A little natural immunity

I think we can say that mud season has begun

We finally got our first vaccination this week. I'm grateful we didn't have to wait too long after the cancellation and I'm not bothered that its Astra Zeneca either. As one video explained, the best vaccine to take is the one you are offered. I've been watching some of the chats on Facebook and thinking about the comment that I often see, that people would rather develop their own natural immunity to the virus. It suddenly occurred to me that is precisely what the vaccine does, just without the greater risks from the virus. I really do not get why people would rather play Russian roulette with a virus than take an inactive portion of it that stimulates your own natural immune response. Okay maybe there are some after effects and some people have been wiped out for about 24 hours or so, but generally that's it. If the reaction is stronger it could equally be due to fighting something else too. 

Coltsfoot, one of the first flowers to make an 
appearance every year.

Kind of a damp day.

Ian got the worst reaction, as he started a bit earlier and was feverish with it. I had achey glands mainly. We both woke around 2:30am though and were gagging for a drink. When the nurse told us to drink plenty of fluids I thought it was just the general recommendation for feverish people - plenty of fluids and take ibuprofen or paracetamol. We did get those drugs in because we weren't sure if we had any that were in date but we didn't bother using them. At least we were feeling better when we got up for a cup of tea. Both of us felt a big sluggish today and Ian went back to sleep after letting the animals out apparently. I just did fairly easy and mundane tasks for work today - nothing that demanded a lot of work or thought. 

We transferred some of these to our land last year
or the year before. We have about three that 
have come up now. It's a start.

Ian has been doing some thinning out and
chopping of trees before the end of the season, 
which finishes this week at the end of March.
This is so the birds can nest without being 
disturbed. We need some more wood for our
fire. 

Time seems to be flying by but at least I managed to get back to some database work (this is mainly written by my colleagues and I've just been uploading it, but some I've written too here and here). I even set up a blog on that too (you can see that here). The idea will be to share updates to the database but also to talk about different aspects of blue space and health and well-being, in other words little newsy items about lakes, ponds, the seaside or even fountains and spas that are good for our health and well-being in some way. It seems a timely piece of work when we are discovering the benefits of being in the great outdoors. The first blog is about cold-water swimming. It might be a bit later now for swimming in ice, but not too early to prepare to swim outdoors. With the proper preparation it can be a fun and safe activity to do. There are some links about the benefits too. 

Looking towards a soggy road.

Piles of wood

The snow has just about gone now and suddenly we are getting an uptick in requests to visit, even before we announce we are open. We ended up with three groups over the weekend and potentially there was one more but it got too late for them. We are going to be quite strict though on only allowing people to come who have booked. We want to make sure we are prepared and not have too many visitors. Although we've had one jab we won't get our second until the end of May at the earliest and we have animals that will need our care, whether we are sick or not, so it is best to ensure we stay healthy. At least we only have outside visits, so that is less risky than being inside. 

I love the colour of alder when it is freshly cut.

Yes! Valeria has been sitting outside in the mud.

Our car was in for a service this week. We were fortunate enough to be able to borrow a friend's car while it was in the garage. There was rather a lot that needed doing on it, so it was a bit on the expensive side. However, this is rural Latvia and not the UK so labour is not that expensive. It is getting closer and closer to the stage I guess where we have to think about changing it, but so far it has still been reasonably reliable and suffers mainly due to the dirt roads that Ian has to travel on daily and a newer car is not any less likely to cost us at service time and we know how this car has been looked after over the years. At least it will change soon as we will transition to caravan living, far less travel on the roads. 

More signs of spring. There is a Latvian tradition
of making a whipping branch from these and saying the following
Apaļš kā pūpols,
vesels kā rutks,
slimības laukā,
veselību iekšā!
Or in English means,
Round as a pussy willow,
healthy as a radish,
sicknesses out,
health in!!!" 

