Kitten cuddles

Mr. P looking very dashing

Since the beginning of July I was down to 14 hours a week. That was fine with me as I had been working hard up until the end of June working on projects and my PhD. The earnings had been good too and so there were no worries about money. I even had a holiday - well no academic work but plenty to keep me busy on the farm. So I eased myself back into work and tried to get the project work that hadn't been completed done - still a work in progress unfortunately, but still..., it left me with time to do the farm jobs. Now that has changed, but that's okay because the farm jobs are starting to come to an end and rainy days mean there is not as much to do - well kind of. There are still lots of potatoes to dig and the garden to tidy up, but there is time to do that over the autumn, there is not so much of a hurry because everything is growing slowly. Anyway all that to say that I started back with full-time employment this week as there is still enough project money to pay me, so I'm sorted now up to December. 

The boys field is looking much greener this year
than last year. Last year we were struggling to
find them fresh grass. This year they cannot 
eat it fast enough.

Ian had to mow this to stop the weeds and trees
from taking over.

Rocket Ron and Ginger Tom

I mentioned the devastating news of the loss of all our new chicks a couple of weeks ago. We decided that our two cats - good mousers that they are - were not enough to keep the rodent population under control. One morning Ian was telling me about a dream he had of getting two more cats, one was a yellow looking cat and he called it Turmeric and the other Ron. Later on in the day I went to see the vet and asked if she knew of any cats that needed a new home? Her eyes lit up and she said, "You want cats! Come and look." There were two boy kittens, one ginger and one a dashing black and white. They were feral but she had been getting them used to people, they were doing okay and not aggressive. I took pictures to show Ian and he was amazed to see they similar to the ones he'd dreamt about. We sorted out the hamster cage that the incubator had been in and went to fetch the boys. We also took our older ones to get their rather overdue vaccinations done. 

One of older cats must have caught this. Up until
this year, we have not seen rats and our cats have
not caught them, so the numbers must be increasing.
So hopefully these two youngsters will help to keep
these numbers down.

Rocket Ron is a bit of a handful. Twice a day
we take them out for cuddles to get them used to us.
I call him fidget widget as he never seems to stop.

Ginger Tom, is a much shyer kitten. In fact one 
afternoon he took off during cuddle time. Fortunately
he dashed into the greenhouse and so we rapidly
shut doors and I blocked off the escape hole while
Ian caught him. The greenhouse needs some emptying
out before they are let loose. Far too many places to hide
for a little kitten.

Do not let that sleepy pose deceive you. She is an
ace mouser.

Our three original boys, from left to right,
Herkules, Tellus and Turbjørn

Turbjørn is still struggling and we are still waiting for the vet to come and x-ray him. We had just about given up when Ian got a phone call to say he would come the following day at 4pm. We were so relieved, but it was short-lived because about midday Ian got a message to say that the vet's car had died and it was in the garage for repair. So close! We've had to put cream on Turbjørn's ears because the flies have been bugging him and he can't shake them off. He's been going around with his head down and long overdue for some more deep physio, but there isn't much point until he's had his x-ray. Sigh! We had to be so careful with him when we were cutting his toe-nails, which was one of this week's jobs. Fortunately he wasn't reacting like he used to and more or less stood still while Ian cut the nails and I held onto his head very gently. 

This is my best side!

Freddie escaped toe nail cutting this time around, 
as his were already cut due to needing bandages
on a sore spot. We cut his toe nails to stop him
using them to tear the bandage off, just in case.

Star performer! Josefs

As I said toe-nail cutting was one of this week's jobs. We started off with the boys, as they are often the easiest, except for Brencis. Jakobs played up a bit but he's small enough to deal with. Joesefs on the other hand was an absolute star. I hardly had to hold him at all, just enough to let him know that he shouldn't go anywhere. I wish they were all like that, life would be so much simpler. Vanessa's girl's were next and they were okay. Much better than about two years ago. Vanessa has always been good, once you get a hold of her and I was able to use the proper hold that cups under the head and at the back of the head. The others were a little bit more of a handful, especially Vanessa's daughter, Valeria, but I've known worse and we got there with them. 

