Kas jauns? What's new?

Vanessa is such a sweet looking alpaca. This is
not the face a male alpaca sees, she is not so sweet
then in the slightest.

After asking me how I am, "kas jauns?" is the next question my Latvian teacher asks each week. So what is new this week? I did get skiing again, but I hobbled around. I got a bit of a blister on the first day and my socks made it far worse on the second day, despite the plaster I put on. So I think that might be it for the winter, but still better than last winter. There was hardly any snow last winter and when there was I didn't have the time to ski. I'm pleased I got over my embarrassment of skiing in front of others though and so maybe next winter I might get out sooner - if there's enough snow that is. 

Don't worry Rocket Ron, the nasty cold stuff will
soon be gone and warmer days are here.

We are getting a coat for Silla's cria. You can almost
guarantee that she will be outside most of the time in
rain or shine. We're going to have keep an eye on the
little one when it comes to make sure it doesn't suffer
from adverse weather, whether that is cold or heat. I
don't think Silla cares what the weather is, she will be
outside. Note that icicle, it got within 10cms of the floor
before it broke off in the warmer weather.

The icicle hanging off the roof in
close up.

Brencis looking all nice and calm.
He wasn't very bad having his
toe nails cut but it did take 
someone big enough to drape over
his back to keep him calm. I'm
just not tall enough to do that.

I needed to be out on the land on Saturday as we had someone who had was bringing alpaca food and agreed to help to get Brencis' toe nails cut and his vitamin injections given. I decided to stay out there and to do some snow shoeing. It was a good day to be out on the land though, as it wasn't as cold as it has been but still cold enough for crisp snow. It's the first time in a long time since I've been snow shoeing We had a lovely walk around our forest and at least the boots I used were nice and comfortable so no hobbling around by the end of it. Sadly that might be the last time this winter, as the snow is now rapidly melting. I was hoping I might get the chance to walk around the ski track here as I haven't really found out where it goes to yet. I wouldn't like to just walk on it as I think there would have been a few icy patches and skating is definitely not something I'm good at. 

My snow shoes

Not my tracks, but animal tracks.
It makes you realise that we are not
the only ones here. It is much easier
to see the presence of multiple animals
through the winter.

Soaking up those rays of sunshine. Still not 
strong enough for vitamin D yet and so they'll
be getting another dose this next week.

This meant I only had one day to get on with my granddaughter's patchwork dresses. I've been steadily getting on with them but time is ticking on and it is difficult to know how long it will be before we move out to the caravan. The skirt section is finished for one of the dresses and another one needs two more rows stitching on. At least my sewing machine is more or less working properly this week. I still need to dye some more fabric for the largest one. I am at least getting quicker as I now have got more of a system for tacking the rows together. It is a lot of fabric when each row is 11/2 times bigger each time. 

Valeria's toothy face

Josef's toothy grin

Ilvija has been playing in the snow while I work

Today I had one of those work days when I really wished I hadn't started but it had to be done. I use spreadsheets a lot and I find them useful enough to sort out my ideas, but making lists of articles is not my idea of fun. I had to also merge about three or four spreadsheets into one and sort through them. It took me until way past normal clocking off time to get done because it is needed for tomorrow. And of course I also found an issue that hadn't been picked up earlier. I lost count of the number of times I tried to get the numbers to agree before I found out what the problem was. Anyway, hopefully it is all sorted now and it's fingers crossed that a colleague can make the minor adjustments needed to a figure to complete the article that needs submitting tomorrow by someone else.

The snow still looks so fresh, but soon it will be 
gone

It did get reasonably deep, although
we've known more

Brencis in close up

Amanda has been looking weary. Her first time
pregnant.

A gorgeous day but it was cold

Freddie behind and Jakobs in front having a bit
of a disagreement

Turbjørn finding the warm spot again

He got a new coat this week. Hand-made in Latvia

The snow has been that high that a deer just walked
over the double fence we had around the orchard

My vegetable garden. There maybe carrots and 
turnips under there. They've certainly been
protected by the bales of hay, fleece and a thick 
layer of snow

Finally they are all getting the hang of this warm 
spot

The little greenhouse has been getting quite warm
in the sun

Toasty!

