Autumnal

A soggy Mari. I will be glad when her hair grows back, it
will look much better. Still it had to be done to get out all
the muck out from the top of her head

The weather at the moment is dreich - that great Scottish word that sums up dreary, wet and windy weather that can go on for hours, days or even weeks. Well let's hope it is not the latter but certainly the weather has been rather dreich for the latter half of this week. It is not cold, thank goodness, but certainly looks autumnal with the nights closing in.

A soggy Frederiks too

The first half of the week wasn't too bad and we had a visit from some friends with their children. The boys and their father had popped in from time to time, but their mum hadn't been for ages. The land was officially hers up until three years ago and so it was nice to show her all the changes since the last time she had been. They also helped Ian load up the trailer with the roofing panels that he would need to fix the alpaca boys' roof.

Not sure what this plant is, so if anyone knows
then please let us know. 

Lady V will definitely not be having any more babies, she
is officially retired now

The roof has been leaking badly all summer due to the prolonged rains we have had. At first we didn't fix it in the hope the swallows would come back, they didn't, then we were busy with hay and then it rained. Sigh! Finally we had a few days forecast without rain, although that is still not a guarantee of anything. The forecasters are really struggling to give an accurate weather forecast even a day ahead these days. Ian prepared all the beams and battening in the hope that it would only take a day to take the roof off and then replace it. Unfortunately it took longer but it worked out in the end.

A soggy Lady V

While Ian took the roof off and with not a lot else to do, I got the chopped wood stacked in the horse box so it was ready to take to the apartment that we have to heat with our own wood supply. That took me most of the day. In the meantime Ian got the roof off and put the beams on, although he did have company. The local building inspector, aka Sofie would appear on the beams every now and again to inspect his work. When I finished stacking the wood, I got the screws out of the old roofing boards - well most of them. They were hard to see and we found some I had missed as we stacked them onto the trailer to take away. I also cleared up the broken bits of board lying around and bits of  wood offcuts, leaving Ian free just to get on with the roof. We only had time for some egg sandwiches that evening and Ian worked into the night to try and finish the roof, working by tractor lights.

George running around

One side did get done and we tried to get the boys into the half finished building while there was still some light, but they weren't happy about it. They ended up staying outside for the night. At 10pm Ian called it a day and rang me to ask me to help him clear up for the night. I had taken the opportunity to finish off some marking for my online students, since there wasn't much point in standing around in the dark. It wasn't easy ensuring the place was safe for the boys overnight by torch light but we managed. At least the tractor lights are very bright so that helped.

A handsome young chap outside his alpaca house with the
new roof on

The next morning Ian got back on with the roof despite being tired as the forecast was for rain by midday. There wasn't much I could do and I ended up sorting out his trip to the UK to attend a parasitology course later on in the month. He's going with the Hungarian alpaca owner who visited us over the summer so they can share costs. It is a bit pricey to do it on your own, so this way makes it a bit more affordable and hopefully the money we save on parasite testing and the peace of mind of being able to check all the alpacas will outweigh the costs in the end. He will also be taking the chance to see the kids too, but he can sort out that on the wet days.

A matching set of red roofs now

New beams and battens too. Ian even managed to save the
old swallows nest. It's a bit hard to see in this picture
but it is there saved from the old beam and fastened onto
the new one

The afternoon, however was not as bad as the forecast, in fact it turned out to be quite nice. So nice we took the afternoon off - well sort of. We pottered about and then went to collect mushrooms in the forest. We even found a chicken in the woods, or chicken from Tescos as it got nicknamed. The mushroom has quite a meaty texture hence the name. We first just tried a bit fried first of all because some people react to it, but we were fine and so it was made into a risotto the next day. It went well with the other mushrooms we had collected and some peas and beans from the garden.

Not one we would pick, based on the fact we
don't know what it is and better safe than
sorry

Chicken in the woods

Hopefully pregnant and eating for two. It is amazing how
at this time of the year the alpacas spend so much time
eating. I think partly because they are not plagued by the
flies so much but also because the winter is approaching
and soon the grass will turn and not be so nutritious.
They must sense it

Mr. P has been to visit the ladies again, but we think they are all pregnant now, judging by the fact that Ian got caught quite a few times in the crossfire. Mari just runs away, she is not a spitty animal at all. She will occasionally spit but not regularly. Aggie, however, is a little like her mother used to be and can spit when she is pregnant. She has been so lovely just lately, it almost seems a shame, but now she is back to being her hopefully pregnant spitty self. Chanel is a bit more of a spitter normally, although better than she used to be. She was sitting down for Mr. P. again, which makes us think that maybe she got pregnant but then lost it, but now she is back to putting up a bit of a fight - hence Ian being covered.

Herkules looks grumpy when wet, but not sure he is really

Feeding or hiding from the rain? 

Since that lovely afternoon the weather has rained on and off and more on than off at times since. I managed to gather broad beans and peas to shell for drying - at least the shelling can be done in the greenhouse. The rest of the time we have both been catching up with either admin or online work. I have now managed to finish writing up the lessons and assignments for Development Studies and Ian has been working on the adoption updates. We now have five adoptees. I had some encouragement in the tutoring with a lovely email from one of my students who finished Sociology in June. Despite a horrendous year with family ill health she did well and she wrote to thank me for the way I had tutored her through the course. She mentioned that my style of marking had encouraged her to work harder and she was now going to take an A level Sociology because she had enjoyed the course so much. One of my other students may also take the A level and I will help her through that if it all comes together.

Turbjørn always looks like he's trying to work out how the
world works in an intelligent thoughtful kind of way

An elegant if wet Turbjørn

We enjoy having visitors and like to see our neighbours, but there is one person who always makes us groan when we see her. She is our local eccentric. She had come about a fence, that was as much as I understood clearly. I worked out she wanted to put up a fence to stop another neighbour's cows from coming on her land but the details were beyond me. There was also something about deer and winter, but I got a bit confused about that. She tried to phone people, but they weren't answering. I managed to get through to one of my friends and she must have already heard because she immediately told me what she was trying to do. Our eccentric neighbour can make a lot of work for people, which does not always go down well. It turns out she wanted to put up a fence and was firstly checking to see where our land finished - yet again! And then she was checking to see if she could attach her temporary fence to an electric pole that was definitely on our land. We gave her permission and went on our way. Phew!