Faith no more

I was asked a few weeks ago I was asked why I kept so many animals. I suppose one reason is that they are reliable, and despite some of the tales on these pages, bear no malice, and they would make nice people, who wouldn't let you down. Some of my beliefs in human kind have been confirmed today, that for the majority self interest overrides doing the right thing. Some of us have integrity and will always try to do whats right. Others do whats easy, or convenient, or worse perhaps, they do nothing, they complain, and then watch the opportunity to do the right thing go sailing by.

Bitter? No, to use borrow a much banded around statement, don't get bitter, get better. I am. We are. Signs and portents, I a firm believer in them and maybe this week has been a sign.

Good news today though is we have a Dexter Cow called Henrietta (the potential for jokes here is massive) and she will be with us in February 2010, by which time she will be ready to go to the bull. This means a calf by Christmas and self sufficiency in milk by 2011. She will hopefully be easier to milk than the goats who refused to be subdued and eventually won the battle of wills over the white stuff. All we have to do is work out where to keep her, Ben's room is spare at the moment, Beth's old room has just been decorated so that's a no no. More importantly what are we going to do with the 60 litres of pooh she will produce a week. Pip the collie will no doubt eat a lot, the beagles will certainly wear a good proportion as an alternative to the much sought after fox pooh, but we will be left with a considerable cow pat every week.

One problem to be addressed straight away is where do we get a cow bell from. We need one as, wait for it, ahem, we need one as her horns don't work! What did you expect? If you want good material wait and buy the book!