Friday 15 January 2016

All change

 The amount of weather we are having has caused major delays to the jobs list. The nice shiny metal roof for the stables remains in a pile by the side as breaks in the torrential rain and high winds have not coincided with any free time where I am able to risk life and limb up ladders.
 As often happens, delay in one area causes major problems in others, in this case goats who so far have defied nature and not exploded. The goats were in the stable, which also housed the Mediterranean Donkeys who, fed up with the rain (join the club) and falling out with the Shitlands, Trevor and Misty (again join the club) had to be taken out of the "garden" and placed in the cozy stable. This does ignore the fact they had a purpose built donkey sanctuary opposite the Swiss Style Dog Kennels. For whatever reason known only to stubborn donkymindfullness they steadfastly refused to shelter in it, instead they gathered in a sodden mess outside the back door sending donkey mind waves everytime they saw yours truly pleading to be taken in. Eventually it worked and they were, but this meant over crowding in the stable and as the other side was full, or rather not full of hay, three sheep, two smaller goats, but needed to be full of Andelusian Horse called Pronto.  So the plan to move Pronto in would mean moving sheep and goats and hay out, but new delivery of hay also meant more room was required and lack of new roof meant the two rooms at the back of the stable recently re roofed were not waterproofed as the old roof where it joined the new roof was not weathertight. Presuming you have kept up with all that the following then had to happen all on the same day.
 First the runway had to be cleared of the attention paid by three hungry horses, as well as the bays of the old kennel/balestore/wood store. This multipurpose building is destined to be demolished this year and a swanky 3 bay stable and bale store put up in its place, until then it is now: Bay 1 horse shelter for Snoopy and Apollo, bay 2 wood store, Bay 3 Donkey Sanctuary for Mork and Mindy, Bay 4a Sheep shelter Daffodil, Springtime and Snowy plus one goat called Gizmo (Widget escaped, then Gizmo followed ((the rule of smallholding any animal can get through any hole half its body size applies)) but was soon captured by a blue bucket of allure) Bay 4B now holds mentalist pygmy goat called Katy.
Hay and sofa (did I mention the sofa) were moved out of stable 2 and placed in stable 1 (previous home of goats and donkeys) and Pronto took up residence in stable 2. Stable 2 was then filled with a new delivery of hay and the log box was refilled with a months supply of wood from Bay 2 which all meant that all animals were accommodated in nice warm berths close the cottage with ample food and water in easy reach and for once we were ready for the big freeze set to start later in the week. Thats probably why our central heating then broke down.