The Worm Moon - such a strange name

We did have one hiccup while the car was in for the service. I was having a meeting where I was going to show people our land and our alpacas but forgot to put my headphones in my rucksack. I had to drive back to collect them as the ones Ian had wouldn't fit my computer. As I set off, I thought the car sounded a bit noisy and by the time I got to our village, I was sure the exhaust had gone on it. When I got back to the land, Ian came striding over. He'd heard me coming and come to see what all the noise was. Sure enough the exhaust had broken. Sigh! All sorted though before it went back to our friend.

The ice is going on the pond at least

Brencis is such a nosy alpaca,
he came up for a look.

The meeting I was attending was a virtual tour of our village, done by me and a virtual tour of a small provisional town of Latvia done by a friend of ours. It was a nice exchange, as my own students got to join in too, although they were a little shy it seems. After my main talk, I then took them on a short walk to the boys alpaca house and they met Josefs on the way as Ian was taking him out for a walk. It worked quite well and it was fun to be able to show them the alpacas. Unfortunately it was a bit windy but at least it was okay in the alpaca house itself. 

This is usually the last place for the snow to leave

Kind of dull but nice to see, as it means winter
is just about over. There maybe still some cold 
days but it's not going to last long.

We'll soon be heading out to the caravan again. Last year we went out to stay out there quite early due to a threatened lockdown. We reckoned it would be easier to be out on the land than Ian having to travel backwards and forwards and the winter was fairly mild. This time the cold season has lasted a bit longer and so the drive to get out there wasn't so urgent. The changing of the clocks this weekend though does make a difference. Ian is now only arriving back well after 7pm, which means we eat late and that's not so good for someone working with animals and outside for much of the time. We make a point of sitting down together to eat, so it is not so much of an option for him to take enough food for him to prepare his own meal. We just need to get sorted now.

When the snow goes, we can see where the pigs
have been. Sigh!

More damage here too

With the snow melt comes our lake, but it has
taken quite a while to appear. I guess the 
ground must be wet through now, which is
a good sign for the summer, as it means the
water table is high.

Just little bits of snow here and there.

To cap it all

With our normal washing machine disconnected we decided
to try out the new portable one that we have for washing
fleeces to wash our underwear instead. It worked well enough
and even spun out the clothes quite well. It might still use
too much of our precious water on the land though. 

This week we emptied the cellar of our old apartment and moved most of the remaining stuff out from the apartment itself. We also finished putting wardrobe together in the one we will be living in over winter so that we could put the clothes away. It is nice to be able to find other clothes again to wear. On the Thursday I took the car to the garage early then went back to our old apartment to clean it, since just about all our stuff has been taken out that needs to be taken out. I had arranged to meet up with someone to talk about weaving that morning too but somehow I managed to mess up the times. At some point what should have been 10am meeting in my head turned into a 10:30am meeting. It meant that the poor lady ended up waiting for me and I didn't show up. I was mortified, when I rang and found out my mistake. I hate it when others do it to me and so to do it to someone else was awful.

This little madam decided to worry our friend who was
looking after our animals by disappearing overnight. I did
explain that she does do that every now and again and is less
often now than it used to be, when she sometimes
disappeared for a week at a time

I said last week, very tongue in cheek, "Not much on my plate then!" but it was at the point when I realised my mistake that I knew I had too much going on in my head. I was making too many mistakes like that. I can be forgetful but I don't often leave people waiting without at least calling to explain. I went back to the apartment and sat down and wrote an email to Ian to explain what had happened and said I wouldn't be back until later on in the day as I wanted to get my head clearer and I wasn't in a good mood at all. I also wrote down in the email about all the things that were in my head and needed sorting or I was dealing with. Bless him! When I did eventually go back to our land on the last bus (only about 6ish) he was busy making shelves in the barn so that stuff could be organised and it means we can clear out the greenhouse in time for our felting workshop at the beginning of June.

Rain clouds. Not much but at least it is some rain for our
plants

A friend also realised that some of things we were talking about could be causing me a degree of stress and offered to take some of the workload off me. I hadn't said anything about what had happened and that things were piling up on me but it was such a relief to be able to say that her actions were really, really helpful at the minute and yes it would take some pressure off me that I rather badly needed. Of course, just sitting down and writing everything out was also helping me to sort things out in my head and made me feel a bit more balanced and less overwhelmed. There is still a lot to do, but I am starting to tick things off the list and another job was postponed by someone else until later on in the year, which again was helpful.