Ian had to open the windows for the chickens. The
problem is that we will have to ensure that no
wild birds can get in due to the Avian flu. Something
to work out before the migrant birds return soon.

Rocket Ron

Finally!

The scenery is stunning in winter when the sun
comes out and sparkles like so many diamonds
strewn carelessly across the landscape.

I've been looking at all this lovely snow and wishing I could go skiing. The problem is that out on the land it has been too cold to spend long in the caravan. Neither do we like running the car backwards and forwards as it is using fuel for little reason, as well as being more wear and tear on the car. The caravan is alright for short breaks like Ian does during the day, but not for sitting and working on a computer all day, so I stay at the apartment. The other issue is that out on the land there are very few flat areas to ski on and I'm a little wobbly on the hilly bits. I usually fall over at some point. I have only hurt myself badly once before but not something I would want to repeat and risk needing a trip to the hospital and tying up precious hospital resources in these times. Well it all got a bit too much and I decided to swallow my pride of looking an idiot out on the ski tracks that are right outside our apartment and I asked Ian to bring my skis and boots back. 

We've had a few frosty mornings
this week as the weather has warmed
up a bit to all of -10C during the day

I can only tell this is Chanel these days because 
of her curly mop. Ilvija is so like her mother it is
easy to confuse them. If Ilvija was to go curly too
on top then we would be in trouble, the only way
we would know the difference is Chanel is the 
spitty one. 

This afternoon about lunchtime the sun came out and glinted on the snow. I got my skis, gave them a quick wax, put on ski pants and a winter ski jacket and headed out. I didn't head for the nearest bit of the ski track as it is a bit hilly for me, but walked down the road to the flat section. There were only two other people skiing - another lady who was doing Nordic skiing the same as I do and a chap who was doing skate-skiing, which is faster and harder to do. I managed about three rounds of the track in half an hour, so not too bad - it was bigger than I thought. The chap who was skate-skiing passed me about four or five times, but I just kept plodding on. At least I didn't embarrass myself by falling over and I got a reasonably good work out. Hopefully I can do the same tomorrow.

There are plenty of icicles hanging
off the roofs

Ginger Tom out for a walk in the sunshine

This week we haven't had any major disasters either. We did lose one of the chicks, but to be honest they have done remarkably well as we haven't had any losses up till now. It's sad but a factor we live with when raising chicks. At least all the rest seem to have coped with the cold night time temperatures and will be reasonably warm when they all huddle together in their box at night and snuggled in the hay. Daytime temperatures in the little greenhouse have been very good and even the kittens go and spend the day in there. They have a bit of a warm up in the caravan in the morning and then follow Ian to the greenhouse when he goes to check on the chickens to see if the hens have laid any eggs and give them some extra feed. The kittens then stay there until it's time for them to be fed at night. 

Rocket Ron sunning himself in the
greenhouse

Well the snow is cold! So a perch on 
a large wellie is a good place to be

Hard to believe it is so cold with the light
from the sun glowing on the snow

My phone went off tonight but I couldn't work out why it was ringing, Eventually I worked out it was my son ringing on WhatsApp. You can tell I don't often get phone calls on that then. In fact there was a brief bit of concern as to why he was ringing anyway, was there a problem? Did he need something? Nope! He'd just rung to chat. Awwww! It's a long time since someone just rang to have a chat. So we had a bit of a chat about this and that and finished off with a general video chat with the whole family. I love that one of my granddaughters wants to be either a doctor, a palaeontologist or an astronaut. Brilliant! I look forward to seeing her adventures on the road to where she wants to go. My grandson wants to design lego so I guess he'll have fun doing that. The little one is not so sure yet. 

