I'm home - for now!

The site of the Latvian University of Agriculture. Well part
of it and the site for one of our lectures and lunch
on Tuesday

I never did find the kettle in the hostel I was staying at, but at least I did find out that there was one at the place where the course was being held... well eventually anyway. It was only a small course and the other students were lovely. The people who ran the course got on very well and it shows, with the lovely friendly atmosphere. In the afternoon there was always a themed break, such as chocolate break, apple break and cookie break and I ended the week with a rather high blood sugar reading when I got back home. Note to self - stay clear of the sweet stuff. That is going to be so tough for me, I do have rather a sweet tooth. Fortunately I also like fresh vegetables and there were plenty of those too for lunch.

Apple break by the river

Ironwork on the bridge over the river

A dowry chest in the old tower

The hot flushes have started up again and it is getting a little annoying to be talking to someone and then feeling myself suddenly getting rather hot and starting to sweat (okay you didn't want to really know that, but unfortunately that is the reality). Occasionally even my glasses start steaming up, thank goodness not too often. I just laugh though and say "It's my age!" I don't want people to think I'm embarrassed or anything like that, because I am not. I used to be easily embarrassed when I was younger, but not so much now.

Examples of old spindles made by young
men to demonstrate their prowess in
woodwork to the woman he wants to
marry

Traditional patterns Zemgale,
a region in the South of Latvia

This is where I spent much of the week and is called
Valdeka palace

Overall the course was good, not because I particularly learnt much new. I did finally get the idea that cognition does mean, life the universe and everything, as I thought it seemed to do. The title was Landscape Cognition and as I mentioned last week the topic was a part of what I have been studying for over a year now. The problem was that I was always a little hazy on what the cognition part meant. I of course looked it up in the dictionary and tried to get my head around what it meant, but it just seemed too vague. I explained to my course mates that I too struggled with the word cognition, as they did, because it is not a word we use regularly. On the last day though, the Norwegian visiting professor pointed out that while it is true we do not use the word cognition very often, we do use the word recognition. Finally it made sense. When we look at a landscape our brain is matching the elements in that landscape to our knowledge, past experiences, our cultural understanding and so much more. Our brains are constantly trying to make sense of our surroundings and that is basically what cognition means, so it is life, the universe and everything.

The room was painted to recreate the
original interiors of the place

The wild horses

The course was not all study and we had a couple of excursions, one to see a spit of land in the river that regularly floods every year. They keep wild horses there to keep the meadow from turning into scrub. The horses are actually quite gentle, but are free to wander around, hence the term "wild". The gentleman who cares for the horses explained that they will be selling some of the young males off because they have too many stallions this year and so I have got his details in case we ever decide to get one. They are quite sturdy creatures and very hardy, because they effectively grow a fur coat for winter and so can be kept outside with some shelter, but not necessarily a shed, it can be a hedge, even in our harsh winters.

Furniture in the tower museum

The remains of the wall of the old church

The other excursion was to an old tower that once was attached to a church, but that part was blown up by the Soviets. The tower was kept to store explosives and the idea was that they would eventually demolish the tower. The problem was that it has really thick walls and by the time they were ready to blow it up they had built housing around it. To blow up the tower would have meant blowing out the window of every home for up to 300m around, so the tower was kept. It now has a nice glass roof on top with impressive views over the surrounding area. Our guide for the day was quite a lively young man, with ambitions on being a president one day. At least he has a positive attitude to life in Latvia, which is promising.

The greenhouse in the morning light

The cold weather has meant our two cats are now tolerating
each other much more. Cuddled up for warmth

One of the ladies on the course dropped me and another student off in Riga. On a previous trip through Riga I purchased a bus ticket, but I didn't need it as it was a celebration day and all public transport was free; fortunately it came in useful this week as we had to catch the bus to the bus station so I could get the last bus home. I got there in enough time to catch the bus, but not to buy a ticket for that trip at the station. Fortunately the last bus home on a Friday is not as full as the earlier one and so I got a seat. The earlier bus is usually standing room only for those who have not already bought a ticket.