Ian has been busy cutting grass again. The alpacas don't like
long grass and Ian also likes to keep the grass short in some
areas like the orchard and around the current bushes.

I managed to book a flight to Slovakia for around mid-June to attend a PhD course. I was quite pleased to find out that flights to Vienna were cheaper and it is relatively easy to get to Slovakia from there. The only problem is that it was easy to find out how to get to Bratislava and quite cheap too, but the next leg was not as easy to find out. I sent an email to the university organising the course and they will send me details later, so not a problem - I think! I will worry about that nearer the time of course.

The view from the "office" yesterday

We went without a car for 2 1/2 days and Ian went to collect it around mid-day on Saturday. He rode there on his bike, which he hasn't done for a long time. He felt surprisingly okay and I was surprised how quickly he got back. It was rather an expensive job though and the car still needs a couple of jobs doing on it. When I say it was expensive, that is all relative but it is certainly more than we have paid for a long time. The car is getting old and so in many ways only to be expected.

Looking the other way from the "office"

Potential client?

The office. Ian starting the shearing. I had my own shearing
the day before. A friend of ours came to get some of our eggs
to put under a broody hen and since my hair was getting a
bit long she cut it for me. It won't be long before I'm as
white as that alpaca.

I have finished planting out all the tomatoes  and pepper plants in the greenhouse and the trees I bought outside. The spaces in the greenhouse we have left now will be planted up with basil or other plants that can tolerate warm weather. Outside we have been having to do quite a bit of watering.  We are resorting to emergency measures with the water as we are seriously short of moisture in the ground and it is only May. Since last week we have only had one very small shower on Thursday and little more again today. Just barely enough to wet the ground and not much more. This is not helping the germination of seedlings or helping plants just getting established. We have now set up a water tank next to the garden and filled it with water pumped from the newest pond. We might have lost many strawberry plants in the newest bed I made, but at least I should have been able to save some anyway. It is mot too much of an issue as there are still plants that are growing well that were made when there was more moisture in the ground and those strawberries are very prolific and will soon recolonise the plot.

Concentrating hard

Those shears are sharp. I hold the animals head down to
keep it still

We have also now organised getting our milk from our neighbour. We went up to take milk bottles ready for filling and she was in, so she gave us some milk from the morning milking. As she says, the morning milk is the tastiest - something you don't really appreciate with supermarket milk. Whilst we were chatting, aided by her son who was home for the weekend from university, her husband came out. He said with a big grin on his face that he went to make coffee and, spreading his arms out wide to emphasise his point, there was no milk in the house - apparently we had the last of their milk and she hadn't done the evening milking yet. Not too worry, it was time for her to go milking and for us to put our animals away and so he didn't have long to wait for the milk for his coffee.

Taking a sample for testing

This time holding the animals head still while Ian shears
the tail

For the last two days we have been shearing up in Estonia again. This time we had 17 alpacas, which is more than Ian can manage in one day without straining his back. He could manage more if he was just shearing, but we often help with getting the animals to the shearing area and then there are toe nails and teeth to check too, so it all adds up in time. Those who do more in one day, usually have a larger team. It is also a time when we get to socialise with other alpaca owners anyway and so is not a high pressure event. This particular gentleman and his wife are also good hosts who feed us well. A coffee break for instance means sandwiches or some savoury pastries, large home-made cookies, some fresh honey still on the comb and maybe some salad too. As for lunch! That was a tender slab of spiced, roast pork each with roast potatoes, leek sauce and salad with more of those home-made cookies. I don't think I need to eat for a week. We were put up in a local hotel overnight too and so it made for an enjoyable and reasonably relaxing time, even with the long day, due to the early start and late finish on the Monday.

