Lockdown in rural Latvia is perhaps a bit different. We are in an area with no cases and it is easy to stay away from people most of the time. Ian still gets regular phone calls asking if people can visit and the answer is still "no". It seems a shame sometimes as it would be nice to show people around and one couple were hoping to get some anniversary pictures, but still the answer is "no". Most will be coming from Riga where the hotspot of cases are, even though it is still a low number.
Skyping with colleagues - no video
Alpacas down! No need to worry though, they are just sunbathing.
I feel sorry for other places that rely on the tourists coming in and some of those did open this weekend. One place opened as a drive-thru safari. Tickets were bought online, food could be pre-ordered, as could souvenirs and then people could drive around the site on the tracks where people normally walk. At least the weather has been mainly dry, so it won't ruin the tracks too much. It was an innovative response. As I study rural development, it made me think. Many recommend the development of tourism to improve incomes in rural areas - fine until something like this happens, although the rewards are not always fabulous, so it is not something I necessarily agree with normally. We are fine because my income is sufficient to see us through. Our tourist numbers are not high either and so we don't rely on it. For us it is a pleasant sideline at the moment and I would like to see us develop more than just outright tourism. Anyway, that is for a later date.
Out on the grass finally.
Some strange looking cloud formations
We started the shearing season by shearing at someone else's place this last week. Ian prefers to start at ours, but it has been cool and the people we sheared for have a more solid building to protect their alpacas. We were sensible, but it is not easy to shear by respecting social distancing. It was also another place that is Covid19 free so far and we know they take social distancing seriously, as they are still not having visitors either. We will have to seriously think how we manage other places that are in areas where there are definitely people with the virus.
Lockdown haircuts
Josefs
Ilvija
Amanda
Me! I was threatening Ian with the spoon, he'd wandered off to take photos and of course food was cooking.
George
This little pussycat is beginning to make a right nuisance of herself, always looking for food. She got in through our skylight roof while we were out shearing and snaffled cakes. She regularly gets up on the work surfaces where we have hotplates. We thought we could smell singed fur. Fortunately it was just her very fluffy tail so no actual injuries. Does this stop her! Nope! She now gets locked in the cat basket when I'm making food, so I don't trip up on her.
I have to give credit to the Latvian government, their approach has kept the numbers down. Here are some examples for comparison in counties where we have lived, (deaths per million population)
Latvia 8
Denmark 84
US. 204
UK. 419
Where's Wally! No I mean where's Ian?
Oh there he is!
Latvia hasn't got as good a health service as Denmark or the UK, but they have implemented a good track and trace system that seems to have worked, along with locking down borders. It does bother me when I hear of people who seem to think that the borders will open then they will just be able to come in. I am especially cautious regarding people who come from the US who have still got a few weeks before they will see the virus peaking and that is only if people are sensible and staying in, which doesn't seem to be happening in places. Even if the borders do open, there will have to be a substantial period of time when incomers will have to self-isolate for two weeks - that will make even visiting family difficult.
Is that Lady V up on the roof? At her age and in her condition with her dodgy legs
Fortunately not, it is just a matter of perspective
Keeping cool in the shade and in the dip
It has still been a bit of a fraught week, trying to meet some deadlines. I managed to get enough data together for a fortunately brief but important meeting last week and this morning I managed to submit a paper to an academic journal that has been on the go for a while. At least all were happy with it, finally! Now we have to go through the review process but at least I can relax for a week or two - or maybe not. I still have to finish off my thesis and I need to do some reading for that, then I can relax - or maybe not because it will be planting and weeding season. Maybe July?
Lady V staying cool inside
Aggie being miserable inside. She doesn't like the heat and it's not even that hot yet. Still she will be sheared soon.
In the background to all this was an ongoing saga for my daughter and her family. They had planned to move out to Australia and had got everything lined up when all this blew up. Anyway, they thankfully arrived safely in Australia and are most of the way through self-isolation. It's bad enough moving during the good times, but not exactly good for stress levels at times like these. Of course there is the downside they are so far away now, but I think the move will be good for them.
A great shot of pond skaters with emerging waterlily leaves
Hekules enjoying the grass errr I mean dandelions. At least they will be good for him, a good spring tonic.