Vanessa has a good reason to smile
she was relatively well behaved and
now has properly manicured nails-
well for an alpaca anyway.

Vanessa's girls up on oak tree hill. They do seem 
to enjoy it up there. There are lots of flowers but
not much grass, so not sure what it is they are 
eating.

Amanda and Silla coming down from the 
oak tree hill. Pruning and mowing are their 
specialities.

Veronica with her wobbly legs. She's still getting
about and doesn't seem to be in pain, just a bit
slow at times.

However...... Veronica's lot!!! Oh my! Veronica was okay, she's getting old and finds it hard to get away anyway, We just have to try and make sure she gets her balance. Mari was a bit of a handful and ended up being restrained against a wall, but we managed - that does sound worse than it was. Aggie was not a happy alpaca and fussed and was difficult, but again we managed. Chanel! Now that was different. She usually cushes, which means sitting on her legs, so we can't get to them under normal circumstances, so we had decided to take up the restraining ropes. We got her fastened down like at shearing time and then got hold of her daughter to cut her toe nails. There would have been no point trying to do it without Chanel being restrained because she stands between us and Ilvija if we are going to do anything. She's a good Mum, but not helpful. After cutting her toe nails we gave her legs a wash to try and soften some of the crusty skin and then I put on some nourishing lotion. She was not happy about this process and she still hasn't forgiven Ian after three days. She just keeps spitting at him. For a change I think she blames him rather than me. Aggie blames me though for anything that she disagrees with, like changing bandages and putting on cream. 

Chanel's crusty legs. She would be much better
if she would let us deal with them. 

"Don't come near me or I will spit at you!" This was
today, three days later and she still has not forgiven
Ian. My coat on the day was a lovely putrefied grass
green colour. She obviously did not appreciate the time
and effort that went into making the lotion for her. 

Good job that Ilvija is no where near as spitty as
her Mum. She moans about toe nail cutting, but
doesn't spit. Phew!

Mari showing off her manicure

My boss paid us a visit to collect some blackcurrant bushes for his garden. We have a very good variety that roots from cuttings easily and I had also found some rooted suckers that were in the way. As his family are of farming stock, I didn't feel bad about asking for help with Brencis. As I have mentioned before we can't manage to cut his toe nails on our own, not yet anyway. Hopefully one day he will calm down. Brencis didn't cooperate very well but we did get him sorted out, with only a few minor bumps along the way. We paid for the help by giving my boss a lunch of freshly picked mushrooms and tomatoes, and potatoes from our garden, home-baked bread, pickled cucamelons and chutney. Grapes fresh off the vine for dessert. I thought that worked out okay, a fair exchange.

Mari and the photographer in reflection

We have reds and whites. Not sure what varieties
either of them are, but they do taste nice.

I then spent the rest of the weekend digging up more potatoes. Now the long rows are finished and I just have short rows to do, but still a way to go. It is much easier if the plot has not got weedy and some are weedier than others. I must remember to mulch better next year as so many of the potatoes popped up and got green. Fortunately we have so many, it isn't an issue and if they are still okay next year, then we can use them as seed potatoes. Blight was another big problem this year. I don't think I got the tops cut off early enough and it has been a particularly wet year compared to others. The alpaca manure I think was a bit too fresh for a wet year, perfect in a dry year though. The potatoes that had grown from those left in the ground from the year before did a bit better and not as blighted. We shall have to watch them carefully in storage and check them regularly. We've managed before and they have lasted the winter. 

A good capture by Ian, a dragonfly in flight.
I love to see these flying about, knowing they are
helping to keep the biting bugs under some sort of
control.

The shed is looking good. Ian's not happy with
the door as it has dropped slightly. Still it is
just a shed, so not great but not the end of the
world either. 

Ian has been busy finishing off a small shed to replace the little greenhouse that fell down. The shed is a bit bigger than the floor space of the greenhouse and a lot taller, so we have plenty of space for the growing pots, feed bags and general gardening stuff. It will be nice to get that all out of the greenhouse and so we can work on that to make it a nice workshop space with a nice greenhouse ambiance. Well that's the plan! Bit by bit we are getting there. 

