It's an ice-age thing!

In last week's blog I described the drainage trench which Robbie was digging in front of the field shelters.    On the next day he hit this massive slab lying at right angles to the trench and blocking the route of the coily pipe.  Speculation was rife as to whether it was the 'lid' of an ancient burial chamber, perhaps there was a gold or silver hoard buried under it or perhaps it had some other ancient purpose.  One thing was for sure, it was too heavy to move by hand.

Enter our farming neighbour Willie, with his digger, in front of an expectant audience of  Robbie and the boys in the other paddock.  No problem for this machine.

The slab is lifted out, sadly no gold, silver or skeletons underneath - just clay!  The boys have lost interest in the background too!

And here is the 'precious stone' - somebody has been promising me one of those for years, but not this big!   So it looks like this slab was 'dumped' here as the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age, a sight which can be seen on many mountains and hills in the north.  Now several thousand years later it is likely to be cleaned, up-ended and used as a house sign.  The 'ancients' would be impressed!

Also this week we had a welcome visit from Sue and Sonia who came to satisfy their  curiosity about all things alpaca. Look out locally, I can see more 'fleecy beasties' appearing in another part of the village in the future!

Faro gives Sue and Sonia a look over and hopes there will be snacks for the boys (there was!)  Fyta is on the left and Rufus on the right.

And finally..........not quite from the last ice age, but a sight which will be familiar to most alpaca owners recently in UK as the water troughs freeze up.