Squelch!

The weather may have warmed up, but it is still
rather dreary. I think Silla is singing a lament

The weather warmed up a bit after the wintry blast of last week when we had a good frost, but only a bit. At least it has dried up somewhat and we have stopped squelching around in mud. I was getting to the stage where I thought I had better dig out those ark plans and start building or looking up special shoes for walking on mud. It isn't even winter yet and I've already perfected the penguin walk, arms out, feet pointing outwards (kind of like this Youtube video). I suppose it's good practice for walking on ice. I hope I don't need that much practice though.  

Ginger Tom is still a shy cat. Rocket Ron will 
jump up onto our laps and loves a good cuddle,
Ginger Tom though is more likely to run away.
He also prefers Ian but that is cupboard love.

The soft lighting and damp conditions makes 
Josefs hair look super curly

Ilvija with her pack lunch

Amazingly we still have so much in the garden that is keeping us going in fresh veg. The brassicas are looking amazingly well, so green and red cabbages, Brussel sprouts and broccoli. My parsnips are humungous and the turnips and celeriac are coming along nicely too. We've only just started on the beetroots, one was so large I'm going to feed it to the chickens tomorrow - it looks suspiciously like a cross between fodder beet and beetroot anyway - which it might be. I have a mix of beetroot seeds and plant some for seeds in the following year and since some are for the chickens and some for us, it doesn't really matter that there are a mix of sizes. I've also just remembered that there are the Jerusalem artichokes to dig up, or at least another bucketful for the chickens. They do have some rather smelly repercussions if we eat them, but since we are supposed to be social distancing it doesn't really matter that much I guess. 

Ilvija looking like she's had one or two rather good
pack lunches too many. She isn't starving for sure.

Poor Turbjørn. He's struggling and could do 
with a massage, the problem is that he is beginning
to hesitate coming in and so Ian's had to stop. We can't
have him stopping out at night with the risk of dog
attacks. Ian's possibly found a source for a heat
pack that goes on horses though, so that
might help enormously. We have to find out
though how the battery does in very cold temperatures
as the deep cold kills batteries as we've found out to 
our cost.

Lady V trying out the new minimalist headwear

This weekend I finally got some more pickling done. So now we have jars of piccalilli, pickled red cabbage and I pickled the last of the cucumbers and green peppers. Something to pep up the main winter diet of squash, potatoes and beetroot. It's a good job as I don't think I planted enough onions this last year and the carrots didn't do very well either - although the ones outside are doing okay, they are nowhere near ready for picking yet. Not sure how they will fare over winter, but we'll see. I might try and put a protective bank of hay around them and plastic over the top, like a protected mini greenhouse. My pantry and freezers are full to overflowing too, so we won't be short of food. Ian's a bit worried that it is a portend of a bad winter. I like to think it is just good planning but in reality it is just I did manage to get a lot frozen this year. 

A bit bleak these days.

Ian has been busy chopping and stacking wood
ready for the next year

Not the sort of evidence of wild animals we like
to see. Obviously the wild boar are getting active
again.

The drier weather has meant we have finally got our caravan into the greenhouse. We had hoped to make a permanent construction around it this year so we wouldn't have to, but just didn't get around to it. I was a bit worried about getting it in because of the new flattened area just outside the greenhouse that meant there was now a very large edge to reverse the caravan over. Ian found some substantial pieces of wood that had been intended for a bench and used those and it worked well. There was one hairy moment when I had to get Ian to stop quickly, as it was a bit close to the edge, but once we worked out a system for directing we managed it fairly smoothly. In fact, despite my reservations, it went smoother than normal. 

That's ma' boy! Tellus at the front, father of 
Brencis at the back

Is that my girlfriend over there?

The caravan in the greenhouse. With only the
chicks in the top corner this year and the older
ones out in the new greenhouse, the caravan
has been pushed further back. This is partly
because the greenhouse now leaks rather
badly where it used to go. Another thing on the
list of jobs to do. 

I'm pleased we are under some protection now as the wind today was vicious and it felt like sleet in the air. We can hear the plastic flapping about a bit and it is a bit cool in the caravan at times but on the whole not too bad. My Granny's old Arran cardigan is working well, it is so warm and keeps the wind out. We manage quite well in the caravan for most of the year, but it is getting close to needing to move back to the apartment. The apartment needs heating for a start, but also the nights are getting too long and cooking and washing up becomes a pain in the greenhouse as it is cold and damp. 

