The Journey: No catastrophes!

A rather dramatic sky and sums up the weather
this week. Sunshine and showers and now the
ground is soggy and our caravan not under
protection for the winter yet.

No catastrophes for us this week, thank goodness. Just regular work and preparations for winter. Of course there were a few late nights to catch up with work after missing a day to prepare chickens for the freezer after the massacre by an unknown critter last week. The winter woollies and thermal leggings are definitely out now though and a sign that winter is approaching. Apparently there was snow overnight but we missed it or it didn't reach us, so I guess the geese were right again.

More of the rainbow

Jakobs is such a dapper young chap

Such a sweetie too, but don't be beguiled, he can
be quite the troublemaker.

Herkules, our treasure at the end of the rainbow

We were expecting a frost that didn't materialised - well not that we know of. Still we needed to be safe rather than sorry and get the veg in from the garden that won't take a frost or more rain. So the weekend chores involved bringing in the beans, as they would have rotted if left outside. The beans were then podded and the beans and shredded pods are now drying in the dehydrator. I'm make the shredded pods into bean powder for soups and stews. I also sorted out the squashes, tomatoes, apples and potatoes and we then took them back to the apartment to store overwinter. While we were there we also topped up the basement with the old wood from the woodstore, so the basement is now full to the brim. Hopefully we will be toasty and warm.

Herkules not looking his best. His wound at the top
of his leg was still healing very slowly and I was
dismayed to see it looking a little weepy one day. I
had a brainwave and put some turmeric powder on
it. It seemed to do the trick. I have applied it one
about three days later, but so far so good.

Turbjørn has been having daily massages with a
heat pad. He seemed to be reacting to it and
becoming more uncomfortable. We are not sure
if that is because he's got more movement and so
it's sore, or because of the massage, so the physio
recommended giving him a few days off.

While some produce is just stored in the basement and some is frozen, some of it is processed into jars, particularly applesauce and tomatoes. The problem is that I had run out of jars that were of a reasonable size. I have quite a few small ones but not the medium size ones. As I mentioned, last week we made an attempt to get some from a large DIY store but it was chokker and decided we wouldn't bother. Ian ended up having to go on a jar hunt this week though. He went back to the DIY store and got a few things he needed, but not the jars, there weren't any of the size we needed the most. The next day he tried again at a different store in the opposite direction. Success!

Poor guy does spend a lot of time like this, but
then again, so does Herkules sometimes.

Socially distanced alpacas.

Latvia has seen a spike in Covid19 cases this last week, from single figures or low double digits to 188 on one day. So the second day that Ian went on a jar hunt, he had to take a mask to go into the shop. It is only a small rural place but he noted that just about everyone was being very dutiful and wearing masks in the shop, unlike in our village. Little did he realise that one of the reasons was that this particular place was just beginning to see a large increase in numbers, from zero to 68 today. Most of the infections in Latvia have occurred in educational institutions, like this one. Next source of infection is from family members and the last workplaces. Masks are now mandatory in shops and such like places, so I guess I need to make a few more masks, although a scarf might suffice and it is getting to that time of the year.

The grass is dying off and so the alpacas have
to work harder to get the green grass. It does
Brencis good as he is a little on the porky side.

Lots of autumnal colours this week

I mentioned last week that the remaining chickens were put inside the little greenhouse in case the critter that decimated the other ark returned. You would think they would be grateful, but instead they've been a pain. They seemed to spend a lot of time inside their box during the day only coming out for their grain in the morning and not going in for their feed at night. This means that I've been having to lock them out during the day so they will go in at night and still I have to physically get into the ark to put some away. At least it is not a problem to lock them out of the box during the day as they are not laying anyway. Contrary blooming creatures.

Yes it's been wet!

I laughed! Josefs is a little soggy

Yes the winter coat, the winter wellies and the
polo neck jumper are all out.

Two kittens have been into lots of mischief. They get up on table tops and into pots and pans. They meow because they want what's in the pans, which drives me potty. Along with the chicks who are the noisiest chicks ever! And we've had quite a few. Rocket Ron though does like to sit on our knees at coffee time and Ginger Tom sits nearby meowing, not quite brave enough to jump up, but not running off so much either. The four cats now mainly tolerate each other, although Eyre gets fed up and I swear that Rocket Ron deliberately winds her up sometimes. At least there are no serious scraps, just some keep away from me swipes with the paws from Eyre and some bemused kitten looks as if to say, "What's up with her?"

George is also looking a little damp. He managed
to ping the wire netting off a pole this week.
Luckily I noticed it and tied it back on with good
old baler twine. Baler twine is great for all sorts
of things. Ian did sort the fence posts out and nailed
the wire back on later on in the week.

Mr. P looking a bit toothy again.

"This is my best side, though," he says.

More autum colours

Chanel is still looking a bit shaggy from her skin
issues but the cooler temperatures means it is more
difficult to deal with.

We sometimes wonder if Aggie's face is a bit
swollen again, but it seems to come and go. Here
she is just sunbathing

Here she's having a good scratch on the post.

Little Ilvija is a bit of a Houdini but she's still a
Mummy's girl too and will run to her Mum if
there is the slightest hint of trouble. Then her Mum
gets all protective and starts spitting. Sigh! Fortunately
little Ilvija doesn't seem to have inherited this
characteristic.