Having fun! Sort of!

Someone mention fun?

It has been an interesting week and believe it or not one filled with a lot of laughter and fun. Ian went to the hospital this week to have an ultrasound scan and we are happy to say "it's a boy!" We are considering putting the scans on the fridge - that's what everyone else does isn't it? Seriously though and at risk of too much information, what he did find out, is that it isn't prostate troubles as he feared. Instead it is a bag filled with stones attached to his bladder. It is an area that doesn't get flushed out and so there is a persistent infection and the reason the stones formed. So henceforth he will be known as Bladder Man! Oh yes! Ian has inherited his father's black sense of humour. When in doubt, you may as well laugh.

A gorgeous morning sunrise and if you look carefully, you
can see the alpacas out grazing

The green didn't last though and we have had another
dumping of snow. At least the over hand on the new alpaca
house gives them some shelter even when they are out

We had to hurry from the scan to the family doctor, as there was a urologist in the village that day, but when the doctor saw the report, she recommended Ian to go to a different urologist with more experience. We had to drag a friend in off his sick bed to come and translate this for us. It was amusing to us that we could understand most of the report because it was latvianised medical terminology and so we were able to help our friend out, who doesn't know those kinds of words and he filled us in on the general gist of what was being said.

But they still spent a lot of time indoors

Or gazing out onto the snowy scene. Lady V has been much
better behaved this week and isn't picking on our new
alpaca so much. Now she just acts like the occasional
grumpy old lady that she sometimes is to all of them.

Ian didn't have to wait long for the referral, he went off to Cesis on the Friday to see one of the best urologists in the country. Apparently the ultrasound technician (or doctor) had rung this consultant to tell him he had seen an interesting but unusual case. It makes a change for Ian to be on the other side of an interesting case after all those years of being a lab technician in a large teaching hospital in the UK. Ian's field though was leukaemia and HIV diagnosis using flow cytometry but they often saw unusual cases, due to the size of area they covered. The department covered tests for a population twice the size of the Latvian population and that puts in perspective the problems for Latvia with retaining highly qualified doctors. Anyway upshot of this is that he has to go for an operation in Valmeira on the 15th February. We deduce from this that it is fairly urgent, but not an emergency. We also found out that he is booked in as a private patient, which we don't understand the reason for and it will cost €700 and entail a week's stay as an in-patient. The family doctor rang our friend's wife and asked her what had happened at the consultants and so Ian is back off to see the family doctor in the morning - with translator and the further results. He might also be able to find out the reasons for the costs - maybe it is normal, we don't know yet. We thought we had been here long enough to be considered as normal residents.

Just for you Bill! A close up of one of the sheep

The fence around the sheep's winter quarters is now
finished. We had to clear the snow away around the
perimeter to attach it. Winter got a head start on us this
year, although it might warm up again and give us or
rather Ian, a chance to catch up and put the road markers in

Well that's enough of our medical woes, although as you can tell, we are not especially worried and making light of the matter. No point in worrying unnecessarily. That isn't all we have been laughing about though, laughter has also abounded over a discussion we had on communication. We often take these kinds of discussions to extremes. It started off as a discussion on what we value and how we interpret what the other one says. I am not particularly romantic at heart, but what I do prefer is respect for my ideas - you don't have to agree, but I do like it if you realise that I am not making some unthought out random statements when I talk. I put a lot of thought and research into my views, or I like to put ideas out there to test them. I don't mind being challenged on them, but I don't like to be talked down to - that is always guaranteed to raise my hackles. Ian doesn't do that, but I sometimes feels he puts too much emphasis on why something won't work instead of looking for ways it could work. We have come a long way though on that sort of thing, as you would expect from people who have been married for over 31 years now and can still laugh.

I think they are appreciating the shelter now and the beetroots
that are still in the ground under the snow. I dug up another
wheelbarrow full before they were moved in, but left the rest
for them to find, as they surely will.

There is that much space in the new alpaca house that Ian
has put in some hay bales to save lugging them in when the
weather is bad or maybe when I am looking after them in
Februray

That conversation though meandered away and we started talking about actions that have strings attached to them. In other words when we do something because we expect something back, or expect it to be taken a certain way - all that non-verbal communication that is so open to misinterpretation. Well Ian has now taken to offering me a cup of tea (my idea of romance) with no strings attached, although there maybe a bit of wool attached since that is all that is lying around, with my knitting and Ian's spinning. Oh we do get silly sometimes.

