The Journey: Here we are again!

Antonia rocking the mud socks

Another two weeks and how much is done? At least jobs are getting ticked off. Slowly, but they are getting ticked off. It's also been a couple of weeks of weather. You know! Those times when you don't know from one day to the next what the weather will bring.

Mr. Stork out for an morning walk

Soaking up the sun by the barn

The greenhouse got finished in the small window of time when it was reasonably warm and not too windy. There were one or two hairy moments when the wind picked up a bit as we were sliding the acrylic over the greenhouse and wondered if it was going to flip up and break or whether it would just curl over like it was supposed to and slide down the other side. Fortunately it slid over. Ian has also put some sealant on the exposed holes before it persisted it down with rain and handles on the doors. So, now it is already to plant up with tomatoes, both my own and some more from a friend of ours. I'm looking forward to seeing these new varieties as they are quite different apparently.

Aggie also in zen mode soaking up the sunshine

Taking the sunbathing to another level.

I got a haircut this week. Ordinarily not a remarkable event but in these strange times it is a privilege of living in a Covid19 free area. I had to sign a form and put my phone number on for tracing purposes in case a customer gets sick I suppose. I also had to say that I hadn't got any symptoms, been abroad recently or supposed to be self-isolating. My hairdresser knows all of that information anyway as we are Facebook friends and she won't cut hair if she doesn't know someone. Safe for both of us that way.

Ilvija also enjoying a sunbathe

Peedo, however, looks like it's all a bit too much for him. I
don't think the plague of little annoying/biting flies helped.
Fortunately they have now gone.

We are also in a region of Europe with limited numbers of cases and those are just about under control, so now we are free to travel to Estonia or Lithuania, just in time for shearing. Now we just need the weather to warm up a bit. At least the snow has gone but the wind is chilly and we've had a few hailstorms, wind and rain, so not exactly pleasant weather. We did get some more alpacas sheared locally but still not sheared ours yet and I think they are happy enough about that, until the sun comes out and they get a bit warm.

I think Lady V has had enough too.

And after the sunshine? Snow!

I finally managed to get the last of the potatoes planted - in between the showers that is. I took them out a bucket at a time so I could quickly get back into the greenhouse if it started to rain. I've also planted lots of bean seeds because beans are easy to freeze and last well. There will also be plenty to dry. In the old greenhouse I have pots of tomatoes and peppers that are growing well waiting to go in the new greenhouse. There are cabbages, Brussel sprouts, Chinese cabbage, chard and more beans that are waiting to go outside. Cucumbers, squash plants and nasturtiums are just starting poke through now and I have planted lots of other seeds at the weekend. I hope it warms up by the time they are ready to go out.

The walk down to the "office" first thing in the
morning was a little chilly

Quite weird with the green poking through

And the spring flowers

Pastel colours

The snow went and we then had rain and hail and rain and
sunshine and rain and sunshine and hail and....

One of the most important jobs at the moment was completed last week. I have handed in my thesis for my doctorate. So one more step completed. Well it nearly was. Apparently the board weren't so happy with my summary and I had to do that over the weekend. A friend of mine who does my editing has been an absolute star for stepping in and helping me get it all finished.

Ilvija looking a little damp and very like a Suri alpaca

She even seems the right kind of shape for a Suri.

My project work is still plodding on, rather too slowly but it is getting there, which is a bit worrying when we need results very soon. I'm sure it will be finished on time, just! The problem with all this online work from our very rural location does mean that we are very reliant on our phones for the internet. The week before my birthday my phone started to cut out rather alarmingly for very little reason. 50% battery! Cut out! Phone call from someone! Cut out! I got to the stage of leaving it plugged in if I was doing anything important. I decided to get a new one, well a reconditioned one. I had planned on getting a Fairphone, but I couldn't wait the three weeks for a new one.

The three amigos looking a little damp. On the day we were
coming back from shearing at someone else's place, I got out
to undo the rope that blocks our entrance and Ian then drove off
without me, or nearly did. He get half way up the bank and
sheepishly rolled back. He'd been so busy looking at our alpacas
that he forgot about me until he saw me in the mirror. Hmmph!

Despite the rain, I think Herkules is looking a bit happier
these days. He's standing up to the other boys again and he's
able to get up without help from Ian. Such a relief.

This last week it was Ian's turn. He tried to get a video off his phone onto the computer and the phone went really weird and then started locking up. There is no time to be able to get it fixed and he's had it about 4-5 years, so kind of only to be expected. That is one of the reasons I wanted a Fairphone because they are repairable to a point of course. Still a reconditioned one is better than wasting resources on a brand new one for me, but Ian needs a robust one so got a new CAT phone.