Death warrant!

One of these animals is in sooo much trouble! In the centre is a fence, a goat proof fence, a not very efficient goat proof fence as a goat has got the the wrong side of it!

And once the wrong side of the goat proof fence (visible from space) it was allowed free access to the tomatoes, peppers and unlimited supply of strawberries. As we were signing its death warrant Hetty thought it best to join in an jumped the fence to offer her support.

Firing cheeseballs at a dog

I like the contrasts my life has to offer. Take yesterday, early start sorting sausages and eggs for sale, quick hop across the mountains to the valley that time forgot to right some wrongs and then an evening spent listening to Greg Davies' life story, which was hilarious and included the firing cheese balls at a dog tale.
This morning, a slow start as Tristan was too endearing to give up cuddling so I stayed having hugs instead f getting myself to work on time. Court saw its usual parade of no hopers keen to take on the might of the legal system. Somehow I ended up being the only social worker in the building thus landed with every enquiry, phone call and distraught citizen to deal with. A race across the mountain to make my evening appointment with a very nice militia man who can save me over £60 a month. How? Well he mills his own feed and as such does not have to pay for a nice shiny fleet of airbrushed lorries and amazingly double jointed JCB tractors, so does not have the massive overheads of our until now feed supplier. Whats more he is "open" evenings and weekends, gives discount to regular customers and as a bonus sold us two weaner pigs for the cost that we normally pay for one. So we have cheap feed a plenty and two very cute Oxford Sandy and Black weaners to feed us later in the year.
I'm now sat waiting for the phone to ring. Why?
Well if the militia man can save us £60 a month on the feed bill, he can save Stable Sprite £60 a week on his.

Pigs on parade

The lil pigs continue to be a distraction and have really taken to Hazel, lurking underneath her and watching the world.

Here they are getting ready for their latest trick,

carefully lining up before and impressive left wheel and

synchronised gate diving, all under the watchful eye of Pam Pig, a very protective mother, hence the collection of buckets as we lack the body armour, electric prods and life insurance to risk retrieving them.

I'm sooooo sorry

Poppy the pathetic triever. My favourite boots. An unhappy liaison. She might be smiling, but really shes very sorry. Again!

Filling out

William our Welsh Cob cross Bronco has come on nicely since we turned him out on the slopes of Bonsai Mountain. Its helped that he has unlimited food supply by way of hayledge, and as much poultry feed as he can steal, but the end result of stuffing in the calories and countless ascents and descents is a muscle bound hulk who might just be able to carry yours truly on his back without snapping like a twig. The memory of my last attempt to stay in control of the beast as he tried to chuck me through the bedroom window still haunts me but I am willing to give it another go as long as he doesn't.
Other top news is that my compensation for having such rubbish unfair ex-employers arrived, late obviously but the poor lambs are probably a bit strapped so lets not worry unduly, its here that's the main thing, a cheque granted, but it cannot bounce as they had to pay the Court and the Court paid me, the winner, my just reward. Its a life enhancing amount rather than life changing, but it will pay for a few days rest and recuperation and a few treats. Rather than waste it on essentials like foam cowboy hats and bats and balls I have decided to buy a bright orange cement mixer. Yes flush with successfully hanging a gate x2 I am overwhelmed with optimism for future DIY projects here. All of which require a cement mixer. Once I find a new red crayon I shall rough out a few grand designs and let you all know what I am up to.

Time-travel

We cram a lot of living (and calories) into a day here at Rock HQ, but today has been especially action packed and a real family fun day. Early morn saw the usual routine, slightly sped up, but the main tasks done, dogs walked, pigs fed and watered, horses removed from goat house and sent off with a flea in their ear, disputes over who ate who's breakfast sorted (the Ryelands have found that they can steal a third breakfast from Pam Pig if they wait for her to leave her huge portion and feed the piglets, see above) Ambrose had his feet seen to then suffered MLS and collapsed when the suns rays hit him. Hetty is mowing the lawn still so her breakfast was served up on the path, Spotty and Montana thought about helping them self but Hetty is not so keep on sharing so they kept watch from the helipad just in case.