The wine we started a little while ago

My first day back at home I sorted out the green tomatoes from the red tomatoes, sorted out the apples and removed the bad ones. I then cooked down some tomatoes, made green tomato chutney and made a batch of apple sauce and juice using the steamer. I also got two loads of washing done and read through my paper that was returned with amendments just before the course. It doesn't sound like a huge amount in one day, but it took ages to sort through the large amounts of apples and tomatoes alone. Cooking them was the easy bit.

Because there has to be pictures of alpacas :)

Ian working on the roof panels

The next day we decided to stay out in the caravan so that we could get on with jobs out on the land. The alpacas needed toe nails cutting and Aggie needed an injection, all jobs that I need to help Ian out with before clearing off to the UK for nearly a month. I also helped him with the roof panels for the new alpaca house. We have been joking that it is big enough to live in and it is seriously tempting to make it into a small house to stay in.

If we had a window in the new alpaca house, this would
be the view towards the road

One side finished

The mouse storage compartment revealed

One job we didn't plan on was spending rather a long time cleaning out Larry our Lada, but had to after we discovered that a mouse had been relocating alpaca feed into the roof space of the car. We thought that Larry had developed a leak as the roof liner was sagging, but when Ian drilled a small hole into it, no water came out, just dust. The mouse had shifted about 17kg of grain into the roof space - an amazing amount of storage for such a small animal. We had to cut open the fabric cover for the roof space to clear it out. We plan to feed the grain to the wild birds over winter, as we can't feed it to our chickens or alpacas and we don't want to tip it somewhere as that will encourage the wild boar. Sadly we had to put some poison out to kill the mouse as we don't plan on feeding mice all winter with alpaca food. It is a last resort as we haven't managed to catch it with a trap and we can't just lock the cats in there.

Some of the grain that was stored in the roof

Building inspector

A race against time

The Amaranth after the frost. Hopefully
the seed is still fine and I have started
processing it.

I mentioned that last week we had our first frost and this week we had our second frost early on in the week with the forecast for even cooler weather on the way, this meant we had to get motivated to sort out some of our crops. We harvested all of our climbing beans, they were all just about ready for harvest anyway and then we harvested the cabbages, although they will stand some frost the forecast was for up to -7C and that is a tad cold for them, so better in the freezer than destroyed. We also harvested as many apples as we could. In addition I potted up the basil to take home. All in one day. Not bad hey! Those geese were definitely in the know.

A peaceful scene, belying the fact that Herkules has been
escaping for much of the week. He has been forced to stay
in with a little help from the more powerful electric charger.
It is not as if there is nothing to eat, just not first choice and
since the other two in particular have weight issues they can
jolly well stay in that area until they have finished the grass

The caravan in its winter quarters

I did cover some crops up in fleece, as it was impossible to harvest everything, but it wasn't perfect. The autumn raspberries did okay for a few days, but the number of hard frosty nights we have had finished them off. Such a shame as there were still plenty to come and they had been ripening nicely. The hard frosts has meant we can empty the greenhouse sooner than anticipated and since I am planning to be away this next week and then about five days later I will be away for a whole month, we decided that the chickens and the caravan needed to be put away in their winter abode. Another one of those markers in the year, that tells us the seasons are changing.

Of course the chickens had to go in first, even though it is
still dry weather outside. I still think they appreciated the
move, one of them laid an egg and they had stopped prior
to this

I know you are not supposed to move
asparagus, but it was not working
where it was and so we have chanced
it and moved it to a sunnier spot. The
asparagus bed had also got weed
infested and so another excuse to move
them. They look nice and neat now

As many of you know who have followed my blog for a while we often have trouble with wild boar (wild hogs) but lately there has been African Swine fever making its way through the country. It is an extremely infectious disease apparently, so I had a look at the updated maps showing the spread of the disease and it appears to have moved into our area now. Not sure if that is the reason we haven't had much wild boar damage this autumn or it is because the ground is so dry meaning there aren't as many grubs to dig up and eat. Whichever way the decrease in pig activity has been very welcome. If it wasn't for the fact that wild boar will be suffering, I would even go so far as to do a happy dance.

