A cold, sad week

Well, a bit of a wintry week here with not a lot going on except carrying haylage and hay for the boys!    The snow adds a lot more work to the normal day and we are always pleased to see it melting.  This is Fidget (front) with Gully behind tucking into their morning haylage.

Rufus is also enjoying his feed.

One afternoon earlier in the week for some unknown reason, the boys started to pronk,  an activity usually only seen here at dusk.   Gully as always was at the front with his tail straight up in the air as he skipped along, followed by all the other boys - including 'beefy' Fergus who does not usually 'do' exercise!  Not sure why they decided to have a pronk - possibly boredom in the snow and a chance to get the herd involved in a warming game.  Lovely to watch though but not the best shot for our ageing camera to take.

Now that the frosts have come, the parsnips are ready for the pot.  As always the sizes are not uniform and some of them are huge but these two smaller samples show just how much they enjoy the organic plot with loads of 'stuff' from the boys to help them along.  Not sure that these would impress the big supermarkets as they tend to like 'regulation size' veg - and sometimes with very little taste!

And finally.........we bade a sad farewell to our pussy cat 'Pansy Potter' earlier this week.   She was nearly 17 years of age and we've had her since she was a kitten but over the last couple of months her health and quality of life have been deteriorating.  She is now 'sleeping' in the garden next to our other cat, her old pal 'Flo-Jo' who died a couple of years ago.  The boys always took an interest in Pansy when she was hunting around the garden, but she was always reluctant to go near them.  She'll be missed a lot here at Tigh Mhor.

You can't beat the beet!

Gully, our blue eyed boy with the pursed lips!  Looking suitably muddy he knows that  there is something new for mid morning break - sugar beet.  The boys are eating lots of haylage, hay and turnips in the frosty weather so time for their winter daily top up of beet.

Fyta gets his head right into the bowl.

Gaucho showing the dark line of fleece he has running along his neck and back - reminds us of Rhodesian Ridgebacks!

And Faro back in rude good health after his ailment a few weeks ago, and eating like a horse (can an alpaca eat like a horse?)  He really is eating well now after his B12 and multivitamin mineral injections and scoffs all his daily bowl of supplements.

Wee Eck - scruffbag!  Loves to roll in the dusty shelter when he is wet to get a thick coating of mud on his fleece.  He is really enjoying his beet.

Rufus enjoying his bowlful.  The new garage is on the left in the background with the new house next to it.  Still lots of work to do but the build is progressing well.

And finally..........'the proof of the pudding' as the saying goes with 8 empty bowls - but just in case there is a morsel left, Fyta does the round of them all to give them a final lick out!

A 'blogette!'

Here we are again!   We think we've worked out the secret of the Picasa Web Albums and the amount of photos it takes to fill up the free space for blog photos - but it's still work in progress.  These photos were taken last week when the weather was really not too good and the boys got quite a soaking.  Fed up with the rain they had their afternoon feed then settled down for a bit of cud chewing.

Next door in the adjoining shelter are Gully (left) and Fidget and his favourite position at the back - letting someone else do the guarding!

Wee Eck covered in mud and with a little magnification, you'll see the white baby tooth which is still in situ  and refusing to fall out!

And finally............ an 'arty' photo of leaf colours and shapes, taken in the orchard.  Must go and try and get more photo space organised for 'the Sunday Post.'   Take care and hope the rain hasn't been too much of a problem for you lately.

Words only today I'm afraid as Blogger is telling us that we have used up all of our photo space - perhaps little wonder as our blog goes back to 2009 and hundreds of photos have been stored since then.  We've deleted lots of the old photos but that still doesn't seem to allow us to post new ones.  We'll see if we can get around the problem without buying more space then post another proper blog.

We are well as are all the boys.  The weather has been very mixed this week with rain, sleet, hail, gales - and sunshine!  The boys seem to be permanently wet but they don't seem to mind too much.  We've seen the TV pictures of the horrendous conditions some of you in the south west of England are suffering.  Hope you and your animals are all safe down there - and elsewhere if the weather is bad in your area.

We hope to be back in pictorial action soon.  Take care.

Shirley & Robbie

Boyz allowed.

"Whatya mean - I look like a camel?!"  Gaucho gets up close to the camera thinking that it might be edible.   Fyta is behind him on the left (doing what comes naturally -  and frequently!) and Faro is on the right.

