Keeping busy. That's supposed to help, right?

Wednesday:

Trying to keep busy this week.  Not too difficult since there really is no time for grief and a rest on the farm. G is in Ely again. for the past three days I've been turning, wind rowing, piling and today dragging piles of hay back to the barn.  I was initially going to drag it into the upper field to be baled with the rest, but it's going to start raining tonight so I figured if we're going to lose the entire hay crop to rain then at least I'll have salvaged a bit....Seems a bit crazy that we've been begging for rain for our pastures for months now, and we just need it to hold off for a few more days.....but that won't happen.

Our neighbour started cutting the fields about two hours after we lost Lorpie. I hid in the barn doing work and took photos from afar...

Sir Winnicus



G has tractor envy

 

 



The canary grass in the lower field--some for feed but most for straw. This field may not be super high quality grasses, but it's great wildlife habitat, and in times of drought it will be the only field still producing (like last year, when this was the only field we could rotate the sheep on after they'd eaten all the bluegrass lawn, only a month after we got them)
 

 



 

 

Guinea keets'  first day out was the afternoon that Lorpie died. The two boys pummelled Miss D and then pecked and pulled feathers on the keets while they screamed and ran and flew.  There were some cute moments of the entire flock ranging and eating grass while making those cute contented guinea noises, but they would be interrupted by screams from the keets, so I kept having to go and intervene or at least check on them.  That meant G had to keep waiting for my help to put the greenhouse poly on, and between his impatience and our emotional state and a sudden wind that picked up (while essentially trying to manage a large parachute) we decided to postpone covering the greenhouse....So I had to put up the 'chook exclusion fence' again.

 

 

 



Had a fun impromptu training session with Lace yesterday.  The lambs were busy with some hay so didn't swarm me like they usually do, so I had a bit of time with her.  She's so great at lifting my spirits! I went out to their pasture to see if any nightshade had regrown, and suddenly there she was, curious at what I was doing, and begging for a cuddle with her sweet face.

Prince has pizzle rot again--worse than before. I've been cleaning it and using udder balm twice a day. Trying to keep him mostly on grass hay. Hoping to avoid penicillin, but at least we know this ailment responds to that so we'll be able to fix him no matter what!

I think Pepper has an arthritic joint. She spends a lot of time in the nest box, and walks tentatively, and the joint is swollen, and it's not the foot she had the amputation on....may experiment with some pain meds this week. If she suddenly perks up, we'll know she is sore indeed.

Keeping an eye on Axle.  He's been a little quiet for the last week. He was eating and chewing his cud this morning but I didn't have a chance to see if he urinated normally.  The worry with wethers is a urinary blockage, and it's not something they can recover from. You can't unblock them like in dogs and cats, and surgery is very expensive. Had a dream last night that he died. This grief thing really sucks.

 

Guess I'll never stop missing the super Lorp though, even after the pain part stops.

 







Lorpie's last day out.
 



Thursday:

 

Time to head out again. It's rainy-happy-duck-weather and they are prone to wandering.  I had just gotten home from my appointment this aft when Sassy jauntily led them down the driveway (yes, ducks in a row is really a thing) towards the road and the great beyond.  I have no idea whey they do that when it rains. My neighbour shooed them back two hours later after they'd done it again..

Next post--unusually helpful skills to have on a farm...