Greenhouse ambiance.

Not quite greenhouse ambiance as
Jerusalem artichokes trying to escape

The insects are still finding this tree fascinating.
We would love to know why. A group of hornets
feasting on something.

Not sure what the grub is or what the flies are
up to. Hmmm! 

Aggie with her bandage. We are getting through
the bandages between her, Freddie and Herkules.
Fortunately Freddie's has now healed. Aggie's was
nearly healed and then she scratched it again overnight
and it swelled up again. Fortunately I have found
honey seems to be the most effective at reducing
the swelling. The animals are getting through 
more honey than we are. Herkules original sore
is now well and truly healed but not sure if the 
plaster started another patch off and this
one is more difficult to bandage.

Some squashes from the field curing in the 
greenhouse.

A very broad but short rainbow between the 
trees tonight.

A successful week

Enjoying a cuppa! Not our advanced Mac user, but a user
of the Macs warmth methinks

We have decided our cat is an advanced Mac user. This week Sofie walked across my laptop and up pops a box to choose the language for the keyboard, we had no idea that pressing "cmd" and space bar could do that. I have two options for my keyboard, British and Latvian, so that I can write the extra Latvian letters "ā, ē, ī, ģ, ļ, ņ, ō š" and so it is really useful to have a quick way of changing between the two languages, especially as leaving it in the Latvian keyboard means I end up typing a š instead of an apostrophe s. It has taken four years to find that out and it just takes a 9 month old kitten to walk across my computer! Mac users they maybe but mouse catchers? Hmmm! Despite taking our kittens to the greenhouse to play it did not seem to deter the mice in the caravan which is currently stored in our greenhouse and so just recently we have resorted to traps and then poison. At least we had some success with that and caught 6 mice now and the poison has been eaten - let's hope that sorts it for the time being as we don't really want a family of mice living in our caravan insulation.

A snowy scenes

I have had an amazing response to my request for interviews for my project on wild boar management and the conflict that results over it. Arranging interviews had been an usually protracted process for another project last year and so I was amazed to get a response to my three emails to people at national level within hours and I managed to get all organised for one day this week. All went smoothly with everyone available at the right time and everyone was extremely helpful and generous with their time. The only mishap was nearly sliding off the road in some atrocious slippery conditions on the way there, on the first corner out of our village. I also got some farmer interviews under my belt too this week and so I feel on a roll. Thank goodness! Mind you, one hour of interviews does translate to many hours transcribing them, and I don't think they would transcribe well using transcribing software, not with the accents, mine and theirs.

Ice rinks in the making as our ponds begin to freeze over

It hasn't been a proper winter here yet, but it might have just arrived this week. We have had weeks of snow here, snow gone, snow here, snow gone and it has left us with a rather muddy mess. It started to snow on Saturday and a good few centimetres fell, enough to send most of Britain into complete and utter chaos, but hardly worth mentioning here in Latvia. At least it has covered the muddy mess and, unfortunately for me, it also covered the frozen ice from the melted snow on a car park. The snow was not thick enough to cover the ice with a less slippery surface but enough to hide the ice, and I greeted a friend's New Years greeting by slipping flat onto my back. For a change I had two gallant men to help me up, makes a change from being sniggered at. Time for the Yaktrax methinks. Nothing was hurt beyond a bit of pride, actually I thought it was quite funny as I can think of better ways to return someone's greeting than sliding gracefully to their feet.

Snow covered roads. At least it fills in
some of the potholes

The reason we went out was, because I wanted a joint of pork for the weekend. We had had a lot of vegetarian meals over the week and I just fancied a joint for a change. It was a well timed action as a little later on that morning I had a phone call from a friend who was just about to set off to the near-ish big town to us, from his village some distance away, and was even sat in the car, when he found out the meeting he was intending to go to was called off. Since he was all ready to go somewhere he decided to pay us a visit instead. He had never actually made it to see us, we had always gone to see him, so we got to show him around the land we manage, as well as sit down and talk around the table. Oh we can sure do that and getting much practice just lately as you may have noticed if you follow this blog. In fact while we on our way back into the apartment with our friends, one of our neighbours was sledging with her little one and she stopped to chat a little and she invited us round for a chat another day, which was later was changed to a meal. Oh yes! we can talk and eat at the same time, and the fish supper this evening was superb too and the conversations fascinating.

