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January's Fireside Chat


Yantan

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I'm glad to know you have some of our Herdies on the reserves Owl. I love the breed. They were nearly wiped out during F&M but have made a wonderful comeback. Do they heft the same to their reserves as they do to the fells here? We have a shop in town that is devoted to all things Herdwick. Glad the missing sheep were found.

 

Whilst walking Archie yesterday I had to step off the path because it was under fairly deep water. I ended up on my arse on the football field which had been turned to heavy, sticky mud. What was worse I couldn't get a purchase for my feet and kept going down every time I tried to stand. I ended up crawling to the path. I looked like I had been at the bottom of a collapsed rugby scrum!

 

I visited Lidl in Maryport yesterday and was very impressed with it. Its a much larger store than the Aldi at Cockermouth so will call in at the Lidl every time I go to the dentist now.

 

Archie is at the vets this afternoon to assess his tussy pegs. We don't want him under anaesthetic for a dental if we can avoid it but if he needs it then we'll have to risk it.

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Our neighbour, a crofter,, needed to move her sheep but had no trailer handy. She took a bag of food along to the field, called the sheep and set off back along the road shaking the bag. The sheep all fell in behind her and walked along the road to the new field.

 

At the moment the animals in the fields and are getting fed nuts and hay, so when you stop in a passing place they all stop grazing and stare, watching to see if you are coming with food.

 

Out on the moors the deer who are fed come running when you stop. I feel rotten driving off again and leaving them watching us go.

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I hope only your pride was hurt, Yantan, and you didn't have an audience!

 

Lots of sheep round here but just the common type but one farmer does have Highland cattle, and I've seen alpacas in a field.

 

My husband is taking a leap into the unknown..the company he's been with for the past 12 years makes people redundant with increasing frequency, are losing accounts right and left, and generally seem to be on shaky ground. He went for an interview with BT IT at Barlborough last week, didn't expect to get it because of his age but this morning he got an email offering him the job. It's a bit more money, also a bit further to go and they do get shot of people quickly if they don't measure up, but after a lot of wibbling, he's taking it. Knowing him, he'll spend the next month convincing himself he's made a terrible mistake, I think I'd better get another bottle of wine in!

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Suzeanna I do try to live by these words when making life changing decisions:

 

“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.” John Greenleaf.

 

Archie is back from his vet appt. It's 50/50 as to whether he should have the dental given his age. On the against list is his age, 14yrs 8mths, he has a heart murmur & his teeth aren't paining him right now. On the for list is at some time he will need treatment, if we wait until it's a necessity he will be even older so the risk will be greater, his heart murmur is only a 1 and he is super fit for his age.

 

It will only take 20 minutes - 25 tops - to do the dental (clean and polish to get rid of the tartar, extract his broken tooth and possibly reduce a skin tag in his mouth) so he won't be under anaesthetic long.

 

Ruby and I are going to sleep on it tonight.

Edited by Yantan
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Not going to say anything about Archie, sleep on it as you say and then decide.

 

We don't really heft sheep round here as we don't have uplands or common lands to heft them to. They get shuttled about in accordance with what they need and what the meadows need, in some complex system only understood by Agnes and the actual shepherding team. We, the sheep checkers, just get told which reserves to visit and all we do is count the sheep and make a record of any lame or not looking good, plus check gates and fences, and top up water and mineral licks as needed. It is a way of keeping tabs on a lot of mini flocks dotted around the county, without using the skilled people for simple jobs and wasting their time travelling about. Most of us checkers are people who like sheep and enjoy going round the reserves but may not be up to heaving animals about or knocking in posts. We never go out solo in case of mishap as some of the reserves are remote or on rough ground.

Edited by owl
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That's interesting Owl, thank you.

 

We have decided to go ahead with the dental for Archie. He's booked in for 10.30am on Tuesday. He has to stay at the vets for the rest of the day so they can monitor him in case of any post op problems. He will find that stressful so I am hoping they will let him come home sooner rather than later if everything else is OK.

 

It's a beautiful day here today with blue skies and sun. It's a tad cold but it's just nice to get rid of that grey overcast sky. Archie is out with his pals. The DW is taking them all for a "bumble" which is a walk at the slowest dog's pace in a lovely wood with lake access. They can all run around and be mad if they wish or take things at a more sedate pace - a "bumble".

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I don't recall a dog called Tatty Jazz but then my memory isn't what it was.

 

I got some bratwurst in Lidl the other day so we've had proper hot dogs for lunch. Yum!

 

My friend is going to New York with her daughter on Monday. She's never even been on a plane and says herself that they both will the archetypal country-hicks-come-to-town but they are so excited about the trip. I hope they have a real blast. I've told them Central Park is a good place to go to compress if they find themselves overwhelmed by the city. They live out in the middle of nowhere and its so quiet so it they will be out of their comfort zone. They are going to try and see Kinky Boots on Broadway which we saw in London and it was brilliant so I recommended it.

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