Wish I could say all the beds were as nice and neat. Maybe
next year

Ian working hard and wrapped up against the chill

I am not sure it was a good idea to let Ian go to our daughter's, it seems to have had expensive repercussions. He suddenly found out that a laser levelling device, a laser measuring device and an electric mitre saw were the must have items for the newest constructions he is doing. Wouldn't mind but he has had to take back the laser level already, though it did start working again after a bit of tinkering at the shop and now he will have to take the measuring device back. Not good for Bosch products really. I always associated Bosch with good quality and now not so sure. I've told Ian that he will now have to build the house to justify the costs. Hahaha! I wish. To be fair though, he had already requested an electric mitre saw to make the building of the alpaca houses easier and faster.

The base laid out

I helped with the first two uprights and the rest, Ian has
been busy with while I'm away

It wasn't the only repercussion. Our daughter has a blood sugar monitor and since diabetes runs in Ian's family he decided to try it out. Our daughter informed him that he was showing signs of being pre-diabetic due to his fasting blood sugar levels (she is a qualified nurse). That meant he needed to buy his own monitor when he got back home, more expense. Fortunately the monitors themselves are not so bad, but it is the strips that rack up the cost. I decided to try the monitor one morning too and what was even worse was that my fasting blood sugar was higher than Ian's. At least I can lose some weight to see if my levels will go down. I have lost the usual weight over the summer but I would need to keep an eye on it over the winter. Ian doesn't really have any weight to lose and trying to keep his calorie intake up without overdoing the carbs is going to be a bit of a nightmare. Thank goodness fat is getting less bad press than it used to.

Our little pest. If she can get in the way
she will at the moment. At least she is a good
mouser, just wish she would not leave them
lying around all over the place

Tellus in the frosty morning light

It is quite odd really, as one of the ways of managing blood sugars is to use less carbohydrates that cause the sugar spikes. What is needed is a slow release carbohydrate or a way of slowing the release down. Many moons ago while we were at university, we took part in some studies to observe how to modify the sugar spikes from foods like apples and sweetcorn. It is as if the research we were part of back then is going to affect how we eat in the future. We did something useful after all. Wish I could say the same about the paper I have been trying to get published. It has been sent back again regarding the quality of the English. I know this blog is not always written in perfect English, I am often a bit tired when I sit down to write it and it isn't an academic exercise and so I am not always so careful, but really my English is not that bad, nor is my co-author and definitely not the lady who proofread it. I am really quite bewildered by the comment and thoroughly exasperated by the process. Oh well! At least the editor made the changes she felt necessary and so I need to go through them and find out what the problem is ..... again!!!!

Herkules our escape artist

Turbjørn looking quite jolly in this picture

We had a brush with the law this week too. The regional police have been doing a tour of the area looking to generate a few Euros by some accounts. We were travelling back from the land and there was a BMW behind us and Ian was expecting it to pass us once we got onto the tarmac, but it didn't. Instead a police car overtook both of us with lights flashing and then pulled up in front of us. The policeman was unusually brusque. Once they realise we don't speak much Latvian the Latvian police usually try and deal with us as quickly as possible and are usually reasonably polite, at least not rude. Ian wasn't quite sure what they were asking for and so I explained that it was the driver's licence, but in the meantime the policeman seemed to be muttering something about in Latvian speaking Latvian. I realise that we should, but it would have been quite rude if we had just been visitors and at the time he didn't know whether we were or weren't, apart from the car being registered in Latvia. The policeman looked rather disappointed that Ian had zero for alcohol when he used the breathalyser and they couldn't find anything wrong with the car either.

An empty space where a caravan once stood

Estelle. Now is she pregnant or not? We think she is

To wrap up this week, I am in Jelgava on a course. The course description is something similar to the research the students did for me earlier on in the year about Sense of Place - how people are attached to places and what they feel about them. Should be interesting to hear some different perspectives. It was a rather early start as normal when I catch buses and it was also a very cold start, as it was minus 5C (23F) this morning. So after that early start, I am now sat in one of the university hostel rooms, which is noisy from the traffic outside and that is with the windows shut and I can hear voices from the room next door, but at least I am not sharing a room and the bed is comfy. I am also longing for a cup of tea, but there won't be one until later on in the day tomorrow because they do not seem to have a kettle in the communal kitchen area. They have mugs, two cookers and two frying pans, but I cannot see a kettle.