A disappearing landscape under a blanket of snow

This week the Latvian State Employment Agency announced that unemployment was down 3%, they are still worried that many people are still looking for work though. A 3% drop though is pretty good don't you think? Or is it? There has been a fall of 34, 256 registered unemployed people, but there has also been a fall of around 23,000 in the population - many will have been adults who have left the country this last year. That doesn't make the fall in unemployment quite so spectacular does it! It is also worrying, because some of those may return if employment conditions worsen in other countries and there may still be no jobs for those returning. Having said that, there are some jobs that some companies are having difficulty filling, because those who can do a good job are often the ones that leave and those who are motivated to work hard are sometimes scarce. It would be easy to criticise those left behind as people who are lazy, and perhaps some are, but they are also trying to deal with a legacy of soviet system thinking that does not encourage a motivated workforce. Many battle alcoholism and a sense of hopelessness. Not easy to turn around a whole nation in less than a generation and there is still a long way to go yet, they could have done with some better politicians in the past and some better external advice, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, it is still a young nation and it all takes time.

The hat I knitted for Ian, hopefully it is
warmer than his other one.

The flip side of so many leaving the country is the anguish that one mother feels over the death of her daughter. In an article in the Daily Mail she blames herself for the deteriorating relationship with her daughter brought on by moving away in order to help her family financially. She feels it has lead to her daughter getting into bad habits and in with the wrong crowd, something that she feels may not have happened if they had all moved together. Mind you it is far harder to move with families, when the jobs the Latvians and others like them do are often low paid; it is easier for them to send the money home and live as a single person.  So spare a thought for those Eastern Europeans and think of how many families they represent back home who are missing loved ones, missing a father, missing a mother.

Just want to add Happy birthday to Mavis this last week. It has been great getting to know you through this blog and in person over the years. Mavis has followed this blog almost from the beginning and been such a support to me to keep going in the writing and then blessed us even more by coming out to see what we were doing and so it seems only right to send birthday greetings from my blog. If you want to know any more about Mavis then take a trip over here and read more about her adventures at our place here.

Talking stuff and shifting stuff

Preparing for my Skype conference, thought I had better
check how I looked 

Skype has been immensely useful this week and I wonder how I would get on without it. First of all I did a Skype video presentation to my tutor and a colleague on the topic I wish to research for my Masters. It was a very technical experience, as I used two computers - are you impressed? My old laptop, that was repaired, has a bigger screen than my new one and so I could have Skype on and see my tutor and his colleague as they listened to my presentation and have my notes in front of me for the presentation; on my newer laptop (no I'm not greedy, it was just we didn't realise that Apple would repair the computers before I bought a new one) I had my presentation slides, so I could see the slides that were being viewed far away on the Isle of Lewis where my tutor works. There was also the usual chats with children on Skype and the not so usual, the usual how are you doing and the not so usual hope you are okay and help my computers packed in and I haven't backed my stuff up and I'm panicking sort (have to admit to that being a wake up call and I went and backed mine up immediately after that call). We also had the opportunity for a fantastic chat with some old friends from our church back in the UK and one of them even treated us to a bit of ukulele playing. Modern technology can be an invasive experience but for us it has allowed us to do the things we are doing, while still maintaining contact with friends and family. Which is especially good when our daughter had a car accident this week and it was good to know that she was fine.