It's been cold enough for Ian to be wearing his
mega-mittens - two sets at the same time.

Frosted oak leaves

Latvia was a poster child for handling the Corona virus in spring of 2020 but unfortunately it has really struggled to get it under control this time around. Gradually, gradually though the numbers are coming down and in our area we are the only region with no current recorded cases whatsoever. I'm glad they got the blip that occurred a few weeks ago here under control, just a shame that hasn't happened across the country. 

I'm not coming out until spring!

George likes to be out though at times

So apart from work, not much as been happening and that's the way I like it at the moment. I said I would take a few weeks of boring. I have been preparing for a course that starts this week and did have a minor panic this afternoon when students finally told me they couldn't access the course notes. They found out last week but didn't tell me. At least that is sorted, thank goodness. I've also been continuing with my Latvian lessons and in preparation for eventually taking the naturalisation exam I've been learning the Latvian anthem that I have to know perfectly. It's not long or hard, so every morning I've been singing it. It makes me giggle to think of doing this, I would never dream of singing the British national anthem every morning. 

So when is the warmer weather coming?

And the tastiest piece of hay is where?

One lesson last week I taught my Latvian teacher a new Latvian word. I told her the Latvian word for parsnip that we have grown in our garden. It's not a regular vegetable to grow in Latvia due to being a long season vegetable and so not one she had grown up with. In return, a Latvian friend of mine taught me a new English word, squinch! I thought it was a spelling mistake but it turns out it is really a word. In fact it has several meanings, as a noun it means "a straight or arched structure across an interior angle of a square tower to carry a superstructure such as a dome." I thought she had meant squint which has a similar meaning to the verb squinch, which means "to tense up the muscles of (one's eyes or face)". Funny what you learn about in your own language from those for who it is a second language. 

Narnia?

Ice encrusted spruce

The bottom part of the fence has disappeared

A snowy roof for our sign

It's a good job we have a 4x4

Larry the Lada is not going anywhere these days

A frosted orchard

A sample of Ilvija's fleece to test how well it felts.
It is not as silky as her father's fortunately but not
sure if it will felt completely, it still has a bit of
movement in it. I even put it in Ian's trouser pocket
and stuck it in the wash and it didn't shrink in the 
wash.

I think Mr. P has been having a snow
wash. Well it is supposed to be good
for cleaning blankets I guess.

Now where shall I begin?

Herkules

For anyone expecting some outstanding news with a title like that, sorry! A fairly mundane week this week really. I have been mainly writing an academic paper, but the end is in sight, partly because the deadline happens to be the middle of this week. No sweat! Well maybe a bit. I just need to cull about a hundred words and then we are set. It has taken up much of the week and into the evenings on a few occasions as it has also had to go to a proofreader and my supervisor for revisions. I did manage to fit in a little bit of cutting out for some sewing projects and learning to macrame with the alpaca wool while waiting for replies though.

Herkules in a moody shot

Rather early signs of spring - well early for here

It has been a week of snow showers and so Ian took the drum carder out to the land to card Veronica's fleece. Normally he is out and about and does the carding at home, but since he was stuck in the caravan he decided to make use of his time instead. Carding the fleece, basically means combing it ready for spinning and the drum carder is basically a big comb on a roller that is operated by turning a handle (you can see it here)

Nearly a year to the day since Ian first
started taking Brencis out for a walk.
He has grown a lot in the meantime.
You can see him in the first year here

Ian has at least managed to take the alpacas out for walks in between the snow showers. He even started taking Mari and she has been doing very well. Last year he took her out once and then she refused, but this year she has been much better. This will be helpful as it is one of our advertised activities and the more animals we have available the better. It is also useful that they are trained as it makes it easier for Ian if there is something he needs to do to them while I'm away.

