Winter? Spring? Whatever!

7am on Saturday morning. Looking rather
monochrome again.

We are still not sure from one moment to the next which season we are in. We woke up on Saturday morning to quite reasonable covering of snow on the ground that lasted until early afternoon. We've had sunshine and showers of various kinds all week: rain, snow, hail, sleet and sometimes all within 5 minutes. I guess it's spring then!

The trees wearing their winter lace again! It looks
really pretty at the end of the year at the start of
winter, not so much now.

Everywhere we looked a coating of wet snow.

By 1:30 it had disappeared.

I didn't really plan to do much other than get work done this week, but then our week took a slightly different turn to one that was planned. Firstly a friend of ours phoned and said one of her alpacas had a gash on their leg from fighting with another one. Alpaca male fighting teeth can grow quite suddenly and we either find out the good way at shearing time, or the sometimes the hard way when an accident happens. Young boys often play fight and so accidents can happen and in spring hormones can get the better of some youngsters. So we made a trip up to see her so that Ian could deal with the fighting teeth. At least there shouldn't be any more of those kinds of problems from that alpaca again. 

Only the line down the side of the greenhouse
reminded us that it really had been a very
white morning.

Our two little boy kittens are no longer little
boys. We have no desire to add to the kitten
population. There are enough born every year
as it is. We also want them to stay around and
work for their living

I worked in the car during the journey - thank goodness for laptops and mobile internet, so I still got some work done. We carried onto another of our friends' house to check on that, since they can't get to sort it out themselves due to Covid and their nearest neighbours are also away at the moment. All was okay except for lots of dead and dying flies and dust that must have been disturbed in the strong winds we'd had the week before. So after a quick brush up and putting down some more rat poison for the little critters that had been nibbling the previous ones I had put out, headed on back to our caravan. 

Rocket Ron earning his living.... or is he? He was
spotted today tucking into an old, manky Brussel
sprout leaf. Sigh!

My lilac is budding!

On Thursday it was my birthday. I started the day off with a Latvian lesson and my Latvian teacher played two Latvian versions of happy birthday. We also looked at different words connected to celebrations. A bit of fun anyway and even better I got some very good scores on some of the listening practice. I also got some very bad scores on some too. Oh well! Progress of some sort anyway. It is getting easier but I still do not get enough practice. I have a lot of work to do and just get too tired to focus on practising. I do binge watch some short Latvian programmes, from kids programmes to historical or environmental types. It helps. 

I think this captures this week beautifully! Sunshine
and showers.

Brencis enjoying the sunshine or maybe getting
a bit hot - he doesn't usually sit like this. 

I also got happy birthday greetings from so many friends that I was pleasantly surprised - I know Facebook reminds people, but it is nice when people do take the time. It is appreciated. I have to admit though the greetings from my grandchildren were the best; even though one of them got stuck with singing happy birthday because he couldn't remember the words for the nice version. I also got to see my granddaughters in the dresses I made and see a video of them twirling around in the dresses, in fact they spent most of the day twirling around apparently- so that worked well. 

Glad someone thinks it's funny.

Mr. P's breathing got even noisier this last week, 
so he was put on a course of steroids. The change
was quite amazing. The vet came out to see him 
today but she's still not quite so happy with his
breathing, so he's going on some antibiotics too. 

As my birthday was a work day I would have just carried on working but with horrible weather forecast for over the weekend and the day of my birthday promising sunshine, I took the afternoon off. Not to relax and chill or anything but get seeds in that needed moisture to germinate. I managed to get all the cabbage type seeds in - Ian will be thrilled at the thought of more Brussel sprouts (not!). I was going to put carrots and parsnips in but couldn't find the seeds. I eventually realised they'd been left in the apartment, so Ian collected them on Friday when he went to collect our bakery order. The seeds went in on Saturday afternoon after the snow had cleared. 

"Come on Mum! Come and Play!", says Ilvija
"Nope!", says Chanel

Chanel would rather sunbathe.

On Sunday it was more seed planting, but this time in the greenhouse- broad beans, peas, more cabbage-type things, alpine strawberries, a new type of rhubarb and all sorts of other plants and flowers. I would plant the beans outside but not after last year, when I lost just about all of them, probably due to mice. We'll have to see what works. It was certainly a nice activity to do when it was raining on and off all day. The greenhouse is a much more pleasant environment to work in, unlike Ian's work environment who was trying to put out fencing in between the showers so the alpacas could eat the grass without poking their head through the fence and leaning heavily on it. Sigh! 

Don't be fooled by that sweet look. Mari is our 
main culprit for putting her head through the fence.

The day before the snow. 

Ian wasn't working outside the whole time, he also did some work in the greenhouse and in the shed. We now have more shelves in the shed and things in the greenhouse are a little tidier - not much but again, it's progress. We have also been sorting out getting our barn and greenhouse properly registered. It stalled a few years ago when we weren't sure what all the additional costs were that kept being added on. Now we know what the steps are and the greenhouse is just about sorted, but we need a topographical survey done for the barn, so now we are just in the process of getting that arranged - next job!

They are all enjoying the grass. Hopefully the 
moisture will encourage it to grow faster.

GT (aka Ginger Tom) looks 
huge here, but actually he's 
pretty small.