Oooh! Are these for us? 

It was shortly after this we realised that this was not going
to work.

Talking of romantic gestures and communication, most men bring home their wives flowers, chocolates or wine or at least something of that ilk. Oh no! Not my husband! He brings home a whole wild boar, all 45kg of meat of it. So the hunters made good on their promise to give us some meat! Some? Sheesh! The only problem was that after he had carried it up the stairs - in two parts I hasten to add - we realised we didn't really have the right equipment at home and so we needed to go back out to the land and finish carving up the beast in the barn, using an axe, garden clippers and kitchen knives. Oh such good fun! It was also freezing. Butchery is not our strong point, but we managed and we now have a freezer with plenty of meat in it and I must say, it is very tasty and surprisingly tender meat.

Dinosaur chops. We don't eat much meat normally and so
these may even do two meals for the two of us. We did give
up with the shoulder area and roasted that whole, but there
was so much meat that we are definitely going vegetarian
tomorrow for a few days at least and that is despite freezing
several helpings of the cooked meat.

Plenty of the white stuff again!

Some good news for me was that finally, finally, finally my paper on the wild boar conflict in the area where we live has been accepted for publication and now on its way to the publishers. Such relief! One down, two to go! Well at least two. I have also agreed to do a consultation loosely based on some of the research some students did for me last year. I had to rearrange the consultation for March, as it was going to be mid-February, but that works, as I will get paid too.

But it is wet slushy stuff, so sliding off the greenhouse
easily, thank goodness

She is so cute.

Some of you who have been following this blog for a long time know that our lives are very much based on our faith and our view of how we feel God leads us. We try to be open to change and listen to what he says. For me this is based on many years of prayer walking around our village, where I feel I learnt to tune into the Father heart of God. I felt guided, comforted and challenged by him and I sometimes felt I heard words from God to encourage and challenge others. This year and to some extent the year before has been a serious challenge to walking in prayer with God. There was even a time my faith wobbled, but at least I felt God's steadying hand on my heart.

Outside the apartment window

Our baby is getting big now

This personal pilgrimage in prayer was started by reading a book called "Listening to God" by Joyce Huggett. I found her guidance immensely helpful. I wondered from time to time where the book had gone to and realised I must have lent it to someone. When I went back to England my daughter-in-law gave me two books to take back that I had lent her and one of them turned out to be the Joyce Huggett's book. I have been reading this again in the mornings and I find it refreshing to remember some of her helpful comments, but also to re-read the sections where she found it hard to pray like she used to, due to the busyness of a writing and speaking schedule. She also wrote about the times she felt God was not speaking or even hiding, called by many "The Dark Night of the Soul." Re-reading this book has brought a lightness back into prayer times and a sense of reassurance for which I am very grateful.

The things you learn!

Not a picture from today, but last week. Part of the
university I go to, the Estonian University of Life Sciences
or Eesti Maaülikool, which is not a direct translation
as I found out fairly recently

The things you learn at uni! Well this week I learnt that often bullets used by hunters contain lead and therefore processed meat from hunted animals can contain lead also. This is because a lead bullet sheds 30 - 50% of its weight as it enters the animal, which is not the same as other types of bullets and the metal is less harmful to humans anyway - if you eat the meat that is, not if you get in the way of one, in which case it doesn't really matter what metal it's made of. I have come to view that meat from hunting is sometimes more humane than the slaughterhouse meat and so I viewed the meat as more "green", but maybe I will have to ask what kind of bullets the hunters use first? The other problem with lead bullets is from those that do not end up on the hunters table, predators can eat the contaminated meat with lead accumulation leading to death and armies leave rather a lot of it all over their practice firing ranges in some rather pristine environments and that lead from the munitions can then leach into the water. Wow, a whole source of pollution I had never thought about. There are moves to encourage hunters and armies to switch to greener bullets, which sounds somehow wrong, but for me I think it makes a lot of sense, then again I am biased against wild boar roaming around on our land, digging up the fields and making it more difficult for us to feed our animals in the autumn months. (Link to a less academic take on the issue than the one I heard).

As you can see, today's weather was a little
greyer

Meanwhile back at home. Ian and the chipper, before!

