Brrrrr!

A frosted thistle

It's cold! The rains stopped and the temperature plummeted. We had a mild frost last week but this morning we had a proper frost. It killed off the leaves on the grapevine and the uncovered tomato plants. I think even the beans that were under cover suffered. It was a lovely bright day today but oh when the sun went down it was chilly. It was a good job that our friend came to pick up our blue grapes a few days ago to make wine. I think I will have to sort out some ice-wine with the rest.

Frost accumulated on Ian's boots after a walk around the farm

It rained a lot this last week. The ponds are much fuller
now and the top pond is nearly full to overflowing. The
alpacas don't seem to have been that bothered though.
Sometimes a drop of rain and they go scurrying inside and
other times they don't even bother, they just carry on eating.
At least someone took shelter under a tree here.

Ian thinks he saw one of our bikes that I mentioned were stolen in last week's blog. If it was, it was someone very local who took it. It was tempting to walk off with it, but since it was a different colour,  due to a bad paint job and a different saddle we couldn't be 100% sure and it would have made us no better than whoever took ours. Every time I'm out and about now I'm looking at people's bikes to see if it is one of ours, which is kind of sad.

I don't think Freddie was under the tree in the rain though.
Although with such a sad face, you would think he should
 have.

I couldn't decide which photo of Freddie to use and so I used
both of them. I like the close up in the other one and the
contrast of his colour against the trees in this one.

At least it wasn't all sad this week. We had a visit from a friend who has been many times before and so we got to sit around and chat a bit. We had to eat our evening meal back at our apartment, as it was a tad too chilly to be sitting around talking. It worked out okay as she was staying in our apartment anyway. It felt odd dropping someone else off at the bus station though the next day as it is normally Ian dropping me off when I go on my travels.

Is Brencis singing in the rain?

Nope! The droopy mouth gives him away. He's been spitting

We decided to go out for a meal this week for Ian's birthday. His birthday was on Friday but since I had a Skype meeting on that day we decided to go out for lunch on the Thursday instead. As we are putting the animals away around 7pm it is easier for us to go out for lunch and then we have plenty of time to get back and plenty of time to eat. Most restaurants around here close at 8pm or maybe 9pm on the weekends and the one we went to was half an hour away and not the local one. It was a lovely meal with an interesting salad, which was beautifully arranged and plenty of colour. Besides the normal normal cucumber and tomatoes there were local berries. No I didn't take a photo.

What a hair do. 

Jakobs is no better. 

It is our son's birthday today, so happy birthday son! Ian will get to see him soon, so I am sure they will take the time to celebrate, although I think our son has lined up some jobs for Ian to do while he's there. It's funny to think he was once a little baby that I carried. I was thinking of that today when I went for an ultrasound. When a woman goes for an ultrasound when she is young it is often to check on a baby, but when you are my age it is to make sure that there is nothing more sinister there. I knew there wasn't. As I mentioned last week I've been feeling pretty good just lately and mainly over the menopausal wobbles. As I thought it was just a fibroid that I have known about for ages. Nothing to worry about and nothing to do. Perfect! That's what I like to hear.

But Ilvija wins the cutest wet hair do. I just love the curls

Ilvija's mother, Chanel, eating over the fence again

Of course being in Latvia did mean that the appointment itself wasn't so straightforward. My friend took the call from the hospital to book the appointment lats week and so I thought I just needed to turn up at the hospital. Apparently not! I think I should have had the usual note from the doctor anyway. When I got to the registration desk they were a bit bemused and told me there were no appointments for today. It was my turn to be bemused. I thought surely they should have my appointment on the records since they called me. Fortunately I still had the number on my phone and my friend rang to find out what the problem was. The people in the department then rang the registration desk. Problem solved! The lady at the registration desk even left the office to show me to the room. I'd been before but we had taken the long way round to get to it the last time obviously, much to our amusement.

Not amused at being caught

The boys playing twister again.

So we sat outside and waited. We even let a lady go in front of us as she had an earlier appointment but had to come back and she needed to catch a bus. No problem, we weren't in too much of a rush, even though we had been waiting a while already. We reminisced and talked about hospitally things. Ian has spent many an hour in a hospital, fortunately working most of the time and not in it for health reasons. Eventually I went in and the lady was lovely. She contacted her daughter at one stage to translate - as you do. Her daughter spoke good English because she is an English teacher. This might not be considered correct procedure in some places, patient confidentiality and all that, but at the end of the day it got the job done. I got to understand what was happening and that there was nothing to worry about so there will be no complaints from me. I just have to make sure that my GP gets the letter and the ultrasound scan. I texted my friend and said, "It's a boy! Hahaha not really."

