Supersize me!

Oh how they have grown, Pixie against the wall and Patches closest to the camera.

So much bacon, so little time!

Pet status revoked!

Pixie has disobeyed the orders from Berkshire Pig High Command and tunneled out by herself. As she is only two thirds the size of Patches she was able to break out and spend a very happy half hour on what we euphemistically refer to as "the lawn".

Pet status has been revoked until she redeems herself!

Snow Pigs

Pixie and Patches first time in the snow and they seem to be enjoying it as much as the rest of us at Rock HQ!

Getting to know you..

A convincing performance from Patches and Pixie as to why they should stay on pet status.

Pixie Posing

Pixie is trying her best to stay the right side of pet status. She is still only half the size of Patches but twice as cute!

Chase me!

These are our Berkshire piglets venturing outside their new quarters for the first time. They were so excited they didn't know what to do, eat or run around, so they did both.

These have achieved pet status so they are safe from being turned into bacon. They will however be expected to produce piglets for Pig Club.

Pig club has two members so far.

There are rules to Pig Club.

The first rule of Pig Club is that you tell people you are in Pig Club.

The second rule of Pig Club is that you TELL PEOPLE you are in Pig Club.

There are other rules, watch this space, but so far we have two members in Pig Club.

Apollo lift off

Ever wondered how horses stand up?

Apollo was exhausted after his little adventure around the hill on Friday night and spent most of Saturday asleep, not standing on all fours nodding type sleep but proper lie down on his side fast asleep. After today's efforts I know how he feels.

As always we had the routine to attend to, pigs got fed, sheep got shouted at and fed, goats had their bad behaviour ignored and fed, horses were mucked out and fed, all were watered, dogs were walked and wheel barrow loads of muck were taken along something akin to an assault course for wheelbarrows to drop off horse business onto the raised beds. This should rot down over the next few months, the worms will have a party and it will also raise the temperature of the ground a bit, especially with a layer of black polythene type cloth over it, it all looks really neat and tidy for a while. All this effort soon attracted the attention of the Ryelands and Apollo the wonder foal and a fairly accurate reenactment of Custer's last stand took place in the gateway as I bravely fought off the horde of sheep led by a pony and prevented them entering the hallowed ground of the garden. Roxy being especially quick did manage a ten yard incursion but I managed to wrestle her along the path and eject her to join her comrades.

Geisha looked miserable and was lying down, a quick look at her hooves and she had a minor spot of footrot. So started a mammoth chiropody session for all the sheep and goats. Maggie being armed and dangerous was the most trouble but luckily her feet needed the least amount of trimming so saving us being gored on her horns. My chest still bears the scar from the time we simultaneously tried to lean into a feed bin. In her panic to get out her horn punctured my jacket and gave me a very fetching wound.

Both sheep and goats have hooves that continually grow, left unattended they fold over on themselves, collect dirt which rots and so the poor beast gets an infection which unchecked cripples them. So two or three times a year we open the chiropody clinic and shortly after I go to see the chiropractor to have my bad back put right.

It looks like Bailey has a new home to go to, just as well as he has a fondness for our ducks and the cats absolutely hate him, poor lad. I think Greyhounds are a bit of a Marmite dog, you either love them or hate them.

Bonny continues to thrive, she looks a mess but since the scary night when we thought she, Sandy and Katy were about to shuffle off their mortal coils she has gone from strength to strength. As you can see she has lost most of her wool from the fright she had when attacked by the dog fox.

Final update, Patches continues to win the battle for supremacy in the pet status race over Pixie, she continues to be twice the size and twice as friendly.

All in all, what with getting Beth a different car, The Stable Sprite and his wife coming to dinner and taking Mad Keith a Sunday roast it has been a packed weekend at Rock HQ.

We wouldn't have it any other way!

Ground hog day

Ben and Beth went to town today and are not returning to the sanctuary of Rock HQ until Sunday when we hope Tracey's family will come over and help eat the turkey leftovers.