My view is not so interesting while I work these 
days. No longer can I look out and possibly glimpse
an alpaca. All I can see now is my washing that is
taking ages to dry. In fact we now are putting it on
the radiator in stages in the caravan with the
dehumidifier going.

The caravan in the greenhouse again!

Finding green grass at this time of the year is
tricky. We don't want them to completely scalp it
but they do generally prefer the grass to hay,
although Ian thinks they may be starting to
prefer the hay now, which means they can stay
in their paddock areas for winter.

We are still not on lockdown here in Latvia, although the numbers did climb rather quickly and new restrictions were put in place, so we managed a little road trip to see someone who has new alpacas. Outside of the cities the numbers are generally fairly low, so still relatively safe. It was nice to get out for a bit and see someone. Ian had mentioned I had graduated last week so they gave me a bottle of apple juice as a present. Very nice it was too! 

The reason these girls got some extra green grass
is due to moving the caravan into the greenhouse
(that bare patch in the middle of the photo).
We couldn't move them to this area until the
caravan had moved as Ian needs the space to swing
the caravan round to back it into the greenhouse.

I think we can safely say the new pond is full

I had some good news today from work. I'm getting a pay rise as I they found I wasn't being paid the rates for a PhD graduate, so that will be a nice Christmas bonus. I also have extra hours and some new challenges for next year, so I'm quite looking forward to that. It certainly takes the pressure off trying to work out how to make sure the farm pays its way. It will be still nice to find out how to do that, but for now in these uncertain times we can relax a little and try to think of what we want in place for welcoming back people to our farm to be able to enjoy our alpacas with us. 

Rocket Ron looking super cute....

....on top of the caravan with Ginger Tom. It didn't
take long for them to work out it is warm up there.
Don't be beguiled by these super sweet kittens, they 
are little rogues and tormenting Eyre. Sofie has 
gone to our neighbours again. She likes the
warmth and her hunting skills are greatly appreciated.
Probably good for her as she is starting to get old,
she is over 9 years old now and the warmth of the cow
barn will be good for her over winter. She did
pop back to say hello yesterday afternoon though.

Mari looking a little crazed here.

Phew! Back to her normal smiley face

He definitely gets his cute looks from his mum.

Not much grass left there.

At least Ian found somewhere that could do with
a quick bit of mowing

They're up to something, I'm sure

See they're even whispering to each other.
Hmmm!

A wintry blast

It was about -3C or -4C this morning. A wee bit
chilly after the comparatively warm days we've
been having but not exactly unexpected for this
time of the year.

We woke this morning to a very heavy frost. So that's it for the raspberries then. We hadn't got around to picking them all, but we do have quite a few in the freezer anyway, so I don't feel too bad about not getting them all in before the rain then the frost. The poor little chicks spent much of the time today in their box - but they do have their heater, so not too bad. They still need to fully feather up yet and probably put a bit more weight on to be able to tolerate the cold. This week has been mainly wet though and there is mud everywhere. It was nice to see some sunshine finally on Friday and today. 

It's a hard life being a kitten

Keeping warm

Ian found this rather sleepy toad in
the barn drain today. It has been
released into one of our ponds. It
will be better to overwinter there
than in a shallow drain in the barn.

I mentioned last week that I had to decide whether to travel up to Estonia last week for my graduation. The university emailed me a letter confirming that the travel was for my graduation and hence it was related to my studies, which was still allowed for those travelling from Latvia to Estonia. Estonia was also still on the white list last week and so fine for me travelling back. So much to take in for a day of travel. I travelled there and back by car within the day, a journey I used to do over two days on public transport. On public transport I can work, but that is not exactly possible whilst driving - well not recommended anyway. In the end the letter was not needed and the travel was event free.

Ian had to move the fence for these girls this week.
It is always hard at this time of the year as the 
grass gets shorter and shorter in supply. They would
still prefer to be out on the grass than eating hay 
though.