Home alone

The dahlias have been wonderful this year. I only have red
ones unfortunately, but they are a very nice one to have
survived two years in our cellar

I was going to do wonders this last week while Ian was away, but it was not to be. The cold I had at the beginning of the week hung around for most of it, it wasn't much, but enough to make me feel muddle headed as I mentioned last week. I did manage to get the dratted paper resent after a very kind friend of mine had proofread it for me. So at least that was one thing out of the way. I would have been better to call it quits and go outside into the garden but I tried to get more work done on paper two instead and so didn't accomplish much.

A full basket of green tomatoes, some
 of whichwill go towards green tomato
chutney, as my stocks are low. A small
bowl for the chickens, a tray of
cucamelon tubers which will be
replanted next year. One third
of a basket of nearly ripe or ripe
tomatoes. 

I did have spurts of getting things done and so an asparagus bed was prepped, and some sawdust laid down on a path. Some pathetic parsnips were dug up, I cut down some mustard and cress that had gone to seed, put tomatoes and cucamelons in the freezer and picked the rest of the short beans. Today I pulled up the tomatoes, another of those markers in our year. It means that the greenhouse can be prepared for the chickens to come in and then the caravan moved in too. It is perhaps a good job as I noticed the geese are flying south now, well south-ish and that is usually a sign the weather will turn soon.

Starting to look empty now. The "weeds"
to the left are sheep sorrel and so are
never got rid of totally. They are some
times some of the first green shoots of the
year and are nice and tasty.

Geese heading south

First frost of the season

We also had the first frost of the year. It is a good job I felt it turning cold and covered peppers and autumn raspberries. The forecast was not for frosts, but being a little higher than the nearest large town for which the forecast is given, it is normal for our temperatures to be at least a degree or two lower, so I was prepared. One night in the caravan the temperature was 3C, a tad chilly, but at least the heater can quickly warm the place through, without even having to get out from under the nice warm duvet. Hot flushes also have their uses sometimes.

The spaghetti squash succumbed to the frost. At least we
actually did get some squashes of these two plants, even
though it didn't look like we would have any sometimes
due to our cool nights over summer

A little mouldy heart on a bean pod

I actually stayed out every night in the caravan, as it was easier to nip back to our village and pick up the milk that is delivered twice a week and then do jobs like the washing and picking beans at our allotment plot, before heading back to the land to put animals away. I haven't even been to the shop all week, as I don't get through as much bread as Ian does and I baked a couple of small batches of buns, which was enough for me.

Much of the week it has been lovely
weather and our grapes have been
ripening nicely

The only day it rained, of course, was on the day I was home
and wanted to do the washing. In the end I put some of it up
in the greenhouse

It was a good job I spent much of the time out in the caravan, as our neighbour has a problem with water leaking into his house every time we are there. We know he had a problem earlier this year, but it was decided that actually it was water from the roof. This week he turned up with his son, who spoke very good English and I showed him our pipes. He could see that there is no way the water was actually leaking from our pipes, we would be the first to know, as it would come into our home before leaking through the floor. Even the sewage pipe area is dry. The fact is though, that every time I went home, to have a shower, do the washing and wash up - he got a leak. Finally it was decided that the leak was in the main stack pipe between our place and his and so not our problem exactly. Hope he finds the source of it soon, I feel guilty now if we go and use the water.

Brencis behaved for me though

Although the alpacas started out being well behaved, it didn't last. Aggie escaped twice and I had to resort to putting the electric on for the fence. Normally they don't need it, but an occasional reminder is necessary. In fact the boys also had to have a reminder too, well Mr. Herk who likes to eat over the fence needed a reminder. The girls have been fairly well behaved about going in, only Veronica, who really does not like me (as I usually mean something nasty is about to happen like injections or treatment of some kind) was a little reluctant one particular night to go away, but she soon made her way into the alpaca house when she realised that I was going to move her out of the field. The boys, however....... they got worse and worse at coming in. The first time they misbehaved, it was just a matter of moving them into the paddock area and then they went in, the next night took two attempts and on the night I had to go and collect Ian, Mr. Tellus was nearly locked out all night. I decided to make one more attempt, because I had heard dogs in the forest earlier on in the day and so I knew he had to go away. The little tinkers though, have been as good as gold for Ian since he got back.