Here is our little fella who we nursed for the first few days
of his life. He needs no extra bottles now, although he is
the smallest of them all

The lambs got a taste of freedom this week as the weather was better than expected at the beginning of the week. There has been one day they were kept locked up all day, as were the alpacas but the rest of the time they have been allowed out. Ian has been locking them up at night because we know there has been a lynx prowling about and a lamb will make a tasty little morsel for them. It also means that they get used to Ian and being moved, unlike the lambs last year, who would go every direction except the one we wanted them to go in. We have also decided to castrate the youngest lamb. He is quite friendly and we think we will keep him after all, as long as he behaves when he gets bigger. I'm sure there are a few of you who are sighing with relief now.

He has a very cute face

While I skied in the snow, the alpaca girls love to roll in it

I did get the chance to ski a bit this week. Although it snowed quite heavily yesterday it is unlikely I will get skiing again as it is turning quite slushy. We'll see. I only went for a couple of rounds on our land, as the snow was quite icy and the cross-country skis are very narrow and not very responsive on the packed snow. In fact in places I barely left a mark it was that icy. I'm not a confident skier at the best of times but still I made it round without falling over. Probably helped that I decided to side-step down the steeper parts. After all the type of skis I have are more designed for a sort of Nordic Walk type action, not swishing down the hilly bits - although the more accomplished ones do without any bother of course. The frozen ground on that particular day did mean that we could get the tractor out and shift hay out of the barn. Most days it has been slushy. At least we know we have at least a month's worth of hay close to the boys and the sheep. The girls are closer to the barn, so that is easier.

The two females having a good chase about

Aggie is not in pain really! She is actually also enjoying a
good roll around

Aggie got her last injection of antibiotic this week and now we have to just wait and see how it turns out. She seems well enough in herself and the lump has certainly not got any bigger, so we are hoping she has recovered If it turns out she hasn't fully recovered, it will probably mean Ian taking her up to Tartu to get her seen by the vets at the university hospital up there. We are hoping it doesn't come to that as I am going to the UK to see grandchildren soon.

The little male looks quite scrawny and not as robust as the
females though

At least someone behaves themselves, sticking close to
Mum

Sometimes at this time of the year the animals start getting into fights, like Brencis and Mr. P. a couple of weeks ago. The cats have also been scrapping and they have had some right ding-dong battles. Mainly it is Eyre trying to boss Sofie the older cat around. Up to this week she has been getting the upper hand, but finally Sofie had had enough and put her in her place in no uncertain terms and so they have now quietened down a bit. Sofie is quite a gentle soul really and will tolerate quite a bit, but once her boundaries are crossed you don't mess with her.

Growing up fast on mother's milk

Tellus along with Herkules and Turbjørn were our first
alpacas. Tellus and Herkules are gentle souls and easy to
look after. Tubjørn not so laid back and too intelligent for
his own good. 

Ian had a surprise phone call today from the gentleman in Sweden who sold us our first alpacas. He is still in the process of selling up, so if you want some alpacas we know a guy who has some and that is not as dodgy as it sounds, he does have some good quality as well as pet quality ones. Anyway, Ian and he chatted away for three-quarters of an hour, catching up on the goings on on the farm about the highs and the lows. He told him about all the things we have been planning to do with the alpacas and how far we have got, which is sort of far and sort of not. 

Brencis is a gentle soul like his father, Tellus. He is also
very sociable and likes a good neck rub.

It is sort of far because we now at least have more concrete plans but sort of not because we are having a bit of a frustrating time trying to sort out applications for EU subsidies and applying for grants. We thought we had some help, but either she has been too busy, or she has been dealing with a sick child or maybe we are too much hard work. Not sure really. I'm sure we will sort it out one way or another. Every little helps as the saying goes.

They are all getting quite fluffy now and so we are hoping
for some good long fleece on them all

We are not sure if our apartments might be quite busy with folks coming and going over the summer this year or not. We've had a few enquiries about staying but nothing concrete yet. If everyone comes who wants to then we are going to have to make a booking chart to keep up-to-date. I would hate to double-book someone. So if you want to pay a visit over the summer, get your booking in quick. We will be out in the caravan at least.