A lovely sunset after a busy day

Of course it wouldn't be much of a life if we lived it solely online and we have a couple of great opportunities to enjoy good company with some good food this week. A friend of ours and an old friend of his from overseas joined us in the hotel this week, not planned, but one of those lovely impromptu moments  that just happen. It was a really pleasant experience chatting about accents and misunderstandings and different experiences that life has thrown our way. Our next meal followed an impromptu invitation to some neighbours of ours who are working hard and one day looked like it was going to be worse than normal; with two little ones in the household I could just picture the evening arriving home and the lack of energy to do much in preparing a meal - I have been there quite a few times when our children were little, at one point we had three children under the age of four and life could get a bit fraught at times. In the morning I had made use of the slow cooker to start a meal off with chicken stock and some borlotti beans, then added some salted beans, barley and beaver sausage and I knew that meal would stretch to a small family with addition of some potatoes and baked squash. An easy meal knowing we would also be busy during the day. In fact they did us a favour by accepting as the bean casserole needed the additions to make it a great meal, the casserole on its own needed toning down with the potatoes and we got to be entertained by the little ones to. Bargain!

The moon added to the show

Our kittens have also been a little surprising this week. They had to go back to the vets for their second injection and it was there that we found out it wasn't just Bella that has surprising agility. Sofie, our usually calm, placid kitten is beginning to show streaks of not being quite so calm or placid and in the vets she was decidedly not happy with the injection and twisted herself around in a way a cat should not be able to and ended up giving the ver some rather nasty scratches. The vet was rather apologetic because she said it was her fault as she was not expecting that reaction at all - neither were we to be honest. This is from a cat that likes tummy tickles and paw massages!!!!! Bella was well and truly pinned down between us though, as we weren't going to have a repeat of that episode. Reminded me of the time I used to help out at a vets as a teenager to find out if I wanted to be a vet or not in later life. The other episode involved Bella, our mischievous one, who managed to get up onto the higher rafters of our greenhouse but was struggling to find a way down. Several times she crossed backwards and forwards looking for a way down, even walking on the fleece that is stapled for shading below the apex - at which point I felt sure she was going to come through it. Ian was just about to head off for the ladders when she decided to make a jump for it, it was rather a long way down but although she looked a little shocked she is none the worse for the event. So far though the kittens have not caught a mouse that we know of but I found one out in our allotment patch and ended up killing it with the spade - not something I enjoy doing but we do need to keep the population down to manageable proportions.

Our new beds with the sawdust path

Most of the week seems to have been spent shifting things around. I had to shift some old manure and compost around the garden to make room for some new manure. Ian used the tractor to shift two loads of manure, one to each garden and two loads of wood chippings, one load to our neighbours garden and one back to our land, plus a car trailer load. Having written that down it doesn't look a lot but it took two days to do, albeit short days due to the shorter days and being dark by 4:30pm. One thing Ian discovered today is that all this transporting things by trailer has improved his ability to reverse them. He had to reverse the tractor trailer with one load of manure quite a distance and managed with just one or two small deviations from the path and today he drove a trailer into a building with a heavy saw on it that needs renovating, not only did he reverse it, he had to turn the trailer into the building to put it where it needed to be put. All I can say, is it is a good job it wasn't me, I am getting better at reversing our truck but it is still tricky as it all has to be done by wing mirrors and not looking over my shoulder. There was more shifting on the land as all those wood chippings needed to be put somewhere as there are still more to come, so I started putting rotted straw down where the vegetable beds should be and then put a good covering of wood chippings on the top. It won't be perfect for vegetables next year as they will need a good lot of compost added to give the roots something to anchor into but the year after it will be great and hopefully easier to manage for weeds. I also began laying the sawdust paths, not sure that they are deep enough to stop the weeds coming through but decided a light going over with a blow torch to any that dares to put its head above the sawdust will do the trick (and no I am not going to set the sawdust alight in the process!!!!! Trust me!)