He was very interested in my camera

The one that got away. She can sure fly far when she needs
to. This chicken is a bit of a loner, she always has been. She
is also an intelligent bird, which is not always a good thing,
as that means she can be difficult to catch by us. She is the
last remaining chicken from the ark she lives in,
occasionally she will join the others in the chicken house
but more often than not, she prefers her own space and
walking with the alpaca girls.

Sergeant Wilson, our cockerel had another go at me during the week, but since then I haven't had a problem. It might have been partly down to the fact that I saved the chickens from another fox attack. I heard the commotion and ran down to find out what the matter was. I saw flying chickens and the chicken we call, Big bird, running; behind her was what looked like a youngish fox. Fortunately the fox turned tail and ran off. I counted all the chickens and none were missing so I then put them away or at least tried to. Most of them went away no problem, but the younger brown chicken was not going anywhere near the forest, which is where their accommodation is. I ended up catching her in a fishing net and then hurling her into the chicken house (that actually sounds worse than it was, but I had to be quick so the others did not get out and she flew down to the floor with the others).

Ripe carrot seed

Autumnal blackberry leaves

Granda and Granddaughter enjoying a meal out

Ian had a lovely time in the UK with the grandchildren. They are both happy, smiley children, especially for Granda. He also helped to plasterboard the new house that my son-in-law and daughter are renovating. He did come back with a wish list though of a laser level and an electric, compound mitre saw. He was enthusing about how much easier the jobs are with them. Just hope they come in useful for building our house and not just the new alpaca houses though.

Our youngest grandchild. Such a happy smiley little chap
and looks like Ian when he was a baby apparently

Our little granddaughter in pensive mood

Don't go Granda!

Some of Ian's shopping

Ian also had a trip up to Northumberland to see his brothers and their families. The brothers actually had a chance to have a really good chat together on their own. Not sure when that last happened. They had seen each other when Ian travelled up to see his mother, but rarely did he see them together and even rarer to be on their own. Another day trip was to see some alpacas and the timing couldn't have been better, because they are having an auction of some of their stock in about eight weeks time and so quite happy to sell us some at a lower price than normal. They are converting to a mini-zoo and so need room for other animals. Of course there are details that are needed to be sorted and a new alpaca house to build.

The sheep needed moving when Ian got back, but at least
they stayed inside the fence while he was away. The only
incident we had was when we tried to pen them in before
moving. One of them stuck its head through the poultry
netting and got itself stuck, not just once but twice. 

Ghostly apparitions in the greenhouse. Grapes, peppers,
chillies and basil all wrapped up against the coming cold
night.

The news this week has been far from cheery. It does not fill me with a lot of enthusiasm to hear that Latvia has been declared one of the least welcoming for the Syrian refugees and it is quite worrying if that turned into something more about foreigners in general. It is so easy to feel despondent with it all, but then I read an article about someone who took a bike ride around what used to be the Berlin wall, something that didn't seem possible just 25 years ago.

The paved path sliced through the dense forest with an unseasonably cool summer wind bringing goose bumps to our skin. “Hard to believe this was once one of the most militarised borders in the world, right?” Möllering asked.
He was right. I couldn’t imagine pedalling the Pakistan-India border where they take pride in their militarisation with daily rituals between the two armies; nor could I fathom going for a two-wheeled jaunt through the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It all seems like a complete impossibility – just as it would have to any Berliner if you suggested cycling the Berlin Wall 25 years ago.

The impossible is now possible and that gives me hope. What can seem like an impossible situation of war and mayhem, can seemingly overnight be over. People can rise up and show care and compassion as if from nowhere.  Dictatorships can fall. I very much pray that there will be a revolution, but a peaceful one. I very much hope that people can join hands together against seemingly impossible odds and overcome the oppressor, much like in the Baltic Way 26 years ago.