So as the weather was fantastic, and Super Grandma (aka the apprentice) was in her motor home not far away, plus not far away was really not too far from relatives (smallholders too) who have yet to see our trainee smallholder and almost next door to two Bernese pups Rocky is dad too (see other blog tomorrow) it was too good an opportunity to skive off smallholding. So lil T, Tdog or to give him his proper name, Tristan, began his rites of passage, photos looking cute on rug, check, first paddle in sea, check, first bucket and spade, check, first sandcastle, check and so much more. You can click on the small pics and they will super size, then you can see the regency harbour we walked around and an interesting extension which has given me ideas. The sandcastle was a success until it went a bit Pete Tong by sprogs attempt at eating it, he tried to hide the fact under the cover of a blanket.

On to auntie smallholder who with the help of her little red tractor, talent and no goats has an inspirational garden and has nearly finished a deluxe stable/garage block. We all sat on the sun terrace eating fresh salad but the home made coffee cake beat rabbit food. Soon it was time to move on, another cuppa with Lucy's clan where we met Bodge and Bonny, nearly a year old and gorgeous just like their dad. Two hours later we were back at Rock HQ where lil Tdog wrestled a favourite cuddly while I did the evening rounds, walked the dogs, got paperwork ready for tomorrows paid work while looking back on a day that seemed last a week. Lifes good. Today proved it.

The gate hangs well

A rare day at HQ. A day where all tasks set for the day were a) completed b)without breaking anything c)no injuries and d) in sunshine.

Primary task was to hang the gates on the entrance and exit to the helipad. Several different schemes were thought through and all rejects as most involved demolishing enough wall to put in gate posts, meaning builders not yours truly as bodger. However a quick trip to KBS the friendly building suppliers who are well used to the likes of me turning up on a hot busy Saturday with no idea as what they want. The nice man behind the counter didn't bat an eyelid when I asked where the planed timber was, no I didn't know what size but would know when I saw it. I followed him to the racks of wood, past all those clever types with note books and tape measures. Eventually we found what I was looking for. How much did I need as he pulled a likely looking length from the rack. About that much, times four. Again he didn't flinch as I held my hand at waist height and showed him how much was needed. That's good, this piece will make four of those he added cheerfully as we went back to the counter. I did detect a slight tremor of the side of his mouth when I asked about sheet ply wood, how much did I need, well enough to do the job, about that much I suppose, I held my arms out like a bragging fisherman.

Kindly he led me to the sheet timber and we found a couple of pieces that matched. He solved the puzzle of what type of screws I needed pointing out that the numbers on the sides of the boxes were not in fact length as I thought, but quantity. Finally after refunding part of my purchase as I had the good sense to ask if the bolts bought were good for concrete walls, he remained cheerful as he found the correct item for me. I think it was him that was banging his head into the counter as I set the shop alarm off as in changing the bolts he forgot to remove the security tags. How we laughed.

Anyway the gate is now well hung(no need for smutty humour at this point) and if I had remembered where I had put the bolts the job would have been finished. The sheet ply was used to clad the stable doors, this will now render any attempt to damage the doors by any critter, impossible. Famous last words. The front of the goat house was also reattached after William and Apollo pushed it in to get a free lunch of goose food. The goat house is currently home to Storm and Sally the Chinese geese who have each hatched two eggs.

The daily chores were kept interesting by the antics of the piglets who have en masse decided to explore the world and so set off to see the ponies. Every time I appeared they hid under Hazel. Having picked this little one up I can now confirm that Mangalitza piglets do in fact squeal, loudly, non stop and that Mangalitza sows get very annoyed if they think you are in any way causing their sprogs harm which is why this cute piglet was more or less thrown back through the gate instead of being placed carefully. All thoughts of placing carefully left my head as Pam Pig bore down on me at mach 10 with fangs bared.

Early signs

Its July 1st, where the first half of the year went I don't really know.

But it looks like autumns coming early, the trees are definitely showing different colours and the bracken is going brown in places already.

We have new cameras here at Rock HQ, a swift but effective argument with the manager of the electrical store over the finer points of the sale of goods act resulted in a new camera being handed over for the old one. Not quite the full refund I wanted but good enough. A spare one was bought from a different shop, just in case.