Mind you, this little piece of information did not stop us accepting a leg from a wild boar piglet, cut from  a whole one that a friend of ours was given, and I am sure it will not diminish the pleasure of eating the meat when we get around to it, doing our bit to keep the wild boar population down to ecologically acceptable levels. We had to stick the leg of wild boar in the freezer, because I was going away and the joint was a little too large for Ian to eat on his own, despite that fact I'm sure he would have given it a good try, if he had been given the opportunity. I might just roast the joint with some oranges as that should reduce any lead absorption - if there is any that is. Serving it with a green leafy vegetable and a white sauce will also help - I had better stop there because it's making me feel hungry.

And after! I think a few more piles of branches were used,
it looks like rather a lot of chippings from one small pile 

Across the train tracks to that yellow and
blue square building is where the little
cafe is situated. You wouldn't think to look
at it, would you?

I was a little despairing of the mound of work I had to do for various things, such as a presentation, an academic paper, a project for Masters students and homework for courses and all needing attention fairly soon. Trying to decide what to do when was hard, but gradually I have been working through everything. It helped that I had to go back to Latvia on the Wednesday this week and managed to work well on the train. I even managed to work quite well on the buses on the way back up to Tartu too. It did help that the buses were not as crowded this week, and that little cafe in Cesis is such a godsend, being such a quiet place to work. It is funny that the young lady who works there, always says "Hello" in English now, when I walk in through the door. In fact I am so happy with the amount of work I have got done this week, there will be no working this evening and after writing this I shall be doing some knitting.

This sometimes feels like my second home -
Riga bus station

I said I travelled back to Latvia on Wednesday this last week, this is because I had a meeting in Riga. I got the chance to talk to a lovely lady from the British Council. It always amuses me that just because it says "British" does not mean it is staffed by British staff. The staff at the British Embassy are just as likely to be Latvian as British and so it is with the British Council. The British Council are all about developing cultural relations and educational opportunities between other countries and the UK, so the blurb goes and of course it promotes British material for use elsewhere. One of the projects I found out about was a game developed to help people learn more about participation in development, it is called "Future Cities Game." I was really encouraged to hear how the young lady had seen the opportunity for Latvia to learn something from the game and used the game well to help various cities, but also rural areas, around the country to encourage participation in development projects. People learnt how to work together on imaginary and real small scale projects, people from a variety of different sectors, so old folks, young folks, administrative staff, development workers and the ordinary man off the street, all learning how to talk to each other and work on a project together. She also spotted the problem of what happens when projects finish and organisations move on and yet there is still a need for the material and she tried successfully to encourage leaders who show promise to take it on and use it in the future. Those are definitely skills that are needed in this country and I am so pleased to hear of her success.

The new "road" Ian has created a
pathway for the tractor, so he can reach
a section of land without going on the
road or across the top of our oak hill

One of Ian's other jobs, keeping the bedding in the alpaca
houses and the chicken house clean. Plenty for the garden
next year then!

I created a trauma this week. I broke Ian's pal that has travelled with us through all our moves, or in his words, I "murdered a loyal, hard working companion" of his. He took it hard! In other words I broke his favourite cup, the one that we either bought or got given to celebrate the building of the school that our kids went to. I can't even remember what anniversary it was celebrating now, it may have been 90 or a 100 years, something like that, could have even been more. Anyway the damage is done and the cup is no more and I am in the doghouse. I'm sure he'll get over it though, cakes, pies, roast wild boar - something like that will work.

I was treated to a cream bun tonight. I didn't actually realise there was a reason for being treated to a cream bun, I'm sure I was told, but I didn't quite hear amongst the clatter. I now know it is a lenten tradition in Estonia. As you can see from the picture they look rather yummy and if you want to know how to make some yourself here's a link. Maybe that's what I should make for Ian when I get back? Then again, maybe not! Cardamon seeds and lingonberry jam - not got either of those in the store cupboard. One year we may have lingonberry, but the plant I have is not growing very fast. At least I think it is lingonberry!

It must be spring, the lads are fighting more. some serious
neck twisting going on there

Let's not mention the spitting

Who us? Sweet, innocent us? Do you like our green lipstick?
Herk is wearing a harness so that Ian can put eye drops in
his eye. It is better than it was, but still not right yet. 