One of Ian's jobs this week was to remove
the mud and the hump outside the barn to let
the water drain away, rather than into the barn.
It seems to be working so far. It's better than
it was

My friend needed the car that I was being lent the night before so Ian drove me into the village early in the morning of the graduation to collect the car. The idea was that I should go straight to Estonia from there but as I set off I realised I had forgotten my flask of coffee. I figured it was quicker to go back and get it, as well as safer, than stopping off en-route to buy a coffee. Some of the places I was travelling through had higher rates of the virus than where we live or where I was travelling to. The ridiculous partt is that I had to ensure my travel arrangements were okay for crossing the border and yet I wouldn't have needed to take these precautions travelling into Riga where the rate is much higher. Quarantining Riga would make a lot of sense for curbing the virus in Latvia but more problematic for those who live outside and work there. More politically problematic too I imagine.

Amanda wants to know what all the fuss is about

The boys will need moving soon too. 

My day of travel was timed perfectly. The following day there were announcements that more restrictions were being introduced as the situation is escalating in the country and more are testing positive for Covid19/ Unfortunately there are more deaths each day too. The rate is not as bad as in many countries in Europe but the health service in Latvia is not as good either, so definitely best to keep the rate down than deal with a full blown epidemic. The numbers are escalating in Estonia too and even more so in Lithuania - the Baltic bubble has definitely burst. 

Valeria always looks so toothy bless her, but her
teeth are fine. Here she is enjoying some sunshine

Valeria's rather bossy mother, Vanessa, however,
wants to know if everyone is behaving?

As good as gold, hones!

I arrived early enough at the university to say, "Hi!" to my colleagues and stop for a socially distanced cup of tea and a chat. I then arrived at the venue, where someone squirted hand santitiser onto my hands and someone gave me a mask to wear. I now have a nice new mask with the words, "Eesti maaülikool hoolib", which translates as, "The Estonian University of Life Sciences cares". Not that many will be able to understand that except in Estonia where I cannot now travel to. "Oh the tangled webs we weave!" I did have my own mask but it seemed fitting to have something that would remind me of the strange times we currently live in, besides the diploma and the rose that I was given on the day in recognition of the culmination of a 12 year journey. 

I call this a Botswana agate sky. I love the mix
of greys and pinks

Taken from the live screening on my son's telly

The one upside to these strange times is the live streaming of the ceremony. Unfortunately the quality was not so good and it kept buffering and stalling. Still at least some of my relatives got to watch it, who wouldn't have been able to get to the ceremony anyway, Covid19 or no Covid19. Some of my grandkids organised a party to celebrate and watched all of it, even though much of it was in Estonian. I was hoping to join their party online but missed my chance to escape the auditorium at the end of the presentations of the diplomas to those who had gained their doctorates and ending up sitting through the presentation of more diplomas - not sure what they were for, but that's the way it goes when you cannot follow along in another language. 

Before the sun peeped up and revealed the frost.

Just beautiful to watch while having breakfast

The moon this morning. I'm glad it wasn't out
last night otherwise the milk way wouldn't have
been as stunning as it was.

After the presentations had finally finished I joined a couple of friends for a short celebration and so I could eat before heading home. It had been a while since I had seen them, although both of them had managed to make it down to see us in the times of the Baltic bubble over the summer. The trip home was absolutely glorious. The sun was setting - actually the sun had appeared from the gloom it had hidden behind all week for a start - in the process it turned the whole of the landscape a beautiful hue of gold that glowed and shimmered. The sun also at one point completely dazzled me and there was a moment of panic as I could not see what was in front of me and couldn't stop because I knew someone was too close behind me.  I managed to see the barrier at the side and kept my eye on that and looked for the red lights of the car in front. Fortunately in Estonia (and Latvia) car lights have to be on all the time. 

I love wintry mornings

A deer in our forest, quite close to our alpacas.
Ian spotted some on our ski hill and they have
been there a lot just recently, so he went to 
collect some of their poo and tested it. He wanted
to know what parasites they have because of
course they could infect our alpacas too. He 
classified them as needing monitoring - well
if they were one of our alpacas he would have!
They were not stuffed with parasites but would
need watching to treat if it got worse.

A rainbow but just the red from the setting sun

I would have loved to have stopped to take a photo of the fabulous scenery, but the drive would be long and I knew I would be tired by the time I got back. Still it seemed fitting as the end of an era that the sun would set in such a glorious fashion. 

I'm not talking to you!

That glorious end to my journey of gaining a doctorate was followed by a rather gloomy weekend. Fortunately that was just in terms of the weather. Our first job was to cut the toe nails of our rather spitty girls, give them Vitamin D injections and put cream on the feet of one. By the time we had finished I needed to wash my newly washed coat. I also had to change my jeans before driving our friends car back to them. The rest of the weekend involved finishing of preserving some food and doing a seed stock take, so I could order some more from my favourite seed company before Brexit scuppers that. Normally I order in the New Year because there is no hurry to get things started when winter is so long.