Our routine is changing, almost imperceptibly. The nights are gradually getting shorter and shorter, so we put the animals away later and later each day. We also wake that bit earlier each morning too. No longer do we have to rush to get the evening meal prepared after the animals go away and before it gets too dark and cold, nor as the days get longer do we have to rush to eat before the animals go away. Now we have plenty of time after eating. It is funny how accustomed we are to the light levels determining what we do and when. Watches aren't always necessary to know when it is time to do something. It's a different rhythm when we are out on the land. 

Don't do it! You'll get wet!
Fortunately, he didn't. He's not so daft. Not so sure
about the other one though.

Speaking of which! Here he comes!

We're back!

A change of scenery. The view from our
apartment this afternoon

We're back in the apartment that is! This is the first night back since March when we moved out to the land. It isn't the cold that is the problem in the caravan, it is quite easy to warm it up quickly, even on freezing cold mornings. The weather hasn't even been that cold for Latvia at this time of the year anyway. What sends us back are two things that might seem inconsequential. Firstly the long dark nights. It is a long time for two of us to be stuck in a 12m2 space when there isn't much room to move around. It is now pretty dark by 4pm and we are still about a month away to the shortest day. The second point is the washing up. We use the kitchen that was built in the greenhouse and it serves us well for most of the year, but when it gets cold and damp, the washing up doesn't dry and it is a cold job for Ian. 

Oh oh! The brief view of the blue sky is about
to be obliterated - again!

At least someone knows the warmest spots. He
learnt fast.

Even cooking is a chore too but there are a few options. One is to start earlier and bung it all in the slow cooker, another is to freeze while trying to peel spuds, the third option is to retreat to the caravan but as I said, it is a small space. 

Finally some sunshine. 

Ian doing some repairs on his trousers.
Light on to see what he's doing and not
much space as you can see.

So we start on the new routine from tomorrow, where Ian leaves every morning to go and see to the animals and returns late afternoon once he has put them away. This will continue until sometime around March when the days get long enough and the heat in the sun returns to warm the greenhouse up in the day. There will always be a period of transition too, when there are still things out on the land that we need back in the apartment and there are crates everywhere, mainly with jars from the pickling and preserving done over the summer. We seem to have a lot this year, so we won't starve. It all needs a good sort out and rearranging though. 

Ian ordered a heat pack that is suitable for horses.
We hope it will help Turbjørn. It should arrive this 
week.

Look how long Josefs eyelashes are. Incredible, 
even for an alpaca.

Another issue for us out on the land is the mud. We had a few dry days and a lovely Saturday where we actually saw the sun, but then this was followed by overnight snow and heavy rain. The paths that had started to dry nicely were once again turned into squelchy messes. Traipsing around outside, just makes everything muddier and the mud paths are widening as there is a danger of slipping on the hilly bits. The land needs a rest as much as we do. 

It looks like Freddie is developing some whiskers
under his chin

The scene that greeted me first thing on Sunday
morning

The dry Saturday meant we managed to get a few jobs done though. We trimmed the boys toe nails and Ian gave them Vitamin A, D and E injections, except for Brencis as we need help with him. I then cleared the garden of the heaps of weeds and took them off to compost in our field. I moved hay bales to protect some carrots and turnips and put a cover over the veg. They had been under fleece, but I didn't want them crushing under that with snow on top, so created a better shelter for them. It looks a bit haphazard, but it worked. I also moved the black plastic off the beds that will get manure on them over the winter and put them on the beds that will be planted up with the cabbages next year (which I hope will stop them becoming weedy before I get the chance to plant them up). Lastly I cleaned out the chickens.

Wet soggy snow, not the nice crisp
stuff.

Teeth cutting needs doing soon.

The next day was forecast to be wet and so I planned on doing jobs in the greenhouse. There was a lot of sorting out to do of those things that needed to go to the apartment and a general tidy up. There were also seeds that needed sifting through that I hadn't had the chance to deal with. By the time I'd finished there were crates and boxes all ready for the move and a nice pile of hemp and hollyhock seeds. The hemp will be used in bread and in chicken feed. The hollyhock seeds will just go in the chicken feed.

Brencis still needs his toe nails doing and an
injection of Vitamins A, D and E. He also looks
like he needs a wash. Not sure what's going on with
the patterning white and mud patterns. How does
he do that? 

Off to the field for something to eat. They do
look so organised - not often that happens.

I'm glad that isn't our field at the top, that is
quite a mess. They also take shortcuts across our
field. Not caught them recently though. Not as
if it is our neighbour either as she doesn't have
a tractor.

Chanel looks like she's been up all night. She 
needs a good brush. Ian thinks the turmeric on her
feed might be starting to help the issues around
her face. She's too spitty and stressy to put cream 
on but if she can distribute a bit of turmeric powder
around her face while eating, that might just do the
trick. We'll see.

Lady V is still plodding on, in fact she's making
a bit of a nuisance of herself by muscling in on 
others at feeding time. 

Ilvija is such a cutie

Until she starts trying to feed from her mum again.
Chanel's having none of it though and so hopefully
by the time she has another baby, Ilvija will have 
stopped trying.

Saturday was such a gorgeous day

A rather muddy looking alpaca

Still finding some green grass

Just chilling in the sun.