Good for wearing down teeth, not so good for the tree though

George giving yoga lessons. Not sure I will be joining in

What a weird political week it has been, although weird seems the new normal. I've seen some things that have dismayed me and some things that have encouraged me. I have watched with interest the court case against the government about prorogation of the Parliament and wonder if this is going to be one of those let downs or another tale which requires suspension of disbelief. The rise of young people to defend the climate though, is the one that brings most hope to me. These children and young people are the future and they are rising up and declaring our political institutions are bankrupt. They are no longer fit for purpose as their own futures are at stake. We need a radical generation to take us into the future, ones prepared to get out and demand changes. We do well to listen to them instead of patronising them.

Here have you heard the latest?

No Aggie, you are supposed to prefer short grass

Mari shows where Jakobs gets his looks from

Short grass? Well I suppose it will save Ian time not having to
top the grass on a regular basis.

Yes it's getting cold. Jumpers and rain coat on

Not that the alpacas seem to mind. Mind you, there woolly
coats are growing well.

Please turn the lights down a bit, I have a headache or maybe
mmmmm sunshine at last. I think the latter really.

A frosty morning on the farm

Aggie looks happy to see the sun

The leaves on the trees are looking very autumnal

Finished! Well not quite

This was taken at 9:23pm and it is still quite light for a while
after that.  

It has been one of those weeks when a lot of things got finished off, thank goodness. Firstly the potatoes have finally been strawed up out on the land, a job I have been going to do for over a week and more difficult now they are racing away. We put old hay around the potatoes to increase the potato yield without hoeing them up, which is even harder work when raising potatoes in beds rather than rows. At least the potato plants look healthy enough now and I suppose that has a lot to do with the amount of rain we've had just lately. Some good soaking rain, which is what we needed and so we have gone from just a few potatoes poking through to a well covered bed.

The clouds have been quite amazing this week. One day the
darkest of clouds rolled in and it was as dark as late evening here
even though it was in the middle of the day. It then poured down
so hard it squashed some of our barley. Heh ho!

Our friends collecting some of the hay off the field. This
section will be kept mowed to keep it looking neat and tidy
for our workshop days

We are pleased we got our hay cut last week too and the ski hill where we cut our hay is already greening up nicely so maybe we will get a second cut if we need to - providing the weather cooperates of course. We are also pleased we managed with help from our friends to get all the hay into the old alpaca house, it was tight and two of the bales that we were not so sure about, as they still felt too wet, went outside under the adjoining, very dilapidated shelter. No good putting them inside as they would be a fire risk or spread mould, both not what we want.

A pied wagtail enjoying the view from the top of the girls'
alpaca house

The swallows have also made progress on their new nest and
obviously used some of our leftover hay. Sometimes you
can only see the long grass bobbing through the air, a
very weird sight.

We were going to wait to put some of the hay away as the forecast was for fine weather the next day, but I wasn't so sure when I was looking at the clouds. I suggested we put them away while the weather held instead of getting on with other tasks and I am glad we did. We would have been racing to put away about another 20 bales on our own otherwise. Even better when we were starting the job, we had a phone call inviting us for an evening meal, so that saved us even having to think about preparing that after we had shifted the bales. It was rather nice too, fresh roasted goat with salad and roast potatoes, followed by a selection of goats cheese.

We hope the swallows will deal with these nasty beasts.
At least the girls fleece has grown back enough to make the
horseflies struggle to bite

Although we've had rain, we also have rainbows

It has rained a lot this week, which has meant that I finally also got to put all the squash plants in. Some have gone on our wood/soil/hay pile or to give it its posh name hugekultur, the ultimate raised bed. It is one way of using up rotting wood that has been lying around too long and also doing something about raising the soil level - not that the soil level is particularly shallow here in most places, but the more soil there is the more carbon is stored in the ground. It offsets the carbon we released by digging a pond I guess. The newest pond is filling up nicely with all the rain we have had, which is great. We just have to hope that it keeps its level even when it doesn't rain so much, then we can water the field area when necessary and not have to go down into mosquitoville to collect water from a field drain outlet.

We have also had sunshine and so we have been able to convert
this old greenhouse into a solar dryer using a black plastic cover.
It has now been anchored down with some stones as it blew off
in the storm we had the other day, but at least the dryer works in
the sun and the herbs are already pretty dry. It is so hot in there at
times we half wondered about using it to heat up water, but then
again the water in the pond has been warm enough for watering
can showers. I used an old tin bath for a bathe the other day, it
worked

Chanel enjoying the sunshine

We have had quite a few different groups of visitors again this week. Some have come back for a second visit but brought others along with them, whether that is grandchildren or friends. Some folks were just passing by when they saw the sign and decided to stop. Another one was a lady who was originally from the village where we live and regularly returns from Riga, but we only "met" for the first time on Facebook. We had quite a discussion on what our hopes were for the future and the possibilities, even in rural areas. Something we hope to explore more on her return visits. Its nice to feel we are on the tourist trail and people are quite prepared to give us a small donation for showing them around, some are even quite generous and it all helps towards keeping us here on this land raising our wonderful alpacas.