Its been a very sunny and pleasant day and the sunshine prompted me to move the barrow loads of fresh offerings from the horses bottoms to the garden. This sudden attack of green fingers ended with a coughing fit that almost produced a lung to garnish the fresh steaming horse offerings and so with my desire to breathe stronger than my desire to be the new Alan Titchmarsh I gave up the garden and spent several hours brushing the pony, trying to get rid of the tide mark from his forehead and just sitting and watching the pigs.

Patches has cottoned on to the idea that its best to make friends and influence people and so allowed me to pick her up for a bit of a cuddle before being returned to the trough to continue stuffing herself with fresh veg, fruit, pig nuts and unexploded popcorn. Pixie, the one closest in the picture maintains her vigilance against human pig contact and explodes with mock piglet rage if you try to touch her by surprise. I am sure she will settle down, especially once she considers the alternatives.

The pigs were not the only ones having treats, below you can see Apollo on his knees in excitement at a bucket of carrots, a present from friends down the road whose dogs we are looking after while they are in America.

So once again there are ten dogs at Rock HQ, five of which are Bernese Mountain Dogs, all sat around the fire. We saw The Oracle while we were collecting the dogs, he was celebrating Christmas, full of Christmas spirit in his yard having just come outside to walk his dinner off as he missed it yesterday. I waved at him in the dark as I drove Rene through he jovially shut the gate for me. I didn't think to ask why he had missed yesterday, well you don't ask those sorts of questions round these parts.

Altogether now........

.......aaaahhhh! How cute are these two?

Pixie and Patches.

The Stable Sprite's Pixie

It wasnt that I had forgotten, it was just that I hadnt remembered that the Stable Sprite was inbound with two little piggies destined to be the major contributers to bacon rolls in 2009.

First thing I knew was Faith the gordon setter went mental at the window indicating that someone was lurking on the doorstep and it was only when I saw his gleaming white chariot parked on the yard that my memory was suitably jogged and suddenly saturday morning went from a leiusurley breakfast time to a get the pig pen ready quick as they need somewhere to live morning.

Now we knew that they were going to be smaller than usual. And we also know that Berkshire piglets ooze cuteness, but the Stable Sprite really didnt help my aim to raise more pork when he emerged from the white chariot with a tiny weeny piglet which he carefully handed over to Tracey who was beside herself with ooohs and aahs, stating with great reverence"This is Pixie on account she is so small and has little ears"

The walking bacon factory instantly achieved pet status, as did her bigger little sister piglet who is now known as Patches.

Cheers mate




The major task of the day then apart from prizing the gorgeous piglet from my beautiful wife's arms was to move the bales stored in the pig sty up to the stables. The usual barn the pigs are housed in are uninhabitable at the moment due to flooding. It seems the millions of gallons of water that fall on the hill all want to collect in the old barn. So I endured monster spiders, rotten eggs and an abundance of rat pooh to clear the building for the Stable Sprites latest offerings. Whilst Tracey cooed at and hand fed her latest rescues I began the task of shifting the bales uphill to the stables.

As you can see above Faith, Geisha and Daffodil were eager to help. None of them were any help though when a prehistoric rat showed its utter disdain for my authority by walking over the bale I was trying to manoeuvre out of the doorway. For a second we were almost nose to nose and then it lazily turned and flopped through a hole in the wall. Faith arrived in the nick of time to totally miss the rat but witness me try to exit the pig sty through the roof in my eagerness to put as much distance between man and rodent.



With no limit to my ingenuity to speed up the job I loaded the green truck up with hay and with Tracey's encouraging words of "You' ll never make it" I set off at a blistering pace pulling the overburdened trolley after me. It was easier than I thought, especially with Tracey pushing from behind.

My vision blurred from the effort, the finishing line was in sight, another fifty metres and we would be there, I dug out blind, we would have a crystal, we would get a gold medal, my arm was straining but we were going to get there, nothing was going to stop us now.

Suddenly it all went very wrong.

Perhaps it was a bale too far.