A quartet of bonnie boys - Gaucho (back left), Fergus (front left), Fyta (back right) and Faro. We've had frosty weather this week so first thing in the morning the boys follow the humans around waiting for haylage or hay.

Wee Eck with Gully behind.  Lots of the boys have wet coats following rain and sleet which we've had over the last couple of days.

Now a trio of bonnie boys - Fidget (rear), Rufus (middle) and Fyta all keeping watch over some sheep in nearby fields. 

Fyta checking out the self propelled PRV (Poop Recovery Vehicle) on it's daily round of the paddocks!

A slightly different view of the paddocks - entry to Tigh Mhor is on the left and entry to the paddocks is on the right, with the old plough in the middle.   The boys are behind the gate, watching.  A sawn up tree is still 'parked' here waiting for someone to get his log splitting axe out for some exercise again (hint!)

And finally .............another nostril shot, this time of Fergus who loves his photo taken.   His head is covered in Dock seeds as he has been rummaging around a pile of the dead plants.  The boys don't seem to bother eating the Docks during the summer when they are green but they demolish them in  winter when the plants die off.

Neeps and hay bale.

It's the time of year when the boys enjoy eating neeps (turnips!)  Well, most of the boys anyway, some need to be coaxed a bit whilst others chew them eagerly.  Fyta here enjoys being fed his by hand so that he can scrape the bottom with his teeth then snap off a bit to chew.

Fyta chews a bit whilst Gully, who is not over fond of neeps looks on.

Faro loves them and prefers eating them on the ground.  His fleece is a lovely deep copper colour at the moment but has no length to it - a bit like his black half brother, Wee Eck. 

So whilst the boys enjoy their veg, the humans have a wee problem to solve - how to get this bale of hay from the car park down to the steading.  A crofter friend had borrowed the trailer several times and when he returned it he kindly gave us a round bale.  We could have taken the trailer through the paddocks but they are a bit too muddy at present and we didn't want to get stuck so it was a bit of a team building exercise - except 50% of the team was still having a long lie in her bed!  Getting the bale from A to B using only two strips of black polythene, lots of calories and a few choice words is no problem to an ex-military man, but............

..............steering one of these bundles along the front of the house and through the garden can be tricky!

We're on a roll now, it's all downhill but mind the black currant and rasp bushes!

Easey -peasey!  

And finally...........a view from the build site, over the boggy paddock and the turnip-filled boys to the hills beyond!

Another chilly week.

We've had a week of very low overnight temperatures but lovely, sunny days following.   The trees are all changing colours now, there is a dusting of snow on the mountain tops so the views are lovely.  Sometimes the mist rolls in as in this picture but the boys are unconcerned by the colder weather.  Faro is in the middle of the shot, ears and tail up looking like a proper macho!

Fergus's No1 priority is always his belly and here he is getting stuck into some early morning haylage whilst the remainder of the gang are outside.

The boys love their early morning haylage in winter and, like Gaucho and Fidget on the right will often lie in the frosty grass, eyes closed and chewing contentedly.  Turnips are also on the menu now which keep their teeth nice and clean.

Things are changing in the chicken run as Hunkey Dunkey the Buff Orpington cockerel, the Maran (behind him in the picture) and Delilah the old hen at the feeder, are all moulting.  The henhouse is full of feathers and these three look more than a little disheveled.  The three new hens however are growing fast, they've started to lay and are beginning to look like adult birds.  They still behave like youngsters though as they chase each other around, trying out their wings and puffing out their neck feathers.  By the turn of the year the old birds will have their new feathers in place and Hunkey will be in his element again.

'Himself' is still snipping and cutting at the hedges for a second week and the size of the bonfire of hedge trimmings will soon be enormous.  The boys are protected in their paddock  from the west  by this high Leylandi hedge which has now had a short back & sides.

Here are two happy dogs who are well known to the builders on our house site as they pass every day on their 'walkies!'   Sydney (left) and Coles are brother and sister and belong to our neighbour Ann whose brother Robert and wife Carole paid a visit to the site yesterday.   Robbie was left holding the dogs, and as he had the camera with him took this lovely shot. 

And finally............speaking of the house site, this is our new build from a different angle.  This is taken from the south looking north with the boys in their paddock down to the left (behind the cement mixer!)  Work is progressing well, we are just hoping that more of the outside work can be finished before the bad weather closes in.