Mr. P has been up to see the girls. We decided to mate him with
the white alpacas to generate more colours, but Lady V had other
ideas and spit him off. We hope she gives in soon and doesn't
intimidate the poor guy entirely. At least he managed to mate
with Agnese, so that's a start

Ian giving him some grain as a consolation for being the
focus of Lady V's wrath

This week I have finished another course that I was doing this year on Social Entrepreneurship. Our working group nearly missed the deadline as none of us realised that files needed to be uploaded by 9am CET and I found out at 8:45am. I hurriedly sent messages to the other members of the group and I think most of us got it posted just in time. All of us should have read our email better of course, as we should have noticed the deadline time, but all of us have been busy with other things too, some were writing their thesis. It does help to get these kinds of things done and it means I can concentrate on preparing for our felting course we will be holding on the land soon and getting some tidying up and weeding done - in between showers by the look of it though.

Lady V, the old battle axe. We hope to get one more baby off
her before retiring her, so we are hoping for a better outcome
soon

Mr. B has been trying to move up the pecking order in the boys
alpaca house. He is really trying it on with the older ones

With all that we have been doing this week it has been hard to keep up with the political farce in the UK. I couldn't believe it when Farage announced his resignation stating "I want my life back." Well Mr. Farage, I would like my life back too. I would like to go to bed tonight and know that we are safe here in Latvia, that there won't be any moves to make us "go home," and that Mr. Putin is not going to take advantage of the chaos in Europe to send in little green men. Mr. Farage, you have made that dream a little harder to pursue these days due to your misleading campaign - and I'm being generous there.

Nibbling toes, alpaca style

Oh to have the flexibility of an alpaca. I think I would look
pretty stupid or do myself an injury trying to scratch behind my
ear using my feet.

We live in Latvia because the EU allows us to do so as EU nationals, that will be taken away from us. We may be allowed to stay because we have been here so long now, but nothing is certain in this world. I also study at an Estonian university and I don't have to sort out student visas or anything like that because I am an EU national, hopefully that should not change as I should finish next year, but then what? Part of my studies has looked at some of the issues that have arisen within the EU and how it operates, the intentions of the initiatives are good but it doesn't always get the result needed - I never felt this was reason enough to get rid of the EU but enough to need some changes, but what institution doesn't need to change or evolve over time?

I love clouds, especially with such interesting patterns

No it is not the shock of the UK political
scene at the moment but alpacas taking
a sunbathe

A lot of the work that goes on in universities is based on collaboration and that will be affected by the changes if the UK definitely leaves, so even if I had to go back to the UK, would there be funding to work in a university? And the list goes on. So thank you Mr. Farage, thank you very much for your lack of care and consideration for me and lots of people like me, who now spend the next few months or years wondering what the outcome of all this is and God help us if you ever get to be involved in the negotiations - will you bother to turn up?

Shocking time

Sweet williams that I planted by our pond last year

This week we have made progress with regards to the alpacas. I emailed someone in the British Alpaca Association which resulted in a rather nice chat with someone who has experience of exporting alpacas to Europe. It was very encouraging, as I found out that alpacas like the rough sort of pasture that the main part of our land has become, which means we should have plenty for them to eat in the summer. I also found out that they like to be outside and don't take well to being cooped up inside and that is down to -15C with no shelter. Quite amazing really and means we won't need to house them for long over the winter, just through the worst patches as we don't want them getting frost bitten ears. I suppose I could always knit them some cute little hats to protect their ears though. We will probably go and see the farm just before Christmas as we have booked flights to the UK, (haven't booked them for the trip back yet as they were expensive with the same company) and the alpaca farm is quite close to one of our sons who has invited us to stay for the festive period.

Ian isn't the only one that is cutting hay. I love this tractor,
it has a corrugated tin roof.

Ian has been working very hard this last week, cutting hay in the difficult areas, with the two wheeled tractor. It is a fiddly job, as we wish to keep some of the saplings that have grown up like the oak, spruce and pine saplings, although we may relocate them later on in the year if we find time to do it. Although it is hard work cutting hay, I think it is a better job than being the official tester of the electric fence which he managed to do last week, and not just once but twice - far better sticking to cutting hay I think. At least he knows the electric fence works now, although personally I would prefer to believe the tester. Mind you a while ago I did manage to give myself a small jolt because I wasn't sure if the fence was on or off, it does concentrate the mind somewhat in making sure.

I haven't spent a lot of time out on the land so far as I am still ploughing through academic papers in preparation for my Masters thesis as I need to get all the information I can to start the project on monitoring pig damage at the end of August. I do go out to the land sometimes though to keep an eye on the veg plot and tame the tomatoes by hacking back the side shoots which seem to grow into monster proportions if you happen to miss them. I mostly spend time on the veg plots nearer to home though and processing herbs for winter use.

