Spring? How did that happen?

The silver birch trees were bare when I left and now they are
green

I went up to Tartu this last week and when I left the trees were bare, when I came back many trees had popped their leaves and there was a green haze in the forest. On the Tuesday morning when I went to catch the 6:55am bus, it was freezing. The temperature was -3C and I had to wear a light winter coat. After about half an hour on the bus my feet were numb with cold and I was pulling the coat tightly around me. Shortly afterwards the bus stopped to pick up a group of students of varying ages. They mainly looked dressed for warmer weather. One young chap looked like he had literally rolled out of bed, put some clothes on and headed out of the door. His hair was tousled and he had that glazed look on his face that said he had not engaged fully with the world yet. Just behind him were two young chaps dressed in shorts and t-shirts. I know the sun was shining but really, it was not that warm.

Someone else doesn't look like a morning person. Although to
be hones this was the evening. It is a good job Josefs is going
to be sheared soon. He needs that hair out of his eyes. Tonight
he and Josefs went to join the big boys. There was much
moaning from Josefs.

Jakobs didn't moan so much about the move. We'll see
how he gets on tomorrow. He is so little unlike Josefs, who
is nearly as big as Freddie and George, despite being a year
younger.

The Cesis opera house

I got into Cesis and headed for my cheap and quiet working place for the next three hours. It is cheap enough for me to keep me supplied with tea or coffee and a light meal before heading for the train and quiet enough to work without interruptions. I also don't have to pay for the loo either, unlike in the train station. A bonus with a supply of tea. Around midday it was time to set off to catch the train and as I sat in the blazing sun on the station platform, I began to realise that perhaps the young chaps weren't that daft as I was boiling. Shorts didn't seem quite such a silly idea afterall.

The new section of the opera house. A
grand place for such a little town, but
well used even so.

A ring side seat to listen to the opera singer
practicisng 

Cesis centre

The sun shone nearly all week, just for a change (said with heavy sarcasm since we have hardly had any rain whatsoever during the whole of April). We did have one downpour while I was in Tartu and I nearly felt like going outside and dancing in the rain. I refrained as I would have had to sit in presentations with damp clothes as I hadn't even brought a coat with me that day. There was no forecast of rain so it was a bit of a shock. Unfortunately for Ian there were only a few small spots of rain on the land and not enough to give the grass a good soaking. Where the vegetation is finding the water is anyone's guess because surprisingly even the ground is starting to green up. Of course with the good weather I was working in an office, but I did get to see an enormous gaggle of geese fly over at one point. I feel sorry for you folks who have to work in an office normally. I was back to my normal pattern of work today, taking computer breaks by checking on our chickens to see if they have laid eggs. Just what the doctor ordered.

A Cesis rooftop

I love the shape of this one. It looks like a hat

A street in Cesis

Part of the castle walls in Cesis

I don't think this gives an idea of the scale of this monster,
but the building behind is a two storey gym

The week at the university coincided with an agricultural exhibition. The university I work for, used to be the agricultural college before becoming a university, which is why we have a veterinary, forestry and various agricultural departments. I don't think that the large agricultural equipment is the way to go to feed the world, but they are certainly amazing to see and the ones I did see are not the biggest either. It is no wonder the agricultural soils get compacted.

Just a little cab

But from this angle you get more of an idea of scale

Hello! Who are you? The two groups of girls have fences
next to each other for the first time. We wouldn't be
doing this if they were of the opposite sex, there would be
trouble.

Out on our land we do not get out on a frequent basis to socialise as there is so much to do, but this week I managed to spend just about every evening at one social event or another. As an introvert it is quite nice to just chill this evening. The first event was a barbecue with my departmental colleagues. I don't actually get to see them that often, even if I am up in Tartu because I am working in another building, so it was nice to meet up with them again in an informal setting.

Mari is fascinated by the other girls

Veronica is more interested in just eating grass

The next night I took my friend out to dinner as a thank you for doing lots of editing for me. The following evening was a little more stressful as I needed to network at an Estonian Sociology conference. Estonians are just as introverted as I am and so it took me a little while before finding someone who looked outgoing enough to be able to chat to. A friend of mine turned up eventually too. He is someone I had met at other meetings and we have a lot of research interests in common, so we were using the opportunity to catch up. He normally works in the UK so was an ideal opportunity. I only found out about the conference from him anyway. Lastly there was another barbecue to celebrate a friend's 65th birthday. So much for quiet night ins with my friend having a natter.

