The Journey: A really boring post!

Not much to do here!

I had a brief Latvian lesson recently and I had to recall what I did over Christmas. Not a lot really. I then had to tell my teacher what I would be doing for New Year's Eve.... errr not a lot really. I'm being rather boring. We didn't plan on staying up as Ian had to be up early to see to the animals. I had some work to do between Christmas and New Year and so I didn't get the chance to do much sewing, which is what I planned, although I did finish off a pair of trousers. So all in all.... not a lot, apart from making a nice meal... but I forgot to make the Yorkshire puddings again.

Lolly is now being halter-trained and doing
well. She was even outside for a walk today.

Well someone finds the process amusing.

Winter days are for hibernation but it doesn't
mean they are not glorious at times.

We are not into giving presents to each other these days. Too much hassle I guess and I hate the idea of buying something for myself just for Christmas. I could never see the point of that. We have what we need anyway. I did finally get a present to open though. My daughter ordered lots of lovely spices and some peaceful tea. It works too! The tea I mean. It seemed to stop my head from spinning from one subject to another to let me sleep well and through the night. I might be rather boring and not doing a lot outwardly, but in my head it's a different matter. Some of our grandkids struggle with paying attention and I realised that perhaps it was my fault. I'm not hyperactive, in the slightest but in my head - well that's another matter entirely.

So bright and sparkly

The boys are in a sparkly shower too

Normally someone with ADD can struggle to concentrate at school, but I didn't. I was hyper-focussed and this probably had a bit to do with a hearing problem that meant I needed to sit at the front of a class. There is nothing like putting a super shy kid at the front to ensure their concentration. It was hard work though as there was no way I was going to embarrass myself by not knowing the answer. I have also come to realise that my brain works super hard to fill in gaps, so if I didn't hear everything, it was not too much of a problem - well normally. It has also trained my brain to fill in gaps, which is kind of useful for a researcher who specialises in being a generalist. It does mean I have to work pretty hard to stay on task though. Stubbornness helps there!

More trees with a golden glow

Lolly again, coming out to see Ian. Have you
got food?

Another difference for me is that most kids with ADD find reading hard, but I could lose myself in a book. I could speed read and that gave me plenty of time to have another story going on in my head at the same time. I would read the words and my head would be somewhere else. There were times of course when I would read a paragraph and get to the end and realise my brain hadn't engaged with the text at all and I would have to read it again, but sometimes I could do the two things at once. Sometimes my brain was just filling in the scene and so I could really visualise what was going on in the story. There were some stories I could not read though because of that. Too scary!

Still being bottle fed. It's been a long journey.

I never tire of this view of our land. The same and
yet different every time.

And frosted trees are always beautiful

I think it also explains why I don't find travelling that bad, as it means I can just look out of the window and let my mind wander where it likes. I'm not having to constantly pull it back on track (fortunately not many of my travels meant I had to pay attention to the stops where I needed to get off). The downside to an ADD like brain is too many ideas and too many half finished projects. I finish what I have to, but that's sometimes about it. The thought of starting a project can also be a bit overwhelming as I have to clear the clutter, physically and in my head, to get going. Another technique I realised I employ is to challenge myself so I don't get bored. Once the boredom sets in, I lose interest, so if it's important then I have to find the challenge in what I'm doing. It helps though that I find so much to be super interesting or maybe that's a disadvantage. Not sure how many papers I have downloaded for reading later, or how often I get side tracked by one more really interesting line of enquiry. There's a whole world to explore and learn and.....one more rabbit trail, one more rabbit hole .... and where did the time go?

Same view, different day and different time
of the day.

Aggie in contemplative mood, while chomping
away on the hay.

One place where I do struggle is learning Latvian. I'm trying to slow down to notice the details, but my brain is trying to race ahead. It is coming along but oh so slowly. The problem with Latvian is that the endings give you a clue to the context. I'm pretty good at spotting the root of the words, but I have to slow down and sometimes squint at the screen to see the difference. There is not much difference between an "i" and an "ī" (a long "i"), a "l" and a "ļ" or a "n" and a "ņ", but those little characters can make a difference in meaning. You would want to make sure you get the difference right between kazas and kāzas, the first being goats and the second wedding. My Latvian teacher has been known to laugh a little occasionally at one or two of the mistakes I made. She doesn't laugh at me often and she's pretty gentle with me generally.

Chanel in contemplative mood too. Ian is experimenting
with a different holding technique. It seems to be
working and she seems a bit calmer these days.
Now all we have to do is stop her from sitting
down so we can put cream on those dreadfully scaly
legs of hers.

Ilvija and Chanel are still close. We wonder
how this will work when Ilvija has a baby.

It took me a few attempts to write a sentence about our unwelcome little visitor to the house, that appears every morning about 10:15 or so - although not today. I've named it Ronald. Not quite sure why, as I am endeavouring to find ways to dispatch it. One morning I saw it three times, always going in one direction. Or was it three mice? I only ever see one. There is no point leaping up to see if I can somehow corner it as there are just too many places for it to disappear. It must be immune to the poison, as we do leave that in the apartment due to us being away. I don't like to use such stuff, but the thought of it eating it's way through the wiring and causing damage to our neighbour's property is enough for me to take proactive action and normally that's enough to sort the problem.

Chanel's multi-coloured fleece. Over the summer
we sprayed her with oil that had cloves and garlic
in. It seemed to help the skin and keep the mites
under control. The problem is that now the winter
is here, it seems to have not helped the fleece.
She has been dusted with potato starch to absorb the
oil, but also with turmeric, garlic and clove powder
to repel any mites. Gradually it is absorbing the oil
but also the sweat. Most of the alpacas are no
where near as sweaty as Chanel is. It might be
part of her problem with the mites.

Josefs has been eating the snow

I've tried setting traps but it is such a little thing it just says, "Thank you very much for the tasty.... Christmas cake, fat, crumbs" or whatever else I've used to try and get it to stay long enough to trigger the trap. I don't like using traps either as we have had to dispatch a mouse before now that was caught in a trap and wasn't killed instantly. I know there are supposedly humane traps, but is it any more humane to capture a mouse and dump it in the open countryside in a place it doesn't know in the middle of winter? It might sound humane to relocate an animal but they suffer stress through being introduced to a strange environment. Yes! I've read the studies on that too and their survival rate is not great. So the battle continues of one human vs a teeny, tiny little mouse. We might have to call in reinforcements, namely Rocket Ron and Ginger Tom. Not sure what they will make of being in the apartment for a day. We'll see!

Another sign that Lolly is growing up is that she
is eating from a tray. We are pleased as it means
she is getting the minerals and vitamins that alpacas
need. Karla will be getting hers from her mother
still.

They remind me of teasels, but they are not. They are
bee balm covered in snow.

Yes more snowy pictures.

It has been a long process to get to the stage where
Ian can feed Turbjørn by hand. We've had Turbjørn
10 years in July of this year and he only started
eating from Ian's hand last year.