No closer! Dear Chanel! She can be very sweet 
and timid sometimes, a trait she has passed onto
her children. Unfortunately, she inherited her
spitiness from her mother. I'm just pleased she does
not do this to visitors. 

Caterpillars at this time of the year?
Hiding in my cabbages. 

So that's it! A new era begins and new chapter of my life to write. I know for now I have work until the end of the year and then we shall see what happens. At least I have started the process of getting my residence sorted in preparation for Brexit. After that? Who knows?

Marie was a bit feisty about having her toe nails 
cut. She has quite a kick on her. 

Even Veronica wasn't behaving terribly well. Still
bless her she cannot get away as easily these days.
She manages okay on her unsteady old legs (she's
17 years old) but toe nail cutting of her front legs
has her old legs shaking.

Ilvija at least was better behaved than her mother, 
which meant that at least Chanel didn't spit so much
as we were cutting Ilvija's toe nails. Mind you, I had
my hood up in anticipation and Chanel was on the
other side of the gate.

We are still worried about Aggie's eye, but it reminds
us of her mother. We now think she might need 
extra zinc. Now to get some! Easier said than 
done sometimes.

A sad time

RIP Herkules. You have a lovely sunny spot to
rest now.

I think I spoke to soon when I wrote my last blog. "No catastrophes". The week was ticking along nicely until the Friday. I was talking in an online staff meeting and Ian burst in through the door, grabbed the box of injections we have for the animals and said, "Herk's down". I apologised to my colleagues and hastily joined him. Poor Herkules was on his side and unable to get up. We weren't sure what had happened. From then on, it was a roller coaster of a weekend. We said goodbye to him several times until we finally decided that enough was enough and he wasn't improving, so we called in the vet to put him to sleep on Tuesday morning. He went very peacefully.

We supported Herkules between two hay bales
to stop him from falling over on his side, as this
seemed to make him worse. We don't know how 
long he'd been on his side when Ian found him.

One less tray of food at night for putting away time.

Within a few hours of putting Herkules to sleep,
this lot decided to escape. Someone and we 
suspect George must have lent on the gate and it
swung open. 

We had spent most of the weekend trying to work out what was wrong with him. We first came to the conclusion that he may have been suffering from a sub-acute thiamine deficiency that goes into an acute phase from time to time. It is a common problem with alpacas as they are sensitive to thiamine and it can be related to many causes such as bad teeth, or guts not working properly.  Earlier on in the year he made a rapid recovery after a high dose of thiamine, so it made sense.

A bit of bribery didn't go amiss. The only problem
is that they get through the grass so fast at this time
of the year. They have plenty of hay to eat, but still
prefer the grass.

The morning milk run

The vet came to do an autopsy that evening and we then changed our minds and thought that maybe he had cancer as he had lots of little granular lumps in his liver and lungs, but after doing some reading it appears that might have been from a parasite infection. His heart didn't look very healthy either as our vet said the walls of the heart were very thin. Another aspect was the mushy spleen and maybe this explained why he was susceptible to infections. Some of the things we had queries about we were able to resolve later through reading, such as alpacas do not have gallbladders so that explained why that was missing. They also have smooth stomachs, unlike goats, sheep and cows that have lots of papillae in them, so that looked fine.

Spot the swans heading south.
Hint: Just above the treeline in the
centre

Lots of mushrooms, just not all 
edible. There are some edible
ones still growing in our greenhouse,
so one night we had baked parsnip, 
mushroom, lentils and walnuts
in a sour cream sauce with tomato
and cucamelon salad.

All in all, we are still not entirely clear as to what caused his illness or whether it was just a combination of factors. If it had been spring, then we may have fought a little longer but we knew that even if he recovered, it would be a very tough winter for him. He was already underweight and hadn't put much weight on over the summer like he did the year before. In the event we spent the nights sleeping in our clothes so that we could get up through the night to move him and massage his legs. Ian had also got up very early on Tuesday morning and just sat with Herk, except when I did so he could see to the other animals. I had to insist that Ian at least eat a cheese sandwich, which is not like Ian at all (definitely a breakfast first kind of guy) and I kept him going with hot drinks until the vet arrived. We were both exhausted and Ian especially so. He even got up once and I managed to sleep through. Sometimes it is just wiser to know when to call it a day.