Clipping toe nails - yes a pedicure too

Ian is holding down the animal while I clip around the ankles
which cannot be done with the shears as the ropes holding it
down are in the way. It might look kind of drastic but the
animals are much calmer once they know they can't get away

Taking time to get up

Off she goes

To cap it all! She was stuck again when we got back

I did manage to create chaos again though before we left. This time I forgot to shut the door on one of the arks and the chickens escaped. Not great when you are trying to get away early. I don't think I was particularly popular when the incident was discovered. We managed to capture the chickens - or at least we thought we had, until a friend of ours who was putting the animals away at night discovered one was still out. He wasn't sure how she had escaped. At least he managed to get her in and she seemed happy enough to be reunited with her flock and so he guessed he had managed to put her in with the right group. Our stupid sheep was also discovered once again with her head stuck and making a right racquet and our friend ended up cutting the fence to free her. Obviously she is not going to learn her lesson.

One stuck sheep and two more sensible ones, who don't bother
sticking their heads through to get grass, maybe just their noses.

Our friend ended up cutting the fence to
free the sheep this morning. She had been
there a while, but did this teach her? No!

Weird and wonderful things

Ian has been busy stacking wood to make walls around the
stove. Half way there now

It has been quite weird this week how things have worked out. Not always good and not always bad either. Firstly it is November - how did that happen? Okay I know that you know it is November and it comes around every year, but it doesn't seem that long ago since we were waiting for the snows to clear to get in the garden. It seems such a lot has happened this year, so much so it has really raced away. Anyway onto the subject of happenings this week

Estelle and her hopefully wobbly remaining tooth

If you follow the blog, you may remember that we have been worried about the teeth of one of our alpacas, Estelle, as they have grown so long they needed cutting. Ian phoned our friend last week to help, but he was just setting off on holiday the following day and so we were supposed to phone another guy, but stuff got in the way, as it does. This turned out to be a blessing. One day Ian was looking at Estelle and noticed her tooth was more twisted than ever, she bent down to eat, looked up and her tooth was straight. Ian by now was beginning to doubt his eyesight. This happened a few more times and so in the evening, at lock up time, he got hold of her and took a look at her mouth. Her tooth was wobbly! Of course the questions then arise. Have we left it too long? Is there something wrong with her? Or........, she couldn't be ......... losing her baby teeth could she? Do alpacas have baby teeth? Well apparently they do and they don't lose them until they are about 2 1/2 years old, Estelle's age, which seems rather old to us, we would have thought about a year. There are other teeth further back that they lose later, up to 6 years old. So I guess, we now wait for the other tooth to drop out, rather than put her through the trauma of trying to cut it. Phew!

A view along the river at Jekabpils

Our car went in for a service this week, as a rubber boot on the front drive shaft had split and the last thing we want on the numerous dirt roads around here is for grit to get into that. Ian does all the regular routine stuff, but for something more complicated we take it into a garage at Jekabpils. We had to be there for 9am and so it meant an early start. The day turned out to be rather nice and much warmer than the previous week so we wandered around a little and Ian bought a new mega thermal neckwarmer and we found a new café, deep in the bowels of a row of shops. We were obviously the first customers of the day, as they vacated their chairs where they had been drinking their morning coffee to serve us. After wandering around some more we went for fish and chips at our usual place then did a little boot shopping for me (yes more boots but this time the sort that go on feet and these are for out on the land when it gets too cold for my wellies and three pairs of socks) lastly we went for a walk by the river. It is so long since we just mooched around anywhere and took in the sights. It almost felt like we were on holiday. It has been awhile! In fact it was when the grandchildren were born and we took a visit to the UK and Australia to see them and so about 18 months ago.

Such a glorious day

Along the path and looking towards the bridge

We then headed back to the garage and waited a little while for them to finish on the car. They would have worked on it some more, as some glow-plugs were not functioning properly, which is what Ian suspected and had asked them to check, but we had to get back to put our animals away - one of the downsides of this time of year is the early hour we need to be back. Ian also asked about the timing belt on the car and how often that should be changed. It turns out every 100,000 km and it costs around €450 (that does include other jobs done at the same time though, like changing the water pump). Yikes! Was it necessary? Oh yes! You should have seen the colour drain from the face of the guy when Ian said we had done over 120,000 so far. It's booked in again for this coming Friday. I won't be going though, I need to get out on the land and spend some time there and I can't go if I keep taking days off.