Graffti in Tartu

A mural in Tartu. They have quite a few murals on
the sides of buildings

Dry and dusty already. We expect the road to be like this in
the middle of summer

There was a bit of a panic for Ian midweek. He even phoned me, he was that worried about Mr. P. He rang to let me know he had called the vet out as he seemed to be laboured in his breathing. We are thinking he might have hayfever. He seems to react to dusty hay more than the others and the trees are certainly starting to spread their pollen about. The vet gave him steroid and anti-histamine injections and tonight he just seems to have hiccups and not too bad with his breathing.

The caravan needs a wash, but it is out in its usual spot

At least these ones seem happy enough. They have got the
hang of feeding time.

We had chicks hatch this week too but disastrously one group got overheated and died. If they had been outside of the greenhouse they would have died of cold as there has been a chill wind, but unfortunately the greenhouse obviously got too warm for new chicks and Ian had been busy working at the camp. The older ones were fine. At least we have nine that seem to be quite healthy. We had the normal one with a gammy leg that eventually died, they rarely survive and one just died for seemingly no reason. Not a good result from this hatch really as 25 eggs were set. Maybe some of the eggs were too cold to start off with. We'll only set some more away if someone else wants a batch as we probably have enough for now. We have enough to replace any hens that we might need to.

Poor Chanel is already attracting the flies

If you look carefully on this photo, you will
see tracks up the middle. Someone has
been driving across our land. Not good

Freddie looking rather grown up these days

George still looks a bit of a scamp though

The green haze

The untidy post-winter Greenhouse. I think I have quite a bit
of tidying to do.

Now I can grow my own alpacas!
A surprise present from a friend
that I got for my birthday but only
arrived whilst in Tartu

At first I thought this was my
present from my daughter

but inside was a pebble picture

All these cards arrived while I was away. The disadvantage
of having a birthday over the long Easter weekend

The circus rumbles on

Muah! Just kidding, they are play fighting again

It has felt like a circus in many ways this week. The article I wrote about last week for Dispatches Europe on living the rural dream in Latvia and what that can mean in reality, was translated into Latvian. Not that I knew anything about it, until a friend posted it on Facebook. The stats for our farm page went through the roof - okay not into the stratosphere but certainly we have seen a lot more activity online and people liking and following our page. At first we didn't know why. Normally we may have a flurry of activity if I advertised it somewhere or told a group about what we are doing, but that would be under 10 folks at a time maybe. So far this last week we've had 53 page likes and 65 page followers and they were mainly Latvians, so more likely to actually visit. In fact we did get visitors this week on a fairly grim and muddy weekend.

Altogether now! Jump!

Looking in

Poor Freddie has a splint on his leg. He is bottom of the
pecking order and he seems to have weak tendons or
ligaments. Not sure what happened but he has to wear
this splint for two weeks. Now just to try and keep it dry in
this weather! When Ian was examining Freddie with a lady who
is coming to learn more about alpacas, he rose up and Brencis
went for Freddie. They had to confine Brencis away in the
alpaca house. Ian wonders if Brencis was trying to protect
him - although in reality there was nothing to protect
from as Freddie really is quite the sweetest little fella. He
was only objecting to being handled, as all of them do.

The circus doesn't end there because there is always Brexit for a complete and utter farce. A German friend of mine with political leanings declared that he wished Britain would just go, so the rest of Europe can get on with planning for the next funding cycle, instead of being sucked into what feels like a never ending story of bewildering ineptitude. I sometimes think that folks in the UK forget that this Brexit process is hugely expensive for everyone, not just the UK. It demands time that could be better spent on fixing some of the myriad problems our nations, continent and world faces. At least students have the right idea by striking to try and concentrate the attention of politicians onto climate change. It doesn't matter whether the UK is in or out of Europe if the future is dire and becoming more inhospitable to mankind. As I mentioned in another article for Dispatches Europe, it is rather like fiddling while Rome burns (you can see my reflections here)

Oh yes! The snow is going properly now and more geese
have been arriving

Suspicious clouds building though

I had an issue this week that could have had disastrous consequences. I had lit the fire and thought it smelt a bit hot. I went to investigate and realised the pump was not on and the fire roaring away. I went to check on the electric and realised it was not on. I called Ian and he told me to check the switch outside the door. It was odd that the door to the switches was slightly open and our switch was down. It is as if someone had switched it off. I have a suspicion why, but I can't be certain and just hope it doesn't happen again.