More non-edible mushrooms

I'm so proud of my cauliflower this
year. Normally they don't do so well.
The hot summers are not good for
this slow growing veg.

Of course that is not all we did all weekend. On one of Herk's good days we managed to sort out the chicks. They needed cleaning out and were just about ready for moving on to bigger quarters - only the kittens were being shut away in the ark overnight that we intended on putting the chicks in, so that meant big changes all round. Normally the chicks go into an ark once they have all their feathers and can cope with the cool nights. These are late in the year and so more tricky. We decided to keep them in big greenhouse for the time being so we can run a cable to the heater we use for chicks. Not sure if they actually used it overnight as they seemed to be huddled into the egg box section of the ark, but at least the heater was providing warmth in the box. 

Hmmm! Hello!

The kittens have been very interested in the chicks but fortunately that seems to be the extent of it. The older cats ignore them - they've seen it all before and know to leave well alone. Now the kittens are out and about in the night too. So whenever we went up to the alpaca house in the night to see to Herk, there was often some little followers. Okay if they stay outside but not when they climb in through the roof openings as it freaked out the other alpacas. The number of times I've taken one or both back to the greenhouse. Of course they can get out but they don't do that immediately. Fortunately Herkules was not so freaked out by Rocket Ron, as he was too sick to bother. In fact at one point Rocket Ron was sat on his back. Pity we didn't get a photo of it, he climbed off before we could. 

How about a game of ball?

This section of road collapsed into
the river a few years back. They
have finally repaired it and even
put barriers in. The road is now set
further away from the river.

Life without Herkules carried on much as before. The worries we had before he got sick are no longer a problem. He was being challenged from time to time by the younger ones and sometimes they rear ended him - as alpacas do - and that would cause him to stumble. We had thought about separating him off at night, along with Turbjørn with his bad neck and possibly meek and mild Freddie. In the end we didn't need to. Turbjørn still has a bad neck but now he won't stand still for Ian and he's started resisting going in at night - not a good idea when some neighbours have experienced a dog attack on a ewe recently. Separating him off at night would only make him even more wary. Sigh! As another of our neighbours said, "No animals, no problems!"

Friends now?

Well maybe. This is still a rare 
occurrence. Our two naughty little
kittens now have to be locked away
while they eat, because they gobble
down their food and then go and 
muscle in on Eyre's. Not sure if
Sofie would be so submissive, but
she isn't around as often at feed time.
Eyre boxes their ears on a frequent
basis, but they don't seem to take
much notice. 

The nights are closing in so much faster these days and is making life more difficult for caravan living. Temperatures are not too bad and our heaters keep us warm enough, but it is the cooking in the greenhouse that is getting more of a problem. We have lights in the greenhouse but it is cold and peeling potatoes in the cold is never much fun. It is these kinds of challenges that send us back to the apartment eventually. One of the things that holds me back from suggesting is that we are still getting fresh food from the garden. The mild autumn means that I am never short of veg. Much to Ian's dismay the Brussel sprouts... errr! I mean little cabbages, are doing immensely well, as are the parsnips, beetroot  and cabbages. Even the late planted turnips and celeriac are doing well - although I haven't harvested any of those. It is so easy to just go out in the garden and pick them or dig them up, rather than have to plan what to get at the weekend or get Ian to get them.

No caption needed really

Such a sweet looking little chap!

Over the weekend I had to do some thinking. Travel across the borders to Estonia became difficult once the Baltic Bubble was punctured. This coming Friday is my graduation day when I formally receive my doctorate, a culmination of a 12 year journey. Could I make it or not to my university? Someone travelling from Latvia to Estonia should take a Covid19 test, as now Estonia has a lower rate than Latvia. Easier said than done when living out in the sticks, especially when the government changed the rules and there is now a charge for tests after the service was inundated. Anyway it transpires that I don't need the test because the journey is for my studies and that's okay from Latvia. Another aspect was that I didn't want to travel such a long distance by public transport, there have been a few incidences of infections from doing just that. Another issue is that it means a whole day of travel each way so I would need somewhere to stay - harder now with the virus threat. Anyway that has been solves as a friend of mine is lending me a car - ours sounds rather creaky at the moment. I just have to pray they don't change the rules on Friday.

He's starting to earn his keep now though