Summer!

Okay the absence of leaves suggests it's still
spring but the warmth says summer.

Summer arrived! At least for now. It's hard to believe that even on Sunday we were still wrapped up against the chill winds of wintry-like weather. It was bright but we'd still had the odd snow shower during the past week. Anyway, that is now over, we've even had temperatures in the 20s. Of course the alpacas have now started suffering in the heat and Ian has to make sure they are topped up with water and have access to the shade. 

The red grapes are coming. These are the ones
we love to eat as they are so sweet. The blue ones
are taken by some friends to make wine.

Cowslip wine anyone? We have lots of cowslips
but they became quite rare in the UK as people
picked them too much.

Our ski hill is greening up.

At least the grass should now take off as it is well watered and the heat should help. Our well water is certainly dropping as the growing plants take up the water and drop the water table. In fact it is already starting to take off and Ian got the strimmer out - oh the first sounds of summer, the annoying whine of a strimmer. Still it was for my benefit as Ian was strimming the grass between my vegetable beds. I would like it to be kept under control this year, not sure how long that will last though.

My veg beds are beginning to fill with seeds
and plants.

Our first mushroom of the season. This
one is new to us, we've never noticed
them before on our land but Ian found
quite a clump of them. These are edible
morels. 

Spot the planes. Two fighters with a refuelling 
plane that circled around and around and around.

I was meant to be on holiday last week and we hoped to start on the shearing but it was so cold and wet that we abandoned that idea and with my bosses' permission I worked a few days last week so I can be freer this week to get the shearing done -well for other people anyway. Ian has been hanging on to shear ours as he needs to empty out the alpaca houses, but could not do that until the ground was hard enough and he'd finished using the back hoe to level off ground at our neighbours. Once that is complete (hopefully tomorrow) then he can take the back hoe off and then it's due to rain of course, so back to square one. Sigh! At least the alpacas will be happier with the cooler weather.

So wet after the rain there were 
puddles in front of the loo, err
I mean the office.

Snoozing as only cats know how to.

The streams on our land do not
run all year long. This is the
run off from our field that
floods.

One of the other issues we have is that we are due to shear in Estonia, but currently we are not supposed to travel there. Theoretically I can for work, if necessary but since it's not necessary.... oh the roundabout ways of this current pandemic. Ian has emailed the health authorities in Estonia to see what the situation is, but still no reply. We might have to get someone from Estonia to phone them and see what they say. The problem is that it is also edging closer to our girls giving birth and then we don't move from the farm except to shop in the village. 

Oooh! Girls! The girls do not seem particularly
interested about the boys though.

Our two youngest boys staring intently, but are 
they genuinely curious about the girls or just the
fact they are other alpacas? We won't find out
until next year at least.

This is the view I usually get. Refusing to look at
me, or prancing down to fend me off. I just 
ignore her when she does that and she backs off.

Aggie is still not my friend. We do three days of cream and three days off as she gets a bit stressy about it and that will not help her with the mite situation. This time we put diatomaceous earth on the bottom of her legs where the mites are most likely to be - we don't shear down there with the machine, we use the hand shears, so it won't ruin the shears in the process. She wasn't terribly happy about that but it could have been worse. It could have been Chanel who does not like anyone touching her legs at all and will dance about, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up and so on. Chanel needs her skin looking at but the best thing to do is to wait just a little longer and then we can make sure she gets a good covering of the powdery stuff after shearing. 

The girls have had a lot of fun exploring each
other's paddock. They still pretty much go into their
own place, except Mari fancied a change one night 
and took a lot of persuading to go back to her 
own place.

Mari can be a bit of a minx at times

A mixed group! Amanda, Ilvija and Valeria.

We took a trip into the big town. Normally we would have a list of things to do at the same time, but this time we just went in and got out again. We had to go and get a new ID card because those are the terms that the Latvian government have decided on for the British population living in their country. There mustn't be any other Brits who need new cards in the whole of the region as they hadn't got a clue about what to do at first. First of all they asked why we wanted a new card as it had not expired, until we pointed out we were British. Eventually the penny dropped and they started working on it, all five of them. They even phoned up to get more information.

Silla is a bit unsure about this unfamiliar 
water trough.

A gorgeous sunny view.

Just how is that comfy?

Getting the photo done was good fun. I had to angle my glasses, presumably so they sat better on my face for the sake of the photo. Ian was told to make his eyes more smiley, which made me giggle. Not like the British passport photos where you are expressly told not to smile. We also had to have our fingerprints done but I think the time in the garden has made mine a bit difficult to pick up on the machine as they are worn almost smooth. The lady had to press my fingers down so it would work. We were supposed to go back in 10 days but I have a conference to attend, even if it is online and I'm presenting in it, so we had to arrange for the Monday of the following week. 

Ginger Tom or GT for short is so cute. Also he 
seems to think that coffee time is affection time.
The rest of the time, he's back to his shy self and
runs off. 

The currant bushes flowering

Ian has been chopping wood this week ready 
for the next heating season.

So this week we got the first shearing done. It was a very pleasant day to do an outside shearing between two apple trees and with plenty of shade from lots of spruce trees. We did wonder if it might be a bit windy but they also provided a nice shelter belt. The spacing between the apple trees was absolutely perfect, as if they had been planted specifically for that very purpose. Ian also got a very good finish on their coats and so they look very neat and tidy. A good start to the shearing season.

He hasn't finished by a long way yet, although this
hopefully is for the following heating season as 
this wood is fresher.

The lawnmowers are in.

Next job. They made short work of the grass 
around the car and trailers. Now they are keeping
the grass down between the trees.

Plenty to go at? Well maybe, but there is also a lot
of ground elder, which they will eat in spring but
not that keen on.

Freddie has obviously found a leaf of grass anyway

And Brencis has found the dandelion leaves.

Tellus the wise old man now.

Mari sat in the shade of her own house.

Blue sky and a swallow - yes they are back and 
fighting over the alpaca houses. I'm sure there is
enough insects for all of them and plenty of room
to nest.