quick, it was like he took forever to get down across the field, things go in such slow motion when you are in a fix....He took the weight of Shadow and after more luck than judgement we freed her, without major injury. She had a huge cuddle and stayed inside for the rest of the day. Now can I have a cup of tea!