It was like this all day, on one particular day, the frost lay
on the ground all day, never bothering to shift

I read a lot about sustainability issues and I had to laugh this week when I read an article about building with sand filled water bottles. Comments were made that there was now a worry that the area would run out of sand due to the amount required in the building. It harks back to the idea that if you find a sustainable building method then you multiply it and replicate it lots of times, but that is not sustainable. Sustainability is about applying principles not blueprints, each area needs to find creative solutions bearing in mind the type of area it is. Sustainable solutions will not be mass produced, but small scale. Reliance on single products for the answer to all problems is not an option, that is what got us into the mess we are in now. I suppose that is similar in principle to the Occupy protests at the moment, the world is looking for "one solution fits all" answers from the protest groups, but the groups are not providing answers, they are seeking first the right questions and then looking for principles that can be applied, not blueprints that once applied with help us to live happy ever after - that just won't happen. Sustainable solutions to today's problems will take a lot of time to work out as they are going to take some massive rethinks in how we do business, how we live and how we interact with each other. Interesting times indeed!

Frosted grass

Okay I know you have to tilt your head to see this
it won't turn round. It is correct on my computer but
Picasa won't turn it around. Okay now I have moaned
what you can see is a dusting of snow. Winter is on its way

Passed!

All finished and in working order

It passed!!!! The horse box passed its technical. Ian was so relieved to get that out of the way, even if he found one of the problems was the wrong type of bulb. The problem with changing the units meant that not all the old bulbs were suitable for the new unit, one needed a double filament for brighter lights when braking. He could kick himself for not realising sooner, but then again if he hadn't put in the wrong bulb, he wouldn't have noticed all the loose connections or corroded wires and they would have gone eventually anyway. Electrics on cars and trailers though are pretty difficult to diagnose, especially without sophisticated equipment. It just needs a nick in a wire, in an out of the way place and it becomes almost impossible to track down. Still it's done now and he can concentrate on other jobs like digging more trenches around the barn to drain all the water away when it rains or eventually from snow melt - well that is if we get snow, it has been so mild this autumn.

A gift from some neighbours

It has been all excitement around here just lately, the other week Ian arrived at one of the petrol stations (gas station) in our village, to find it being roped off. There were people in combat outfits - camouflage trousers (pants), camouflage jackets and big boots - it all looked pretty intimidating. Had there been a robbery? Was the petrol station or the company in trouble for corruption? Who were these guys and what were they doing? The petrol station remained closed all week and under surveillance or at least with security men sat in a van the whole time. We asked around and others seemed as bemused as we were, but eventually someone explained that Ziemelu Nafta, the petrol company, had been repossessed by the bank for non-payment. We eventually also found out on the internet that they have been reported to the "economic police" for unfair practices - I presume that means the fraud squad as we would say in the UK. It is a good job we have another petrol station in the village, otherwise we would face some very long trips to the nearest one.

The very useful fork lift truck that meant we got our
delivery. Not the most up-to-date or modern of machinery
but it was more than up to the job.

We also caused quite a bit of intrigue ourselves this week with the arrival of a shipment from the UK. We have learnt now to expect that we need to organise something to get shipments off the lorries, as none of them seem to carry equipment to get them off the lorry, nor packed in a way that makes them easy to remove. This time we were told beforehand that we needed a crane, well we didn't manage to obtain the use of a crane but a forklift truck that can take up to 5 tonnes did the job. One of our neighbours who owns a firewood processing company has the use of a forklift truck and so we organised for him to help us. The lorry arrived with a tractor trailer, a baler and a tipping box (it goes on the back of the tractor and we will use it to counterbalance the tractor for lifting jobs). Getting the trailer off the lorry was the easy bit, it was assembling the equipment to make it easier for us to take away, that proved a challenge. It wasn't the nicest of days, dreich as the Scots would say, damp, cold and foggy. We used the forklift to lift the trailer high enough to get the wheels on and remove the metal frame and pallets underneath - now that sounds simple, but it wasn't. The little baler which makes small round bales, not the huge monstrosities, that are difficult to move without a tractor, proved to be quite a draw as a number of folks came to ask what it was. The next day it was the turn of the little baler to be assembled which also proved to be an enigma in itself, as inside were packed the wheels, but how to get the wheels out without damaging the baler proved to be beyond all of us. Eventually Ian went home and phoned the company, who we bought it off, and asked them how to release the wheels. Of course it was simple but it did take three of us to do it, one each side to release a catch and one at the front to open up the compartment. It took us all afternoon to get the wheels on the trailer and all the following day to sort out the baler, remove some wood chippings to make cleaning up easier for our friend, as they are moving soon and the place has to be left tidy, and then to take the items back to the land and packed away. It was only supposed to be a short job and I was meant to have an afternoon of peace and quiet doing some reading for my presentation tomorrow (tuesday) for my course, but that didn't happen.

