A good week

Sunshine and showers along with some warmer weather

It is those little miracles in life that help. We started off by getting three important things done whilst in the big town. We finally got the cash books stamped at the tax office, so we can officially once again write up any cash we receive. Ian got a pair of army boots that he is finding very comfortable to wear around the farm. He is a bit tired of boots that fall apart and he is hoping these ones will buck the trend. They are proper leather for a start.

A gorgeous sunset. By the way, sorry for no pictures from
Estonia, too busy either shearing, talking or driving

Unfortunately the alpacas are not liking it so much. Except
Chanel, who seems to be a bit of a sunworshipper

The third job was to get a contract for the internet on my phone and cancel our Wifi. This saves about €5 a month, so that helps to make our savings go further. It was amazing to turn up at the phone shop and there was no queue - that's unusual. Then the lady behind the counter was a relatively helpful and smiley person, the last few times they have been quite grumpy and we got it sorted with no hassle. Even better.

Having thought Lady V might be pregnant, now we are beginning
to doubt it. It would be fairly miraculous if she was though

Aggie looking a little worse for the wear. She is still not
enjoying the pregnancy lark we think

The next job on the agenda was to get the apartment in a fit state for visitors and washing done. All sorted! It still needs finishing off for our long term visitors, but for now it was fine. It feels like one of those Chinese puzzle games where you have to move something first to be able to move the next piece. Slowly though it is coming together, although it looks worse now than it did in places.

Says it all really

Thursday morning was an early start, as we woke up at 5am on a very frosty morning (-7.3C) to head up to Estonia to do some shearing. We hadn't had a response from those in the very north of the country and the big breeders decided to do the shearing themselves more gradually, rather than over an intense few days, so it meant that two days was enough time for us to get the shearing done. To be honest it was enough for us too, as we have other jobs to do on the farm and our own animals are not sheared yet either due to the cold spring we have had so far.

Aggie is not the only tired one

Ian used the bad hay from the hay bales to cover the wood
pile that will gradually rot down to give us some rich soil

Shearing this year was very different to last year. We were much more relaxed, we had 14 to do in one day, which was a long day. We got there about 9am to set up and with breaks to eat we finished at 9pm. It wasn't too bad for the first shearings of the year and Ian quickly got into the swing of it. We also enjoyed the abundant food on offer and the perfect time to talk alpacas. Next year it is likely to be a two day job as he increases his herd.

Mari does look funny sat like this

We stayed overnight at my regular haunt in Tartu and then went to two sites the next day with three alpacas each. Ian was able to sharpen his own combs and cutters with the grinder he bought last year. This is one of the biggest reasons for the more relaxed feel to the shearing, besides less to do. It meant he wasn't worried about running out of combs and cutters or jetting off to get them sharpened, which usually entailed a longer wait than we liked. Also the fleeces of the animals seemed much cleaner and they weren't so long and overgrown. Altogether a much more pleasant time. We enjoyed last year, but it was stressful

Crowing at the moon! 

We arrived back home a little later than anticipated and so the animals were a bit reluctant to go away. The sheep eventually went in, after running in and out several times. All the alpacas bar Tubjørn went in, but he regularly ends up left outside anyway. The chickens, however, would not go in and I regret not making them. The cockerel started off by crowing at the moon and kept that up intermittently throughout the night, consequently I had a very interrupted night's sleep.

Ian got some ploughing done. We are not planning on doing
much of that this year. We will use this to put in buckwheat
and squashes. 

Saturday was another cleaning day and Sunday we were off to the airport to pick up Ian's brother and his wife. Ian did the usual notice of Griezites Alpakas with their name below. They laughed when they saw it. We've had a great time. The sun has shone for some of it and they thoughtfully brought us some rain to water in the seeds. We even had our first thunderstorm of the year. At least we had a good few showers rather than one torrential downpour - something we badly needed. Ian has talked a lot about alpacas and this is the first time we have been able to show some of his family around our land. They now see why we love it so much.