A smiley George. He looks all sweet and innocent here

Comrades, listen carefully!

I was in a bunker this week, literally 9m underground. There was a university group visiting from London and I was invited to join in. They were mainly students studying for a Masters in Urban Planning, but also finding out about planning issues in the small provincial town of Cēsis. The first part of the day though was finding out about life in a Soviet bunker in Ligatne. One student said it was awful and at first I was a bit confused, but then I realised she felt the whole place was depressing, which it was sort of, but I have got used to the Soviet colour schemes and Soviet decor. These still do exist in some municipal buildings and Soviet apartments. Not all places have been renovated completely yet and like more local visitors, I recognised the wallpaper, floor coverings and even the plastic covers on the tables - I had seen them all before in other places.

1980s Soviet style computing

A child's gas mask

Clothes designer's space

The trip to Cēsis was interesting. We visited Skola6, which is a co-working space and an entrepreneurial starter hub. People can pay for small spaces to experiment with setting up in business or just work with people rather than alone at home. It looked a busy and fun place to be. The lady who started it off was a passionate but modest lady and one of my friends stood up to explain what a remarkable achievement the project was. After a tour to see some of the work going on, I explained to the students what I was doing in Latvia.

The artist who works here, also
displays her work in Berlin

The joys of soggy paddock areas at this time of year

I was treated to a late lunch and then we were off to hear from the municipality about the reality for planning in the town. Cēsis is one of the more successful places in Latvia due to a forward thinking mayor who is not afraid to experiment. We had a lively debate on how these kinds of places can have a detrimental effect on rural areas or can have some positive impacts. It was good to be able to air my concerns about the lack of vision for rural areas and it gave me much to think about. I ended up writing a short report and sending it to my friends who had invited me to see what they think of my vision for creating a positive focus for surrounding rural areas.

Still some ice patches though

Thank goodness we have full ponds and well that is close
to overflowing

We had a sad visit though this week. Our friends who had bought alpacas last year let us know that one of their alpacas had gone into labour, but when Ian rang back he found out it had not gone well. We put our own animals away early and went to see them. The poor little thing was barely alive but there was nothing to be done for it. It had a deformed nose and therefore likely to suffer all sorts of breathing problems. It also had extra feet and totally deformed back legs. It was a genetic mess. The kindest thing to do was to let it go and not fight for this one. The mother fortunately, despite being an old mother, seemed to be in a good state. She obviously realised that her baby was not going to make it, and indeed it breathed its last while we were there. We do hope the next birth does much better for them, but at least it is a younger animal this time that is pregnant. Ian milked the mother so that the colostrum can be frozen in case it is needed later for other births.

Veronica's crew are also suffering
from a wet paddock, but they still do
get out and about

Ian calls this a Chanelapillar - because this caterpillar is
the same colour as Chanel.

The rest of my time has been spent getting my head around the importance of the Baltic Sea to health and wellbeing again. It was swimming around my brain until this afternoon without a clear focus (no pun intended), which is not terribly helpful when I am supposed to be coming up with ideas of what we search for in academic papers. The project's aim is to find evidence that would help policymakers to make good policies for the environment and for people. They don't understand the concepts clearly either, so I need to be able to find a way of thinking about the issues in a way that makes sense to them. Fortunately, as I mentioned, this afternoon the whirlpool of thoughts started to slow down and form some sort of a coherent idea. Let's hope I can do something with it by tomorrow.

Vanessa is getting braver these days. When we had one group
of visitors one of the ladies managed to feed some of the girls
in this group. A major step forward