Mr. Herk are you eating through the fence again?

As I said Ian usually does the routine maintainance and so when we were at the garage he ordered an air filter, oil filter and a fuel filter for him to fit. Ian tried to change the fuel filter, something he was doing as a precaution due to the possibility of dirty fuel here and also just as a precaution before winter when we can end up with wax coming out of the fuel on especially cold days and it is good to have a clean fuel filter before that happens. Or something like that anyway (she says not being particularly mechanically minded when I don't feel like it). Anyway, as I was saying, Ian tried to change the oil filter and the emphasis here is on the "tried". The one that the garage gave him, didn't fit and so fortunately he was able to carefully put the old oil filter back on and order another one. A day later he got a phone call from a friend who has just bought a similar car and it started dying on him on the way back from a holiday after the car had been stood in the airport car park for a week. Although, as I have already said, the weather is warmer this week, it was bitter last week and the fuel has not been changed to winter fuel yet and so there is a possibility that the waxes in the diesel may have come out and started to clog the fuel filter - we sound so knowledgeable but it only has to happen once for us to be ultra cautious about it happening again. Well it just so happens we have a spare fuel filter as we haven't had the chance to return it to the garage yet and since it was supposed to fit an L200, maybe it would fit his! And it did! Weird. So we spent Halloween around at their place while Ian helped to fit the fuel filter, thereby avoiding any kids who come knocking at the door to extract sweets from us that we don't have. There seems to be more and more of them every year.

The look that says "It wasn't me!"

Veronica looks quite the stately dame

Well apart from doing some more work on that blessed paper I have been trying to write all year (at least it feels like that) and visiting the garage, we took a visit to a mini zoo at a place called Rezekne to have a look at their alpacas. We had hoped to meet the owner, but it didn't work out quite the way we had planned. Ian had phoned to talk to the lady, but apparently she didn't speak English, she did, however, get her daughter to ring back later. Ian spoke very carefully and arranged a visit for Sunday 2nd November. All well and good. The problem is that Rezekne is a two hour drive from us and he wasn't convinced that the arrangements would work out. Still a day out.

... but does she look pregnant yet? We think they might be
beginning to show, but then again it could just be their
fleece growing

Snowdrop! Is she or isn't she?

As expected when we got there, no owner and the lady who was there, couldn't speak English. The daughter, who spoke English, who Ian thought he had arranged to meet was also not there. The lady we talked to when she realised that my understanding of her Latvian was not keeping up phoned for someone to interpret. A nice young man on the phone then informed us that the alpaca male was €2000. Whoops! We think there was a misunderstanding then. We are not in the market for a male alpaca at the moment. We will need one in about three years time when it comes to mating with any females born this next year, but not before. We would also like to know the pedigree of the animal, as we are anxious to maintain fleece quality of our stock and we weren't given any of that information. Oh well! After 15 mins we headed home. On the way home we visited a supermarket to stock up and tried to go to a restaurant we had visited before, but that was shut and to cap the day off, a stone hit the windscreen and cracked it. Not a particularly good day out then!

Ian has also been busy building a small enclosure inside
the girls paddock area for a training area. He hopes to train
our dear little bundle of mischief to walk with a halter.
We'll see!

As always a slightly different note to finish on, but one that is rumbling on due to the politics in the UK. Why should the politics in the UK affect me here in Latvia? Most of it doesn't, but one issue does and that is the one of immigration. It was slightly chilling to read that Angela Merkel of Germany would accept the withdrawal of the UK rather than change the policy of free movement within the EU. Well good for her in one way, but the thought of that happening is not pleasant. If the UK clamps down on immigration from the EU this will almost certainly have repercussions for those UK citizens who are living in Europe now. It probably won't affect those already in a job, but no job and that could change things.