Spring is definitely making itself known now, the days are slowly warming and some of the late arrivals are coming back. The cuckoos are back and already driving me mad with their incessant noise. It really echoes here. The swallows are back thank goodness as the flies are in abundance in the alpaca houses. The stork is visiting a lot and the dandelions starting to appear,. Our animals have been let out on the grass and going loopy, even Herkules is improving if still a little unsteady on his feet. We have seen such an improvement in his from where he was barely able to get up and often needed help to jumping up on his own. It didn't helped his recovery when some young upstart rear-ends him and then they all pile on top of him. Fortunately we were around to sort them out and get him up. Brencis has also been trying to mate with him from time to time. A bit worrying.
Here is the week before with some very jealous boys looking on. He was the only alpaca allowed out on the grass because he needed some fresh grass and some space away from the rough and tumble of the boys paddock. There was grass, but not enough for all of them just yet. They had to make do with the hay.
One of the plums is blooming
Spring has been dry again this year and the cool nights have meant that even though there wasn't much snow to melt this year, the grass hadn't really got going. The rain on Saturday was therefore a blessing and we have seen the difference in the grass already. I also managed to plant peas and beans along with some other seeds before the rain, so hopefully they will get away well. I'm a bit tired of watering in plants over the last few years and I haven't as much time these days for that. Still I have to make sure we are prepared as my contract runs out in June and down to part-time after that. So food growing in the garden will be helpful. I nearly have all the potatoes in, just some short rows to plant up and I'm doing that when my computer says I should get up and move.
Lockdown projects
The doors are finally on the new greenhouse. Plastic next
This ash tree was cut down years ago and Ian has been cutting them up for chopping blocks and maybe some seats and tables.
Chopping block and handy mug holder
Marking out for another project
Levelling off
Some reinforcements
Building inspector
Finally some level ground outside of our greenhouse. For all who have visited us and we've had to warn you to be careful where you put your chair, we've fixed it! Well Ian fixed it!
I just took advantage of a beach area to work from
The boys mowing the lawn
I still need a good stint in the garden as there are still autumn raspberry canes to cut back, a strawberry bed to finish weeding and of course the weeds are starting to appear again in the beds I've already weeded.
Josefs having a good scratch on a small spruce tree. We'll not be using that one for Christmas then
And this is why. That's not dust but clouds of flies. You can tell it's been a mild winter. I hope those swallows are going to work overtime.
I forgot to take a picture before it was cut up, but I treated myself at the bakery.
Oh yes and I had a birthday the week before. Not much to write about in terms of that, except that all my grandchildren said or sang happy birthday to me.
Alpacas going loopy on the fresh grass (technical term - pronking)
Vanessa's girls. I'm not sure I've really seen them pronking. Running into the paddock because Ian is moving them back in the evening but not running around just for the sake of it.
Tellus running. He's no spring chicken either, he'll be 13 years old this year.
I have been on Skype most of the day today, so forgive me if I am a bit dull. It was a one hour meeting this morning with my Estonian colleagues and just over three hours in the afternoon with the colleagues from around the Baltics. All of it was to do with the project I'm working on with the university. We are all trying to find a route forward, bringing in our different skills. It is one of those projects where not much has been done in this way before and so it is a bit like trying to join the pieces of a rather complicated jigsaw, not just moving on from a well worn path. We are getting there though, just it is a bit slow at the moment. Once the route is clear the rest should slot in fairly easily - she says! Ask me that in a few months time and see if I say the same thing.
Tellus looking suave again
It's going to be another cold night!
It has been pretty cold during the nights in the caravan, but mainly glorious days - well if we discount the rather bitter north-easterly wind. Not always so pleasant. It also snowed one night, but only a small dusting and that was the only moisture we've had all week, so everywhere is still looking fairly parched. At least we did find that by sitting on the sunny side of the boys alpaca house we could soak up the sunshine on the warmer days and watch the boys hunting down the tiny blades of grass in their paddock. Not a bad way to drink a cup of coffee in the morning. They are still itching to be out in the field but we can't until that grass grows, no matter how much they moan at the gate.