The baler fitted to the tractor to take it to its storage place.
Unfortunately we won't really know how it works for
another 8 months when it is hay cutting season once again.

You all know of course that I'm always right, never wrong - you must have noticed hadn't you? (And if you believe that, you'll believe anything!) The trouble is that in my head I am right and yet I know that is not always helpful. It could be feeling angry at someone for something they did and I know I'm right to feel angry. It could be the feeling that someone has gone off and done something stupid despite your warnings, oh a whole host of things, but sitting there feeling angry or feeling smug is not helpful. Sometimes I have to just lay those things down, put the past behind, and start again. These things happen in marriage, family and even between the closest of friends, but to hold onto the hurt or the anger is not doing anyone any good at all. I had to laugh though when God reminded me of a situation recently and I felt like "but I'm right!" and I felt like God say "and?" At that moment I felt like our youngest kitten, Bella, when she has been caught doing something she shouldn't, who chirrups her protests, while making a hasty exit from whatever trouble she has got herself into, as I muttered under my breath. A couple of my friends had posted the following quote on their facebook walls this week:

 Apologizing does not always mean that you are wrong and the other person is right. It just means that you value your relationship more than your ego. 

The trailer! A very sturdy piece of kit this and tips as well.

Lots of folks posted their likes, but I didn't. I don't like it! I like being right! I do know though, that in many ways the quote is true, not necessarily always apologising but certainly making amends. Building bridges is important. Not all bridges are meant to be repaired and it takes much more wisdom than I have to know when to build and when to just walk away. Fortunately I think God does give us the time to work through the issues, to come to a point where we can leave the past behind and move on.

On a separate note, it was quite a shock this week to read the recently released provisional figures from this year's census of Latvia. The census came back with the figures of 1.9 million Latvians remaining in Latvia, down from 2.3 million. It is thought that the final figure will be just over 2 million but is still shocking that there has been such a huge loss of people from this land.

Martins Bondars, a former bank chief executive, jokes that “Greeks demonstrate on the streets. Latvians buy a one-way ticket on Air Baltic”.

Very sad, but true in many ways. Latvians do not demonstrate their feelings very much, but get on with life and if that means moving away, then that is what they do. Many families only have one parent at home or even none, with children being brought up by grandparents. Still it is a shocking statistic and incredible to think that 5% of the population has moved away since the crisis descended.

Cute heh! You wouldn't think they had been rolling around
the floor, scratching and biting five minutes earlier would you?

Can't finish the blog on such a down note or without mention of our kittens. I mentioned last week that we have started taking our kittens to the greenhouse with us, hopefully to curb the mouse population that seems to have taken a liking to our greenhouse and particularly the polystyrene in our caravan. Well our youngest kitten enjoys the journeys out so much that when we put our boots on she often goes and sits in the basket in anticipation and is very disgruntled when we don't take her with us. Spoilt or what! The kittens love Ian though, so much in fact that they can't wait till he comes in and then use the litter tray! Aww such love, glad they don't love me that much. And finally! I really mean finally this time, I have found the perfect job for Ian. For anyone who knows him well knows he is serious about cycling, even if it is on a fixed frame in the dump room as we call it (the place where we dump all the stuff that we don't know what to do with just in case you are thinking of something else), just take a look at this site (link here), can't you just picture him on his bike while doing something useful?

These must be the craziest male turkeys ever! They both
patrol around together and make gobbling sounds in unison.
They don't fight but take care of the lady turkeys together.
They are not ours by the way. Maybe next year we will
get some?

This is specially for my friend Pauline. Ian found this stone
amongst the gravel.