This was the box of blueberries were were given as a
thank you for helping the young man out with a
blown tyre

On the way home from the land the other day we saw a van on the wrong side of the road and Ian noticed that the young lad seemed to be struggling to get the spare wheel out, so he pulled up to see if he could help. It just so happened that Ian had still got the trolley jack in the back of the car, in fact it has been there for a while and he keeps meaning to put it back down in our cellar, fortunately for this young chap he hadn't got around to it. Eventually between them they managed to get the spare wheel out and the van jacked up enough to loosen wheel nuts, but the wheel itself was well stuck on. First Ian went to get a hammer, that didn't work, so next he went to get some freeing oil, at which point the young chap who spoke good English commented "Do you have everything in your car?" He wasn't far wrong, it is Ian's mobile workshop after all. Unfortunately the wheel still wouldn't budge and so we went back to the land and Ian got a sledge hammer, well that did the trick. The spare wheel went on very easily, but as they let the van down it was apparent the wheel had no air in it, and would you believe it? Ian had an electric pump that connects to the cigarette lighter in the car. It did take a while to pump it up as the pump got rather hot and a lot of air was needed but finally the van was ready to go. The young chap was very, very happy as sitting in his van was two tonnes of wild blueberries that he was going to sell, it was also one of the reasons the van was so heavy and possibly why the valve blew on his tyre - well that and combined with the bumpy dirt roads we have around here. He very generously offered us some blueberries and we were happy to accept, but didn't quite anticipate being given a full tray of them but we were well pleased with that. He even offered to pay as well, but we thought the blueberries were payment enough. It wasn't until we got home that we realised what a massive job we had on our hands as there were quite a few kilos of blueberries to deal with, still complete with bits of leaves and little spiders in them. Does explain why I have purple finger nails though, along with four 1 litre jars of juice, three jars of jam, one tray freezing, six trays drying, 36 blueberry muffins and a bowlful just for eating. Think I need a lie down now.

Its rather hard to see but the thrush is tucked in by this
tomato planter taking a nap

I also did some rescuing this week. A young thrush flew into our window and managed to land all askew in a box of tomato plants. I wasn't really sure how it was going to get itself out of the tangle and so I thought the best thing I could do was to gently lift it out. I was quite surprised that I was able to place it on its feet as I half expected it to keel over with fright. It sat for quite a while with its beak agape, panting away. Gradually it calmed down though and even tucked itself behind another tomato planter to get out of the wind and have a bit of a kip. Finally it recovered enough to fly off, which was a great relief as the only other thrush I have seen in Latvia was a dead one that had also flown into the window. Do wonder if my sister has a point that I should put stickers on the window before I decimate the whole of the thrush population of Latvia.

Recovered and about to fly off

Politics here in Latvia is continuing to prove interesting. As I mentioned the other week, the previous President was not re-elected after upsetting the Saeima (Latvian Parliament) by having the audacity to call for a referendum of the people, to see if they wanted the Saeima dissolved after politicians voted for protecting one of their own from corruption investigations. That referendum happens this next week but even before the results are out one political party has voted to dissolve, maybe to avoid having to pay back large sums of money to the state, but also because they recognise that, whether they like it or not, they have become linked to corruption. The leader, Skele, is one of the oligarchs who are coming under increasing criticism for influencing politics for their own benefit, is also to step down from politics. Other developments are the merger of two right wing parties and the recently retired President to set up a new party in order to give Latvian politics a new start, hopefully one built on a better regard for ethics.

There are lots and lots and lots of these tiny little frogs
everywhere. It is a hard job not to stand on then while
gardening. If you watch the ground it looks as if
 the ground is alive as lots of little frogs go leaping off.

Unfortunately banking experts in Latvia still do not seem to have regard for the people of Latvia and still have their eyes firmly fixed on the economy, whatever that is. They stated that indexing pensions will hurt the economy, and I must say that if it will hurt the economy, then damn the economy! I find it a sick joke that those in their ivory towers can state that indexing pensions is a bad thing. Indexing the pension will bring the basic pension up to 165 LVLs ($328, £204) a month, which is not a lot, especially as the previous day to the banking experts statements, the figures were released for the minimum required per person to live on and came to 174 LVLs. I can't quite get my head around what they expect pensioners to live off. Fresh air? At least there is plenty of that. So while banks can head back into profit, the poorest of the society have to continue to pay for the mistakes of those very banks who offer such advice. Can we trust banks to tell us what is good for the economy when they caused such mayhem only a short while ago? Why aren't they actually exhorting the rich to help those less fortunate by paying their taxes? As you can tell, I was spitting feathers I was so mad with them.