A George close up
George doing his Elvis impression
The three muskateers... sunbathing! Herkules, Tellus and
Brencis
A couple came one evening to see the alpacas, I had some work I had to prepare for the following day and so said hello and then excused myself. About an hour later I finished up my work and I realised Ian was still chatting in the greenhouse with the couple and they hadn't even been to see the alpacas yet. They did see Vanessa's group (the newer acquisitions) pronking around their paddock from a distance, even Vanessa was doing it even though she is 10 years old. And yes I do mean "pronking," as it is a technical term for the running they do where they look like they are on springs not legs (you can see our youngsters pronking in a post on our facebook site here).
Who me? Pronking? You would never catch me doing a thing
like that.
The parched grass means dry moss .... all over the fleece
Mr. P trying to disguise himself with the moss
Antonia showing off her good side
Ian finally wrapped up his talk and we all went to see the alpacas. It wasn't the warmest of evenings and the temperature was rapidly dropping, but there was still a lot to talk about and the alpacas were being cute, so all was well. At the end we all had a cup of tea to warm up. we needed it. As they toddled off home we put the display away and hurriedly got the alpacas and chickens tucked up for the night. We were glad of the heaters that evening and always glad of them in the morning. Ian is close enough to switch it on first thing and we don't get up until the heater is warm enough to warm our clothes on it. We might be tough, but not that tough.
Herkules looking cute and cuddly. Some days he looks kind of
old, but today not so much. He must be enjoying the sunshine
Digging Jerusalem Artichokes
One advantage of the cool weather is that spring is sluggish to get get going and so spring jobs in the garden are getting done and I don't feel like the weeds are getting ahead of me yet! Ian has been dumping the manure from the alpaca houses just over the fence over the winter to save time but of course now the snow is gone it needed shifting. Last week I mulched the raspberries with some of it and this week it was the turn of the blackcurrant bushes and half of one of the Jerusalem artichoke plots. I am gradually digging up the Jerusalem artichokes and mainly feeding them to the chickens. We can't eat so many but they are good for chickens, so that works and they are so easy to look after. I also managed to weed two of the strawberry beds too. I just need them to grow a bit more to mulch them with some old hay.
Partying too hard the night before?
We can see Brencis' fighting teeth have
grown though and he will definitely be
having those cut during shearing time.
Mr. Turbjørn, have you been spitting by any chance?
That's better Mr. Turbjørn
Ian has been busy too of course. He put the back hoe onto the tractor and went around to one of our neighbours to dig foundations for a cabin for him. He is going to use an old cabin and rebuild it, but first he needed an old fashioned style foundation where a trench is dug and filled with sand and then large stone placed on top of the sand. These are then levelled off to rest the cabin on. It will be interesting to see what that looks like when it's finished. While the back hoe was on he went to dig out a load of barbed wire that was stuck in the ground where we cut hay. Ian always had to remember where it was and go around it, as it was just a single wire stuck up out of the ground, but firmly attached to something.
And now for the funny poses! Josefs in
the poo position
Chanel mid-roll. Look at that belly! Take care Chanel, we
don't want any accidents in your condition.
Slowly greening but still needs more moisture
Water is already an issue and as I mentioned, we've hardly had any precipitation since the snow went. Just the odd dusting. Our well is going down, which is to be expected as the weather dries and the force from underneath decreases. We just hope it doesn't go down as far as last year. We couldn't actually draw from the well from July onwards. In preparation for sowing the seeds we decided to fill up a water container from our pond that stayed fairly full last year, despite the drought. The water is brown from the peat, but it will be fine for the plants. So that was another job for Ian as it required the generator to work the pump. I hope we don't have to fill that up too much though. We still do not have much rain forecast for the next week either. The last time Latvia had a dry April was in 2009 apparently and was followed by a dry May and a cool rainy summer. Err Yippee! That would be challenging for sure. We'll see though, after all the weather does what it does and there is not much we can do about it, except pray for rain at the right time.
The yellowhammers are back
Mari already eating through the fence.
It's not as if there is any grass on the
outside either.
Aggie is still feeding Josefs, despite he being nearly as big
as Aggie. Mari has stopped feeding little Josefs though.