Hog roast

Damage right up to our alpaca fence this week

Eventually this last week we managed to get hold of a hunter to come and hunt on our land. The number we had, was for a hunter who had left the hunting organisation we have a contract with and it took a few texts to eventually get another number. It was sorted in the end and the hunter went out on three nights to our land, with increasing damage being done, but eventually he shot one. If we have the story straight, then it was one of a group of 20-30 individuals, so it was no wonder the place was a mess. It is possible that they had also decided that our land would make an ideal breeding ground. Not good for us, but at least the hunters have committed to continuing the hunt this week too, although of course there hasn't been any damage since one was shot. I remember one of our neighbours telling us that a hunt usually meant that the wild boar would not be back for a fortnight, so at least we get a bit of a reprieve. The snow has continued to fall and it is steadily building up and this restricts the wild boar with their little legs to the forests, so hopefully by the time the boar have forgotten about the killing the snow will be too deep for them.

Ian makes the best use of the barn by hoisting the
trailer up and leaving more floor space. One pulley
a couple of chains and the jobs a goodun'

Our share of the boar meat, bagged up and ready for the
freezer

The great thing is with having hunters out on the land, is that we get a share of the boar meat too and so we ended up with a bucketful of meat. I like the idea that I haven't had to butcher it too, so it seems a fair exchange. It was a fat pig though, with a layer of fat on it over an inch thick, if not thicker. That was one well fed pig! Normally I would be wary of meat with too much fat, but the fat will be good for our chickens, they could do with the extra calories now the temperatures are dropping quite sharply. I will let you know what it tastes like once I have got around to cooking it, I will tell you though that we will enjoy every morsel of it.

A frosty morning

Talking of chickens, we must have killed the wrong one. We have not had a single egg this week. I know it is cold but the light levels have gone up with the snow and so I would have thought we might have had one or two eggs, but no! The cold has been bad for the alpacas, well one in particular, Turbjörn. We are still not sure if the others are being mean to him or he just prefers to stay outside, but he is often shivering during the day. He is fine in the mornings as they have plenty of hay that has been built up quite a bit in the shed and we also have spent one day this week shifting rubbish bales of hay and stacking them against the shed to act as insulation and then put fleece around the outside on the other sides to reduce the draughts. It seems to have made it a better environment overnight despite the continued drop in temperatures. Two guys came around from the nearby sheep farm this week and helped Ian to cut the alpaca toe nails. They were quite excited about helping with the alpacas, being only three of them and not hundreds of sheep was something a little different. One had a bit of a bleed, but nothing serious and the lads had a spray to help, one also had a bit of a limp afterwards but that got better over the next two days. It might have just twisted it a bit as it was having the nails cut, or it might have just been a bit strange after having the nails cut. Anyway it is better now.

Hay bales stacked up against the side - a bit snow encrusted now

Double fleece layers around the sides too

We actually saw the sun one day this week. Not sure when
the last time we saw it. Ian and I just stood by the window
and gazed at the sun coming up, it was such a welcome sight

Sometimes in winter we have a problem with the electric, although we don't have as many power cuts as we used to now, it has gone off twice this week. The first time I was surprised that I didn't have a text from the power company to say that the electric was off. It seems a bit stupid getting a text to say "your power is off" but at least it means I know, they know about it and hopefully working on it. What was even more surprising was that it was off for an hour and a half and it wasn't even snowing at the time. All I can assume is that it might have been due to an ice build up that got worse as the temperatures dropped. The second time the electric went off we got a text, only I wasn't impressed as we had gone to bed early at our other apartment and had only just dropped off. We had also just topped up our fire to last all night and so we then spent an uneasy time wondering if our fire would cause the water to boil and possibly explode - we haven't got around to sorting out the battery for our UPS system (Uninterrupted power supply) which switches to battery power when the electric goes off. Our batteries have been used to charge the electric fence and probably need replacing now. Sigh!

Franken-shifter. A patented snow remover

Snow shifted off the greenhouse with franken-shifter

A frosty tree

Usually I don't mind the snow, but this year I just feel caught out by it. I guess it is partly because we have the animals now and we know that if the snow stays then this will be it until at least March and Ian has been having to spend all day out on the land, without electric, so that he can keep an eye on the animals. The chickens seem happy enough fortunately but due to our shivering alpaca, Ian has upped their feed of concentrate by feeding them midday and making sure that Turbjörn gets his full share. At least it means that Turbjörn, the most reluctant of the alpacas will eat out of a bowl Ian holds, not out of his hand but close. Looking out over the scene from our apartment window though I noticed once again how it hides so much, covering the footprints and on our land I knew it would be covering the hideous mess from the pigs in a white fluffy blanket, that was falling ever so gently from the sky. It made me think that sometimes we need our past covered over like that, hiding the marks we made, rather like grace really.

A golden sunrise

Crystal fairy lights, or ice lit by the sun!